The Alchemist
(Paulo Coelho)
THE ALCHEMISTA ReviewAuthor: Mr Paulo CoelhoFirst Published by: Editora Rocco Ltd 1988English Edition Published by: Harper Collins India 1998Review based on 35th impression 2006Website: www.harpercollins.co.uk/coelhoThis fable is being told from the perspective of the Andalusian shepherd boy, Santiago. The pivotal to the fable are Santiago and the Alchemist. The search is of the soul juxtaposed to the desert where one may get hallucinated. When one searches for the soul within oneself, one tends to get hallucinations. The desert in this case is only a metaphor.Alchemist, who is more than 200 years old, is similar to a sage who help the common person to look for the soul within them. Alchemy is a medieval form of chemistry to turn other metals into gold. Here realization of the self is synonymous to deriving gold from other metals.Similar to our Alchemist, there were Sithars in Tamil Nadu (India) who wrote their wisdom in a poetic manner. These Sithars also live for nearly 400 years They have also written about make gold from other metals. Again it is about realizing the self of the soul. Here Coelho has put it in a fable form.Coelho has set the pyramid as the target i.e. soul. While one is asked to listen to the heart, the other asks one to interpret the dreams in conjunction with the omens. In other words one has to utilize both the heart and the mind to realize the self the soul. In the realization of the self, the path is strewn by sands, dangers and pitfalls. The sand is the desert, the dangers are the tribal wars and the pitfall is the spot where Santiago was digging to find the treasure. Here the Alchemist stands by Santiago and lead him to the right path.Fatima, with whom Santiago falls in love, is a desert bloom. In the quest for the search of the soul, emotions well up in the heart and diverts the attention. Here the Alchemist guides you to forget what has been left behind.In a nutshell, Coelho teaches to learn to realize the self the soul. He is the Alchemist. Other interpretations are from the individuals points of view. To many this fable has helped in different ways. This book is worth reading.Rangs.
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