I read this book today. What a wonderful book! I just think that such things are coming in my way. The book can be found in the metaphysics section in a bookstore. In summary, the book talks about a boy, Santiago, who follows his dreams until he realizes them. The journey takes him through many hardships, interesting experiences and in the process he learns several lessons from many wise people. At the end of the book, there are several topics for discussion. I forgot most of the questions, but I think I should probably read this book again. It talks frequently about the "Personal Legend" and the pursuit of it. The book reinforces the fact that we are all here for a purpose - we may achieve our purpose without even realizing it. The book gives yet another perspective on how to lead a life. Primarily, it also reinforces the one fact that I have come to realize in recent times - follow your heart, listen to your heart. If you don't, your heart will continue to talk to you and make you miserable until you learn to listen to it. Your life is your heart. It may hold the clue to your existence. It may tell you why exactly you are here.
Though I am a science person, these things sound very believable to me. We all go through stress. Particularly these days, there is too much information out there, whose sole purpose is to cloud all of our judgements and prevent us from taking the right choices or the choices that our hearts want us to take. If we allow these things to consume us, they will and in the end, we will only regret the fact that we didn't do justice to our heart's desires and feelings. This, I am sure is a common scenario.
The book also stresses the importance of living the moment, or paying attention to the present. It mentions that the fear of suffering may be worse than the suffering itself, so it is very important not to imagine things that might frighten our heart. Only if the present is perfect will it give rise to a perfect future. So it is very essential to live the moment and enjoy everything that surrounds us. This enjoyment will come about naturally if we are conscious all the time. Conscious - this is one word which I have begun to use very liberally in recent times. What this means is to do things and perceive things as they literally mean. To think about our thoughts is our unique gift - to be conscious is to use this gift. If you are waiting for a bus for a long time, you could use that time to notice things around you - notice people, animals that may wander, smell the air, watch the sky, so on and so forth. This is living the moment as well, instead of allowing your mind to curse the bus that is late or to allow the mind to think about various possibilities that the future may hold for you. Don't ask me why, but I have come to believe that everything happens for a reason. If we try to resist that, we won't get very far and wherever we end up is sure to be a very unhappy place.
People always try to explain things around them to the extent that the explanations become self fulfilling prophecies. What they probably can't explain is the fact that we can't choose our parents or the family in which we are born in.
Though I am a science person, these things sound very believable to me. We all go through stress. Particularly these days, there is too much information out there, whose sole purpose is to cloud all of our judgements and prevent us from taking the right choices or the choices that our hearts want us to take. If we allow these things to consume us, they will and in the end, we will only regret the fact that we didn't do justice to our heart's desires and feelings. This, I am sure is a common scenario.
The book also stresses the importance of living the moment, or paying attention to the present. It mentions that the fear of suffering may be worse than the suffering itself, so it is very important not to imagine things that might frighten our heart. Only if the present is perfect will it give rise to a perfect future. So it is very essential to live the moment and enjoy everything that surrounds us. This enjoyment will come about naturally if we are conscious all the time. Conscious - this is one word which I have begun to use very liberally in recent times. What this means is to do things and perceive things as they literally mean. To think about our thoughts is our unique gift - to be conscious is to use this gift. If you are waiting for a bus for a long time, you could use that time to notice things around you - notice people, animals that may wander, smell the air, watch the sky, so on and so forth. This is living the moment as well, instead of allowing your mind to curse the bus that is late or to allow the mind to think about various possibilities that the future may hold for you. Don't ask me why, but I have come to believe that everything happens for a reason. If we try to resist that, we won't get very far and wherever we end up is sure to be a very unhappy place.
People always try to explain things around them to the extent that the explanations become self fulfilling prophecies. What they probably can't explain is the fact that we can't choose our parents or the family in which we are born in.
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