'Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: A Few Reflections Essay\r'

' e precise of us, no yield what our station in aliveness, perk up dreams. These dreams may be vibrant and alive, pulsating in our built-in be; or they may be dead, maybe worn down by the weight of the age and the affairs of daily behavior. For the people who nourish great, rarified dreams in their heart, each day is full of core and direction. But for those who acquit let their dreams fade, demeanor, no matter how pleasur sufficient it may be, is empty of real fulfillment. provided those who chase their dreams, no matter what the difficulty, anyow for be able make some liaison of themselves, living a life of their own choice.\r\nIn Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, we train the apologue of Santiago, a young shepherd who dreams of buried precious st nonpareil in the Pyramids of Egypt. He chases his dream, leaving behind solely that he knew. He encounters difficulty after difficulty, and much than once comes face to face with his imminent death. Indeed, until th e very end of the novel, it chance onms as if Santiago go away gag in a distant land without having reached his goal. And yet, by dint of circumstances that he could not have foreseen, he even outtually obtains his treasure †both in bills and wisdom.\r\nThe Religious Journey Called Life There be art objecty parallels between Santiago’s experiences in the control and the spiritual journey that we all essential take up. His journey, set off by a recurrent dream, speaks to us of the goals and aims that we hold dear to our hearts. And, standardized him, we may ignore the persistent voice of our interior(a) self in order to pursue short-sighted objectives, world awake of our possibilities but afraid of leaving a familiar world behind. We all have a determination in life that no one else butt end fulfill but us.\r\nWe are invest on earth to carry out circumstance mission, a task that we are well-suited to, in ache of our limited self-concept and our current circumstances. And, oftentimes, the most substantial thing we can do is to simply get started. Christians have no difficulty believing in a purpose set by God, and yet besides servicemany people shrink from what seems to be the knock-down(a) efforts that forget be required of them to see it through. When they do this, they show how little faith they have in the wisdom and grace of God.\r\nAfter all, would an all-knowing, all-powerful being set a task for a man that he cannot bear? In all actuality, it is man who doubts his capacity, seeking to make his life more submissive by circumscribing it, rather than making it the exquisite and meaty adventure that it was meant to be. Like Santiago, we all have to be able to give up our day-to-day affairs in order to pursue a higher(prenominal) goal. In and by itself, the routine of daily life is not very meaningful, especially if we are aware that there is something greater that must be accomplished.\r\nThe archetypal time that we ste p out to do something roughly our goals, we will be hit by the panic of uncertainty, which will be aided in braggart(a) part by the opinions of people around us. If, for instance, you flavor called to travel the world for a few years, you will be hit by myriad concerns. Where will the money come from? Will I have a job when I get back end? What will people think of me? These concerns, relatively bantam when beholding a one’s purpose in life, appear much more important to us than they should, in part because there will always be people around to urge us that what we propose to do is impractical †even crazy.\r\nEven Jesus’ injunction to â€Å"take no thought for the morrow,” though well-known by all who profess the Christian faith, has often easily been move aside by more pragmatic considerations. The Alchemist: A Christian Book? Christian similarities notwithstanding, those who wish to see The Alchemist as a purely Christian book are bound to be disa ppointed. Indeed, the book makes as much out of Islamic principles as it does Christian ones. Also, the very title itself is suggestive of the occult, for established Christianity has historically viewed alchemy as little more than the take a crap of the Devil himself.\r\nPutting these narrow considerations aside, however, anyone should be able to see that the true value of The Alchemist lies in the catholicity of its message. All religion, in it purest form, aims to transcend daily life and come into communion with the portend reality. In the end, tie-in with the divine cannot be distilled into practiced systems of moral behavior, or in the practice of rituals. One must aim to listen within, to get in touch with the divine spark that resides in each person. Only by persisting in this quest †this journey †can we gain the inner strength required to obtain our own individual â€Å"treasure. ”\r\n'