The Grand Master of Life

Paulo Coelho has clearly a simplistic writing style yet his way of sucking a reader into the world of his characters. The Alchemist has made it into the international bestseller list and is hailed by many as a truly inspiring read. I say it somehow is, but it has a concept that we all know. The concept of following your so-called personal legend is the general theme of the book, which means that you should follow what you have dreamt of. The Alchemist revolves around the character of a Sheppard named Santiago. One day he goes to a gypsy fortune teller to have his dream of a treasure near the pyramids analyzed. She tells him to pursue his quest and suddenly the course of things start to unfold. He travels from Andalusia to Egypt and during this time becomes rich, a tribesman and falls in love. Nevertheless he followed his original purpose which was the treasure. The book tries to teach you to follow your heart and your dream, for each dream has big obstacles and distractions which you have to overcome. People often describe this book as life-changing, but the change only comes when you also pursue your dream. This book merely serves as inspiration, but a truly good one.

Excerpt from the Alchemist:
“You are wise, because you observe everything from a distance,” the boy said. “But you don’t know about love. If there hadn’t been a sixth day, man would not exist; copper would always be just copper, and lead just lead. It’s true that everything has its Personal Legend, but one day that Personal Legend will be realized. So each thing has to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new Personal Legend, until, someday, the Soul of the World becomes one thing only.”
The sun thought about that, and decided to shine more brightly. The wind, which was enjoying the conversation, started to blow with greater force, so that the sun would not blind the boy.
“This is why alchemy exists,” the boy said. “So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has not further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold.
“That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
“Well, why did you say that I don’t know about love?” the sun asked the boy.
“Because it’s not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it’s not love to see everything from a distance, like you do. Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World. When I first reached through to it, I thought the Soul of the World was perfect. But later, I could see that it was like other aspects of creation, and had its own passions and wars. It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse. And that’s where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.”