Like the one-time bestseller Jonathan
Livingston Seagull, The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based
on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation. And though we may
sniff a bestselling formula, it is certainly not a new one: even the ancient
tribal storytellers knew that this is the most successful method of
entertaining an audience while slipping in a lesson or two. Brazilian
storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who
one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's
off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream. Along the way he meets many spiritual
messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read
Englishman. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago first learns about the
alchemists--men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it
would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be
the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist,
and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy's
misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams.
"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to
the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night. "Tell your heart that the fear of
suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies.
"And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams,
because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with
eternity."
I really enjoyed this book. It was simple, but profound book. I found a review on Amazon that a portion of summed up quite nicely:
ReplyDelete"These are lessons that we all know in our hearts, but that we forget as we get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of our material lives. Lessons about listening to our hearts and following our dreams. Lessons about living in the moment, the transient nature of possessions and the illusion that we can even "possess" something to begin with. Lessons about freeing ourselves from fear and about understanding our lives as part of the energy of the Universe and understanding that everything will work out the way it was intended to. Lessons about trusting in signs, knowing that our lives have a grand purpose and that the forces of the Universe will conspire to help us fulfill that purpose. And the lesson that all of the fortunes and misfortunes we encounter in life are part of our spiritual education, and that it's not the earthly "treasure" we seek that's important but the lessons learned while in pursuit of it.: