Dear readers,
I’ve experienced some technical problems and therefore I decided to leave here, by writing, by answers to some of you.
1. Sheila Rahman asks:
Have you achieved your dream?
If so, what was the alchemy?
If no, what is your dream still unfulfilled?
Dear Sheila,
I can say that I have fulfilled my dream of becoming a writer. The Alchemy started when I understood that I simply had to materialize my dream, meaning when I sat down and wrote.
2. Cathy Brooks asks :
What was your biggest surprise in relation to The Alchemist (given that it’s read all over the world and it transcend different cultures )?
Dear Cathy, I would say exactly that : having my book being read all over the world was to me my greatest surprise. I could have never thought that the tale of a shepherd boy could cross boundaries the way it did.
3.Vinvin (VIDEO)
Have you found your personal legend ?
Dear Vivin,
you not only find your personal legend, but you have also to fulfill it.
Indeed, my personal legend, what brings me joy in life, is writing. So I would say that I have found and fought for my personal legend.
4.Joan Lockwood (VIDEO) and Yajna ask :
Where were you when you decided to write The Alchemist?
Dear Joan and Yajna,
I decided to write The Alchemist one year after I did my pilgrimage to Saintiago of Compostela. I was in Brazil, after the carnival, and I needed to explain to myself why I took so long to actually write. I found the way to express that through a metaphor - the story of a shepherd boy that goes after his treasure.
5.John asks:
When Santiago found his treasure and returned to Fatima in the desert this was not the end of his dream, I assume he would go on dreaming and working for the rest of his life and his life is found in the challenge of doing so? for all our lives achieving one dream is also not the end? we must always dream and always follow them?
Dear John,
Indeed, when Santiago finds his treasure, his journey just begins. He finds the physical treasure but the spiritual one he acquires through the journey. Challenges are what a person needs in order to keep in fulfilling one’s personal legend.
6.Ravin asks:
Twenty years on from that famous line, do you still believe that ”when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Dear Ravin,
yes I still believe in this sentence. What people don’t realize though is that the universes conspires, hears, all wishes may they be positive or negative ones.
This doesn’t mean though that a conscious wish will be heard - there are undercurrents in our souls that are stronger - that despite ourselves communicate with the Anima Mundi.
7.Monika
what do you understand by “world-soul” (anima mundi)?
Dear Monika,
Anima Mundi is an expression taken from old alchemist’s texts. It’s the soul of the world, the beating heart of our emotions, dreams, desires. It is very similar to what Carl Young refers to as the “collective unconscious”. It is meaningful - even if sometimes forgotten - and it surrounds us.
8.Zuleyka Sanchez (VIDEO) asks:
I believe God is Supreme Being – without a determines sex. Why do you refer then to the Goddess?
Dear Zuleyka,
I agree with you that God is a Supreme Being. The reason why I decide to speak about the Goddess in my books is related to the fact that I’m fascinated by it’s feminine face, by its compassion. This doesn’t mean though that the masculine side - made up of determination and rules - is absent. Both faces are present in our lives.
9.Jorge Hirata pergunta:
Lí na internet que finalmente você e Hollywood entraram em um acordo e finalmente O Alquimista vai virar filme, vai ser uma super produção avaliada em 60 milhões de dolares.
Você confirma a notícia? Poderia nos adiantar mais dados do filme? (tais como nomes de atores, diretor, data de lançamento, etc.)
Ola Jorge,
sim confirmo esta informação porque aliás estava em Cannes quando o produtor Harvey Weinstein disse anunciou que faria o filme com o Laurence Fishbourne estreando e dirigindo.
10.Rose (Video) asks:
How can people that are very sick or with severe disabilities fulfill their personal legend?
Dear Rose, I think that the best example of a person with a disability that managed to fulfill his personal legend is the scientist Stephen Hawking. Of course, having a disability makes this more difficult but you would be surprise by people’s capacity to overcome adversities.
11.Wablinska asks:
The world’s soul…
Do you consider it alive, as another unseen world?
Dear Wablinska,
The world’s soul is alive since it’s composed of ourselves and our beliefs.
12.Gabriela asks:
Why is a desert the setting for The Alchemist?
Why not a big city?
Dear Gabriela,
I have always been fascinated by the desert. When I discovered thorughout my wanderings in the world that the desert, this empty place, was actually full with life I could have never thought that it would end up in one of my books.
13.Agnieszka asks:
Dear Paulo,
If you would like to turn the clock back to a certain moment in your life, to live it through again, which moment would that be? from your childhood maybe?
Dear Agnieska,
my clock moves forward and the only moments when I think about the past with regret is when I have hurt a friend. But to be able to apologize is something that i can only do in the present, not in the past.
14. Paul from Austria
What point in time did you decide to be a writer?
Dear Paul,
my biography “The Magus”, written by the Brazilian journalist Fernando Morais, was just released in Brazil and I received today a copy of it. Throughout the process, the only thing that I did was to hand over my diaries to Fernando and 5 years later the biography came out. Fernando sent me a letter with the book talking about precisely that : that the idea of becoming a writer goes back to my adolescence, when I was 14.
15. Rosa de los vientos asks:
Hola Paulo, felicitaciones por los 20 años de “El Alquimista”.
El rey Salem habla de fuerzas misteriosas que tratan de convencerte de que no serás capaz de lograr tu “Leyenda Personal”.
Mi pregunta es:
¿Qué son estas fuerzas misteriosas?
Querida Rosa,
las fuerzas misteriosas que tratan de convencernos son un teste. En el largo de nuestro camino hacia Santiago tenemos que ser testados en nuestra determinación. Sin estas tentaciones del camino, no existe caminar.
16. Jennifer Mannion asks:
Is it possible to have more than one personal legend ?
Dear Jennifer,
I believe it’s possible, but to be honest I think people may disperse themselves if they don’t focus in one particular goal.
17. Alexandra asks:
I want to ask you if you think that Love is the most important thing in life.
Dear Alexandra,
to quote the Beatles : ” all you need is love”.
Thank you for these excellent questions and I hope that soon I shall be using more the seesmic plugin here in my blog.
All my love
Paulo
Hi Paulo,
Have you achieved your dream?
If so, what was the alchemy?
If no, what is your dream still unfulfilled?
Thks for all the joy.
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Paulo estoy agradecida por sus libros son hermosos sus relatos,mi hermano luis esta leyendo veronika decide morir,yo he terminado de leer brida me parecio muy emocionante y nos trasmite mucha paz y mucha fe para poder seguir adelante con nuestras vidas ,que en este ultimo tiempo se ha tornado todo muy complicado para nosotros. seguimos esperando mas libros para sumergirnos en este mundo tan magico dios lo ilumine y alguna vez el destino nos permita conocerlo bendiciones paulo por su grandeza.
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Hi Paulo, I’ve read alot of your books and found them all an inspiration. In Brida it says that people with small, attached earlobes are gifted. Is this true? If so, I’d love to know how to discover what my gift is.
Keep writing
Louise
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we are your biggest fans.. we estd a paulocoelho club in our college
what is your opinion abt india.. why din’t you
come to india.. we want to see you..
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Dear Paulo!
Greetings to you from Russia!
The order of RAM really exists?
If yes, how I can enter it? It is my dream!
Thanks for the answer!
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dear paulo,
after reading brida, i am curious about the Tradition of the Moon and The tradition of the Sun. i want to know if this Tradition really exists or not.
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dear Paulo may you live healthy life and continue shower your love to your readers which are all over the world. Myself lives in a town in Himalaya. Whenever I read your books I feel you are telling what I believed in. I filed with a fragrance I can smell the truth the love The beauty.My eyes filled with tears.
In India we say ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’-Truth is God, God is beauty.
Love and hugs
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My dear Paulo, with all the respect on the world,just put me on your waiting list for a date .I am sure the list is long enough,but I have patience,I am joking.Thank you for you world of phantasie you are creating in your books,bye.
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dear paulo sir..
i was a reading freak from the very srarting..
but i could not find d solace ..
on fact something was there that the reader inside me was craving for..
then one day,my brother-in-law gave me the alchemist…
i read it in A single sitting…
i got what i was looking for..
moreover i got my favourite writer..
from then,i hv read a lot of your books..
thanks sor for everything..
i eould love if you send me a few words of your blessings,without me asking anything….
waiting for a reply..
ashutosh
(ashutosh.d.w@gmail.com)
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Dear Paolo,
Your books opened up a new world to me. Every single one opens a new door into the maze of my soul. I find that I live through your book and every time I finish it leaves me exhausted for 6,8,12 month and I am unable to read anymore, but yet I think about the messages that your pen so cleferly diguises in a story. I feel when I am ready to pick up your next book, something just clicks inside and I am ready to open up another door. Thank you for the wonder that is your books.
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Hola Paulo
Me tomo la libertad de no hablarle de usted no por ser mal educada si o por que usted a travez de sus obras a entrado en mi vida como un muy buen amigo que me ha dado los mejores consejos, aunque se que no buscas transmitir eso si no dar a conocer tus vivencias y con esto dar conciencia de nuestra “Leyenda Personal” se que no soy muy buena expresandome pero si estoy completamente segura de que esto me sale del corazon y pues dejando atras las preguntas mi objetivo es mas que nada Darle las Gracias! por que de alguna manera que no creo llegar a comprender, cada uno de los libros han llegado en el momento mas oportuno de mi vida, en los instantes en los que necesite y estoy segura que los que me falta por leer tambien llegaran a su tiempo y de esa manera .. y pues tratando de encontrar mi “Leyenda Personal” pues por algo se empieza creo yo, bueno ya sin afan de extenderme en este mensaje, lo admiro muchisimo y de antemano agradesko alguna respuesta de mi pregunta que es
como descubrir la señales,, en ke momento aparecen?
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Hi Paulo
Read the ‘Brida’. Does Brida really exist? If yes, is it possible to contact her?
Thankyou.
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Neha:”why is it so that when we want something so dearly and we find no way of achieving it in the near future, we loose its very importance?i guess in my case the universe has not replied me back..i am unable to find my way.feels lost and out.guide me” I have the same question, only I have something to add.
What if while losing the importance of what u desire, u as well lose yourself? Lose the meaning of ur life, lose the joy to live, lose the reason u are living.Not knowing why are u even trying to survive in this mess of a world.”Sex? Love? Give me something that lasts” I keep telling god, but I probaply haven’t understand HIS concept of Love.
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Great Paulo Coelho,
First I want to thank you for being an inspiration to me from the day that I read The Alchemist. Now it’s 4 years ago and since that day I want to become a writer. What kind of advice would you give to a young man dreaming to become a writer?
God Bless!
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hey paul i love shakespeare line from macbeth “there’s no art of finding mind’s construction in face ” and you know i feel you and your texts bear testimony to it.
i love to read and write but every time i read your books i feel i still have alot to learn before i can actually pen down something.
i aspire to meet you one day.
gud luck n i assure you i’ll meet you soon.
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Love your answers Paulo.
God Bless You…
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hi paul…ur readings always gave immense peace and calm to me..but offlate i m finding hard to live in peace. why is it so that when we want something so dearly and we find no way of achieving it in the near future, we loose its very importance?i guess in my case the universe has not replied me back..i am unable to find my way.feels lost and out.guide me
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Hola Paulo:
Debo darle mil gracias, porque ha conseguido engancharme con sus libros, y aunque esto ocurre desde hace muy poco, sé que aún me queda mucho tiempo por delante y muchas historias por descubrir, historias que espero leer pronto.
Mis felicitaciones por cada palabra que ha escrito, siempre adecuada en cada lugar e imprescindible en cada momento.
Ahora me encuentro leyendo “Veronika decide Morir”,(el segundo libro suyo que leo)pero no puedo dejar a un lado ese primer libro, con el que le descubrí “A orillas del río Piedra me senté y lloré”.Quisiera hacerle una pregunta:
¿Por qué cree que Pilar tenía ese miedo a dejar salir sus verdaderos sentimientos? Entiendo que no querría sufrir, pero ¿acaso la situación no merecía la pena para ella?
Sinceramente, admiro cada reflexión en ese libro.
Sin más, me gustaría saber si sigue en Avilés y si tendrán lugar algún otro acto público en el que le podamos ver.
Mil gracias. Le deseo un buen día.
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