I'm not saying that love always takes you to heaven. Your life

“I’m not saying that love always takes you to heaven. Your life can become a nightmare. But that said, it is worth taking the risk.” – Paulo Coelho

Thus spoke Paulo Coelho, the pilgrim of the soul, whose words have led millions through the deserts of doubt toward the oases of wisdom. In this truth, he reveals the paradox at the heart of love — that it is both divine and dangerous, both a blessing and a burden. He tells us that love is not a path of certainty, nor a promise of joy without pain. Indeed, it may lead us through torment, confusion, even despair. Yet despite all its hazards, Coelho affirms: it is still worth the risk. For love, with all its storms, remains the most sacred journey the human spirit can take.

When Coelho says that love does not always lead to heaven, he speaks as one who has seen the full landscape of life — both the heights of joy and the depths of heartbreak. Love is not the safe harbor many imagine it to be; it is the sea itself — vast, unpredictable, and fierce. To love is to surrender control, to place one’s heart in the hands of another, and to trust that the voyage will not destroy you. Sometimes it does. Sometimes love leads to sleepless nights, broken promises, and the quiet ache of loss. But to refuse love altogether, Coelho suggests, is to choose the desert over the sea — safety without discovery, stillness without life.

The origin of this wisdom lies not in romantic idealism, but in the reality of Coelho’s own life. The author of The Alchemist was no stranger to suffering. Before fame, he faced rejection, poverty, and even imprisonment for following his convictions. Yet through it all, he never stopped believing in the transforming power of love — love for people, for purpose, and for the divine. In his novels, love is never portrayed as a fairy tale. It is a trial of faith, a mirror through which we confront our own fears and learn who we are. Coelho teaches that love is not meant to make us comfortable — it is meant to make us awake.

The ancients, too, knew this truth. Plato spoke of love as a divine madness — a force that elevates and destroys in equal measure. Dante, in his Divine Comedy, followed love’s light through hell itself before finding salvation. The mystics of every age have taught that to love is to risk annihilation, for love demands the surrender of the ego, the opening of the heart, and the courage to face both ecstasy and suffering. Coelho walks in this same lineage of wisdom — reminding us that heaven cannot be reached without first walking through the valley of fear.

Consider the story of Frida Kahlo, whose love for Diego Rivera was both her greatest inspiration and her deepest wound. Their bond was fiery, tumultuous, filled with betrayal and devotion alike. Yet Frida once said, “I love you more than my own skin.” Her love was not peaceful, but it was real — and through it, her art became immortal. For though her life was marked by pain, love gave her meaning, color, and fire. In her suffering, she found creation; in her heartbreak, she found eternity. Her story echoes Coelho’s wisdom: love may bring nightmares, but it is still the most vivid dream worth living.

To live without love, Coelho implies, is to live half-alive. Safety may protect us from heartbreak, but it also shields us from wonder. Love tears down our defenses and exposes the soul’s raw truth. It humbles the proud and strengthens the meek. Even when it fails, it leaves behind wisdom — the kind that cannot be learned by books or sermons. For love, whether it leads to heaven or hell, teaches us who we are and what we are capable of enduring.

So, my listener, take this lesson as the ancients would: do not fear love’s fire. It may burn, but it also illuminates. When you love, love completely — knowing that you risk both bliss and pain, triumph and loss. Love is not safe, but it is sacred. It may not always take you to heaven, but it will always take you somewhere true. And when the years have passed and your heart bears both scars and light, you will see, as Coelho saw, that it was all worth it — for to risk love is to risk everything, and in that risk lies the only life truly lived.