What a beautiful book, Eva Luna by Isabel Allende. Written mesmerizingly and when you think you’re done, it becomes a thriller.
The way Steve and Eva live their lives are completely opposite. Steve Jobs: he lives his life on willpower and becomes extremely successful. Planning and fighting are an integral part of his life. Eva goes with the waves and takes every day as it is. No planning (until the last few pages), living her life as it unfolds itself, not afraid of being dependent upon others and she becomes as a total surprise successful in the end.
I read it in Dutch, so a small quote from Eva (page 298): Hoe schrijft u? ‘Ik doe mijn best… De werkelijkheid is een ratjetoe. Wij zijn niet in staat die te meten of te ontcijferen, omdat alles tegelijkertijd gebeurt. Terwijl u en ik hier zitten te praten, is Christoffel Columbus achter uw rug Amerika aan het ontdekken en diezelfde Indianen, die hem op het gebrandschilderde raam welkom heten, lopen nog steeds naakt in het oerwoud rond, een paar uur bij dit kantoor vandaan, en dat zullen ze over honderd jaar nog doen. Ik probeer me een weg te banen in dat labyrint, een beetje orde aan te brengen in al die chaos, het bestaan iets dragelijker te maken. Als ik schrijf, vertel ik het leven zoals ik graag zou willen dat het was.’
The key message that I take out of both books is that you create your own life but that there are different paths. Both Eva and Steve have the ability to create the world that they want to happen. But they do this in the opposite way: willpower with huge inner drive versus letting come and having trust.
My UNOO colleagues Walter and Wim interviewed Isabel last month for the Brazilian TV series that we’re developing. It was for me the reason to dive into my library and find one of her books. It was already waiting for me there for 25 years. She impressed me in the interview and I was keen to learn more about the spiritual dimension of South America during the holidays. I read Marquez in the past and enjoyed it a lot. A small clip of the interview can be found at the UNOO website. It’s the video on the home page called ‘The heart of global leadership.’