Reflections on "The Alchemist"

This book tells of a young shepherd who at a basic level becomes dissatisfied with his place in life.  It is a tale of a journey and of a transformation.  It is a tale of treasure and personal growth.

One of the reasons as to why I think this book is loved by so many people is because of its religious undertones--Christianity is still one of the bosses of the world.  Despite its openness towards religions, the recurring theme is the desire to approach--and find--God.  But perhaps this not as bad as it looks.

Had god not been placed as the underlying factor in this book, I am quite sure the religious sector in society--which is still the majority considering that not all choose to wear this marker on their sleeves--would have merely dismissed it as a self-help book masked as fiction.  The irony here is that I've come to consider all works of fiction as self-help books.  Even the pessimist, in choosing to fall into the comforting hands of the written word, wants to feel that life has meaning.  So he reads and reads; negativity has its positive value.

The book borders on the conceptual framework of a life of complacency and that of one led with meaning.  Meaning triumphs in the end; complacency is left to die...and its epitaph says: be a hipster.  But if you read carefully into the text, silence and equanimity of mind are the main contributing factors.  God is merely the icing on the text and the problem is that most will only stop when the icing is gone.