Takeaway from 'The Alchemist'

This week, I listened to ‘The Alchemist’. It’s the tale of a young shepherd who goes on to pursue his “personal legend” of finding treasure near the pyramids of Egypt.

The story is feel-good and memorable, and ends with a meaningful lesson. To summarize its whole idea in one sentence, the story is the personification of following your heart.

What does that mean? Well, let me explain.

Throughout his journey, the shepherd meets various characters who directly or indirectly push him towards the treasure. The idea of the treasure itself is seeded in his mind by a gypsy woman. A king convinces him to sell his sheep and sail to Africa. A crystal merchant shows him what it would mean to not pursue this journey. And when he wants to settle down in the desert with his newfound lover, the boy meets the alchemist who talks him into finishing his personal legend and takes him to Egypt.

These characters are nothing but the personified versions of the subtle messages that our hearts convey. When we are on the path to pursue our dream, we often get distracted. For the boy, it was the fear of losing a comfortable life or his newfound love for a woman. That’s when someone came along and pushed him back on track. This is what our hearts do from time to time. The problem is that we don’t listen.

The idea becomes pretty evident towards the ending. Spoilers ahead!

When our hero finally reaches the pyramids, he does not find the treasure. Instead, he’s beaten by some war refugees for money. One of them makes fun of him for following his stupid dream and says that he too had dreamt of a treasure lying in a Spanish church. He too had had people trying to push him towards the treasure. But he wasn’t foolish enough to follow.

For the shepherd, the refugee was also a signal pointing towards the treasure because by this point in time, he had learnt to listen to his heart. So he went back to Spain, dug the church and found his treasure.

All you gotta do is to listen and follow along.

This was one of my personal takeaways from the story. I’d highly recommend you to read the book and draw your own.

Good night,
Aachman