What Could Be

So im reading Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" every night for the past 2 weeks now. At around 2am i'll lumber myself up the stairs, into that bed and turn on the reading lamp on the window sill. The yellowy glow across the room and the bookcase is pretty soothing and sets the mood for quiet and peaceful reading. So I began reading and was surprised - it's not really a tale set to woo you with its descriptive depth with plenty of adjectives describing everything in the environment, instead its more a book that tries to do that for the human soul: the descriptiveness comes from talking about the internal struggle of fulfilling dreams and our journeys through life that may or may not let us fulfil those dreams.

One of things about the book I don't really connect with is the whole idea of "follow your heart and you will get the answers". No doubt that's true to some extent, but I think it kind of forgets everyone else in the world and their actions which may have some effect on you. However, Coelho tries to answer that with the use of "The Desert". I think the desert while is supposed to show the power of nature, its there to show the reality of the world - People are fighting in a war and being naive enough to just follow your heart will get you killed. It's the balance of understanding people and your own heart. I think the book really describes the dichotomy between the heart and minds of people and what makes us so different to other species on this planet. Our rationality dictates we can only proceed in certain ways whereas our heart wants and desires that which may seem improbable or impossible to achieve. You know, I kinda like that idea that it explores, because we as humans try hard to seperate the two and try to find ourselves more rational answers to our lives and then explode out with our hearts without really merging the two too much. I guess that's what passion and professional behaviour is; its interesting nonetheless. 

One of the ideas that i really like is the concept of following the "omens". I believe in the world there are signs that if we look at can lead or direct us. It's all based on perception and some individuals may say that one interpreted thing may be absurd but for some it could be a sign to move in a certain way or do a certain thing. Afterall "everything happens for a reason" and i believe those signs really explain the reason behind why certain things work they do, why lives are lived in certain ways because of certain events. To the more rational part of the human that seems implausible because its not a tangible thing, but sometimes we have to trust that which is beyond our senses.

Anyways, from being rather sceptical about the book, im starting to love it now and see why its very popular. I don't believe following your heart will necessarily show your destiny but i think it'll move you and challenge you in ways you wouldn't think were possible of yourself and i think that alone is worth the trip. The book is really a tale of finding your own personal destiny and finding what is worth it for yourself. In some ways its what Aristotle said about "the golden mean" and having an ultimate purpose in life. I think people's aspirations change throughout their lives, but i think alot of the time thats because they never take the chances that maybe available to them and begin to really doubt they can really achieve their end goals. I do highlight "maybe" because sometimes we don't get those chances. To find ourselves though, that involves taking part in the world and not musing constantly - you need to put practice to the theory before you can drive :P.

If anything, i definitely recommend the book; a bit hard to adjust to if you enjoy more complexy in the writing style and slightly idealistic but enjoyable and engaging nonetheless. Its really like a theological interpretation of Aristotle's Golden Mean to be simple but with more of a religious element to it.

Good book read it :).