“And what went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so?”
“They were only looking for gold,” his companion answered. “They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.”
Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a tale of a journey. It is one of those philosophical novels that skips along lightly through the philosophy as we watch Our Hero discover the Meaning of Life. Minor characters come and go, each leaving their footprints in the sand, pointing the way to Discovery. Books like this are legion; there are enough of them that they probably even have a genre name, but (alas) I have no idea what it is. It’s not exactly a bildungsroman, but it is like a cousin of that genre.
Within this Yet-To-Be-Named Genre, The Alchemist is pretty good. The story is charming. Santiago, the hero, is a Spanish shepherd, who has a dream and embarks on a journey to find his treasure at the Great Pyramids. He is a persistent lad, overcoming obstacles and finding friends with his winning manner. It is, in other words, a perfect graduation gift.
But, it isn’t the book itself that intrigues me right now. It is the story of how I came to be reading this book right now.
The Great Coronavirus Semester just ended. Before the college shutdown, I had a class in which we just read books and got together to talk about them. When everyone went home, I told the students to just read a book and send me their thoughts about it. Seemed like a good way to finish off a class which was really never anything more than that in the first place.
There was a student in the class whom I had never met before the start of the semester. Great student who obviously loved reading books and talking about them. Exactly the sort of student with whom I always enjoy conversations. She’ll do well in life. A few weeks after the shutdown, she sent me her reflections on the book she read, which was (surprise plot twist) The Alchemist.
Now this novel has been on my “I should probably get around to reading it” list forever (well, technically not “forever” since the book was only published in the early 90s). So when I saw my student had just written a long reflection on it, I figured this was as good a time as any to read it.
The student’s reflections were fascinating. The story of the novel wove right into the story of her life and it all ended on a remarkably hopeful note looking at the future with determination. This student just graduated and is off on her journey to fulfill her Personal Legend. I have high hopes for her.
But, reading the novel and thinking about what my former student wrote about the novel led, naturally enough to thinking about my own Personal Legend.
The boy didn’t know what a person’s “Personal Legend” was.
“It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.
“At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.”
So, what is mine? What is it I wanted to accomplish in life? Well, first, and presumably most obviously, build a life with the Long Suffering Wife of Your Humble Narrator and raise kids of whom we could both be proud. Check!
But then there is also this: to learn and to know and to pass on that learning and knowing to others.
My Personal Legend is to lead a life in books. But that life in books comes from interactions with my students. They inspire me to read more books and then I do everything I can to pass the inspiration back to other students.
The Alchemist turned into the metaphor of my Personal Legend. I taught a seminar that inspired a student to realize that reading books and thinking about her life was a marvelous way to live. She read this book, and wrote about how the book had become part of the warp and woof of her life. That inspired me to read the book and I realized how much the book was showing that my Personal Legend made me one of the minor characters in the lives of my students, helping them to set out on the journey of their Personal Legends. And, it is not the goal that is important, it is the journey. You can’t reach the goal of your Personal Legend without the journey of your Personal Legend.
And so, I read books. And I talk with my students about those books. And now I talk with you, Dear Reader, about these books.
At this time of Graduations, The Alchemist teaches this message: Don’t just think about the goals of your life. Don’t just want to have the gold you made. Remember that your Personal Legend is not the goal, it is the journey to the goal. That journey is happening even today. Today, you can take one step in the journey of your Personal Legend. Just one step. Not a big step. Not the overwhelming leap over the chasm that is in the way. Just one small step. The journey matters. The journey, after all, is your life.
Oy. Brace yourself…
“It’s not the destination. It’s the journey…” “There is no destination. There is only the journey…” And to quote you, “And it is not the goal that is important, it is the journey.”
Variations of this mantra? Life philosophy? can be heard in various corners, but with respect, it’s a teaching that is properly filed under “false doctrine.”
If you know the truth, you know He is a person. Some of the philosophers of the world come to know him, some don’t. And the person who declared himself to be the embodiment of the truth has emphatically declared that there is most definitely a destination and goal.
If you want to divide spiritual goals from career goals, you’ll find Jesus does not allow for that distinction. “Lead a life in books” or make tents. In any case, if you belong to to him, you are required to walk him as you sew those tents or read and teach from those books. You are to be the salt and light of the world, and that will only happen if you recognize the sacrifice that was made on your behalf, and obey the call to die to yourself in response. You are not your own, you were bought with a price. We are to die to ourselves daily and bear a yoke and a cross, which affects the way we do our jobs.
What does God require of you, O man? He gives an answer, and it’s not in The Alchemist.
What is eternal life? He gives an answer, but it’s in John 17:3, not in The Alchemist.
With respect, you don’t have a Personal Legend. You have a savior who rose from the dead, and who said he would not leave his disciples as orphans– his father would send the Holy Spirit into the world. His disciples would receive the Holy Spirit and become living temples as God himself makes his home in them.
There is an upcoming wedding of the Lamb. Before that, there is the judgment.
Everyone, no matter their vocation on earth, is going to find themselves dressed appropriately for the wedding in clothes of righteousness provided for them by the Bridegroom, or is going to find themselves without proper attire at the event that is proclaimed by Jesus to be the culmination of the ages.
Our lives have an ending. Time has an ending. There is definitely a goal and destination.
Our journey of getting there is supposed to involve a relationship of abiding in Him such that our lives as tent makers or book readers bear much fruit for Him.
Respectfully, I encourage you to revise your goal, your methodology in your journey, and what you are teaching your students about both.
Not so respectfully, The Alchemist is ear-tickling claptrap that appeals to the self-actualization and self-exaltation drive of the sinful nature. If you’re looking for inspiration and guidance for life, look to Jesus. Your creator is your destination. You were created in His image. It is up to you whether or not you respond to his invitation to become his child and are able to call him your Heavenly Father.