Paulo Coelho and the Empowerment of the Soul
Every pilgrimage is an opportunity for self-improvement. the obstacles on the path to success force a person to reconsider who they are and consequently, change for the better. This is especially the case for psychological journeys, in which the victor arises out of an emotional struggle with a more profound outlook on life. Paulo Coelho is an author who intimately understands the mental obstacles within a spiritual journey, as he has had to overcome these hurdles to become the renowned author he is today. In his famous novel The Alchemist, Coelho masterfully creates a symbolic representation of the dynamic experiences of his soul and the journey he has taken to achieve self-realization. The parallels to his own life further establishes that the journey towards self-realization holds paralyzing obstacles, but altering one’s attitude is a means of achieving self-realization and therefore, liberation.
Paulo Coelho’s Spiritual Journey
At a young age, Coelho dreamed of becoming a writer but was pressured by his strict Jesuit schooling and his parents to give up on his dream. According to his parents, writing would get him nowhere in life. For a while, he followed their dream and enrolled in law school but eventually dropped out to indulge in the “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll of hippie life of the 1970s”. Coelho wandered between various jobs until, at the age of 36, he walked more than 500 miles to a site of Catholic pilgrimage in Spain. On this walk, Coelho experienced a spiritual awakening that motivated him to “leave everything behind and follow [his] heart from now on... even if [he has] a price to pay” (“Paulo Coelho”). Following the pilgrimage, Coelho quit all his jobs to devote himself to his dream of writing. Today, he has become a renowned international author whose novels have been praised by readers to be inspiration and life-changing. Coelho’s long path to becoming a writer has shaped his firm belief that...