The book is sublime and fills one with hope and yearning to find ones destiny. I have read this multiple times and each time gives some new insight. It is very simple and lucid and yet profound in its throughts. Only few places in the book I feel like author is writing something that he hasn’t experienced by himself. Only in these places, I feel the lack of coherence, but in others the harmony in the writing is like that of water flowing through a calm river.
I am dividing the writing in to 2 parts. The part one essentially focuses on what are the key messges embedded in the story told in the book. In the second part, I shall describe how the story of my life resembles the story. I will write about what I have learnt in my life and what I am yet to practice after learning.
The story is about a boy named Santiago who boldy goes about realizing his dreams and his destiny. The boy starts off as a person who wanted to fulfil the wishes of his parents by becoming a priest. Once he realizes his yearning to see the world he gets his father to agree to let him go in search of his dream. He becomes shepherd. Then he listens to his dreams and heads to Egypt in search of treasure buried near the pyramids. Along this journey to realize his destiny to find the buried treasure learns about the oneness that manifests itself in multitude of forms, finds his true love, learns about letting go, and learns to listen to his heart. He in the process learns to become one with the universe and yet retain his individuality.
The central message hence is about the unity behind all diversity, about letting go of my fears and doing what gives me happiness. If I am able to do that I would along the way find perfection also.
PART I
There are insights about how to live life and why to live life. The insights about “how to live life” I call as existential insights and “why to live life” as philosophical/spiritual insights.
The existential insights, I will simply list. I will ponder over the philosophical/spiritual insights so that my thoughts and my learning are clearly conveyed.
Existential:
1. Avoid the avoidable problems in life – however much time or resources you have. (Ensuring that no sheep runs out of the enclosure by barricading the entrance, even if you know that all sheep are sleeping near you).
2. Everything has a time and a place. I am so jaded by my preconceived notions that I hesitate to use the book as a pillow, but the boy just does that. So I need to see everything with a fresh perspective and see the utility value
3. I need to seek help when I don’t understand something. Once the help is there, I still need to make my decision (going to Gypsy and then going to Pyramids in search of treasure).
4. Whenever I am getting in to a new environment I need to have given some thought about what the environment would hold for me. I should not be naïve, but be aware and realistic. It would do me good to be aware of the local customs and lingo in a new environment.I need to be aware that attention to details matters. (Santiago would have done well to learn Arabic so that he could have understood what the tea shop owner had to say)
5. In new environment, I need to make my decisions about whom to trust with more discretion. I should not just go by outer appearance or words. (Don’t judge the book by cover).
6. I should not get carried away. I should always check about the correctness of what is being told to me in a new place. (As soon as the thief says it would take only a day to the Pyramids, the boy believes).
7. One opportunity leads to the other and I should seize these opportunities to move towards my goal. I need to know how to use each opportunity along the way to reah towards my goal (Crystal shop experience).
8. The key to reaching the goal is moving towards the goal, but not how fast I move.
9. I can learn by observing and pondering over the nature. If I am open and ready to accept what comes my way, I will make progress. I need to be open to different views. I need to be ready to learn from all.
10. The essence is in doing the things to realize the dreams rather than gaining knowledge about how to realize the dreams. Only action or movement takes me towards realizing my goal.
Philosophical:
1. All the things are connected. What I sow is what I reap holds pretty much true in this world.
2. I need to learn that I am not the centre of the wolrd. Whether I am teaching the sheep or are the sheep teaching something to me is not very clear. It is essentially mutual. I am able to see the world as a better place once I subjugate my ego and my greed.
3. I am driven by hope – I don’t know why I am alive, I don’t know what is my destiny or purpose. Even at existential level I hope that I achieve better material comfort tomorrow than today. I hope and hope for things to become reality, things to be mine and so on and that’s what keeps me alive. Hope is very euphemistic word for people who are not facing adverse situation. If I am facing adverse situations – hope of having what I desire helps me exist.
4. I begin to complain about things which have helped me to be what I am today as soon as they lose their utility value. I forget that the same entities had helped in my times of distress. I do it for my parents, my friends and with many other things. I have to stop to think about whether whatever I am saying, feeling, or doing about something is right. (The boy feels the jacket is too heavy during the afternoon).
5. I need to learn to let go of people of things and learn to genuinely feel happy in them being happy. I need to learn that each individual has a dream and that is most important for them. I need to understand how I can be of help to them even when I am trying to realize my dream. (Santiago’s father lets Santiago become a shepherd).
6. When I find something interesting (merchant’s daughter) along the path of my journey I need to ask myself was that what I was looking for? Would it lgive me the happiness or inner peace that I was looking for?
7. Only when I learn to not let the thought of preserving what I already have hinder me, I will start to make progress in gaining something new. This is also the only way to realize my destiny or make progress. I have to move forward from the place where I am starting to walk. I can’t just desire to be in a new place without letting go of my previous place.
8. I am not indespensible. I am held back only because I want it to be so.
9. I need to be immersed in the world and at the same time not ignore what I want to do for my own happiness (Seeing the wonders of the world, but not losing track of the drops of oil that I am carrying in a spoon that I am holding).
10. Once I know that my intuition is usually right I need to trust it more to make decisions rather than trying to reason why it is right.
11. In time of loss on the path to achieving a goal it is always important to consider how close I have to achieving the goal rather than how far I am from the goal. I need to be constantly aware of the purpose I started with.
12. If I observe carefully everything is an omen. I need to be able to choose what is right at that moment and never be afraid of the consequence.
13. I have to learn to live in the moment rather than hurrying thorugh the moment. (Why can’t we go to the Oasis now – because now it is the time to sleep).
14. Once I am able to unlock the message hidden in most simple things like grain of sand I will be able to comprehend whatever is considered the most complex.
15. I can attain perfection by pursuing what I love. In the same process I shall get connected with the world around me with better awareness.
16. I need to appreacite the differences among people. Each has his/her own way of doing the things. I need not be perturbed by it. I just need to ensure that I progress in the right direction using the way I have chosen.
17. Love is about having faith and trust. It is about setting free the thing you love most. It is about believing enough in yourself to be able to let go of the thing that you want. “Love is distinct from possession”. I need to aware of true and transient nature of material things. That will help me overcome the very innate desire to hold on to the things.
18. To understand something I need to watch its surroundings. The people who live in vast surroundings are usually ready to share whatever they have; similarly the people who live in small spaces are always touchy about sharing the things.
19. I have to trust myself first to understand the world better. I have to ensure that there is coherence in my thinking. The calmness that then pervades within me helps me understand the things that are around me better. To reach to this calmness I need to overcome my fears.
20. There is some unknown guiding force that is always taking me towards my goal as long as I want to reach the goal. I am the one who has to have the desire to reach the goal and do whatever right thing is necessary to reach that goal.
PART II
Destiny has played a big part in whatever I am today. The small example how destiny operates was when out of 14 people selected from college campus by Wipro and GE teams I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to be put in GE healthcare. That was never in my control, but being in GE helped me do what I always wanted to do; which is having impact on products in global scale and learning to lead people on bigger scale. There are many other incidents in my life which have made me realize that there is something beyond my control that also contributes to the result of my actions.
This journey guided by destiny, has made me introspect on the real meaning of existence. I always end up trying to put on a mask so that people around me like me rather than trying to be what I am and doing what I like to do. In this process I end up losing what is important to me.
I wonder whether life is entirely determined by ones destiny or by ones willingness to move in certain direction. I believe as long as I don’t realize that I am also a part of the whole or “the one entity”, I will feel this difference. Once I realize that I am part of the whole and I am no different from it, I know what my path is. Then there is no difference between my will and what I call destiny. In that scenario both are one and the same. I will realize my purpose then. I am part of something larger and I need to accept that reality to be in harmonious existence
The questions for which I have no answers:
1. If the world has a reason to exist (deterministic) then everythin within the world also must have a reason to exist and definite role to play, otherwise there is no role for anybody. Does the world have a reason to exist? Do I have a reason to exist? Why do I need to pursue happiness?
My current thought:
Existence has no meaning as such. The only way to find happiness during this sojourn is to focus on attaining perfection in what Ilove to do rather than trying to compete against somebody else in something that I don’t love to do in search of external possessions or glory. I need to understand these are side effects of my actions rather than the goal. I need to understand myself and puruse what I want with full intensity and dedication.
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