“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 second of the search is an encounter with God,” the boy told his heart. “When I have been truly searching for my treasure, every day has been luminous, because I’ve known that every hour was a part of the dream that I would find it. When I have been truly searching for my treasure, I’ve discovered things along the way that I never would have seen had I not had the courage to try things that seemed impossible for a shepherd to achieve.”
So his heart was quiet for an entire afternoon. “Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him,” his heart said. “We, people’s hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them—the path to their destinies, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out indeed, to be threatening place.
“So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won’t be heard: we don’t want people to suffer because they don’t follow their hearts.”
From “The Alchemist”
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, is a touching story which affects the reader's lives, and allows each person to reflect on their own personal journey. Santiago, a small town shepherd boy, works and leads his heard of sheep in Spain routinely but as always dreamt of traveling; one day he comes across a King who encourages him to find a treasure hidden in the faraway pyramids of Egypt. From the mountains in Andalusia to the pyramids in Egypt the young boy discovers that the adventure is not in finding the treasure, but the experiences that get him there. By depicting an ordinary boy who seems limited, the author creates an encouraging tale which enables the reader to feel a connection to the character; everyone is able to follow their dreams.
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