The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho -- Magical!!

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it…..”

I finished this book in two weeks. It’s a nice change from the two Neil Gaimans books that preceded it. Paulo ( I should mention they have the same first name as my son ) Coelho is such a breath of fresh air. The Alchemist is the first Paulo Coehlo work that I have read and I’m very satisfied with it. Each page tells me a lesson about life and about faith. I still have one more of his books for reading and I’m already excited on what I can find and learn. I am partial to magical stories because they make my dreams more real and it makes me feel hopeful and happy.

The alchemist tells about the adventure of a shepherd boy named Santiago. He had decided to be a shepherd so he could travel and learn about places and people. He loves his sheep, his book and his own time under the sun. His life was simple and in predictable pattern until he had a dream. A dream that happened twice and made him wondering. From then he met a King disguised as a pauper who told him to follow his Personal Legend. He realized that his personal legend is to find his treasure in Egypt’s pyramids. In following his Personal Legend he was able to go to Africa, to the dessert and to Egypt. Through this travel he learned a lot from the people and from nature. He learned the language of the world. Through his travels he met good and bad people. He met his love in a oasis in the dessert and was challenged more than ever to go and further pursue his dream. He met the alchemist and learned from him. He was able to communicate with nature. Until at the end he came finally to the pyramids of Egypt. There was a twist at the end though. The pyramid was only able to give him the location of his treasure.

The dilemma of the story is about following Personal Legends. For some dreams maybe too big or just too hard to achieve that we just give up and turn our back to it. But by turning our back we begin a life of misery and a constant nagging of “what-ifs” in the back of our minds. The boy in the story went for his dream even though the dream is bigger that him. He believed that if he wanted something very bad, the universe will conspire to help him achieve his dream. It sounded so easy, one might say. But I had my share of the same story. One of my biggest dreams before was to be able to go and live in Canada. I have seen through my relatives’ stories how good it is to live there. But I have a good job, a family and we live fine. It’s just too hard and expensive to go there. Until the biggest challenge of my life happened. My dream of going away has returned and it’s all I wanted. I prayed and I cried thinking of how and when. Maybe I have wanted it enough that the universe did conspired to help me achieve it. My aunts in Canada called and promised to help me. My colleagues at work asked me if I wanted to go to this agency for immigration. But it wasn’t that easy…it is also true that as you near your dream, the harder it takes to reach it. It has caused me nights of sleeplessness, constant crying and praying. I was already in the land of my dreams and I still have to establish my right to live here. It was hard starting from nothing. Hoping for the kindness of other people to trust me and give me a chance to prove myself worthy of being a part of this new world.

Here in the land of my dreams…. I am happy and content. I can continue dreaming… and maybe… if I wanted it bad enough……magic will happen.