Quote of the Week...from Paulo Coelho

Every search begins with beginner's luck, and every search ends with the victors being severely tested.                                                                        ---Paulo Coelho in The Alchemist.

About three quarters of the way through Paulo Coelho's novel The Alchemist, the title character lays the above quote on protagonist Santiago, who is traveling with him across the north African desert to Egypt.  It stood out to me when I first read it and I had it bookmarked to return to later.  He then expands upon this quote with the following explanation:  

Before a dream is realized, the soul of the world tests everything that was learned along the way.  It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we've learned as we moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up.

It's true that the beginning of a dream or quest often seems to go smoothly, but sometimes I wonder whether the Alchemist had the cart before the horse with his above sayings.  Oftentimes we may not yet have a dream, but successful initial experiences in an area may inspire us to want to go further down that road toward desiring greater realization and success...and then the serious testing begins, especially when the expected social approval begins to wane over time.  After all, we tend in childhood to be rewarded with praise and greater esteem whenever it's discovered we have a special talent or ability with something, and as a child I always wanted to enjoy that kind of respect from others.  What distinguished the Alchemist to me was that while Santiago was wholeheartedly seeking to fulfill his dream of finding his treasure, he allowed himself to grow to appreciate everything around that did not necessarily provide positive personal feedback to his self-esteem...and that the process of the journey was more important in the end than the reward.  Yet without that sought-after reward, Santiago would have just continued with his day-to-day shepherding back in his homeland without ever growing from the inside...

The Alchemist is a pretty small book, but it packs a very big punch philosophically...I just presented a small slice of what it contains.  How about reading it for yourself and letting me know what you thought of it?