‘The Alchemist’: We All Have a ‘Personal Legend’
Paulo Coelho invites us to be brave and walk the path of our highest excitement
There’s a reason why Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist is one of the world’s best-selling novels. You know a book is speaking to your soul when you feel a lump of joy forming in your stomach, ready to burst out through a silent sob at any moment.
That’s what I was feeling when I was reading The Alchemist.
A Classic Example of ‘The Hero’s Journey’
There are a few sentences in the foreword of the 25th Anniversary edition which form a good summary of the story:
“A man sets out on a journey, dreaming of a beautiful or magical place, in pursuit of some unknown treasure. At the end of his journey, the man realizes the treasure was with him the entire time.”
This goes along with the concept of ‘The Hero’s Journey’, an idea by Joseph Campbell, an American professor of literature. It came from observing the common theme in myths and legends, about how the protagonist will generally move through stages of inner transformation on his quest to arrive at a certain goal or destination. This would usually happen through realising a problem and surmounting obstacles along the road to an idealised…
