There is something unusual about reading Coelho. His books are fascinating and flow quickly,
but you always feel like you are only understanding a portion of the message,
that the author has hidden all kinds of deep meanings and pathways within the
content and I am never quite smart enough to find all the elements of the
story.
He writes like he is possessed with an inspiration and like
his characters each is taking a pilgrimage through the words that he uses. The story involves a writer who finds success
only because his wife-mate pushes him to do what he has spent a life time procrastinating
about.
“I was always joining and leaving different groups and
fraternities, always thinking that I had finally met the person who could
reveal to me the mysteries of the invisible world, but in the end I was always
disappointed to discover that most of these people, however well-intentioned,
were merely following this or that dogma and tended to be fanatics, because
fanaticism is the only way to put an end to the doubts that constantly trouble
the human soul.”
But of course as the writer finds his success he forgets
that his wife also has her own path to follow and he makes the fatal assumption
that his success will be hers too and that she will be his sidekick. However, she is too probing, too dynamic and
too curious about life to be a sidekick.
“I don’t know if everyone is unhappy. I know they’re all busy: work overtime,
worrying about their children, their husband, their career, their degree, what
they’re going to do tomorrow, what they need to buy, what they need to have in
order not to feel inferior, etc. Very few
people actually say to me: ‘I’m unhappy.’
Most say: ‘I’m fine, I’ve got everything I ever wanted.’ Then I ask: ‘What makes you happy?’ Anser:
‘I’ve got everything a person could possibly want- a family, a home, work, good
health.’ I ask again: ‘Have you ever stopped to wonder if that’s
all there is to life?’ Answer: ‘Yes,
that’s all there is.’ I insist: ‘So the
meaning of life is work, family, children who will grow up and leave you, a
wife or husband who will become more like a friend than a real lover. And, of course, one day your work will end
too. What will you do when that
happens?’ Answer: There is no answer. They change the subject.”
His life was carefree – money worries gone, fame an escape
from reality. “I had always sought both
adventure and security, knowing that the two things did not really mix. I was
sure of my love for Esther and yet I easily fell in love with the other women,
merely because the game of seduction is the most interesting game in the world.”
She can accept his infidelity and engages in it herself, but
she chooses to disappear, to find her own path and her own answers. And she does this with no good bye, just
gone. For a while he is suspected of
murdering her. But this creates the
obsession (the zahir) that dominates his thoughts and feelings.
Sometimes sentences jump off the page, not because of the
story, but because they say so much. “…but
we always know we are close to our true mission on earth when what we are doing
is touched with the energy of enthusiasm.”
The story is about purging the past, the things that hold us
back – “They are prisoners of their own personal history. Everyone believes
that the main aim in life is to follow a plan.
They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another
person. They accumulate experiences,
memories, things, other people’s ideas, and it is more than they can possibly
cope with. And that is why they forget
their dreams.”
He searches for her, but he is looking for an intangible
reason, not a person and once again the journey is about discovering
himself.
“I had discovered that I was much better and more capable
than I myself had thought; age only slows down those who never had the courage
to walk at their own pace.”
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