It’s all about the journey and not the destination. Many of us may have heard this statement before, but I feel it’s not until we embark on something grand that we can fully appreciate its significance. Paulo Coelho has written many famous books, including “The Pilgrimage”, where he shares his experiences of self-discovery along the pilgrim route in northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Coelho veers away from a recount by adding fictional elements to this story, and weaves in tips to guide your self-awareness.
Coelho begins his journey in France with his guide, with a mission of completing this trek in a search for an enchanted sword en route. Totaling a distance of 500 miles, inevitably they meet many people and encounter different challenges along the way. His guide teaches many unique techniques to push through the difficult tasks. By the end of the journey, he learns there was more to his adventure than finding his sword. Coelho learnt more about himself and how to interact with the world around him.
“We always know which is the best road to follow, but we follow only the road that we have become accustomed to.” Coelho’s journey highlights the fact that we often become attached to what we know, and more than often do things out of habit rather than making conscious decisions (Read more in The Power of Habit by Charles Duhig). While this creates autonomy in our lives, it can limit the space for personal development. The Pilgrimage provides many simple examples of this and techniques to overcome it.
“Life teaches you lessons every minute… but we are only aware of this when we are forced to teach others.” Everything you did today provided an opportunity to learn something new. We often unknowingly use this new information in our daily lives, and it is not until we teach someone else that we become aware of our knowledge. Coelho provides simple examples of this self-awareness, provoking thought into how this applies to our own lives.
While I have described my insights into the topics of Coelho’s book, his hidden analogies and exercises will allow you to relate them to your own life. This book is one of the many examples where fiction can offer advice to improve your life. While this simple fiction story evokes a sense of escapism, it also presents a path for self-discovery and awareness in our evolving world.
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Books for Thought 