The Alchemist Essay
Have you ever cheated death, because of a feeling in the gut of your stomach? Have you ever decided to stay home, because something just didn't seem right? All of these scenarios can be accounted for by following your heart. All throughout the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho the lesson of trusting your intuition is present.
A reoccurring event in the book demonstrating this lesson was each time Santiago (the Shepard boy) followed an omen (a sign to guide him on his personal legend; what he was born to accomplish). I don't believe these omens were tangible. I think it was more a sign from his heart than anything else. " 'Learn to recognize the omens and follow them,' the old king had said. An omen, the boy smiled to himself." (pg. 43) As Santiago continued on his quest to his personal legend, the omens pick up.
Caution tape surrouding a construction site
Examples of omens from the Nuremberg Chronicle (14...
The Alchemist (novel)I think this is because his trail of self-discovery helps him to trust his feelings more adequately.
Another piece in the reading that really represented trusting your intuition was when Santiago proposed to Fatima (a girl of the desert he fell in love with at first sight). When you are able to plainly lay eyes upon someone and feel so deeply for them, you have sheer evidence of a great relationship amongst yourself and your heart. "At that moment it seemed to him that time stood still...When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke...It was love...She smiled, and that was certainly an omen." (pg. 94)
An apt example of when Santiago's heart spoke to him yet again was when he predicted war. "Once again...