The Alchemist / 追梦- 奇幻之旅

@travelgirl shared a post about how to DIY Swarovski earing few days ago, I left a comment and said "too bad that I am allergic to metal as otherwise I would want to try". I received a comment from @nationalpark on that, he asked me if I am allergic to gold. He said someone said she is allergic to metal except gold, so he teased her and said she could be a "touchstone"- in Chinese, the "touchstone" means something that you can use to justify if gold is real or fake. Sometimes you just don't know how body reacts to these things, it's really amazing. But coincidently, I am just like his friend, I am also not allergic to gold. I guess i can be a touch-stone too. :)

OK, enough for joke. But his comments did remind me of a book that I read a while ago. It was recommended to me by my husband. It's "The Alchemist" by Brazilian author called Paulo Coelho. I read the English version, not sure if there is Chinese translation. Even though there was strong spiritual in this book, there are quite a bit of "chicken soup" type of message in it. People had quite controversial reviews. Some really like it, some don't, just like any other books.

For me, I think it's a good book, at least for people whom are relentlessly pursuing their dreams. The book is about a Spanish Shepherd chasing his personal legend and true self. With guidance of a Gypsy fortune teller and an old king, the shepherd sold his sheep and left his country to travel to Egypt to find a treasure. The book introduces the idea of personal legend, which is what you have always wanted to accomplish, and when you follow your hearts and really want something, the whole universe will conspire in helping you to achieve it. This is the core theme of the book.

On the road to find treasure and personal legend, the shepherd was conceived by a young kid and lost all his coins. It happened when he just left his country and came to the first stop where he didn't understand the language at all. He mistakenly believed in the "kindness" of the swindler and disregarded the kind reminder of an ugly bar tender. He lost everything to the fraud.

in reality, similar cases happen all the time. People tend to believe in good looking people. It can cloud our judgement. We should not allow ourselves to judge people by their appearance. Most scammers are either in good looking or flatter, and know what to say to please people. Under their nice appearance, there are ulterior motives. Let's all open up our eyes and be more cautious in our life. Try to learn how to distinguish bad from good and don't be fooled by appearance.

The shepherd lost all his coins and had to stop chasing for his dream. He worked at a crystal shop, where he helped to turn the business around. But the expansion of the business didn't make the owner of the crystal shop happy. He didn't want to expand the business too much. If he could choose at this point, he may prefer the status quo as he was in. He was forced to make changes and adapt to it.

In reality, there are many similar situations like this. Take work as an example. Some people may prefer to focus on engineering and project instead of managing people. If you ask them to manage people, it may not be an ideal choice for them even though your intention could be right. They may still try hard to fit in the new role, but if they have a choice, he would rather managing projects than dealing with people and politics. I had one colleague who's one perfect example of this. He was major in mechanical engineer. His main interest is engineer. But he was assigned a manager's role to lead a team. He told me not just once that he didn't want that leadership role, he was trying very hard to function. He had to leave the company due to re organization. Fortunately he found another job relatively quick, and this time, it's the dream job he wants. He's really happy about the change. In order to motivate and retain their talents, finding their talents the best position to fit in their need is key for success of a company.

After the shepherd made enough money to go on with the travel, he left the crystal shop. He ran into an Englishman who was looking for a real alchemist. They went on the trip together and got to an oasis. The shepherd met a beautiful girl and fall in love with her. He wanted to get married with her and stayed, but the girl knew the dream of the boy and encouraged him to move on. The girl knew that if the boy left, he may not come back anymore. but as she loved him that much, she let go of him and waited patiently at the oasis for his return.

I understand what true love means, but I disliked the plan for the girl. Why can't the girl leave oasis and pursue the dream with the boy? Why has she stayed in the desert and be a desert woman waiting endlessly for the boy to return? Maybe you will argue that the boy is the key character of the book, that's why the arthur sacrificed the girl and didn't allow her to pursue her own personal legend. Like in the traditional role, woman suited to stay home and take care of the family. There is a town in my hometown call "Shiting". Around 20 -30 years ago, it was a famous "living widow village", because most of the male adult went to South East Asia to do business and left their family behind. Even though they would still send money back home, which explained why the village was so prosperous in economy with a lot tall building houses. But for those wives, what was the meaning of their marriage other than material? Their main responsibility was to raise up the kids by themselves alone and at the meanwhile take care of the old parents. They were waiting for their man to come back endlessly just like the girl in the book.

The shepherd finally met with a true alchemist and found his true self with help of the alchemist. At the end of the book, the shepherd was once again robbed and lost the gold, But he incidentally over heard from the head of the pirates that the treasure he was trying to seek was all the time in the ruined church where he had original dream back home.

There are occasions when we try to pursue higher goal and didn't see what we have had, at the end of the day, we may have found that what we want is actually with us all the time, right with us. I believe you may have heard a lot real stories, where people worked as hard as they could to purchase their career, at a price of their family, love and health.

Same in pursuing love, people always crave for what they can't have and neglect what they have had. They didn't realize that they may be after someone that they had imagined in their mind, someone who may have never existed.

In general, this is a good book. As said, different people will have different take away. If you are interested in this, I would suggest that you find the book and read it yourself. Enjoy reading. and pls feel free to share your opinions.

这次在 @travelgirl 的文章 "跟我做一些小礼物#4- 简单Swarovski 耳环"中，我留言说可惜对金属过敏，否则我也去做个戴。@nationalpark 问我会不会对黄金过敏？他说他记得有人说自己对金属过敏，除了黄金。所以他开玩笑说她可以做试金石。人体确实很奇怪。我还真的不对黄金等贵金属过敏。但其他金属的耳环只要戴上去就会发炎发痒。看来我也可以做块试金石了。

不过玩笑归玩笑，@nationalpark 的话倒是让我想起一本很不错的书。是我老公推荐给我看的。由巴西作家Paulo Coelho所著，叫《The Alchemist/冶金术师》。我看的是英文版，不知道是不是有中文版。虽然说整篇文章有很重的宗教味道，但其实挺鸡汤的。看过此书的人对它褒奖不均，很有争议。

对于我来说，这本书对于追梦的人来说还是有一定的激励作用的。小说讲述的是一位西班牙牧羊少年追逐自己的梦想/使命的故事。在罗马尼亚吉普赛女郎和老国王的指引下，西班牙牧羊少年，卖了自己赖以生存的羊群，离开自己熟悉的故乡开始了一段奇幻的追梦过程。书里“个人的天命/使命”指的是那个你一直追求的梦想。当你追随着自己的心，努力去朝着自己的梦想努力的时候，整个世界都会帮助你的。 这也是这本书的主轴。

在追寻财宝和天命的过程中，少年首先被人骗走了所有的钱币。那个故事源于他刚到一个语言不同的地方，轻信陌生男孩的善意，而忽视丑陋吧台老板的提示，结果所有的钱币都被那个看似善良的骗子卷跑。

这个故事告诉我，人不可面相。不要以一个人的长相好坏来判断一个人的好坏。骗子往往都是冠冕堂皇，巧舌如辨。很多时候无事献殷勤都是有不可告人的目的。希望大家在日常生活中提高警惕。要学会辨认好坏的能力。不要单纯被外表给骗了。

少年失去了全部身家，不得不停止他寻梦的旅途，在一家水晶店打工。在他的帮忙设计下，水晶店老板的生意起死回生。可是这也给水晶店老板带来了无比的烦恼。他本质上不想扩大生意，他更倾向于安于自己原来的状态。可是最后随着生意的扩大，他被逼着作出改变。

在现实中，也有很多这样的例子。比如在职场上，很多人自己就倾向于做技术而不要管人。如果你强迫他去管人，虽然对他的职业前途来说可能有帮助，出发点是好的。可是那违背了他自己的初心，尽管他也会努力去做，但是如果让他有选择的话，他可能就宁愿选择和产品打交道，而不是人。我之前就有位同事就是这样的例子。他是读机械工程出身。个人的兴趣是研发。可是公司硬委派他做经理，带领一位资浅的同事。他也非常认真去学习带领团队，可是他不只一次告诉我这真的不是他想要的。结果公司上次裁员的时候他也在其中。好在不久他就找到了另一份工作，而且就是做研发的。从和他的通话，我知道他非常高兴这样的结果。所以因材施教和任用，清楚知道每个人的长处和兴趣可以帮助公司更好地组织和管理团队，最大化地发挥他们的能力和对工作的热情。

在少年集够足够的盘缠后，他没有停留下来，继续出发去追寻财宝。他这时候遇到了一位在寻找冶金术士的英国人，并和他结伴同行。他们到了沙漠的绿洲。在那里，少年遇到了一位美丽的女孩，并坠入爱河。少年想要和女孩结婚就此停留追梦的脚步。女孩鼓励他离开绿洲继续去寻求。女孩知道，如果少年离开的话，也许有可能不再回来，但是真爱就是要放飞对方，所以她放手了，并在绿洲里默默地等待着心爱的人。

我理解这里表达的真爱，可是并不是很满意故事对女孩的安排。为什么女孩就不能和少年一起去追梦，而要独自一人呆在沙漠绿洲里默默等待呢？当然你可以说，少年是故事的主角，所以，作者牺牲了女孩追求自己天命的希望。就好像传统里，女性一定要在家里照顾家庭和孩子。我们老家有个叫石庭的地方。那里在二，三十几年前是闻名的“活寡妇村”。村里大多数的男人都离开家，长年在东南亚做生意。就留下妇女在家里照顾孩子和父母。虽然说他们村里的男人在外面挣了钱大多是往家里寄，所以他们那里小洋楼林立，经济富足，可是对于那些留守的妇女来说，这样的婚姻有什么意义？她们认命地牺牲自己的幸福，留守照顾孩子和父母。守着一大栋空楼等着老公回来。就象故事里的女孩。

少年最后遇到了真正的冶金术士，并在他的帮助下找到了自我。故事最后，少年被一伙强盗抢劫，第二次失去了黄金。可是，他却从强盗头子那里知道了原来他一直要追求的财宝其实就一直掩藏在他的故乡，那所他做梦的教堂里。

有时候，我们一直去追求更高的境界，可是最后可能发现，自己所追求的其实就在身边。我们都听过很多实际故事，很多人一味去追求所谓的理想，事业上的腾飞，却忽略了身边的亲人，孩子。甚至有人最后牺牲了自己的身体，换来事业上的成功，可是最后却输了全部。

还有人在爱情上也是如此，得不到的就一直去强求，甚至不惜代价，只为拥有。可能完全忽略了可以把握在自己手中的幸福。一味痴恋，在撞得个头破血流的时候，才发现自己可能是在和自己心里的假想理想人物在恋爱，因为越无法得到，越把他美化，最后受伤的就是自己和自己身边的人。

整体来说，这是本很不错的小说。不同的人带着不同的眼光去读。读后的感想也不一样。如果感兴趣的话，我建议你去找来读读。你一定有不一样的收获的。

谢谢你的阅读。