As you know throughout the month of July we shall be discussing my book “The Alchemist”.
Throughout the week, I will be accessing this page 2-3 times a day in order to answer your questions until July 31st. I want also for you discuss among yourselves – since I’m very curious to see your reactions to the book.
I wrote a foreword for the 10th anniversary edition of the book and I would like to post it here as an introduction to the book:
Ten Years On
I remember receiving a letter from the American publisher, Harper Collins, which said that: “reading The Alchemist was like getting up at dawn and seeing the sun rise while the rest of the world still slept.” I went outside, looked up at the sky and thought to myself: “So, the book is going to be published in English!” At the time, I was struggling to establish myself as a writer and to follow my path despite all the voices telling me it was impossible.
And little by little, my dream was becoming reality. Ten, a hundred, a thousand, a million copies sold in America. One day, a Brazilian journalist phoned to say that President Clinton had been photographed reading the book. Some time later, when I was in Turkey, I opened the magazine Vanity Fair and there was Julia Roberts declaring that she adored the book. Walking alone down a street in Miami, I heard a girl telling her mother: “You must read The Alchemist!”
The book has been translated into 67 languages, has sold more than 65 million copies, and people are beginning to ask: What’s the secret behind such a huge success?
The only honest response is: I don’t know. All I know is that, like Santiago the shepherd boy, we all need to be aware of our personal calling. What is a personal calling? It is God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream.
Why?
There are four obstacles. First: we are told from childhood onwards that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it’s still there.
If we have the courage to disinter dream, we are then faced by the second obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue their dream. We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent them going forwards. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey.
Once we have accepted that love is a stimulus, we come up against the third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream, suffer far more when it doesn’t work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: “Oh, well, I didn’t really want it anyway.” We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. Then, we warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.
I ask myself: are defeats necessary?
Well, necessary or not, they happen. When we first begin fighting for our dream, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.
So, why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?
Because, once we have overcome the defeats – and we always do – we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives.
Having disinterred our dream, having used the power of love to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the very next day. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.
Oscar Wilde said: ‘each man kills the thing he loves’. And it’s true. The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either. We forget about all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured, all the things we had to give up in order to get this far. I have known a lot of people who, when their personal calling was within their grasp, went on to commit a series of stupid mistakes and never reached their goal – when it was only a step away.
This is the most dangerous of the obstacles because it has a kind of saintly aura about it: renouncing joy and conquest. But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World and you understand why you are here.
So, let’s embark in the discussion of my book for the up-coming month.
Love
Paulo
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The Alchemist – my story!
Hi Keith,
It wasn’t Tenerife in the book. It was Tarifa, a small town on the coast of Southern Spain where you can catch boats to Tangiers.
I think the desert is rather like the night.
The desert is a place where we can enter the soul and discover what is hidden in our souls and which cannot be felt and seen when we are surrounded by objects and things.
The night is the same. In the silence and vastness of darkness, we are not distracted with sights and sounds which we experience in DAYLIGHT, and so we can start to hear and see the sights and sounds of our soul, and we hear and see God in that “desert”.
Blessings
Karen xxxxxxxx
I did realise it was Tarifa in The Alchemist, not Tenerife, though thanks for telling me where Tarifa is.
What I was referring to (and maybe I should have been more explicit) was the opening comments by Paulo Coelho earlier on in this workshop (2 July 2009) where he discusses how he came to write The Alchemist. My reference to the 20th-anniversary edition should have been a clue.
I was thinking of Santiago in the square, then on the hill, where he feels the wind blowing on his face and senses, if not smells, Africa, and yes, he was still in Tarifa in Andalusia, then my mind jumped to Tenerife (because of the mention by Paulo of Tenerife) where you do get as I described this wind blowing from Morocco which deposits sand and dust from the desert.
I have to admit that at the time I was a little baffled by this reference to Tenerife. Reading again what Paulo has written, he refers to Andalusia, I think he has made the mistake you thought I had made, that is writing Tenerife, when he should have written Tarifa. Though my initial reading was that he was transported to Andalusia, then transported on to Tenerife. Easy to see the confusion when in Spanish the pronunciation of the two places is very similar.
Only Paulo can clarify this confusion.
The main difference is of course that as you say, Tarifa is a small port in the south of Spain from which you can take a boat trip to Tangiers, whereas Tenerife is a large island in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa.
I am writing an essay on your book The Alchemist. The essay is on symbolism in books. I have chosen this book because you have many characters which have many underlying layers waiting to be discovered and which I feel are symbols of necessities in life. But I have done some research on the sycamore tree and have found a lot of intriguing information. I wanted to know if there was any significance of the sycamore tree at the start of the book. Please reply as I have to aubmit my essay in 2 days.
Thank you,
Yours sincerely
Ishan
I am excited about this Workshop!!!! The Alchemist is my favorite book because of the positive messages to young children, who are still very much in touch with their dreams, and also provides seeds of hope (renewal) to those of any age, who are about to give up fighting for their dreams! The love I read in this book is tremendous, never-ending. I found this book in an airport at just the right time. It became favorite spiritual food, full of affirmations and encouragement. Thank You god, Thank You Paulo xo : )
Societal pressure, be it from family and friends or work colleagues keep us on a path from which dare not deviate, even if that is not good for either us, society or the well-being of the planet.
Few are like Santiago in The Alchemist or Jasmine in The Winner Stands Alone and takes the road less travelled.
As a result they suffer, but so do those around them as society is composed of individuals and the relationships between those individuals.
We must consume, wear the latest fashions, possess the latest gadgets, beggar our neighbour to we rise to the top.
In Iran, people want freedom from religious repression, freedom to be themselves. They took to the streets. Some like Neda paid with their lives, others like Arash Hejazi were forced to flee the country. Now the evil regime is seeking revenge, mass arrests are taking place, forced confessions, a hot line to encourage informers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8134134.stm
Societal pressure, be it from family and friends or work colleagues keep us on a path from which dare not deviate, even if that is not good for either us, society or the well-being of the planet.
Few are like Santiago in The Alchemist or Jasmine in The Winner Stands Alone and takes the road less travelled.
As a result they suffer, but so do those around them as society is composed of individuals and the relationships between those individuals.
We must consume, wear the latest fashions, possess the latest gadgets, beggar our neighbour to we rise to the top.
In Iran, people want freedom from religious repression, freedom to be themselves. They took to the streets. Some like Neda paid with their lives, others like Arash Hejazi were forced to flee the country. Now the evil regime is seeking revenge, mass arrests are taking place, forced confessions, a hot line to encourage informers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8134134.stm
What is it that is special about deserts?
I hear of the greening of deserts and at first thought it seems a good idea. The desert will bloom. But then where would we go in search of solitude?
Desertification together with overgrazing, loss of topsoil, is losing us valuable grazing and agricultural land.
– Plan B 2.o by Lester R Brown
Only a few days ago, I heard of a project to green the desert in Egypt. But it was a seriously flawed project. They were tapping into a fossil aquifer 1,000 metres down, the water a million years old. The project is not sustainable.
A project that is sustainable is Gaviotas in an arid part of Colombia where nothing grows. Or nothing did grow until a group of pioneers started planting trees. What they have found is that they have changed the local micro climate and ecosystem.
– Gaviotas by Alan Wiseman
Jesus went into the desert and had his tussle with devil. Paulo Coelho goes into the desert in search of an angel and to confront his own devils. Camped out in Death Valley, California, George Sessions and Arne Naess draw up eight basic principles that describe deep ecology. Santiago goes into the desert with the alchemist.
I have not seen or read the introduction to the twentieth-year anniversary edition of The Alchemist. Interesting the mention of Tenerife and the wind blowing. For me, Santiago engaged in conversation with the old man in the square conjures up a picture of the square in Punta Brava, a small village just outside Puerto de la Cruz on the north coast of Tenerife. Santiago then goes to the top of a hill and smells the wind blowing from Africa. In Tenerife a strong wind sometimes blows. It brings with it a fine sand from the Sahara. The following day everything is covered in a fine yellow dust.
I am pleased to hear this Modern Classic is being taught in schools, but at the same time a little alarmed. I hope ‘taught’ is an exploration, not a ‘dissection’, as nothing destroys a book more than the latter. This is not physics or maths, an exercise in linear thinking, a work of literature, like a piece of music or a work of art, is a holistic exercise. It is easy to say what is good and bad, but less easy to say why.
I too was curious about Melchizedek, and I’m pleased to be enlightened by Paulo. Did he live a great age, or was that a literary device?
I am equally curious about the two stones.
Like Sherry, I have given away many copies of The Alchemist. I have even left them lying around for strangers to pick up!
I found the Alchemist when began to really live according to my heart and truly begin to listen to what was inside of me. It was always there, trying to guide me but for so long I didn’t have the courage to listen and so I was unhappy. The Alchemist helped me to open my eyes to my dreams and all that I wanted for myself. It was my guide and companion that gave me the hope and courage to follow my heart. I am grateful for this book and blessed that it found its way into my life…and extremely grateful to you Paulo for writing it!
love and light,
saran
“The Alchemist” the book which i like to carry life time gr8 book
which change my life , which gives me more confidence to my dreams and new way to look at life .
thanks for witting such book with such simple language
i will defiantly reach to my destiny because of the alchemist.
i don’t have word to say more ……….
thanks
A few copies of The Alchemist have been registered on BookCrossing. Several have been given away. One has found its way to Moscow for the birthday of my lovely friend Polina.
I do not know where it came from, but I like the picture of the alchemist and his student on the blog of Kealan Moore.
http://paulocoelhofanfiction.wordpress.com/the-alchemist/
There are two translations of The Alchemist in English: That by Alan R Clarke and that by Margaret Jull Costa.
Keith, I have two translators in English, but The Alch was translated by A. Clarke. Eventually they can put Margaret’s name (for the p. s. interviews in some editions) but the core of the text is Alan
Thanks for that Paulo. I always did wonder. It ought to be made more explicit, next time it is re-printed.
Keith
I agree with Carolena, The Alchemist is a Modern Classic!
Thank you Keith. I always enjoy reading your links!
love
C.
‘It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.’ — Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist is one of my favourite Paulo Coelho novels. I agree with an earlier comment by Carolena, it is a Modern Classic.
Is The Alchemist a novel or an alchemist’s textbook replete with symbols?
The Alchemist was one of the first books I read by Paulo Coelho following an interesting encounter with a lovely Lithuanian girl sat by the river in Guildford totally engrossed in reading The Zahir. I asked what had her so engrossed and fortunately she did not mind my interrupting her. She told me and an interesting conversation followed. Since that day I have read The Alchemist a couple of times. I was thinking to read The Alchemist again and this workshop has given me the excuse to do so. Not that I needed an excuse. [see Synchronicity and Paulo Coelho]
When I encounter Santiago reading his book in the square or at least trying to but not being able to because an old man interrupts him to tell him he does not think the book is worth reading as he can tell by the look of the book, I cannot read this passage without coming to my mind a wonderful animation of the exchange constructed from Lego bricks! [see The Alchemist: Santiago Meets the Old Man]
When I think of the square, the image that comes to mind is a rather stark square surrounded by a few palm trees in Punta Brava. Punta Brava is a small village close by Puerto de la Cruz. The two are separated by Playa Jardin (garden beach). Puerto de la Cruz is an old colonial town on the north coast of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, a popular holiday destination to escape from cold European winters.
For me, the seminal moment in The Alchemist is when Santiago discovers he has lost all his money, stolen by someone he took for a friend. Feeling very sorry for himself, he sits crying in the street. That could have been the end for Santiago, he could have given up on his quest to find treasure, and many people would have. But no, Santiago picks himself up, dusts himself down and thinks to himself, no, I will not feel sorry for myself or give up, I always wanted adventure and this is the start of my adventure.
Some people are lucky. Some would say Santiago was lucky, the runes are always in his favour. But is it luck? Or is it that we all have the same opportunities but only some grasp the opportunities that life offers them, learn to read the signs, learn how to communicate with the Soul of the World, learn how to cross the transition zone?
I once came across a book on luck, and to this day have always regretted not buying it. Curiously I recently started reading an excellent biography on Charles Darwin, this year being the Bicentenary of Charles Darwin. In it is mention of a book on luck. Maybe it is the same book, I do not know.
– Darwin’s Luck by Patrick H Armstrong
– The Luck Factor by Richard Wisemann
I have recently been reading an excellent novel Darshan by Irene Black. It is very Paulo Coelho, following ones dreams, especially the discussion of the Indian concept of darshan.
Darshan is seeing God, and God seeing you. It is the Buddhist concept of enlightenment. It is the Jewish practice of Kaballah, of being as one with God. It is crossing the transition zone, of communicating with the Soul of the World. Knowing God and being known.
The Alchemist is a book on following your dreams. Paulo Coelho followed his dreams when he decided to become a writer and many people around the world who have read his books are very happy that he did as the world would have been a less better place had he not chosen to follow his dreams.
Irene Black, author of Darshan and The Moon’s Complexion, used to be a school teacher. Like Paulo Coelho, she followed her dreams when she decided to become a writer.
Too many people lack the courage to follow their dreams, or if they try are stopped by others.
Neda Soltan had a dream of a free Iran. For wishing to follow that dream she was slaughtered in cold blood by thugs acting for the evil Supreme Being. Thanks in no small part to Paulo Coelho and his friend Arash Hejazi her death has become a symbol of the the revolution. Her death has not been in vain, it has given others the courage to follow her dream of a free and fair Iran, even if they have to give up their lives for that freedom. Freedom is better than servitude and slavery.
Arash Hejazi, who tried in vain to save the life of Neda, had the courage to speak out and follow his dream of a free Iran. He has had to pay the price of fleeing the country, though hopefully his sacrifice will hasten freedom in Iran and one day he will be able to return and see his dream realised.
Arash Hejazi is no stranger to challenging the regime. He has spoken out against state censorship, is publisher and translator of The Zahir (copies of which were confiscated by the regime), and is a writer in his own right.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4544105.stm
http://www.iranfocus.com/en/iran-general-/brazilian-author-paulo-coelho-says-his-latest-book-banned-in-iran-02084.html
The death of Neda, the thoughts of Arash Hejazi, the people who have taken to the streets, have shown us that there is another Iran to that which we usually see of a fundamentalist Islamic regime. The people want freedom from religious repression, the women want the freedom to dress as they please, the freedom to walk the streets and not be slashed by razor-wielding basij. The people found the courage to defy clubs and bullets to realise their dreams.
On the workshop on The Winner Stands Alone in response to comments by Rossana Curri, I mentioned a friend in the Czech Republic who is not following her dreams. When I met her three years ago, she confessed to me that she had the eating disorder bulimia, she would eat then vomit. She has written me a letter, which after many nights of trying, I have finally managed to decipher. She goes through many men which leaves her unsatisfied and empty. I love her dearly, but all she does is hurt me. She goes out of her way to be horrid to me. She lacks the courage to follow her dreams. She writes that she is again bulimic!
The old man’s explanation of destiny to Santiago could have been written for my Czech friend:
She once knew what she wanted to do, what her destiny was. Mysterious forces have begun to convince her that it is impossible.
We all have dreams. Few follow their dreams. They bury their dreams, fearful of what others may think, afraid to take a risk. Eventually, their dreams are buried so deep, that they forget they ever had them. Or do they?
Santiago’s father had the same dream as his son, the dream to travel. It is now buried deep, and yet the desire is still there, buried beneath the daily struggle of finding the means to live, water to drink, food to eat, a roof over ones head. A struggle that a large part of the world’s population has everyday to survive on less than one dollar a day.
And yet as Muhammad Yunnus, founder of the Grameen Bank and micro-credit pioneer, found, these people, given a small sum of money, an unsecured loan, are some of the world’s best entrepreneurs. If you can survive in these conditions, given a small helping hand, you can achieve almost anything.
– Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunnus
– Creating a World Without Poverty by Muhammad Yunnus
A secondary theme in The Alchemist is that the treasure we seek is close to home.
We are searching for the Truth. A knock on the door, unbeknown to us it is Truth calling. We shout out: ‘go away, I do not want to be disturbed, I’m too busy searching for the Truth!’
Seeking treasure is not the first adventure undertaken by Santiago. He was destined for life in a seminary, he can read and write, Latin and Spanish. He gives this up in order to become a shepherd as he has a desire to travel, to see the world, or at least his part of the world.
Santiago learns to read the signs. He also learns that if we wish to follow our dreams we have to be prepared to take risks, there may be a price to pay..
I could say much more about The Alchemist, but instead I refer to what I have written before.
http://www.heureka.clara.net/books/the-alchemist.htm
I wait to see the thoughts of others before I make further comment.
It is a hot day, 32 degrees. I have watered my garden, now I will sit under the shade of a tree, relax and read The Alchemist.
Hi Keith , I enjoyed reading your comments and following paths you sign-posted -the picture on Kealans’ blog, the Lego animation of ‘Santiago meets in the old man’, crossing the transition zone etc
Thanks : )
Breda
Hello, yes… maybe you could illuminate a little of the technology behind the blue links etc… i can’t even do italic …
thankyou
;O)
I am pleased you found the links useful, enjoyed the little signposted excursions. And thanks for kind words on my comments.
I am using embedded html tags. This is a mark-up language which tells the web browser how to render or display the text. [see HTML 3.2 Quick Reference]
I use citation for a book title, The Alchemist, which by convention is rendered in italics. I can also explicitly instruct to render italics or bold.
I cannot show you how to do this, as if I write the html tags, they will cause the browser to act upon the tags and all you will see is the action not the tags themselves. This is one of those issues where you get a warning: ‘please do not try this at home folks’. You have to know what you are doing. Were you to sprinkle your comments with html tags without fully understanding what you were doing, it would screw up Paulo’s blog which would not make either of us very popular!
If all you wish to do is provide a link, then copy the link from your browser and insert. This will automatically be recognised as a link.
http://www.heureka.clara.net/sunrise/webqref.htm
You can also make use of (http://bit.ly/) which will give you a short url which you can then embed within brackets (or what some people irritatingly refer to as parenthesis) within the flow of your text. A service Paulo and myself make use of on twitter due to the restriction of 140 characters per message.
Thanks for your flattering comparison of my book ‘Darshan: a journey’ with Paulo Coelho’s work. I woulsn’t dream of doing so myself, but I can see your argument for a similar concept of following one’s yearning to discover the truth. ‘Darshan’ is available from all good bookshops (ISBN 9780953161393) or from the Goldenford website at http://www.goldenford.co.uk. It would be interesting to know what other Coelho addicts think of your comparison.
Dear Paulo
I thought of another thing and decided to ask You about that. Fulfilling our dreams- one of the most touching phrases- whenever I hear this- I get trembles on my skin. Yet, can I call it my dream, If it’s about lack of sadism on the earth? I’m involved in acting and against cruelty which people use towards children and animals. I have been like this since I remember. On the other hand, I am an artistic soul, love dancing and it’s actually the only way I can forget about the pain I feel when I read about another act of sadistic treatment of those can’t help themselves.
My question for you: Do You think that people are honest only when they dream about things connected strictly with themselves? Things such as mercy are just signs of a weak and cheating character?
I can’t live neither without dance, nor without fighting for the welfare of children and animals. I called it this way: Dance is my Passion while cruelty-free life is my Mission. Considering that I’m not God, people keep on telling me I should stop before I go crazy (as I’m not strong enough to face such challenge due to my health problems) Well, the probem is that I’m going crazy when I’m not doing it… Doing nothing just because I’,m not God is no excuse for me. My heart , my mind and my body keep on giving me signs that I’m here to fight for my dream, even if my opposition would be as big as millions of people and billions of demons who are very happy when the sadism spreads. I would appreciate your view. Thank you very much!
Dear Paulo,
I read Alchemist three times and liked it immensely.But, if you ask me the reason I can’t explain.No logic, no reason for liking it.Everytime I read it I find new meanings and new outlook.It taught me to “Think.
Thank you for writing a wonderful book.
Syamala
and so I return to the Alchemist once again.
It’s like seeing an old friend and sharing the joy of recognition and old friendship.
I always think I remember all the passages in the book quite well, and still every time there seem to be a part or a citation that I’ve forgotten since last.
This time I was caught early by “the biggest lie in the world, the we loose control over our lives and that our destinies are decided by fate”.
One of my collegues stop working today and will return to his theatercareer which he has kept alive next to his fulltime-work. When there is a will and a desire – there is always solutions to make time free.
On the copy from 2002 I read it has sold 25 million copies, now only seven years later it has thus sold 65 millions. It gives people something they seek for – Hope in their fight to gain control over their lives.
In a time when I was scared I found “The Alchemist”. I don’t know exactly what happened when I walked into the bookstore but I felt an energy that lead me directly from the doors to the novel. So I opened the book and from the first words I felt awake.
I’m a big dreamer and I have always pushed to achieve all of my dreams, but recently I’ve felt as if I’ve needed that extra push to not be scared with life. Now that I’ve graduated college this spring I feel the pressures to achieve one of my latest goals in life, pursuing my music career. And in this time of economic misfortune and having to pay off student loans it doesn’t seem as if it seems smart to go through with my dreams now that I have more responsibilities.
I’m scared to dream now that I’m not a kid anymore.
But the alchemist has helped me to think of the larger importance of pursuing my personal legend. It’s not the end that I should be concerned about as much as the journey. Fear comes and goes, but the point is to continue regardless.
The Alchemist came when I most scared
Thank You Paulo
Dear Mario,
very wise words : “Fear comes and goes, but the point is to continue regardless.”
There’s this quote by Roosevelt that I simply adore : “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself”.
Much love
Paulo
Dear Paulo and Alchemist enthusiats everywhere in the world,
One day, my friend bought me the Indonesian translation of The Alchemist and asked me to read it right away. He said that if I want to get to know Paulo Cuelho I must read The Alchemist first because it is his masterpiece. I ignored the suggestions. I did not read the book and just left it in my bookshelf.
6 months later, I was feeling incredibly depressed with my job and some personal problems. I thought i need something interesting to read just to get my mind out of my problems. Then, I found The Alchemist lying in my bookshelf calling me. I decided to read it and it has helped me go through the saddest momment in my life and it has been doing a lot to change my life ever since.
I believe that the day I decided to read the book is a part of “signs” that you talked about in Alchemist.
I’ve been looking for signs to guide me to make life decisions ever since. Now, my question is when can you consider signs you see in your life as “the signs” ,the one that lead you to your destiny? Because I feel like the book help me build a new sense of awareness and point of views towards the world that sometimes makes me unable to differentiate which one is the real sign and which is me being paranoid or too excited.
What do you think, sir?
Oh, and the oil story is soooo..amazing as a part of the entire naration and as a single piece of story that i often share this fragment with my friends.
One more thing, when people recommend me to read the blockbuster spiritual book, The Secret, I always tells them to read The Alchemist instead :)
Dear Diah,
signs are a personal language that you develop throughout a lifetime. You are able to see the correspondences without necessarily trying to bend reality to your desires.
Of course, there’s a lot of trial and error – but this is always a necessary step in life.
Much love
Paulo
Paulo,
First, thank you for this book. A friend gifted it to me, and reading it started me on an incredible journey in my life. I feel I’ll read it again and again throughout my life. I love also what you said about how we “must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.” I am in one of those periods now and those words resonated with me and prompted me to ask this question.
In the Alchemist, you speak about how love will never hold us back, that true love will allow us to continue on our personal journey. I believe this, but I also wonder at what point on our journey do we act on that love rather than let it pass without full expression. Of course when you finally believe you’ve found that person it’s not an always easy situation to navigate. Maybe it is not the right time or the right lifetime, maybe the person does not recognize it yet in you, maybe they are even already with someone at the time of your meeting. Should we always speak our heart to the other or do we allow our journey to continue without that moment and trust the universe to lead us back if it’s meant to be so?
Thank you so much, what a wonderful way to spend the month of July.
Dear Lane,
it is possible to encounter our soul mate and then loose this person. I mention this in other books of mine – such as Brida for instance.
When you know about this – you become aware that every single moment counts and it is better to spend a life in which you speak your heart, rather than spend a life silencing what your soul.
The universe hears, but we need to speak first.
Love
Paulo
Dearest Writer
I read the Alchemist, I thought I understood the story, yes we need to follow our dream in our life which was completely a new idea to me but now I feel there is something else behind this story, something quite mysterious I read most of your books more than once but the Alchemist is the most mysterious one; I feel you have 3 classes of readers 1.people who read the story and enjoy it 2.people who go deeper and find your message 3.people who discover the mystery which is hidden behind the words(Sorry if it is not right.) The Alchemist was your first book which I read, it opened a window to my soul but still I believe I have not understood some parts and I need to read it again, you are one of my reasons to believe God and miracles again.
Thank You
I do agree with you. The book contains mysterious power which attract people to it. Perhaps like any other, The Alchemist was your first book that I read. Probably the title that catch me first, but I believe the title are also very important, that which drawn me to this book. I’ve read the book more than any other book, and each passage, each chapter contains it own value and story which it want to tell. Reading the book as if we were Santiago, and applying all the value that it try to convey in real life. I believe the simplicity and the wisdom of the book has touch not only the heart but also the soul of the people who read it. Something that long forgotten, but also part of us always. People will mostly talk about the matter of the heart but seldom matters of the souls. Probably because it is in another realm which we don’t understand. For that I do thank you for the book. It makes me listen to my heart and my inner soul.
I found “The Alchemist” in library with some sratches on cover and very alone and thinked:”Wait, I heard about this book. Hmm, seems a very nice little book.”
And my journey of life began… To this time I have done a piligrimage and journey, steped on road what I started and abondoned when I was 10 years young – to become a fantasy writer. At the start I felt some “imaginary” eye but when the miracles started to happen I thought:”I have been blind or Paulo Coelho is really wizard?” :)
Along with all that I fighted my personal demons who appeard from my anger to step-father who has done many bad things to my mother when I haven’t the power to stop him(at this time I have second step father and thanks to God he’s very positive and comprehend person, and intersting thing he’s come in to our lives when mother readed “The Alchemist” what I gave to her).
After reading “The Alchemist” I understood my soul and my calling. I have been healed. Wounds remain as reminder of dark times in my life.
Ps. To thank you I wroted the poem, but I try to translate last lines:
“Slowly glanced at me, Wizard smiled.
If I need to say it true,
Smile was heartening and wise.
Light brighter then sun falled in my grey heart.
I understood – I’m alive!
My heart felt – Other died.
But I am alive…”
Pss. I’m from Latvia and latvian language is not easiest to translate. And if what after one week I got 18 years young and thank you for the all books you wrote and for the miracles that happens in my life. The life itself for me is miracle. Thank you!
Dear Davis,
thank you for the beautiful poem. I feel very honoured that my book could be an instrument in your life.
Much love
Paulo
Please write your poem out in full in Latvian. Then, hopefully someone fluent in Latvian and English can translate, you can check and edit final version. I will then reproduce on my website.
http://www.heurekaart/index.htm
Keith
Sorry, mistake on web address. Should be
http://www.heureka.clara.net/art/index.htm
The alchemist was and is a truely inspiring story. the book found it’s wat to me after i had a big accident. And it made me think about life and change many things.
i am jealous on santiago though since he knew exactly what his dream was while i am still working on finding my dream or that clear vision of what i really want to be. can you chose your dream or does your soul have a destiny to fulfill and it is up to you to find out?
Dear Alex,
in both cases there’s always a choice.
God plan for us has always this dimension of free will.
He wants us to engage ourselves.
Much love
Paulo
Dear Paulo
The Alchemist, and other books of your speak of how to make our dreams come true although we face so many obstacles and challenges.
I just wonder how much of your own “young years” period is hidden behind that reoccuring theme.
You wanted to write in a very young age but your parents were against. They send you to psychiatric hospital and did all they could to “get their normal child back”. Your parents created a strong (first physical and later emotional) obstacle againt your dreams. You said, that you were never angry with them.I wonder, how is it possible? How not to be angry with those who want to destroy our personal fuel to live and not to pay a price for rejecting these repressed feelings? After all, your parents were ashamed of you. They were ashamed that their own son wants to write! Everybody would feel hurt in this case, since a love to a child is supposed to be unconditional.
Anytime I read your books, I have a sensation that they are a kind of your revenge on parents. You did it! You became a writer. You achieved your aim.Nothing and No one was able to stop you. Just like your characters… But look at how much time passed before you started to make your dreams come true. Wasn’t it that although you were physically free to write whatever you want, there was still and emotional block that have roots in the way your parents treated you? You went through a long road. Your characters had to go through a long road too. You used different kinds of obstacles they met. But why deep inside I feel that they were all a mirror reflection of one major theme- the restriction that parents imposed on your dream?
Dear Paulo, I don’t just read your books, I study them with incredible passion. I remember that at school I was thaught that when I read a book, I need to think of the historical period the author lived in. Indeed, it’s of great importance. But I had a deep desire to know more. I wanted to find, what kind of situations in the childhood/adolescence period of the author influenced his/her litarary works. Such analysis taught me much about human’s mind. I would never learn this at school.
One more thing. You said that (Let me paraphrase) “your books only apparently have nothing in common with your life”. I wonder then If my way of thinking I introduced here is close to the truth. I would appreciate your answer. Dorota
Dear Dorota,
I don’t hate my parents because they committed me to an asylum out of love. I know it seems bizarre but they honestly thought I was ill.
Furthermore, to foster hate in your heart doesn’t truly help. We need to forgive – which is not the same as forgetting.
Much love
Paulo
Hi Mr Coelho,
I think it was in 1999 that I red this book and bought around 50 copies and gave as a christmas gift to my students, family and freinds.
One of my students parents was very upset about the gift I gave to her “little” girl. She did not believe in god and said that she hated religion. She told me that it was wrong of me to give
her little girl a religious book. I begged her to read the book so we could have a conversation afterwards. Because I did not know what to answer her (I was 22 years young and had made an illegal choice), She never called me again.
This book made one of my friends travel, he began in Brazil to play fotboll and moved with an brazilian girl to spain.
It also made my little sister to travel to Domincan Republic and work over there which was one of her dreams.
It also made me closer to my sisters and I thank you for that!
I know many other people around me that are inspired and many times saved by your books.
I modify Hafez poem a little and say:
For you are a Sweet Vagabond With Infinite Leaking Barrel Of Light and Truth That the Beloved has laid in your books.
/Love
Dear Neela,
thank you for the heartfelt and beautiful words.
Much love
Paulo
I now am looking very much forward to reading the new Alchemist edition.
The first copy I gave as a gift to someone with the words [of course] it is only with your heart that one sees rightly, never forget to follow your dreams.
Though I don’t see that person now anymore, the story of the Alchemist was always ‘with’ me; and funnily enough – as I like to travel and feel like it is a pilgrimage of sorts, I did purchase two gem stones: the onyx and the quartz.
Anyway, it is really a treasure to be able to share in the story of your book.
Thanks ;o)
Dear Catherine, the pleasure is also all mine.
Much love
Paulo
Hi Paulo & Freinds !
Alchemist has been a phenomenol success , why ?
across countries, cultures, classes, masses.
in my view, alchemist, and let me add here i read this book start to finish quickly, it held my imagination, alchmist nourishes the human soul.
everyone, almost, nurtures some dreams, everyone dreams of some treasure, maynot be monetery treasure but some treasure. and everyone sets out too, specially when small, as children. then society and other realities of life makes us bury those dreams ( an of course our own lack of commitement ). For quite some time no other book has come which inspired people to awaken tehir dreams once again, and everyone dreams of a ‘happily ever after” which is how alchmist ends.
The book was full of wisedom, written ( and translated ) in simple langauge, as if someone is talking to oneself. Greatest plus point which boosted sale of this book was the promise ” universe consipires to help you when u pursure your dream’, all of us would like to beleive that, we know we need help.
alchemist addressed an issue which concerns all, that is dreams and their realisation, alchemist talks in simple language, alchemist is full of practicle wisedom ( like the one eye on spoon and one eye on ‘all this’ ), alchimst has a happy ending, and most imporatnatly alchmist says universe will help you, just set out. this in my view was the reason for the super success of this unassuming creation.
about the obstacles to pursue our dreams, the last one which has asaintly aura is most dangerous, as u have said, renouncing joy and conquest. Now let’s be clear about this, one can renounce only that which one has, so even to renounce joy and conquest, one should be able to first say that one is authentically joyous that one has won.
But tell me Paulo, everyone now a days talks about change ( very few actually like chnage though ), everyone talks about pursuing one’s dreams, the common folks are almost filled with a sense of guilt when they have no dreams to chase, no chnages to propose. why are we so obsessed with ourselves. lao tse lived all his life just sitting and doing nothing, not chasing any dreams, many others have.
Before you wrote this book, u were actually encouraged to do so by ghostly figures, by ‘super natural’ happenings. what was that.
love
aditya
Dear Aditya,
Lao Tse was one of the wisest men that ever lived on this earth and his teachings concerning the Tao are a great treasure to humanity.
Having said that, most of us are not in the same plane as him and usually when most people crave to do nothing they do this out of fear.
Action is necessary (not mere reaction) as well as inaction (and not stagnancy).
I wouldn’t say that I wrote the book because I was chasing supernatural happenings. This book was a book in which I was trying to figure out my place in the world.
Much love
Paulo
In these days i’ve remembered the character of Fatima. My Other Part was far away for an experience of his personal legend that he’s been called to live. During these days I couldn’t call him because often his phone was unreachable and because it was expensive. Remembering Fatima, i’m feel Fatima and silence and pray have drove me for all the time.
Thank you
I Love The Alchemist!! Woohoo…. this is so wonderful! Thank you Paulo! We’re all embarking on an adventure, just like Santiago and I can feel the excitement.
Looking back to a few years ago, I’m feeling like Santiago… I was on the road of my dreams when one day, a friend of mine asked if I had read the Alchemist. I told him I had and loved the book but that I had read it many years ago, and he told me to read it again. A few weeks later, another friend of mine asked me the same question, and I replied the same answer and he as well said the same thing my other friend had said, that I should read it again.
I found it to be really strange, I thought, two friends, both male, tell me the same thing within the same month. It stopped me in my tracks and I went to the bookstore and bought the Alchemist and re-read it.
This led me to find you online Paulo, which led me to find out about the Witch of Portobello and the Experimental Witch project, and shooting and winning the film competition and well, being here.
Had it not been for my friends, all this may never have happened, and looking back at this, I am SURE it was my Guardian Angel speaking through my friends, leading me to the Alchemist.
Oh am I ever thankful of them! and my Angel! Life works in such Mysterious ways!
The Alchemist is a Classic. The book is Timeless and it will be for all time to come. for it touches the core of human life, experience, purpose, joy, and makes real the path to being alive.
Thank you Paulo!
With much love and respect,
C.
I agree. The Alchemist is a Modern Classic!
There are mysterious forces at work. I would not have read all the books of Paulo Coelho, be responding to you on this blog, had I not a couple of years ago met a girl from Lithuania sat by the river in Guildford engrossed in reading a copy of The Zahir. [see Synchronicity and Paulo Coelho]
Started reading The Alchemist. The Introduction and Prologue are profound in setting the foundation of the messages. The four obstacles clears the way to awareness that these are the factors that causes blockages and “blindness” of an individual. Human conditioning since childhood, events, memories, belief system most of them do lead one astray, however, there are some that holds a special message to one’s purpose, remember the event and or memories, that have by hidden so well by one self. It has been hidden well, by the layers of conditioning and all that has been told to you is impossible; DARE to shine your light.
Page 8 of the book, refers to the jacket which Santiago found it to be heavy and yet also realising that it is what that keeps him warm at dawn. The jacket represents one’s integrity and tolerance, one’s burden is also one’s grace. Cultivating one’s burden to gain clarity and be aware of the purpose of duality.
Santiago’s awareness of his leadership in his flock of sheeps, that they will follow him and trust him that he would lead them to food and water, in fair exchange of their wool. He could also easily lead them to their “death”. Aren’t we all shephards of each other, leading one another to “nourishment” should our paths cross?
One tenth of the treasure required by the gypsy and one tenth of Santiago’s sheeps, a trade in helping him find the treasure. Why the payment? It represents the exchange of information and knowledge; exchange of energies; it all holds value. In this case, his sheeps hold value. Can one exchange his earthly possession for his discovery in one’s life purpose? It may be a difficult thing to do for some.
Page 31 – the oil. The boy was asked to wander around the palace with a spoon of oil in his hand and to return with the spoonful of oil; his first trip, he wandered all around the house and returns with a spoonful of oil but did not take notice of the splendor of the palace; he was asked again to wander around and to observe everything, in which he did but returned with no oil left in the spoon. The oil represents one’s essence; the wandering around the palace, is the journey of one’s life. Do we take in all the beauty and splendor and at the same time hold our essence close to us OR will we be distracted by it all and lose our essence? In this case, the essence is the shephard’s sheeps. How can we take this to another level? This is a practice of one’s cultivation to enjoy all that is here and to preserve our inner essence simultaneously.
end read at page 32…endless ramblings….
Dear Pauline,
the oil drops can also represent one’s focus. You can go through life admiring all the beauties and enchantments, but keeping an eye on our responsability, by keeping focus.
Very true that this can also apply to our essence.
Much love
Paulo
Dear Paulo,
I am really pleased we are discussing your amazing book ‘ The Alchemist ‘ this month. I bought a new copy of the book yesterday,the one I loaned to somebody was never returned( I loved the cover on the older copy- the new copy has a red desert scene with a guy on horseback)My son Kealan encouraged me with great excitement many years ago to read The Alchemist. I have just written your many inspiring quotes from the above introduction on the cover of my new journal ‘There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisable.But it is still there’ This is so inspiring and anchoring ‘it is still there’ all is not lost..which leads to your quote ‘it is time for us to acknowledge all the obstacles we overcame, all the suffering we endured ..all the things we had to give up to get this far’ The collective ‘we’ (similiar to 12 step programme) shows we are not alone in our struggles and not ‘the only one’ ,this is very supportive . In my new journal this month I am going to take stock of all the obstacles I overcame to get this far!!! Go me : )
Your quote from Oscar Wilde ‘Each man kills the thing he loves’..my daughter and I were discussing this earlier -how true it is we are tempted to kill our own vision of live as we want it.
‘What is a personal calling’ Paulo your simple and eloquent explanation of this is very helpful and inspiring for me : ‘It is Gods’ blessing , it is the path God choose for you here on earth Oh there is so much more I have written down to re read this month and I am too tired to comment on tonight its v late!!!)
I will finish for now by saying, I am beginning to surrender to the Universe and to ‘know the Universe is conspiring ‘in my favour..I am taking a measured risk at this time in my life and I am wondeing how the Universe will unfold to conspire in my favour!! I am hopeful.
Love,
Breda
Dear Breda,
your hope is like a torch. It will always enlighten your path.
Much love
Paulo
Thank you Paulo …… you have touched my heart and questioned my mind with all your books.
There is a funny story …. one day I was wishing you would write a new book as I had read all your books, ….. That evening I went to a Travel Seminar and I happened to meet 2 lovely people who worked for Harper Collins who asked me my favourite author , I had never met them before but they told me you had been in their office the week previously …. they asked for my business card and a few days later the most beautiful surprise happened ..they sent it by way of a gift …. They asked me for nothing and I wrote to thank them and hoped to send a Christmas card but they had both left and I had no forwarding address but I just wanted you to know how much love and kindness your writing inspires. Thank you … With Love
Dear Liz,
thank you for sharing this here : there are always small magical moments that never leave us.
Much love
Paulo
Creo que cada libro cuenta tres historias: Una que solo conoce el autor y que es la que vive cuando va escribiendo. Otra que es la que cuenta el libro en si, la que comunica de alguna forma al lector con el autor, y la tercera la que se vive con ese libro, los momentos que se relacionan con esa lectura.
En mi caso, El Alquimista fue el primer libro que leí tuyo, Paulo, cuando tenía 14 años y es el que más veces he prestado a amigos y familiares. Y es el que tiene una dedicatoria más personalizada ;-P
“An instrument for God
helping the soul of the world”
I love you saying that Paulo
It is so true;
The main goal & path to
overflowing peace & joy
lies in those two lines
With love
B*Sofie
Dearest Paulo
Whenever someone asks me which book I would recommend them to read, I always suggest ‘The Alchemist’. It is a must for every person to read this book!! :)
They will find their own journey will soon begin, and also find the courage to take their dreams, wishes and desires seriously.
Fortunately for me, I had people who recommended it to me. I was unwell, had lost strength physically and mentally and unsure of my future. Within just a few days, three separate people brought the book to me. I just knew then I was meant to read this book and to me, I always look back and realize that was the start to my life. That was the day my life really began as unbelievable as that sounds. I had found something that I was searching for and something I wholeheartedly believed in. I will never forget those three people for bringing your books into my life and am forever grateful.
Much Love
Alex
Dear Alex,
something may happen only once; but if it happens twice it is because a third time will soon occur.
Much love
Paulo
Dear Paulo,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for The Alchemist. I have read it now several times, and each time I find more and different meanings for my life.
I am 61 years young and on the way to my treasure, my ultmate dream, with tears of joy and happines in my eyes and my heart.
Thank you.
With love, Marieke
Dear Marieke,
this is the spirit – I’ll start using your sentence : ‘I’m 61 years young’.
Love it
Paulo
Querido Paulo,
Thank you so much for writing such a masterpiece. I have read THE ALCHEMIST 7 times. I know that might sound ridiculous, but every time I read it, it renews my spirit and I feel so alive. I make sure that I read this book every time I am about to embark on a new journey. I read it before I went to the Univeristy for the first time and I have every since, the lastest was right before I got married to my version of Santiago’s Fatima…my beautiful wife Erin.
I am so excited for this workshop and even more to actively participate with the discussions. I have recommended this book to everyone and have even gone further, by writing my own book that will be dedicated to: “Santiago, a shepard boy from Andalusia who went in search of his treasure.” Obrigado Paulo, el maestro!
Dear Biombo,
I’m also very eager to conduct this workshop.
It’s always a blessing to see this book from the reader’s perspective.
Much love
Paulo
Dear Paulo,
The Alchemist was my first experience with your writing and I credit it with encouraging me in my own Personal Legend of teaching on many levels. Since my first reading, I have shared my love for this book with many of my colleagues, and just this week lent a guidance counselor (and friend) a copy from my class collection to add to her summer reading.
Some questions came up, however, as I taught the text to my 10th grade classes this year and I would love to know how you might answer them. My students seemed curious about your use of allusion…King Melchizedek, the characterization of the alchemist himself appearing like Santiago Matamoros, some of the references to biblical texts such as when Santiago wondered why a king would bother with a simple shepherd and the connection was made in implied terms to Jesus Christ etc. From the allusions to biblical characters and cultural figures to the bible, I found myself explaining the facts about the connections to my students, updating my class web page with web links to ancillary websites that bore some information, and sending them on information scavenger hunts through the library for the facts about details in the text. I cannot help wondering, however, if there is a deeper, perhaps symbolic significance behind some of the references you’ve woven into the text and I’m curious to know what those things might be.
Also, for adolescent readers the idea that Santiago and Fatima (over whom they fought about how to pronounce her name, FAtima or FaTIma) met, fell in love, and deeply loved each other so quickly seemed too fast to be true (keep in mind they’re reading this on the heels of Romeo and Juliet, which they were skeptical about, as well). Obviously this text was about a larger issue of a lifestory, for which the lovestory was but a part, and yet the lovestory development does move rather quickly. This begs the question of timing…are longer periods of time elapsed quickly in the text to facilitate the telling of the larger story?
I’ll be teaching The Alchemist again in the fall, and I’d love to be able to field the next series of student questions with the truth about your intentions and not merely my best guesses. Thank you so much for this story…I love it more and more each time.
~Melyssa
Dear Melissa,
Melchizedek first appears in the Bible when Abraham pays him a tribute. Symbolically speaking, whenever a man paid another one a tribute – this meant that the one receiving was spiritually more advanced. For Abraham, prophet and one of the most emblematic figures of the old testament to do something like this is of extreme importance.
Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the king of the mythical and peaceful city of Salem, was later on associated with one of the three kings that went to pay a tribute to Christ when he was born.
Naturally I was always very drawn to this symbolic figure and while writing the story, this character came very spontaneously.
The moment Santiago pays a tribute to Melchizedek in order to cross to Africa is a very direct allusion to the passage of Abraham in the old testament.
In regards to the love of Fatima and Santiago – of course time elapses when Santiago leaves the oasis in search of the Pyramids and when we finally returns to Andalusia.
It amazes me that today’s youth are so little inclined in believing that not only we can quickly fall in love as we can also remain faithful to the person we love, despite time and distance! But once again : whenever you find true love, of course there is always the risk of loosing our soul mate, but there’s also the possibility of not loosing this treasure from our hearts.
Much love
Paulo
Dear Paulo,
…Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them…So shall your descendants be. (Gen 15.5)
Seeing the success of The Alchemist, I wonder if God at some time, took you aside and whispered in your ear; to number the stars, before you set out to write this magic fable? How can the fruit of one man’s work be so potent? Was it because you really, really wanted to write the story, and the whole universe conspired in helping you to achieve your wish? You say you don’t know why The Alchemist is the most beloved novel of our time. Paulo Coelho, you are a scribe, looking to the sun and to the stars. I thank you for the gift of The Alchemist with all my heart. Here is my first question; Could you please tell us as little about the atmosphere where you created this novel? One of my deepest desires at this point, is to actually visit the place where The Alchemist was written, with the possibility of the scribe himself present, it would be like finding the treasure of a soul who reveals : ‘I was born ten thousand years ago’. I’m listening to the signs of the desert wind, from the dept of this magical literary journey and hear a message of happiness in our hearts.
Love,
Heart
Dear Heart,
I write about this moment in the prologue that I wrote for the 20th aniversary edition of The Alchemist. Below some of the excerpts:
“Sitting here today before this blank page, I recall a hot night in February 1988, when I sat down before another blank page.
I was gripped by anxiety, having spent the whole day postponing that moment. I had woken early and decided that I simply must read the newspaper first, as if this were a task of vital importance. I read the whole thing, even the classifieds, I who had given up my job to plunge into the “dangerous and unpredictable” world of literature. After an hour and a half spent carefully and methodically reading those printed pages, I decided that I needed to get out of the house, to try and forget all the news – which no longer frightens us because it’s always the same. I wanted to empty my head, like someone clearing out a basement, and prepare myself for the blank page waiting for me in my typewriter.
I hurried along the sea-front at Copacabana, feeling a certain nostalgia for Spain, where I had lived for a while, and where I was used to seeing the same cloudy sky and feeling the same morning heat. Around me, nature seemed to be in conflict with itself and its own elements: the sea flung itself violently upon the shore; the wind shook the few remaining palm trees; the clouds were heavy with the storms they would soon unleash on the city, causing the inevitable traffic jams. My heart was beating much too fast. I had an idea, I had a story, but I didn’t know how to begin to tell it.
I had already written one book, The Pilgrimage, the story of my walk along a pilgrimage route in the north of Spain which, at the time, was almost forgotten. To my surprise, the subject had caught the imagination of Brazilian readers, and the book had sold well; this meant I had the chance to publish another book. I needed to seize that chance; writing one book didn’t make me a writer. I had to go forward if my dream was to remain alive and the river of words was not to run dry.
I went home. My wife, Christina, said nothing. She knew that I was caught up in a storm like the one threatening to break at any moment over the city of Rio de Janeiro. Grown tired from doing nothing, I took a nap after lunch and slept a heavy, dreamless sleep. By the time I woke, it was seven o’clock in the evening. The neighbours’ televisions were already blaring and I could hear the lively sounds of families getting ready to have supper or to watch some TV programme together or perhaps talking about their day at work. Feeling somewhat guilty, I went over to my desk and sat down in front of that blank page. I promised myself that I would stay there for at least half an hour, even if I wrote nothing. I remembered a line from Fernando Pessoa: “The mirror reflects with perfect accuracy; it makes no mistakes because it does not think.”
Exactly.
“I mustn’t think. I must act now and be like the lake that simply reflects the sky.” I placed my fingers on the keyboard of my electric Olivetti (an engagement present for an engagement that failed to end in marriage).
I wanted to tell everything. I wanted to understand why I had postponed my dream for so long. Above all, I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of keeping that flame alive.
How to begin?
Silence. The noise of life outside seemed suddenly to cease in the darkness. The image of the turbulent sea came unbidden into my mind. Far off, I saw a black dot on the horizon, a boat preparing to leave, bobbing about on the waves. A man was hauling up the anchor and preparing to set off in search of adventure. He was old, but his dark blue eyes were shining. I recognised him.
Santiago.
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.
Santiago!
“The old man’s name was Santiago.” And for the rest of the book, the author never again mentions the name of the main character – or at least that is how I remember it.
I saw the first line appear on the page:
“The boy’s name was Santiago.” And in that magical moment, I knew that behind those simple words lay a book.
I would tell the story of another “I”, the story of the shepherd I had always been, even though I had never tended sheep, only dreams. He would be the mirror of my life and would reflect all the obstacles found, all the decisions and mistakes made by someone who decides one day to set off in search of a treasure.
Gradually, page by page, the life of that boy took shape. I continued working into the small hours, and the hours passed unnoticed and grew into days, and for two weeks I was aware that I was both stepping back into the past and taking a step towards the future. I was transported to Andalusia, to Tenerife; the desert wind brushed my skin; the perfume of the oasis welcomed me at night.
What a long way I have come since then! Words, ideas, memories and stories have been my stepping stones. Sitting in front of this typewritten page, I can see part of the road I often had to tread only in my imagination.
And thus the shepherd met the king and found the courage to go forward.
And thus my destiny became one with him. Just as the old man’s little boat battled against the sea and the elements, I managed to withstand the winds, the waves and the vastness of life, and all because of something I myself had written in my previous book and which I had finally understood: “The boat is safe in port, but that is not what boats were built for.”
And today, sitting before this page on which I am writing a few words to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the publication of The Alchemist, I would like to thank my readers from the bottom of my heart. The shepherd and his dream crossed frontiers, discovered new languages, traversed oceans. The shepherd who was and is me, set off in search of a treasure, knowing, at the same time, that the road travelled is as important as the destination.
The book ends with the words: “I’m coming, Fatima.” A sentence, a question, left hanging in the air. I hope he reaches his new destination, but, before he does, that he enjoys all the ports, cities, landscapes, challenges and encounters that await him on the way. Because I am walking beside him, and I hope our journey will be a long one, full of surprises and things to be learned.
Like I already said,this is the first book I have read in my return to France and it made me want to hit the road again!Then I put it on the side and few months ago,I gave it to an friend whom i haven’t heard from a long time now,so i would appreciate to read all the comments on the workshop now.I remember the story but not quite well.
Hi Paulo..Like Thelma I wish I had read this book when I was much younger…having said that reading it now, at what is a crucial time for me in my life I feel it has given me a new lease of life, the energy to really grasp my dream and have the courage to build my self-belief. When reading a book can do that for me all I can say is that it is a very very special book written by a very special man and I thank you from the bottom of my heart
with love Starlight
Dear Angela,
thank you for the warm words. But as I told Thelma – it is never too late to embark in a dream. I only embarked in mine at the age of 40!
Love
Paulo
Dear Paulo Coelho, I wish I had read the ‘Alchemist’ when I was 18 years old, but then you were just 19 years old and you were fighting with your own ‘demons’…
May God bless you for the Hope given to every human being..
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
Dear Thelma,
thank you for the comment – indeed at the age of 19 I was still trying to figure out how I would go about in life. It took me still another twenty years when I actually managed to write my first book : The Pilgrimage.
It was the moment I realized I could write that my path began.
Much love
Paulo
Some people are always torn between what they feel is good for them, and what others think would be better for them!
They could risk losing their own dreams in search of “what if others are right and I’m not!”, forgetting that there is no absolute right or wrong, it depends on why it’s right and why it may be wrong. And they might end up choosing the wrong road that people chose for them, and leave what they felt they really wanted at the beginning. They continiue to feel unhappy till they get the courage to break the barriers and cross the road.
Mr. Coehlo,
I see this book as a portal to an obvious truth many of us forget as we get bogged down by what we feel we must accomplish in our day to day lives. I have read this book multiple times and now have the great fortune of being in a position to share it with my students. When I first read the Alchemist I was fulfilling a lifelong dream of traveling and now I can make it part of my teaching, something that gives me great joy as well. I hope that this text continues to accompany me on my personal journey and continues to proves to be the strong reminder to me of what is important. Gracias por compartir este libro con nosotros.
Bea
Dear Bea,
gracias por tu comentario.
I’m glad the book lead you to travel. This is for me one of the greatest blessings of life : being able to reach out to the world. This is the true pilgrimage.
Love
Paulo
For me courage and trust are the most essential ingredients on this journey. When you are on a path that you have not been on before and no one else has the answers, it is difficult to go on especially if you fail at times. You have to have the courage to continue on and trust that you are on the right path. With those two, it might even seem effortless! The problem I find is that at any one moment, I am missing one of the two or both!
Thank you Paulo, for opening up this discussion, The Alchemist not only has been influential in my journey, but it is the most frequent gift I give my clients.
Love,
Sherry
Dear Sherry,
thank you for your heartfelt comment and for passing it on to people you know. It touches me very deeply.
It is difficult to keep both trust and courage at all times – that’s why we also need to be compassionate towards ourselves and others in times of frailty.
God has two faces : rigor and mercy. And he will always look upon our efforts with mercy as long as we are able to recognize his signs.
Love
Paulo
I have given away many copies of The Alchemist. I have even left them lying around for strangers to pick up!
Hi,
When I first read The Alchemist, I was left speechless, because I could not believe that one writer singlehandehly answered nowadays most asked question : What is the purpose of life?
People today live empty lives, pointless ones, without any joy of living! They fear of going to retirement because then they will have nothing to do!
The reason for that is people do not follow their dreams. They walk trough thinking that is the way to do it. They fear of taking chances, because they might lose what they already have, and that is why they pass by their paths of hear – their personal legends. “And when we look back, and we all do in some point of our live, we will see all the chances that we missed, and feel guilty for not taking them. The biggest mistake we can make is not taking a chance and making a mistake, but not taking the chance at all!!!”
In that sense I think everybody should read The Alchemist, because it is a real eyeopener for making your life fullfilled!
” The life is not measured by the breaths that we take, but by the moments that take our breath away!!!”
Thank You Paulo for this book
Dear Milica,
thank you for your comment. Indeed, it always mesmerizes me when people renounce their dreams for the sake of security.
It’s almost as if they thought : ‘OK, I am not taking any risks and therefore there’s no real choice involved’.
But it’s actually the opposite that happens : by renouncing our personal legend, we are choosing not to thread the narrow path and this decision is the beginning of a “drift”. We start drifting apart from our dreams, then we forget our soul (that literally dies without dreams), and ultimately we capitulate from life all together.
This book was a way for me to write about a ‘state of emergency’ : fight for your dreams so that your soul’ sparkle will not die.
Love
Paulo
cea mai fascinanta carte-alchimistul–dar oare care e adevarata comoara pe care o gaseste santiago in aceasta calatorie..este oare aurul gasit in spania sau este vorba de fatima,sau poate de piramide…santiago isi urmeaza visul si de aceea reuseste sa ajunga la comoara.dar sa presupunem ca nu ar fi gasit comoara…nu cred ca s-ar fi suparat,pentru ca pana a gasi comoara,el a strabatut lumea,a descoperit oameni,a fost vrajit de frumusetea unei fete,si a vazut alchimistul si piramidele..e adevarat,bani se pot ingropa pentru a-i face pe oameni sa-i caute,dar sentimentele nu trebuie ingropate,pentru ca nimeni nu se oboseste sa le gaseasca…http://adikady2009.blogspot.com
Before everyone gets carried away with dreams, I would like to add a note of realism.
For the vast majority of us, if we follow our dreams, the Universe will indeed be kind to us, and we will find our treasure.
But, there are many people who find their treasure in death.
These are people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Robert Kennedy, and ofcourse recently those people in Iran who lost their lives in the protests.
Following a Personal Legend can lead sometimes to death.
The treasure is LOVE, and sometimes it is found in life and sometimes it is found in death.
Either way, The Universe is good to those who dare to take the journey.
Whether the end of our journey is life, or death, we do the work of angels by following our dreams, and the VIBRATION OF LOVE INCREASES in the World because of what we have done.
As the Beatles’ song says – “All you need is Love, love is all you need” It is the beginning of the journey, and the end of the journey.
Blessings friends
Karen.xxxxxxxxxx
Dear Karen,
I agree with the idea that when we fight for our dreams that may well cost our life.
But I would not say that Martin Luther King or Gandhi found their treasure in death. They found their treasure in life!
Violence and ignorance took them away from us – but their message was always a message that wished for us to be free, to claim life.
Yes – sometimes freedom does involve the risk of death. But death is not the destination in this case, but merely a gate.
The real dream for these men was liberation, hope, joy.
Much love
Paulo
I dont remember now if it was “The Alchemist ” the first book written by you that I read, but for sure it was one of the books I read at the beginning of the way to become your fan. Maybe first I had read ” The Devil and Miss Prym”. I have to confess that I heard from a while about the famous writer, popular, Paulo Coelho. Saw his books in libraries, talks in tv, but I avoided for long time his books, as a mass phenomena, thinking might not be worthy. But in Faculty years, one of the best student mates, while I met her in Library was searching for books by Paulo Coelho. Ohhhhh, I said to myself, but that one has good taste. If she is asking for his books, she have found there something very interesting…And I tried one book. The first lines, already got my heart…I had a big surprise .I have not read anything similar. Wise thoughts mingled with lyricism, confession, fairy tale, all is so new. The strong optimism is a feature that I love in your books, and in ” The Alchemist ” you keep us worrying for Santiago till the very last end. I love the fact that the novel is ” Round”, the beginning scene has the tree as well the scene of the end. Love the frame stories, as that which shows the importance we must give to details. I dont know why, but the character Melchizedek just mesmerized me. Hope the spelling is right.
Great your use of coincidentia oppositorum, Fatima has echos in more religions. Fatima and Santiago, two symbols, that come together to prove the power of Love. I noticed that Santiago used to read, so he was a boy that searched hidden truth and wisdom. But the old man showed him that the true is not to be found inside books.
I love the dreams as signs to be read.
Well, in order no to be boring, I say now only that thing, the text seem bit to need at times some keys… Even if at a first sight may appear at simple.
” The Alchemist ” is a very inspiring story, I read it more than once …I love your words in the preface too. Your own search for truth…About your master, about Jungs theory.
So, thank you for writing it, you brought light in our lives.
P.S. I always need such , because I have moments of lack of faith, insecurity. Much love
Alexandra
Dear Alexandra,
thank you for the heartfelt comment.
When I wrote the book I was also trying to figure out my own story and persevere in my dream : to be a writer.
I always mention this book as a metaphor for my life – but coming to think about it : it was also a sort of prayer.
A prayer that I would never give up, a prayer that I would find my treasure.
Much love
Paulo
Hello
for me The Alchemist is THE greatest book it puts us in front of ourselves and of those dreams that we all have as young childrens or that came to ourselves later in ours lifes and that we don’t dare the most of the times by fear and the other reasons that you put in the introduction of the workshop even try to realize them and then you are not happy healthy and other not great things and we ask ourselves why? why? We are, for me not following ours dreams and paths.
Thank You Paulo for reminding us the important for a fullfilled life
Some people are always distracted by what they feel it’s good for them, and by other thinks it would be better for them!
They could venture loosing they own dreams, in search for “what if others are right and I’m not!”, forgetting that there is no a whole right or a full wrong, it depends on why it’s right and why it maybe wrong.
And might end up by choosing the wrong road that people chose for them, and leave what they felt at the beginning they really wants.
Dear Federico and Sylvia,
I completely agree : most of the times the greatest obstacles are the ones that we create and project unto the world. It’s always the imaginary “eye” of society that weights in our decisions and convinces most of us to abandon our dreams.
A fulfilled life is when the barometer for our actions is guided by our hearts and deepest desires, despite the fears and obstacles.
Love
Paulo
Dear Paulo, of course we do not speak about … 60!!!! But I love you so much for your kindness and optimism!!! Thank you for being there..
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
Dear Paulo…thank you…I hope you are right….I am now 61…62 in August….But I feel inspired by your words and will pursue my dream…Your words touched my heart….and helped me believe all is possible…..with love Angela
Dear Paulo, I have just read these many answers to us – your readers- here and I am in tears.. It is as if you are here and you say to us once again the story of Santiago, your story.. I feel blessed and indeed your aura and warmth and love can reach us, because you are Love and Light.
May your ‘journey be a long, long one, full of surprises and things to be leaned’ as you have wished above.. and us accompanying you with our wishes, thoughts and love.
Love always,
Thelma xxx
Dearest Paulo, wow, how magical, thank you for transporting us to your time and place and experience of The Alchemist. It’s priceless, a treasure to have experienced that with you through your writing.
Thank you for all your comments! It’s so so awesome! Please don’t stop writing, the pictures you create are so vivid, real and alive!
With love
C.
Oh, thank you Paulo! Now, I understand so much more, about how The Alchemist, was conceived. Copacabana! You were there, right at home, in your Brazilian elements. The busy city sounds outside, and you sitting there in your apartment, with your wife in her studio giving you needed silence, and that you felt the writers block, the white blank page in front of you, anxiety… You wanted to get started, but you really had no idea where it would take you. Yes, I see Hemingway, each time Santiago takes a sip of wine! I knew Santiago, the shepherd represents yourself…a shepherd tending dreams. A Divine metaphor. We love him so much. Santiago, the perfect name for the lead character. And, now I understand much more about the meaning of the meeting with King Melchizedek in your story. Did you know he is often seen as Immortal? This gives The Alchemist a whole new meaning. Immortal. The lovely shepherd boy, he found immortality for us.
I love this image, that your writing is a sort of prayer!
Dear Paulo,
You said “A fulfilled life is when the barometer for our actions is guided by our hearts and deepest desires, despite the fears and obstacles”, but what if my deepest desire is negative, like pornification, what do you mean by “deepest desire?”
Thanks.
What do you mean by “deepest desire?”
Thank you, I needed that explanation. My lack in religious knowledge is shameful. I like your strong belief in the power of love. In fact, I think the same, even if I had too many failures. Love is a power, one of the strongest.
Thank you, these lines are another story, I love that one. Your fight and struggle, the steps you took while creating your wonderful novel. Thank you
Dear Negin,
this third level of reading that you mention is also invisible to me. I feel like I was an instrument (as I feel for all my other books).
Dear Josh,
I always try to communicate with my soul through my books. Maybe this explains why others souls felt the message.
In any case it is always a magical.
Love
Paulo
Thank you for your response and your support Paulo it means a lot to me : )
Reading your words of Wisdom is like receiving lovely gift that I will treasure.
Love,
Breda
‘Fight for your dreams, so your souls sparkle will not die’ ( like the stars in the sky)on this note good night to my family of paulo Coelho bloggers :) you are truly wonderful people..
love ,
Breda
Hello Diah and Paulo,
I have also experienced this many times. The universe is quick to respond to me. I always get signs, very concrete ones too, and always I’ve become too excited or sometimes even paranoid. But having seen many sings in my lifetime, as Paulo says, that it is best to be an observer rather than to try to interfere or push the situation.
It seems that the universe is not judgmental, it provides signs for many things, good and bad. It is easier though, to consider the good signs and not the bad ones, specially since it is a thing we want, so we always look for the good signs and ignore the bad ones. Trial and error, this is a necessary step in life. Just hope soon the error parts will stop lol ;)
Nina.
I like your optimism…Why not?
Love
Alexandra
I`ve met my twin-soul -
making my body, soul & mind
explode into an amazing tornado of feelings
A love that doesn`t demand or claim anything
but being
Anyway I had to move on -
the timeing wasn`t right. He were with another
I experienced that you can`t own anyone
and thereby don`t loose anyone either
Because
love is*
Thank U Sir,
I treasure your reply, ceratinly what have u said is true, most people ( including myself also !) crave to do nothing out of fear and lethargy. Yes u made that attempt to find your place in this world and u found it.
I am much indebted to you, as are most of your readers for sharing so much with us. Hope I am able to put your teachings to good use, although it’s not easy to be a wol, it’s not easy to follow one’s dreams, but we are not here to take the easy way out.
love
aditya
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