1 post tagged “paulo coelho”

I'm re-reading Paulo Coelho's, The Alchemist. I seem to be stuck on pages 21-25 or so (it's not a big book, only 167 pages worth). I can't seem to get past the bit where The King of Salem explains to the shepard boy about the finding of personal legends ....

"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their personal legend is" ...... people learn early in their lives, what is their reason for being", said the old man with a certain bitterness. "Maybe that's why they give up on it so early too."

I've been thinking about this ... I've got kids so I think about the things each of them have manifested as potential 'personal legends'. For instance, middle daughter came into the world with an enduring conviction that she was going to be an actress - 14 years later she's still emoting ... all over da place. I reckon her sense of personal legend is very strong, very compelling.

But for myself ... I am feeling bereft - grieving a bit. I'm a little embarrassed to say, I seem to have ermm ... misplaced my personal legend, if in fact I had one. The old man goes on to suggest that people sacrifice their personal legend to the Greatest Lie -- the lie that we don't have control and that life is governed by fate.

Fortunately I am not a believer in fate. As for control, I made recent posts about control ... some things I can, some I can't. I don't know if the Universe conspires to give us what we truly want ... if it does then I guess I don't 'want' properly and clearly need some "Advanced Want Training" - cuz this trip isn't quite what I had in mind when I bought the ticket.

My angsty, grieving feeling is probably exacerbated by my current circumstances - all the things, labels I usually define myself by aren't in  play at the moment. I'm in limbo and I confess I have no idea where I am going.

Is it just me that's in personal legend dark-dom? Do people get too old for personal legends? Do other people have an inside edge here, and somehow know and remember theirs? If I had one, how on earth could I forget such an important thing?! If I've lost my personal legend can I email a request to the Universe for the password to be resent to me?

Clap if you believe in personal legends .. go on, clap - perhaps you can save mine.