The Alchemist and the Words of the Soul By: Vincent Tran, Period 3

"Why do we have to listen to our hearts?" (128)

Santiago and the alchemist are talking about a person's heart. The alchemist explains that hearts are emotional and not logical, he should pay attention to what it has to say. The alchemist explains that if a person know the ups and downs of the heart, they can know themselves better. A person's heart is all about what that person themselves actually want. The heart expresses a person's deepest desires and what they truly want and need in life. It helps to guide them when a person is confused on what they're supposed to do in life. To truly achieve what the heart desires, you need to have an open mind. Don't think of the world as a dangerous place, but rather, as a place where you can achieve all your goals and a place where you can truly achieve your needs.

“Because that’s what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don’t like to suffer.” (131)

Santiago and the alchemist are talking about why the heart doesn’t tell people to follow their dreams. I think that the alchemist tells Santiago that the even if the heart tells people to follow their dreams, they’re still not going to follow it because they think the world is a dangerous place and don’t want to risk it. So, when people don’t follow their own paths to their Personal Legend, it makes the hearts suffer. So, it just stops telling them and goes quiet. You have to have an open mind to truly achieve true happiness, because if you keep on thinking that you have limits to how far you can go, you can never be able to find own Personal Legend. You need to be able to believe in yourself first, before the heart can really open up to you.

“Never stop dreaming, the old king said, ‘Follow the omens.” (31)

The quote is referring to the omens, Soul of the World, and Personal Legends. He is saying that the Soul of the World leaves omens behind for you, to help “guide” you to your own Personal Legend. This quote stood out to me because it is talking about a mysterious force that’s supposedly guiding you to your own dreams and goals. This quote helps me understand about the Soul of the World because it is a mystical force that no one actually knows about. The whole universe is helping you towards your goals, as long as you trust the trail it leaves behind for you. As long as you're not ignorant or naive, then you'll be able to recognize the omens the world is leaving for you. The world helps the wise and brave, not the ignorant and cowardly.

“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.” (129)

Santiago and the alchemist are talking about Santiago’s heart. The alchemist is telling Santiago to learn to understand and listen to his heart because it is something that a person can never escape from. So, to prevent emotions like fear and doubt coming from your heart, it’s better to listen to it and let it guide you. The heart is something that a person can never go and win against. The heart is something that a person can never avoid, so it's better for a person to try and work with and listen to it, to prevent feelings like fear and doubt making you side-tracked away from your Personal Legend. The heart is unavoidable and is never wrong, since it actually represents your desires. If you say that it's wrong, then that actually makes you question yourself as a person and makes the whole situation more complicated that it really is. Your heart and mind should be acting as one and express the same desires and goals.

“The Principle of Favorability, beginner’s luck.” (26)

This quote is referring to the Soul of the World, and means that the Soul of the World helps people pursue their own Personal Legend, and kind of “guides” them throughout the journey. This quote stood out to me because they’re saying that the Soul of the World chooses to help you, in some shape or form. This adds to my understanding of the Soul of the World because it tests you of your ambitions to see if you’re capable enough of reaching your own Personal Legend. The Soul of the World only helps people who are actually willing and determined to reaching their Personal Legend. The Soul of the World believes that true happiness should only be given to people who actually believe they deserve it, people who more than willing to travel across the world for it. So, this means that people should have an open mind when trying to pursuit true happiness and believe that limitations are nonexistent.

“We make a lot of detours, but we’re always heading to the same destination.” (39)

This quote is referring to the fact that no matter what people do, they always have the same goal of pursuing their own Personal Legend. This quote stood out to me because it is very true to this day. This quote helps me understand Personal Legends more because it’s everyone’s goal in life, no matter what detours they take. Everybody says that they want different things. But in reality, all those different things are just different types of the same goal. Personal Legends differ for everybody, but everybody still has it. So, if everybody is basically pursuing the same goal, shouldn't everyone help each other reach it? We're all part of the same world, where everybody has the same goal in life. Although, even if everybody has the same goal in life, that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody has the same purpose. One person's purpose could be just helping other people realize that Personal Legends exist, just like King Melchizedek, and another person's purpose could be to lead them to it, just like the alchemist. I feel that if everyone felt that they had the same purpose in life, they wouldn't feel unique and original as a human being. So, I tried to find ways where that isn't true and where everyone is still unique in their own way, even though everybody has the same goal.

Credits:

Created with images by sciencefreak - "star night sky pyramids" • Chiemsee2016 - "heart earphones object" • LunarSeaArt - "broken heart red heart" • Free Grunge Textures - www.freestock.ca - "Broken Heart Grunge" • pixle - "Purity" • Muffet - "Omen?" • Olivia Alcock - "Listen to your Heart" • bykst - "rose background excuse me" • JamesDeMers - "treasure jewels pearls" • cygig - "diamond gem cubic zirconia" • DavidSpinks - "Above the clouds"

Report Abuse

If you feel that this video content violates the Adobe Terms of Use, you may report this content by filling out this quick form.

To report a Copyright Violation, please follow Section 17 in the Terms of Use.