Geeky Cat Miusings

My book club got together to discuss The Alchemist a best selling book written by the Brazilian Paulo Coelho and I would love to share some of my thoughts with you.

I want to acknowledge that The Alchemist is a simple book speaking of wisdom that can be found in many other books that describe this philosophy in much greater depth. But reading about this philosophy in a work of fiction opens the mind to the concept in a different way. The mind draws the pictures while reading the novel, creating its own unique video that can be played back as needed. A work of fiction has a way of touching us in a way that a philosophy book cannot.

The story itself is very simple: Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy, has a strong desire to travel the world. One night he dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he’s off follow his dream. Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in many forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman and he also faces many obstacles all of which lead to his learning more about the world and, most importantly, about himself.

The book says that we all have a personal journey that we need to travel through in this world in order to grow as humans and to satisfy our innate hunger for meaning. If we listen to our hearts we will know what journey we need to take. We must not ever fear listening to our hearts because it is only interested in what is best for us. Our hearts speak to us and we need to make the time and effort to listen to its gentle whisper. If you neglect your heart for too long it will become a stranger to you…thus you may start to fear it and may even start to fight against it.

We will all need to make sacrifices to pursue our dream but the sacrifices will be worth it and by making those sacrifices we will appreciate our treasure that much more. Anything that comes too easily to us is not appreciated. If we struggle against powerful forces to reach our goal we are very proud of our accomplishments and treasure our gain.

The book says that we know what our life journey is when we are children but we lose touch with it when we become adults and become caught up in the routine of living …so much so that many do not listen to their hearts speaking to them about their quest. No one in my book club could recall any such calling as a child but I believe that we are simply called on to take the journey that is life, to take each step being fully conscious of ourselves and our surroundings so that we live in the moment and learn what can be learned. I do not think their is just one quest per person but each life has many quests …as many as we are willing to embrace within our lifespan.

Most of the club members thought it was disheartening that the boy’s personal quest was to find gold and money…that the whole quest wasn’t for a higher good such as finding a philospher’s stone. I also thought that because the treasure was left there by the conquistadors, that it was tainted treasure having blood on it. But I realize that the journey was more important than finding the treasure…the experiences the boy had and what he learned about the world and about himself. He found more power within himself than he ever thought possible, and that is the greatest treasure of all. The book is a fable about a boy looking for hidden treasure but the story is symbolic. The story says that we have what we need — it is inside of us all of the time. There is no need to search outside ourselves.