Part One

"Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own."

---

The book
"It describes people's inability to choose their own Personal Legends. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world's greatest lie."

"What's the world's greatest lie?"

"It is this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie."

Personal Legend
"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realise their Personal Legend."

The mysterious force
"It's a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realise your Personal Legend. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth."

"... The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness. And also by unhappiness, envy, and jealousy. To realise one's Personal Legend is a person's only real obligation. All things are one."

"And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

---

"For her, every day was the same, and when each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognise the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises."

"There was nothing to hold him back except himself."

"The sheep, the merchant's daughter, and the fields of Andalusia, were only steps along the way to his Personal Legend."

"It's called the principle of favourability. When you play cards for the first time, you are almost sure to win. Beginner's luck."
"Why is that?"
"Because there is a force that wants you to realise your Personal Legend; it whets your appetite with a taste of success."

"In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you."

"Don't forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else. And don't forget the language of omens. And, above all, don't forget to follow your Personal Legend through to its conclusion."

"'The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.' - A shepherd may like to travel, but he should never forget about his sheep."

"He wept because God was unfair, and because this was the way God repaid those who believed in their dreams."

"But now I'm sad and alone. I'm going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me. I'm going to hate those who have found their treasure because I never found mine. And I'm going to hold on to what little I have, because I'm too insignificant to conquer the world."

"He had learnt that there were certain things one shouldn't ask about, so as not to flee from one's own Personal Legend. 'I promised that I would make my own decisions,' he said to himself."

"... He realised that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure. 'I am an adventurer, looking for treasure,' he said to himself."

Part 2

"Maktub" - it's written

"But the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired."

"He still had some doubts about the decision he had made. But he was able to understand one thing: Making a decision was only the beginning of things."

"When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision."

"The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being, thought the bo

"'They're not my sheep anymore,' he said to himself, without nostalgia. 'They must be used to their new shepherd, and have probably already forgotten me. That's good. Creature like the sheep, that are used to travelling, know about moving on.'"

"'Hunches,' his mother used to call them. The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there."

"But the disaster taught me to understand the word of Allah: People need not fear the unknown if they are capable of achieving what they need and want."

"'We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.'"

"'When I'm eating that's all I think about. If I'm on the March, I just concentrate on marching. If I have to fight, it will be just as good a day to die as any other.
Because I don't live in either past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man.
You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now.'"

"In his pursuit of the dream, he was cost angle subjected to tests of his persistence and courage. So he could not be hasty, nor impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would fail to see the signs and omens left by God along his path."

"'Don't be impatient,' he repeated to himself. It's like the camel driver said: 'Eat when it's time to eat. And move along when it's time to move along.'"

"He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it's easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it's in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for everyone in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning.

Maktub, thought the boy."

"'The dunes are changed by the wind, but the desert never changes. That's the way it will be with our love for each other.' 'Maktub,' she said. 'If I am really a part of your dream, you'll come back one day.'"

"The boy was sad as he left her that day. He thought of all the married shepherds he had known. They had a difficult time convincing their wives that they had to go off into distant fields. Love required them to stay with the people they loved."

"He tried to deal with the concept of love as distinct from possession, and couldn't separate them."

"One could open a book to any page, or look at a person's hand; one could turn a card, or watch the flight of the birds... Whatever the thing observed, one could find a connection with his experience of the moment. Actually it wasn't that those things, in themselves, revealed anything at all; it was just that people, looking at what was occurring around them, could find a means of penetration to the Soul of the World."

"'If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer. "If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur.'"

"'When people consult me, it's not that I'm reading the future; I am guessing the future. The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. How do I guess at the future? Based on the omens of the present. The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve on it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity."

"'There is only one way to learn,' the alchemist answered. 'It's through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.'"

"'And what went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so?' 'They were looking only for gold,' his companion answered. 'They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.'"

"'... The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom. That's what I mean by action.'"

"'... The desert will give you an understanding of the world; in fact, anything on the face of the earth will do that. You don't even have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation.'
'How do I immerse myself in the desert?'

'Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there.'"

"'Why do we have to listen to our hearts?' The boy asked, when they had made camp that day. 'Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure.'"

"'But my heart is agitated,' the boy said. 'It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it's become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I'm thinking about her.'
'Well, that's good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.'"

"The boy's heart began to speak of fear. It told him stories it had heard from the Soul of the World, stories of men who sought to find their treasure, or that he might die there in the desert. At other times, it told the boy that it was satisfied: it had found love and riches."

"'My heart is a traitor,' the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. 'It doesn't want me to go on.' 'That makes sense,' the alchemist answered. 'Naturally it's afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you've won.' 'Well then, why should I listen to my heart?' 'Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you're thinking about life and about the world.' 'You mean I should listen, even if it's treasonous?' 'Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you'll know it's dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.'"

"'You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it's better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you'll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.'"

"The boy continued to listen to his heart as they crossed the desert. He came to understand its dodges and tricks, and to accept it as it was. He lost his fear, and forgot about his need to go back to the oasis, because, one afternoon, his heart told him he was happy. 'Even though I complain sometimes,' it said, 'it's because I'm the heart of a person, and people's hearts are that way. People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but weren't, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly.'"

"'Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heaty has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.'"

"'When I have been truly searching for my treasure, every day has been luminous, because I've known that every hour was a part of the dream that I would find it. When I have been truly searching for my treasure, I've discovered things along the way that I never would have seen had I not had the courage to try things that seemed impossible for a shepherd to achieve.'"

it it is said that all people who are happy have God within them. And that happiness could be found in a grain of sand from the desert, as the alchemist had said. Because a grain of sand is a moment of creation, and the universe has taken millions of years to create it.

"'Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him,' his heart said. 'We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them - the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness.'"

"Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place."

"'... We don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts.' 'Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?' The boy asked the alchemist. 'Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer.'"

"'What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realised, 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've moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up. It's the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.''"

"Every search begins with beginners luck. And every search ends with the victor's being severely tested."

"It is said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn."

"And anyone who interferes with the Personal Legend of another thing never will discover his own."

"'If a person is living out his Personal Legend, he knows everything he needs to know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.'"

"'So each thing had to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new personal legend, until, someday, the Soul of the World becomes one thing only.'"

"'They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.'" H

"'Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World.'"

"'It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.'"

-- End --