The Alchemist

The Alchemist is probably one of those books you’re supposed to read when you first start reading. It’s one of those books everyone seems to know, everyone recommends, and somehow, I managed to keep postponing. I knew it was a bestseller but never actually read it….until recently.

I was on a train when a woman came walking through the compartments selling books. I don’t know why, but I’ve always liked these little moments. The feeling that something has arrived in front of you at exactly the right time. I asked her what books she had, looked through the collection, and there it was: The Alchemist. I thought, Okay. This is my omen. 

The story is, on the surface, about a shepherd searching for treasure. I won’t give away the story because I think this is a book you should experience rather than have explained to you. I found myself relating a lot to the shepherd, perhaps because I travel so much moving from one place to another, collecting little stories, meeting strangers, crossing unfamiliar places, and constantly finding myself somewhere I never quite expected to be.

But underneath that story, The Alchemist is really about something much more familiar: that strange intuition we carry within us. The feeling in your gut when you know something is right. The feeling in your bones when you know something is wrong. The way your heart sometimes says something completely different from what your mind is saying. 

And how often we ignore all of it. We live such busy lives that we forget how deeply connected we actually are to everything around us. Nature, other people, animals, our own bodies, instincts, circadian rhythms, metaphysical spiritual realm. This book puts words to these otherwise unsaid things. There are emotions that don’t need translation. For example, fear doesn’t need a language. Humans and animals feel it alike. Love doesn’t need one either. Sometimes you simply have to look into someone’s eyes and you know.

And then there is its biggest idea…that when you truly want something, the universe moves to rig everything in your favor! I genuinely believe manifestation works not as some magic shortcut, but in the sense that once you truly ask for something, something inside you changes. You start noticing things, taking chances, recognizing opportunities that you would otherwise have walked past. You begin following the omens you might once have dismissed.

Ask, It’ll be given.

Knock. The door will be opened.

Seek. You’ll find.  

Leap. The net appears. 

Probably the biggest reason The Alchemist resonated with me is because it gives language to something I’ve felt for a long time: that even when life hurts, even when you don’t understand where you’re going, there is something strangely beautiful about continuing to move. The universe may not always give you what you want in the way you imagined. But sometimes, it holds your hand, pushes you, breaks something open. And you realize being lost was actually part of the journey.

There were so many lines I underlined in this book:

“We are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life.”

“We suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there waiting for us, perhaps the very next day.”

“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”

“You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love.” 

“If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil, and one can always come back. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your return.”

“When your heart feels agitated, that’s good. Your heart is alive. Naturally, it’s afraid that in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you have won. Well then why should I listen to my heart? Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet.”

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck, and every search ends with the victor being severely tested.”

“The darkest hour of the night came just before dawn.”

“The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.”

“Your eyes show the strength of your soul.“

“Don’t be too humble and say something is too much. Life might be listening and give you less the next time.“

“Every second of search is an encounter with God and eternity.” 

When the shepherd traveled through unfamiliar places, I kept thinking about my own travels, things that could have gone differently, moments when something seemed to pull me away from danger or towards exactly where I needed to be. Sometimes it felt like God. Sometimes it felt like the universe. Or it was a person who appeared at exactly the right moment. I don’t know what we can call that. But I know what it feels like.

People sometimes ask me, “Why do you believe in God?”

And my answer has always been very simple: “If you’ve seen the darkest places I’ve been to, and where I’ve been lifted from, you wouldn’t be asking me that question.”

So, if you’ve never read the book, read it. And if you’ve read it years ago, perhaps read it again. Because maybe the book didn’t change, but you did. And sometimes, you meet the same story at a completely different point in your life and suddenly, it feels like it was written for you.