"The Alchemist" and the Success Formula

              "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."- -These are the words that immortalizes the power of dreams and of the supreme influence that "The Alchemist" has rendered to all of its readers around the globe. Lucky enough, I got the opportunity to plunge into the magic world of "The Alchemist" after I purchased it a week ago. I already read a lot of reviews regarding the book's content before I actually got hold of it, and most of them labelled the book as "inspiring" and "life-changing". Out of curiosity and an extreme need for inspiration, I bought the book and finished the whole thing within three days. In general, the flow and the theme of the story make the book quite engaging to read, not mentioning the lessons that one will digest after reading this Paulo Coelho masterpiece. It's the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who dreamed about a treasure hidden in the Pyramids of Egypt. He was encouraged to follow his dreams by a gypsy woman and an old man who claimed to be the king of Salem, and who eventually gave him the two crystal stones , Urim and Thummim that would help him make a decision during his journey. Along the way, he was robbed of all his belongings which forced him to work for a crystal merchant for a year, where he learned the values of patience, taking risks, and of not giving up on one's dreams. After deciding to continue pursuing his dream, he met an Englishman who had been dreaming of meeting the alchemist, a 200 year-old man who has the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone , which can turn lead into gold. Someone told the Englishman that the alchemist lives within the Al-Fayoum oasis, the reason why he, together with Santiago, headed to the place through the caravan. There, Santiago met Fatima, a girl who captured his heart and almost hindered him in his journey towards the Pyramids, and the alchemist, who taught him a lot of lessons that led him towards realizing his Personal Legend. Santiago finally reached the Pyramids of Egypt and learned that his treasures can be found by going back to where he came from.
               "The Alchemist" is more of a parable rather than a serious novel that used simple, easy-to-understand writing without sacrificing the essence of its contents. Anyone will be engaged to Santiago's story because any normal person with a dream in his heart can identify to the character's frustrations, misgivings, doubts, apprehensions, pain, sacrifices, and sufferings that are natural elements that one should face if he's ready to die to achieve his dreams. We all have our own Personal Legend but most of the time, we set them aside because we fear that we don't deserve fulfilling our dreams or the path leading to it entails sacrifices that might hurt our loved ones and ourselves. However, "The Alchemist" teaches every one to take risks, focus on our dreams amidst all frustrations, and live in our present unrestrained by our past and uncontrolled by our future. It doesn't offer a complicated version of a success formula but it gives every one an opportunity to assess his/her dreams whether hidden or already realized and reminds all of us to not quit on this dreams no matter what because this is the one and only way to satisfy our souls. God gives us omens to follow which leads to our Personal Legends; It could be employment termination, rejections, death of a loved one, accidents, or any negative events that are completely devastating to a normal person but for the Supreme Creator of all things, these are the events that will help us realize the real path that we should take in our life. These are the things that the book has taught to me. Thank God, I met "The Alchemist".
              As a tribute to this life-changing masterpiece, I have listed the most unforgettable and essential quotation I encountered while reading the book. I hope anyone who will read these will somehow experience spiritual uplift like what I have experienced from "The Alchemist".






• "It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."


• "It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them."


• "At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."


• "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."


• "We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand."


• "Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now."


• "God created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees."


• If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve in the present, what comes later will also be better. 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."


• "It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil, It's what comes out of their mouths that is."


• "Wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure."


• "People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them."


• "Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."


• "Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the victor's being severely tested."


• "When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed."


• "There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."