Below you will find a link to Coelho's blog:
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2009/06/22/workshop-the-alchemist/
I would like you to respond to the question he poses or build off of someone else's thoughts.
Let me know if you have any questions--again, please post your entries both on our Blog and on Coelho's.
Many thanks,
AK
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9 comments:
(I am not posting this on his...)
I just read about ten of the responses to Coelho's blog. The people worship him. I agree that he writes what we want to hear (although I would much rather hear reality, it's much more refreshing), but people don't see that he is merely the writer--the middleman between them and that which they want to hear. I think that everyone has it in their heads that we can succeed if we persistently pursue our Personal Legends, despite the obstacles that we meet. While that belief dwells within all of us, people still feel the need to worship the messenger. I don't dislike Coelho, nor do I oppose God (even though it probably seemed that way on Friday...), but I think that people are idiots sometimes. Why do we feel the need to praise the people who tell us what we already know?
Is that too harsh?
Then again, I just read one that said, "You spoke things that I long kept inside of me." So maybe we actually need the messenger.
Crap. Why the hell do I always contradict myself.
So much for this post...
Like Molly, I'd rather not post this one on his, because I'm just going to build off Molly's thoughts for right now.
I saw one comment that said, "For me the book has a lot of Truth in it. (with a Capital T)."
I think that's the problem I'm having with this book. Yes, the things he writes are irrefutably honest, in a sort of spiritual way. But...they're not really his ideas, are they? He puts them really nicely, and every so often he'll write something that I htink, 'Oh, wow, hadn't thought of that!' But for the most part, I'm torn. I can't tell what's genuine and what's regurgitated . I know he's popular, of course he's popular, writing these things that, as Molly put it, "we want to hear." He couldn't be anything but. I just don't know if he deserves the credit.
But then again, perhaps there's some brilliance in being able to write about these ideas we all have. Again, like Molly, I'm not sure what to make of him or the book at the end of this post. Those have just been my thoughts along the way and I wanted to get them off my chest.
Would it be okay to put off commenting on his blog till I've finished the book? I feel a little bad passing judgment when I'm just over halfway...
A reply to Towey and Jo--kind of, sort of...
I like Coelho, but I really dig David Foster Wallace--he is my friend, he is my lost long brother, he is the father I should have had, but he is the creator of the words I worship.
He writes about truth--here is a little sample:
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day,” Wallace says.
But the speech also betrays Wallace’s inner torment, his heart bursting with emotion, his head roiling with anguish. It betrays a man who so cared for other people, who so thoroughly grasped life’s simultaneous joy and desolation, beauty and burden that, horrified by this knowledge, he took his own life.
“The capital-T Truth is about life before death,” he says. “It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head.”
I wonder if David is dead--how might he also be alive? Those are good questions, but I do know he helps me through this desert that is my mind--that is my heart.
A Truthful rainy day blog:
Perusing Coelho’s blog I am most astounded by the number of people who are posting in English even though it is clearly not their first language. Universal language has been a reoccurring idea in The Alchemist and Coelho seems to have transcended the communication barriers within the written word, as his book has been published in many languages and the poignancy of the novel does not seem to have been lost in translation. For all its simplicity and familiarity, The Alchemist seems to inspire all kinds of people. Coelho has crafted a novel that applies to everyone: the people who are not living an adventure, and need someone to tell them to go out and find that personal legend of theirs, and also the people who have defied everyone to do what they want and love the approval and sense of righteousness this novel allows them. People who think as well as people who act have a desire to find their personal legend, and reach the happy ending we all covet. Though I don’t identify with all of the themes in The Alchemist, I admire Coelho’s skill in using alchemy, the art of separation, as a tool of unification.
The ideas of fate, destiny, and maktub have the power to give fresh light to a situation that seems to have gone all wrong. For Santiago, these larger forces conspire together to assist him on his journey, but what about people who have their doubts about such forces? If I don’t believe in destiny, but it does in fact exist, is my life still guided by it? This thought is burdensome for me because destiny makes me feel claustrophobic and boxed in. The idea of destiny is similar to walking through a maze, a path already mapped out with right ways, wrong ways, and a predetermined exit. I understand why this is comforting for so many people because it justifies the wrong turns and ensures that where you end up is where you were meant to be. Something inside my head, or perhaps my gut, makes me prefer to walk along in an abyss, figuring it out on my own and accepting that there are perhaps no simple answers, but all the while telling myself that, “This is okay. This is chaos and randomness and things are uncertain, but this is okay. This is reality.” Living without destiny is overwhelming and presents problems, but I feel as though I have the option to work through those issues. For me destiny does not feel honest or believable; to trust in it would be like living surrounded by unconquerable walls. As it is, when I look at a wall I know I have the power to change it. With effort and patience I can eventually bend it to my will.
Staring at a blank wall it seems simple and clean at first. The only thing that varies is the way the light hits the almost imperceptibly textured surface as the day passes from morning to afternoon to night. If I look a little longer the unevenness of the paint begins to move, or maybe it’s my own thoughts that can’t be still…I’m not sure. Regardless, lists begin to form there in front of me. Bits of conversations play as the background, and memories from minutes, hours, years ago begin to intrude, complicating the entanglement of thoughts presently forming behind my eyes and projecting themselves onto my wall. In that moment the wall ceases to be just a just a barrier, it becomes the canvas on which my consciousness and the contents of my mental abyss are painted and written and splattered—an honest, self-created mess I must sort through. Maybe if I have no confidence in pre-determined endings, I’ll never find an ending.
Instead I will figure it out little by little, and it’s an ongoing process that will continually bring me the same satisfaction that Santiago felt when he completed his journey. My personal legend is not a destination, but rather a process of self discovery. I don’t believe the Alchemist is exactly my story, but there are parallels.
There, on my wall, it is written.
It is written because my experiences, my thoughts, my feelings, conspired to write it there.
For starters: In the short space between Friday's class and today, the clarity of thought I had been developing was already beginning to unravel. However, reading Kate's post, saturated with insight as it is, has helped me to get a handle on my own thoughts. So, thank you for that.
Destiny. It is a concept that simultaneously justifies our defeats and robs us of our victories. It comforts us by telling us that it couldn't have been any other way, and that our best was good enough. Most importantly, it implies a special relationship between humankind and the universe. This "special relationship" that many believe in comes in different shapes and sizes. God is one example, but destiny and fate are two other common ones. Coelho is constantly reminding us "that the Universe is conspiring in our favor." This is that same lie. A comforting lie, and probably the first lie ever told. It is the lie that people love to hear. It's also worth noting that it is the lie that brings people flocking to Coelho.
I like the idea of fulfilling my Personal Legend. However, I won't know what my Personal Legend is until I'm finished. Coelho speaks about it as such a definite, tangible thing; make it across this desert, okay good. You've won at being a person. Really? You're done after the pyramids? As a matter of fact, who chose for the pyramids to be Santiago's Personal Legend? Who chose for Coelho to be a writer? Maybe writing was supposed to be one of those walls Coelho had to resist on his path to becoming the Pope or a famous film director or something. If that is so, doesn't that mean his current state of contentedness is misguided? Then again, who am I to tell him that?
Coelho helps people, he gives them hope, he inspires them to do great things. However, he also builds walls around them. The concept of the Personal Legend, as he defines it, is limiting and judgmental; either you've made it, you're en route, or you're weak. As he describes life, it is a maze, rather than a labyrinth. Kate described it well in her entry, say it's "similar to walking through a maze, a path already mapped out with right ways, wrong ways, and a predetermined exit." That sounds like such a terrible way to live. I know for certain that I'm going to take some wrong turns in my life. As I see it, mistakes are unavoidable, unless you stick to the boring path that most other people do. But that wouldn't be following my Personal Legend. What if my Personal Legend is a work in process? What if I choose to change all the time, discovering new things and learning lessons that change my Personal Legend? Maybe we could BE our Personal Legends, rather than putting them on the horizon as the big goal in our lives. Unfortunately, Coelho has built a wall around us that says that's not how it works. Destiny is a Destination, and is not a state of being. I reject this. Paulo Coelho, if you seek meaningful lives for your readers, if you seek conscious and purposeful existence, give up the lie. Mr. Coelho, tear down this wall!
I just wanted to say I just finished reading Kate and Dan's blogs and I realized that perhaps our gurus are not people who have "achieved their Personal Legends." Perhaps they are their Personal Legends, as Dan suggests. The wisdom I have gained from the thoughts these two have shared in just a few paragraphs is greater, by far, than anything Coelho might have convinced me of. Kate and Dan, thank you for being your Personal Legends.
I have to agree with Rose and Jim when they point out that Santiago’s journey follows the hero journey by the book. I, too, wish that I could say that Santiago is not a hero… After all, all he does is follow his Personal Legend, and that is expected of each of us. I mean, if I had an old king give me some rocks, I’d probably be a “hero” too.
Santiago is a hero to many because he finds and moves for his destiny. Other people have touched on the idea, or maybe misguided idea, of destiny. Daniel describes it as, “a concept that simultaneously justifies our defeats and robs us of our victories. It comforts us by telling us that it couldn't have been any other way, and that our best was good enough.” Does this sound courageous? No. If you follow the path to your destiny, and let omens make your decisions for you, you will never own up to your mistakes or take credit for the choices in your life. To me, a hero must be courageous. And courageous because they are unapologetically themselves. They may not always make the “right” choices, or do what others expect of them, but they take ownership of their actions. (Maybe this is why it was established that I am a fan of the antihero.) And so in this way, I do not agree that Santiago is a hero, or that anyone who follows the hero journey is automatically so.
In fact, I respected Santiago a lot more when we first met him. He was following the path that he chose of his own free will. Although he had attended seminary and his parents wished him to become a priest, he knew he wanted to travel, and so he became a shepherd instead. To know what you want and go for it because you choose to is so different from going the path that God has blessed you with. Also, Santiago already defied the expectations of others in his choice to become a shepherd. He didn’t need the king to point out to him the importance of being himself, he already knew that. Most importantly, Santiago was more than content. He was happy. I’m not saying that he would continue to be happy for the rest of his life as a shepherd, but I had faith in him that he could choose whenever he wished to be something else. This loss of free will under the influence of the king and the alchemist really is a tragedy. They have stripped Santiago of his ability to choose, brainwashing him with the idea of omens and the pressure of the Soul of the World on him to bend to its greater will.
The concept of destiny is comforting… Kate understands it as, “[destiny] justifies the wrong turns and ensures that where you end up is where you were meant to be.” But I can’t give up my free will for that… I would rather have personal regrets and accomplishments than a sense of duty to a greater “good.” I guess I’m not a hero… or maybe I am the hero and Santiago isn’t.
I do not agree with everything Coelho is saying in his blog, especially his obstacles. I really have no idea what he is talking about, when he is speaking of the first of these. He says that we are told from our childhood that everything you want to do in life is impossible. I could not disagree more. As children, we are told that we can be whatever we want to be, no matter how distant these dreams may be. I am really not sure what Coelho could have been thinking when he wrote this. He must have been deprived as a child, and his parents must have got this idea that you can’t be what you want to. This makes it even crazier, because he usually writes how you should be what you want to be and that you can do anything you put you mind to. I just don’t get it.
I do agree however with Coelho’s second obstacle that says we are afraid of hurting those that are close to us in order to find true love. I will stop ripping him for a moment and praise him for the time being. This obstacle really makes sense to me. Especially when he says those who are very close to you, will understand, and only help you achieve, or find love. This is how you can find who you can really trust, and who is there for the wrong reasons. I truly believe in this, and that the truth come out when you hit adversity. I also agree with his third obstacle, the fact that people are afraid of chasing their Personal Legend because they fear some of the defeats they will have along the way. There are always going to be bumps along the road, especially those that are difficult to achieve, and you just have to fight through them and keep on grinding. Defeats may or may not be necessary, but the fact is that they will happen, and you must confront them. This is a great point, as he also says, “Do not live with the excuse, I didn’t want it anyways.” If you truly don’t want it that is one thing, but deep down if your soul is saying yes, you have no option but to chase your dream. I really do like this point.
I understand, and agree with his forth obstacle, the fear of realizing the dream that we have devoted our lives to. I’m not sure if he means achieving this goal, and realizing that it is not as great as it seemed, or realizing before you get there that it may not be great, but nonetheless it works. Spending the better part of you life chasing a dream, and then you realize that this dream is nothing special, and does not satisfy you? Now that would be heart breaking. This is similar to what the crystal merchant thought as he did not want to go to Mecca, but only imagine the experience. I think this would be devastating to a person, and overcoming this obstacle would be no easy task.
Thank you,
Shaun Millerick
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