{"id":70290,"date":"2022-06-21T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T18:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=70290"},"modified":"2022-07-01T09:14:01","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T13:14:01","slug":"personal-legend-the-alchemist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/personal-legend-the-alchemist\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Legends in The Alchemist: What They Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is a Personal Legend in The Alchemist<\/em>? Why do people tend to abandon their Personal Legends in life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Paulo Coelho’s book The Alchemist, <\/em>the main character, Santiago, embarks on a life-changing journey to follow his dreams. Following your dream, or your Personal Legend, is the core message<\/a> of the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s take a look at following your Personal Legend, and what can happen if you ignore it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Follow Your Calling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An old man in a plaza, who turns out to be a king named Melchizedek, strikes up a conversation with Santiago, and through this conversation, Coelho teaches us about the importance of following the signs that will guide you to your destiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The major insight Coelho reveals through the king is that everyone has what he calls a Personal Legend<\/em>. In The Alchemist, <\/em>this is essentially your calling in life, which you feel as a passion drawing you toward it. It\u2019s that thing you most dream of doing in your life. People feel this pull most strongly in childhood, the king explains, as children are more in tune with the spiritual realm and are not afraid to dream big. However, he says this pull subsides as we grow older and become conditioned to live according to societal expectations<\/a>. Eventually, many reject their calling entirely, believing it to be unachievable and unrealistic. However, the king explains that everyone\u2019s dream is realizable at any time, and when you pursue it, the universe will work with you to help you achieve it. <\/strong>Pursuing this calling is our only real purpose in life<\/a>, though most people will never accomplish that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The law of attraction<\/a> <\/em>tells us that our energy will attract like energy from the universe. In this way, according to The Secret<\/em><\/a>, we can make<\/em> the universe work with us to achieve whatever we want, by consciously generating the right energy. According to this philosophy we\u2019re all connected as one \u201cgreat mind,\u201d<\/a> and it\u2019s through this that we\u2019re able to create our own destiny, essentially by believing in it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of this conversation, the boy is convinced that he needs to follow his calling and go to the Egyptian pyramids to find his treasure. The king advises him that <\/strong>a crucial part of following one\u2019s calling is paying attention<\/a> to signs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy decides that day to sell all his sheep to buy passage to Africa. In this decision, Coelho is showing us that sometimes we have to make major sacrifices to follow our dreams, and we will come to learn that it\u2019s always worth the risk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: In Who Will Cry When You Die?<\/em><\/a> <\/em>Robin Sharma argues that living fully necessarily involves taking risks and that becoming a risk-taker may require changing the way you think<\/a>. The most important shift you\u2019ll need to make is believing you can succeed<\/a>; otherwise your self-doubt<\/a> and fear will cause you to either not go forward with taking the risk, or to fail.)  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crystal Merchant<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Through the next important encounter in the story, Coelho shows us what can happen when we encounter obstacles on our path, and what becomes of those who don\u2019t follow their life\u2019s calling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Santiago arrives in Africa, before setting out toward Egypt, he\u2019s robbed of all his money. This is the first major obstacle along his way. He becomes discouraged and begins to doubt everything he\u2019s believed in. But he realizes that he needs to earn money to either continue on his journey, or return home, so he acquires a job in the shop of a crystal merchant, where he ends up working for a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that time, Santiago has many conversations with the merchant, some of them about following his calling. The merchant tells the boy that he\u2019s always dreamed of going on pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca; it\u2019s his calling in life. However, when Santiago asks why he doesn\u2019t go, the merchant admits that he prefers that it stay a dream. He feels that if he actually achieves it, he\u2019ll have nothing left to dream of, and therefore nothing to live for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arrival Fallacy<\/strong>

In Happier<\/em><\/a>, positive psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar describes what he calls the \u201carrival fallacy.\u201d This is a psychological phenomenon in which a person feels a sense of disappointment after accomplishing a life goal. Shahar argues that this happens because we become too focused on the end goal and neglect to enjoy the process along the way toward it<\/a>. So, when we reach that goal, we end up wondering \u201cnow what?<\/em>\u201d 

Living always in a future-oriented mindset<\/a> may prevent one from living fully in the present<\/strong>, so once one goal is accomplished, you\u2019ll continuously just need another goal to replace it. Considering this, the crystal merchant in The Alchemist<\/em> may not have been too far off the mark when he believed going to Mecca might actually not bring him the fulfillment he imagined.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the character of the merchant, Coelho shows us a sad portrait of one who doesn\u2019t have the courage to follow his dreams. We see in this portion of the story how many people don\u2019t pursue their calling due to fear of failure<\/a> and to being conditioned by society to stay in their comfort zone and not take risks.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: In The 10X Rule<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Grant Cardone advises that you use your fear of taking risks to your advantage. He says that if you\u2019re afraid, think of it as a positive thing because that means you\u2019re nearing the edge of your comfort zone. In order to experience growth, we need to move beyond that edge. He says when you fear taking a risk, you should act on it as quickly as possible, because fear will increase over time. Hesitating too long will usually result in your backing out. He says <\/strong>the only thing that conquers fear is taking action<\/strong><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a full year, Santiago saves enough money to either return to Andalusia and buy a new herd of sheep, or to continue to Egypt. He initially decides to go home. He longs for the comfort of what he knows and the simplicity of the shepherd\u2019s life, and he\u2019s become resigned like the merchant. But just as he\u2019s on his way to make travel plans for home, he remembers the words of the king, telling him that when you pursue your calling the universe will work with you to make it happen. He realizes he\u2019s making his decisions based on fear and seeking comfort over taking risks, and he decides to book passage on a caravan across the desert to Egypt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this decision, Coelho shows us that when we face obstacles and find ourselves at a crossroads, we need to remember that the universe will help us if we choose to take risks<\/strong>. But, we also see that it often takes hard work and dedication<\/strong>. Coelho makes it clear that Santiago had to put substantial effort into overcoming those obstacles\u2014it wasn\u2019t all magically handed to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The 10X Rule<\/em><\/a> also emphasizes the importance of hard work and dedication for overcoming obstacles toward a goal<\/a>. On this topic, Cardone advises that when we\u2019re having difficulty reaching a goal, instead of lowering the bar for the goal to be more \u201crealistic\u201d we should ramp up our effort. Do 10 times more than you were doing. He says the problem is never that you set your goals too high. Most people have the opposite problem\u2014they don\u2019t set their goals high enough.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is a Personal Legend in The Alchemist? Why do people tend to abandon their Personal Legends in life? In Paulo Coelho’s book The Alchemist, the main character, Santiago, embarks on a life-changing journey to follow his dreams. Following your dream, or your Personal Legend, is the core message of the book. Let’s take a look at following your Personal Legend, and what can happen if you ignore it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":70379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,7,42],"tags":[659],"class_list":["post-70290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-lifestyle","category-motivation","tag-the-alchemist","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nPersonal Legends in The Alchemist: What They Mean - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your Personal Legend is your calling in life. 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