Manuscript Found in Accra

"Let us plunge together, then, down the dangerous path of surrender. It may be dangerous, but it is the only path worth following."

"And even if this causes major changes in our world, we have nothing to lose, because by opening the door that unites body and soul, what we will gain is total love."

"Let us forget all that we are taught about how it is noble to give and humiliating to receive. Because for most people, generosity consists only in giving, but receiving is also an act of love. Allowing someone else to make us happy will make them happy too."

"When we are too generous in the sexual act and our main preoccupation is with our partner’s pleasure, our own pleasure can be diminished or even destroyed."

"True lovers will be able to enter the garden of beauty without fear of being judged. They will no longer be two bodies and two souls meeting, but a single fountain out of which pours the true water of life."

"And time will cease to exist, because in the land of pleasure-born-of-true-love, everything is infinite."

"We were born alone and we will die alone. But, while we are on this planet, we must accept and glorify our act of faith through other people."

"Community is life: from it comes our capacity for survival. That is how it was when we lived in caves and so it is today."

"Anyone who does not share his moments of joy and discouragement with others will never fully know his own qualities and his own defects."

"Meanwhile, be alert to a danger that threatens all communities: people being drawn into a standard way of behaving, taking as their model their own limitations, fears and prejudices."

"Seek friends and allies among people who believe in what they are doing and in who they are. I’m not saying: seek out people who think the same as you. I’m saying: seek out those who think differently from you and whom you will never be able to convince that you are right."

"Love accepts its companion unconditionally and allows each to grow in his or her own way."

"Stay close to those who are not afraid to be vulnerable, because they have confidence in themselves and know that, at some point in our lives, we all stumble; they do not interpret this as a sign of weakness, but of humanity."

"Stay close to those who say: ‘Everything’s fine as it is, but we still need to move on.’ Because they understand the need to keep going beyond the known horizon."

"Stay close to those who sing, tell stories, enjoy life and whose eyes sparkle with happiness. Because happiness is contagious and will always manage to find a solution whereas logic can find only an explanation for the mistake made."

"Stay close to those who allow the light of Love to shine forth without restrictions, judgements or rewards, without letting it be blocked by the fear of being misunderstood."

"No matter how you are feeling, get up every morning and prepare to let your light shine forth."

"Those with eyes to see will see your light and be enchanted by it."

"Elegance tends to be mistaken for superficiality and mere appearance. Nothing could be further from the truth: some words are elegant, others can wound and destroy, but all are written with the same letters. Flowers are elegant, even when hidden among the grasses in a meadow. The gazelle when it runs is elegant, even when it is fleeing from a lion."

"Elegance is not an outer quality, but a part of the soul that is visible to others."

"And even when passions run high, elegance does not allow the real ties binding two people to be broken."

"Elegance lies not in the clothes we wear, but in the way we wear them."

"But every tribe, every people, has values that they associate with elegance: hospitality, respect, good manners."

"Arrogance attracts hatred and envy. Elegance arouses respect and Love."

"Arrogance causes us to humiliate our fellow man or woman. Elegance teaches us to walk in the light."

"Arrogance complicates words, because it believes that intelligence is only for the chosen few. Elegance transforms complex thoughts into something that everyone can understand."

"When we are walking our chosen path, we walk elegantly, emanating light."

"Men and women blame each other for the disaster. They say: 'Someone should have foreseen what was going to happen.’ Or: ‘If I had been in charge, these problems could have been avoided.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. We are all prisoners of the sands of time, and we have no control over them."

"Once we understand this, we can sit next to our neighbour at the end of the day and listen with respect to what he has to say and say what he needs to hear. And neither of us will try to impose our ideas on the other."

"Beyond the mountains that separate the tribes, beyond the distance that separates bodies, there exists the community of spirits. We are part of that, and there are no streets peopled with pointless words, only broad avenues that connect what is distant and sometimes have to be repaired because of the damage caused by time."

"Where there is loyalty, weapons are of no use."

"All weapons are instruments of evil because they are not the instruments of the wise man."

"Loyalty has its roots in respect and respect is the fruit of Love, and Love drives out the demons of the imagination - which distrust everything and everyone - and, instead, returns purity to our gaze."

"Wise men often defeat warriors, but warriors also defeat wise men. To avoid this, it is best to seek the peace and repose that exists in the differences between human beings."

"The wounded person should ask himself: Is it worth filling my heart with hatred and dragging the weight of it around with me?’"

"The papyruses are Greek translations of texts written between the end of the First century BC and AD 180, and they constitute a body of work also known as the Apocryphal Gospels because they are not included in the Bible as we know it today."

"When you forgive, the person who insulted you feels humbled in his error and becomes loyal."

"The truly wise do not grieve over the living or the dead. Therefore, accept the battle that awaits you tomorrow, because we are made of the Eternal Spirit, which often places us in situations that we need to confront."

"The warrior on the battlefield is fulfilling his destiny, and he must surrender himself to that. Pity those who think they can kill or die! The Divine Energy cannot be destroyed, it simply changes its form."

"Accept this as part of some superior plan and go forward. Man is not defined by earthly battles, because just as the wind changes direction, so do luck and victory."

"He is thus making use of one of Love’s qualities, namely Forgiveness. This helps him rise above all the insults spoken in the heat of battle, which time will soon erase, just as the wind erases footsteps from the sands of the desert."

"In AD 170, a group of bishops met to decide which texts would form part of the New Testament... books, like those found in Nag Hammadi, were omitted either because they were written by women (for example, the Gospel according to Mary Magdalene) or because they depicted a Jesus who was aware of His divine mission and whose passage through death would, therefore, be less drawn out and painful."

"In 1974, the English archaeologist Sir Walter Wilkinson discovered another manuscript, this time written in three languages: Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. Conscious of the laws protecting such finds in the region, he sent the text to the Department of Antiquities in the Museum of Cairo. Shortly afterward, back came a response: there were at least 155 copies of the document circulating in the world (three of which belonged to the museum), and they were all practically identical."

"Carbon-14 tests (used to determine the age of organic matter) revealed that the document was relatively recent, possibly as late as AD 1307. It was easy enough to trace its origin to the city of Accra, outside Egyptian territory...."

"I met Sir Walter’s son in 1982, at Christmas...We maintained a cordial relationship over the years and...On 30 November 2011, I received a copy of the text that he had mentioned at that first meeting. I transcribe it here."

"Now that I am at the end of my life, I leave for those who come after me everything that I learned while I walked the face of this Earth. May they make good use of it... tomorrow, life will undertake to separate us, and we must each set must each set off in search of our own path, our own destiny or our own way of facing death."

"A week ago, our commanders held a meeting. The French soldiers are infinitely superior and far better equipped than ours. We were given a choice: to abandon the city or fight to the death, because we will certainly be defeated. Most of us decided to stay."

"The Muslims are, at this moment, gathered at the Al-Aqsa mosque, the Jews chose to assemble their soldiers in Mihrab Dawud, and the Christians... were charged with defending the southern part of the city... Judging from the enemy’s movements, we assume that they will attack tomorrow morning, spilling our blood in the name of the Pope, the ‘liberation’ of the city and the ‘divine will’."

"This evening, in the same square where, a millennium ago, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, handed Jesus over to the mob to be crucified, a group of men and women of all ages went to see the Greek, whom we all know as the Copt. He did not seek to join any particular religion, and no one tried to persuade him otherwise. The Copt believes only in the present moment and what he calls Moira - the unknown god, the Divine Energy, responsible for a single law, which, if ever broken, will bring about the end of the world."

"Many centuries ago, a man was judged and condemned in this square... On the road to the right, while he was walking towards his death, he passed a group of women. When he saw them weeping, he said: “Weep not for me, weep for Jerusalem.” He prophesied what is happening now."