The Alchemist

I bought this book a mighty long time ago.
So much so the book is not in very good shape.

I am still in the process of reading because unlike Tuesdays with Morrie (and many other books), I somehow find it very hard to read this book and appreciate it. I am not one who relish folklore (that is what I like to think of The Alchemist)

I picked it up again out of sheer boredom.
And I have yet to finish it still, although I am 3/4 into the book.

I pause because I just had to get this here.

"Don't say anything," Fatima interrupted. "one is loved because one is loved. NO reson is needed for loving."
But the boy continued, "I had a dream, and I met with a king. I sold crystal and crossed the desert. And, because the tribes declated war, I went to the well seeking the alchemist. So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you."

This boy answered a question no one I've ever been with could.
I think that is what love is about.

You know you love someone, only when you felt like the universe conspired to lead you to that someone.
You've met different people along your way in life, worked different jobs, studied in different schools, gone through trials and tribulations only to be led to that one person you love. The one person whom the moment you lay your eyes on, you'd know.
That it was all meant to be.

I've for a long time been a strong believer of fate.
So much so I sit back and just wait for life to unfold for me. Hardly do I take an active step to change anything. Because I believe everything will take care of itself, and I should really just drift along to what is destined and written for me. As much as it is similar to the basics of the book. The boy and the Englishmen still actively made decisions in relation to pursuing their Personal Legends, and seeking out their individual treasures.
Me? I guess I just read those omens and indulge in the marvels of those omens or "coincidences". But more often than not, I'd know those "coincidences" are not merely coincidences. Everything is afterall written.
The world is just conspiring to lead you to what is already destined for you.

Sometimes though, when I get frustrated with where I've been led.
I convince myself, that this entire crap that I am believing is just an easy excuse for my laziness. How I am so unwilling to do anything to change my life, all just because I believe everything is destined.
But this only occurs when I am frustrated with the present and unable to see the future or how this minor (or major) setback is going to transform into something else more positive for me at a later date. Or how this incident would help me to grow or appreciate alternatives better, or even be presented with better opportunities.

Therefore, it is always with hindsight that I dwell deeper into this omen/destiny crap.
I'd like to think that every step in my life is written in the books (or the stars). I am here I am because I am supposed to be.

Or perhaps I am just severly clouded with my judgements.

Everyone interprets a book differently. More often than not the lessons we gather from reading a book depends on the state of mind which we are in at that particular point in time. I realised this strange fact yesterday.
I've always thought, that when 2 person read a same book, we'd more often than not read the same thing and come to the same conclusions and draw the same lessons from the same book read.
It was after discussion with my sup about the book that I loaned her, did this fact dawn on me.

I loaned her "The Pact" - Jodi Picoult. I did so because I trust my books with her. She is one whom I know will seriously take care of my books better than her own books.

Her thoughts on the book generally came from a parent's point of view. We read the book with different sets of ideals and perspectives and also backgrounds. She is afterall a mother with a 6 year old daughter.
When she summarised the book and discussed some significant points with me. I realise the gap of a difference.
What struck her was the expectations that the mother had that led to the eventual downfall of that girl (Emily). The sorrow of a mother not fully understanding their own child. How Emily's father sympathised with Chris (the boyfriend) and his family even though their child killed Emily.

Although I read that very same book.
The stuff that hit me, were not really from a parent's point of view. Because simply, I am not yet a mother. So I cannot see how significant it is.
Instead, it was the sorrow of Emily, the pain and having to live up with expectations, the indescribable depression and the pain. The amazing love that Chris felt for her, so much so he was willing to kill her (the one he loved the most) just so she could stop suffering, just because she suffered so much she couldn't withstand it anymore.

Succintly, it was the BGR love for me, and it was parental love for my sup. We've learnt different things from the same book.

I've finally found my answer as to why each time I read a book, I'd discover something new.
Because I bring along a different perspective everytime.
So when people tell me how I always waste money because I can (and usually want to) finish a book in a day.... think about this.
What is the point of spending 1 week finishing a book that you borrowed from the library, when the lesson you gather from a book is not limited to that one time you read it.
Invest in books, and reread them over a couple of years at different points in your life.
You'd be amazed at how each time you learn a whole new lesson.

Then again, if you are not a book person to begin with.
Then where do you get your lessons from?
Share with me leh.
I am running out of space to store my books.