You can't profess your absolute love for books if you don't know where this quote comes from. Yes, Paulo Coelho's allegorical novel The Alchemist, which has received a lot of love from all over the world, including my tiny puffing heart. It was first published in 1988 in Portuguese, then translated into English in 1993. The Guinness Book of World Records regards this as "the most translated book by a living author" and has sold over 65 million copies worldwide. Actually, once you've read the book, you keep wondering why it hasn't gone higher than a hundred million sold copies.
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| One of my most beloved. Image (c) avaxhome.ws |
At one point, around four years ago, I asked my dad for a copy of The Alchemist. It was the "it-book" at the time and was short enough to fit into my class schedule, so I figured I'd give it a try. The Alchemist tells the story of an Andalusian (an autonomous community in Spain) shepherd named Santiago, whose love for travel rebuffed his father's dream for him to become a priest. A recurring dream urges him to find a treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. Disturbed, he goes on a journey to realize that dream and meets many interesting people along the way.
(Spoilers end here. You should buy a copy because it's definitely worth your money.)
Today was supposed to be my scheduled college orientation. Unfortunately, the odds were not in my favor this morning (I shall spare you the details of my horrific trips to the restroom) so I had to figuratively stay in bed the whole day. To keep myself busy I decided to meditate. The weather was unusually peaceful and ideal for reading purgative books, thus I immediately pulled out The Alchemist from its relatively gigantic neighboring books. It still looks fresh out of the bookstore, I'm proud to say.
Halfway through the book I somehow decided to make reading The Alchemist on bad days a habit. It makes me feel contented and at peace-- almost like Ghandi, only fatter. Coelho's masterpiece of a book has this unassuming power to transport readers to a quiet, cathartic place, and the characters each contribute a piece of wisdom I think all of us need to get by. While embarking on an abstract pilgrimage from Spain to the Egyptian pyramids, you immerse yourself in a compendium of beautiful places and learn the workings of the universe at the same time.
I don't believe in omens with as much intensity as Coelho's characters, but it's nice to pretend that I do even for a short while. I believe that if two people who are meant to be together will be together. I believe in the Soul of the World. There are a lot of ideas people present and still others are compelled to believe, but ultimately it is your own choice whether to be the pawn of credence or not.
One thing I'm pretty sure of, though, is this: if you really want something, the whole universe does conspire to help you achieve it. I base this on experience.
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