Wednesday, October 27, 2004

The Ultimate question

As I mentioned some time back about the trainer for Team Working course and what an overachiever he was. And just completed "The Alchemist". The book speaks passionately about destiny and how the whole world conspires to fulfill our destinies, if we set out to achieve them. The two-The Trainer and The Alchemist, set me thinking if I was born to live a life that I am living now or if I am destined to do something bigger. I dont see myself as a bearer of a revolution, having impact on millions or even a thousand lives. So, whatever, I do as an ultimate goal in life, may be special, but in a small way. I have some strong beliefs about a few things and one of these, I would like to espouse, take it up as a means of livelihood, even if its just survival. Right now, I am happy with this job, this life. Just for now.

Anyway, back to the book. Though, it took the fable route to talk about the lessons of life - pursuit of destiny, the journey to achieve it, adaptablity along the journey, ability to listen to your heart and then on, to the soul of the world- it didnt completely enthrall me. Looking at the reviews and the recommendations on the top and inner cover, I was expecting to be enthralled. At some places, I thought Paulo Coelho was just trying desperately to fatten the simple story line. Also, though the story is literally magical, it remains far from so, figuratively. It could be because it was not originally written in English and some essense or mysticism is lost in
translation from Portugese to English. Anyway, it remains a great book, from which one can truly learn many truths that would make our lives immensely worthwhile. I would also recommend, the extremely popular and powerful "Who moved my cheese" by Spencer Johnson for lessons on adaptability and change-readiness.

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