Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Alchemist. Reasearch. Great book bytheway

Notes on the Warrior of Light
            In Paulo Coelho's blog he discussed how no matter what a person looks on the exterior there are always some form of terror haunting them. The proper children afraid of punishment; The girl alone reading a book scared of not ever finding the love of her life; The husband who contemplate an affair with his secretary but is afraid of how his wife would react. All these seemingly happy people deflected from risk by fear. Although it is impossible,  a world without terror would be an extremely hectic place, it would be complete anarchy. The fear of many things would subside. The fear of getting arrested, the fear of death, the fear of rejection, the fear of injury, etc. with out fear there would be no order.
            Fear is the most essential part of government and order. If there is no fear of consequence there is no thinking twice and no strategy. An example is a teenager in our “real” world, he has no money and is at a grocery store, he wants soda but does not have the proper currency for the purchase. He looks at the soda contemplating whether he should steal it he looks back and forth with many a butterfly in his belly. He thinks of the consequences and his fear of disappointment from his parents and getting arrested. The boy does not steal the soda from fear of disappointment and a criminal record. Now if the same boy, in an alternative universe devoid of terror, were to contemplate the same theft, he would not think twice. Without pause the boy would grab the soda and then just walks out. If there even are police they would beat him mercilessly because they have no fear. Now I'm pretty sure that the alternative world would not have made it this far because there is no order without fear.

Notes on Alchemy
            Alchemy has been studied throughout time and all over the world. Alchemy is a mix of spiritual and physical science, it is composed of many beliefs and facts. Alchemists strove to discover ;The transmutation of common metals into gold or silver; the creation of “panacea” or the elixir of life; the discovery of a universal solvent. These are only the main ideas that were sought after by alchemists. Certain Hermetic schools argue that the transmutation of lead into gold is analogical for the transmutation of the physical body (Saturn or lead) into (Gold) with the goal of attaining immortality, this is described as internal Alchemy. Pope John XXII and Henry IV of England  banned Alchemy. Alchemist perfected; ore testing and refining, metalworking, production of gunpowder, ink, dyes, paints, cosmetics, leather tanning, ceramics, glass manufacture, preparation of extracts, liquors. Without Alchemy there would be no modern chemistry.

Notes on Paulo Coelho
 Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with “My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical, reasonable man with a very clear vision of the world. Do you actually know what it means to be a writer?” After researching, Coelho concluded that a writer “Always wears glasses and never combs his hair” and has a “duty and an obligation never to be understood by his own generation,” amogst other things. At 17, Coelho's introversion and opposition to following the traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at age 20. At his parents wishes, he enrolled in law school and abandoned his dream of being a writer. Only a year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and became immersed in the drug culture of the 1960s. Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a song writer worked as a songwriter writing for various artists including Raul Seixas. Composing with Raul led Paulo being associated with satanism and occultism, due to the content of some songs. Raul and Paulo begain organizing an experimental "Alternative Society," which was to be an anarchist community in the state of Minas Gerais based on Aleister Crowley's premise:”Do what though wilt' shall be the whole of the Law.”
The project was considered subversive by members of the Brazilian military, which imprisoned all prospective members of the group and tortured Seixas and Coelho.

            I feel that with out these life changing experiences Coelho would not be the successful author that he became.

36 comments:

  1. It always fascinates me how random events transform people and propel them forward in life.
    Great post

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  2. hmm ive never heard of him, recommend any other good books by him?

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  3. Very true take on fear and it's use in today's society. Though, the more you challenge your fear, whether it be touching a spider, stealing from a shop, chatting up girls etc.. then the better at it you become, and the fear gradually subsides.

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  4. if only i could transmute common metals to gold...oh man :(

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  5. I'll have to check out this book, it sounds interesting. I didn't know that alchemy had such an influence in chemistry, although I can see the connection.

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  6. Do what you can when you can for ad long as you can. :D

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  7. Alchemy was great for what it was. People that think alchemy works today just me "WTF". I am like seriously, you CANNOT add stuff to lead to turn it into gold etc. You know?

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  8. first paragraph he is dead on.Great read.

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  9. I knew that alchemy had the whole turning lead to gold aspect but I had no idea that it actually did useful things. Fear is an important part of humanity. I for one am I afraid of being lazy and that keeps me doing things. I'm afraid of the ocean and one day I'll create nanotechnology that will evaporate it. Circle of life.

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  10. Is it wrong when I saw "Warrior of Light" I thought Final Fantasy 1? God there's something wrong with me.

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  11. Quite an interesting post man, I like it a lot.
    Not sure what to believe though

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  12. Not familiar with the book, nice read though. The physical science of alchemy is something I can relate to. FTW!

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  13. Read the book as a kid, it totally pulled me in!

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  14. that's awesome, thanks for sharing. you always got my support bro.

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  15. good article i might try to get this book

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  16. Paulo Coelho is a great writer, loved his work.

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  17. There's a copy of that book somewhere around my house. Maybe I should read it.

    I think anarchy sounds good, in theory, but without some sort of control, there'd be no peace.

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  18. Warrior of Light is an ok book... Just to in general which does like some Cold Reading probing. I've read a lot of books from him and that is not one of the best.

    As for alchemy, the point of it, for me at least is to get 1.1 from 1 :D
    Everything in the nature flows, so we just need to understand that concept [first level of alchemy/transmutation] but after that comes the "godly" power of screwing around with the balance.

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  19. Thanks for the review! Sounds interesting, not really my thing why

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  20. Paulo Coelho has great short stories. I need to read the alchemist.
    And yeah, without fear people would act so egotistical

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  21. i've read it, really great and well written!!!

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  22. Alchemy has always been an intriguing subject for me. Hence why I picked it in WoW. :P

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  23. I don't even know where to begin... It is a very informative post. I wonder how much his Jesuit schooling affected his religious pursuits and interest in Crowley and the occult.

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  24. I'm actually reading this book now, it's the first book I've read since Harry Potter, LOL. So far I'm liking it so I must shield my eyes from the content of your blog.

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  25. I have almost started that book a bunch of times... I would like to read it.
    Semi related:
    I used to work with special kids. One of them had a disorder where he felt no pain whatsoever. He was a very malicious young man and his way of taking out his anger on others was by hurting himself anyway he could. I think he knew this would get his counselors or teachers in trouble and would get him sent home. Anyway that kid would do anything. I've seen him just drop from the swings onto his face and laugh. You had to make sure he didn't get silverware or he would stab himself. He once stuck a fork into the outlet. I fell asleep on the top bunk during rest hour once. He bit me right on the stomach! I jumped out of bed he went flying on the floor and he just laughed it off... So i've seen a boy with no fear and it's pretty crazy...

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  26. Read it, this is a great book.

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  27. I always have this odd thought of what would certain important figures become if those certain events never happened to them?

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  28. wow, he was involved in somecrazy stuff...

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  29. Really interesting stuff, my friend! Thanks for this post!

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  30. Find the writings on fear the more interesting read.

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  31. Nice post man! thanks for sharing. Following and supporting!

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  32. I read this book so long ago. I'll have to read it again. I remember I loved it but I haven't gotten a chance to read it again.

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  33. loved it so much, like the petit prince of st exupéry, thx

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