The Author himself calls it a “magical fable about following your dream”. It really is. The terms used and incidents described in the story are quite mystical, magical. It may not be digestable for a youth living in the world of modern science. But throughout the story author has maintained a flow that makes reading it a thrilling experience. The characters that he portrays in his tale about the boy Santiago, catches our attention. Everybody has something to talk about the philosophy of life. They may seem contradictory to us on the outset but speaks on the same platform. Moreover we find ourselves in many of them.
Lot of mystical terms like ‘the elixir of life’, ‘philosophers stone’, ‘Alchemist’ etc are splendid in the story. We can read about a boy speaking to the desert, wind, sun, and the ‘hand who created them all’. The Author introduces concepts like ‘The soul of the world’, ‘language of the world’ etc. He says once our soul gets into harmony with the Soul of the world, we can understand the language of the world. We can even transform ourselves in to wind or anything we wish to. Here we smell the lavender of Indian spiritual science.
Author discusses in detail about the destiny of everything living or non-living. He emphasizes on the importance of living out ones own destiny, for which he is created. He points out four reasons which prevent a person from realizing his destiny. Those are relevant for anyone who has dreams and wants to achieve them. We can find a lot of examples in ourselves which seconds them.
Santiago had a dream of a boy telling him about a hidden treasure. He had chosen to be shepherd against his father’s wish of becoming a priest. He goes in search of the treasure selling out his folk. On the way he meets many obstracles. The way he revives from each setback he receives is amazing. It really makes the reader think what he would do if he were in the same situation. The boy meets an alchemist on his way to the treasure. An Alchemist is a saintly person who understands the soul of the world. He can transform any material to gold and live countless number of years. Actually the title role plays a supporting role to Santiago, the shepherd boy, providing him with enough guidance to reach his treasure, to live his destiny. The story goes through unexpected scenarios and the climax becomes the most thrilling one.
The book has really made a mark in the history of literature with 20Million copies sold world wide and translated into 42 languages. It is no wonder that The Alchemist is counted a publishing phenomenon.
1 comment:
Alchemy is not what the author introduces into his book. The parables of Alchemy speak about ‘The soul of the world’, ‘language of the world’. Alchemy actually is not considered to be mystical or magical, but the truth is that it is an obscure history of art, science, nature, philosophy, spirituality, chemistry, astronomy, mysticism and what not! And the “art” of Alchemy claims its origin right from the “cradle of civilization – Mesopotamia. From it is believed to have flowed through Egypt, Persia, Asia, Greece, Rome, the Muslim civilization and Europe. Alexandria is generally considered a center of early alchemy. Modern science considers it as combination of chemistry, philosophy and secret lore aimed at transmuting base metals into gold thorough the philosopher’s stone and discovering the cure for universal disease and mortality. And Alchemy has evolved through various cultures and philosophy that it is difficult to sense anything “Indian” in it in particular. Alchemy has in itself to tell the story of greed, avariciousness and graspingness. As an artifact of the early modern period, alchemy continued to exert an influence throughout the scientific revolution. Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton; both pursued alchemical programs. Alchemy received its death-warrant in the mid-17th century when Robert Boyle demolished the theory of the four ‘elements’.
Though the plot of Alchemy the author has ravishingly woven his philosophy, so that you never gets to know when Paulo’s magic interludes with the real Alchemy. The philosophy of perception of the self is the elixir that the read takes away!
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