Destined to Strive

The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho
Translated by Alan R. Clark
Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN 0 7225 3293 8
179 pp. UK £ 7.99

The debate between free will and determinism has been going on for years and continues to date. Some argue that it is one’s own will that shapes his/her destiny, while others go about proclaiming that one can only do what one is destined to do. There are many valid arguments for and against the latter. However, it is authors like Paulo Coelho which beautifully merge both sides of the argument with fiction. And so he has done in his best selling novel, The Alchemist.

The book revolves around a shepherd named Santiago. The story commences by reflecting upon his peaceful and predictable life in Andalusia (Spain), which is disturbed by a dream, in which a child leads him to the pyramids in Egypt and tells him that he will find a treasure there. Santiago seeks help from a gypsy woman who tells him he must go to Egypt, where he will find his treasure. However, the person who really convinces him to let go of his present life and wander into unknown places is the King of Salem, Melchizedek, whom he meets by chance. Melchizedek gifts him two stones named Urim and Thummim and tells him that he can use them if he is stuck at any point, and is unable to make a decision.

Thus, Santiago travels to Egypt, where he faces the first main hurdle. He is swindled by a thief and robbed of all the money he had obtained by selling his sheep back in Andalusia. With no money to get back to where he started from, he starts working in the shop of a crystal merchant. There, he manages to earn quite a bit as he convinces the merchant to introduce new marketing techniques. After a year, as he is planning to go back to Andalusia and to his life as a shepherd, he decides to once again wander into unknown territory. This time, it is the desert that lies between him and the pyramids.

And so, a new phase starts in the life of Santiago as he joins a desert caravan traveling to Al-Fayoum. He befriends an Englishman there, who tells him that he is looking for an Alchemist, who can turn any metal into gold, and has the possession of the Elixir of Life which is the source of immortality. Their journey goes on smoothly, till they have to seek refuge in an oasis from the ongoing tribal wars. It is there that he meets the Alchemist while reading and conveying the omens of danger to the tribal chieftains. When his predictions turn out to be true, he is asked to become the counselor of the oasis. Once again Santiago faces a choice between staying there and marrying Fatima, a woman he meets and falls in love with at the oasis, or leaving the caravan which is planning an extended stay there to move towards the pyramids himself. The Alchemist comes to his rescue this time, telling him that he must continue his journey, and that he will accompany him across the desert.

They both now continue their journey across the desert, where they meet more hurdles in the form of tribes and armed men, who at one point, even capture the two of them. Nevertheless, their journey goes on, till they reach a monastery. There, the Alchemist turns some lead in gold, and hands a quarter to Santiago to continue his journey. This he does, and finally he reaches the Pyramids, where he starts digging. However, he is soon surrounded by gangsters who take his gold and beat him till he confesses about his dream and the treasure he is looking for. At that, he is taunted by the gang. Finally, being so close, does he get his treasure? And if he doesn’t, how does he get back to Spain? And does he go back to the oasis, where Fatima is waiting for him? These are the questions whose answers are the conclusion of this book, and hence, they shouldn’t be revealed here.

The author, Paulo Coelho is a lyricist and novelist. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and attended law school there. However, he abandoned his studies in 1970 to travel throughout Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, as well as Europe and North Africa. Two years later he returned to Brazil and began composing popular music lyrics.

The Alchemist has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been translated into some 41 languages. It is also a movie in progress produced by Lawrence Fishburne, who is a fan of Coelho. In addition he has written popular books like The Pilgrimage and Veronika Decides to Die. In October 2002, Paulo received the 'Club of Budapest Planetary Arts Award 2002' in Frankfurt, and the 'Best Fiction Corine Award 2002' in Munich.

The book is an amazing collection of what can be aptly termed as ‘words of wisdom’ or universal truths to which we usually don’t pay any attention in our day to day lives. Phrases like ‘It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting’ and ‘I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, not what actually does’ relate to almost every one of us, if we ponder over their meaning in depth.

Also, the free will versus determinism debate discussed earlier is very apparent in this book. The King of Salem tells Santiago that the world’s greatest lie is that people are a product of their destiny. It simply isn’t true that there comes a point in their lives when they lose control of what is happening and have to rely simply on what has been already pre-ordained for them. The existence of free will is very apparent in the different choices Santiago makes in various parts of the story.

However, there is another side of the argument which is made clear in the fact that most characters do make an overt reference to determinism when discussing the different decisions that they faced in life. “Maktub” is the word used here, which means ‘it is written.’ It can be roughly translated to ‘you are destined to do…’ Hence, destiny and determinism also come into play here. When Santiago tells the crystal merchant that he is going to Andalusia to buy his sheep, the merchant tells him he won’t do so. When Santiago asks him how he knows, he replies ‘it is written.’ When Santiago is leaving the desert, Fatima tells him that if he is destined to marry her, he will come back. In our daily lives as Muslims, we do believe in the concept of ‘destiny’ as ‘Qadr’ a concept well documented in the Quran Chapter 57, verse 22:

“No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We Bring it into existence. That is truly easy for Allah.”

In conclusion, it would be safe to assume then, that this story tells us of the different ways free will and determinism come into play in our lives. It tells us that the ultimate choice is ours, but there are some occasions when destiny intervenes, either in the form of sheer good or bad luck, or a chance meeting with someone who leads us to the correct decision. But above all, it warns us that even if the correct decision does comes our way, it is the one which is the most difficult to carry out.