Dreams

The Alchemist – my first Paula Coelho book. When I picked up the book initially, the first few pages didn’t really interest me and so I put it away. I’m so used to reading thrillers and mysteries that I expect the story to start in the first page itself. It was only a while later – actually a few days later when I was bored and had nothing else to read that I picked up the book again. This time, I started off with the introduction, something which I don’t usually read. But it was precisely this part of the book which rekindled my interest in the story.

The alchemist is a story about a shepherd’s dream. In writing about how the shepherd goes forth to pursue his dream, the author puts across the message about the importance of living for one’s dreams. The shepherd’s dream is to find a treasure which is hidden in the Pyramids of Egypt. Seems very unrealistic (even in the context of the story itself) , and in certain ways unnecessary as well, for he could have gone on with his life, married the love of his life and lived happily instead of embarking on this journey which could prove very well to be a futile trip and could cost him his life even. However, eventually he chooses to believe in his dreams and goes for what he wants. This was not an instantaneous decision. It was made after he crossed many hurdles and many a time, he was on the verge of giving up on his dream.
The story brought about many points to ponder. A lot of us do not even realize what we want in life and among the few who do know what we want, we are held back by a lot of reasons – family, friends, work, society etc. The list is never ending in a way. And sometimes, it just can’t be helped, or so we think. Commitments at home, at work hold us up and we push the pursuit of our dreams to a later date, only to realize that by the time we find the time to go for our goals, it’s too late. Now, if the decision to embark on the journey is hard as it is, the journey itself proves to be no less challenging. Failures hold us back when we are so close to realizing our goals. Very few pick up the pieces from these failures and go forth to accomplish what they set out to do. It is however not an easy task by any means. Not only do they have to live with the impact of the failure, they also have to deal with the day to day consequences of that failure. It is in fact, these people who can truly take pride in their success when they eventually do.

Finally, the four obstacles to achieving one’s dreams (generally true I guess even though I don’t quite agree with everything that he says) – In Coelho’s words:

1. “We are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea and as the years accumulate so too do the layers of prejudice, fear and guilt.”

2.“Love – We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. … We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey.”

3. “Fear of the defeats we will meet on the path”

4. “Fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives – The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt. We look around at all those who have failed to get what they want and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either”

“Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny.” - unknown