"The wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom. That's what I mean by action."
-The Alchemist, page 127.
One of the interesting paradoxes in the book was when the boy met the merchant, and the merchant brings up that he would rather keep the his dream of traveling to Mecca alive, rather than realize this dream. This caused me to reflect on many of my dreams. Sometimes, I feel like I am the merchant, who wanted to hold onto the dream rather than fulfill it. I will say there is something satisfying in fulfilling dreams, such as when I served a mission, graduated college, wrote my first play, etc. However, sometimes, it's good to have a few dreams that have not yet been realized, because often those dreams give us hope and encouragement and something to latch onto in times of trial. Also, sometimes when we attempt to realize our dreams, reality disrupts the envisioned endeavor.
That being said, when we seek after our dreams, or our own "Personal Legends," even if things don't end up how we expect, we still learn. We still grow. We still gain wisdom. There is comfort in seeking a dream, because sometimes your reality becomes better than any concocted fantasy or dream. I remember a line from the movie 500 days of summer where the character said something to the effect: My girlfriend is better than any dream girl... because she is real. Reality will often be different than our dreams. Even though we may accomplish what we want, our experiences that helped form and shape us to reach that point may not always be what we expect. And that is what makes the search for our dreams such an intrigue. For now, I am somewhat shamefully content dreaming about the movie I've been dying to write, or the voice lessons I've been planning on taking. However, when you try and reach that dream, whatever it may be, I have often found the joy is not in the attaining of the dream- heck, many times we fail, and the triumph comes from learning from the failures. For me, the joy is in the journey. (yeah, I know, I can't help but to weave EFY themes into my blogging).
If there is one ultimate thing I gathered from this book, it's the importance of perceiving your present situation and understanding the importance of each experience that comes your way. The shepherd boy recognized how the desert speaks to him, he tries to interpret the omens, he reflects on why he has had to deal with each trial or situation. He lives in the present, while looking forward to the future. In attempting to understand where we are at, we can better prepare ourselves and our minds for where we want to go.
"Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity."
-The Alchemist
I also love the idea that when you are supposed to attain something in life, (your "personal legend") and you do all you can to attain that goal, that the universe "conspires" to help you achieve that goal. It is an interesting thought on how we can maximize our potential. Work is required, but help is on the way.
Finally, I love this quote:
"We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions or property. But this fear evaporates when we understand our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand." (76).
How true that is, indeed.
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