The Zahir - Paulo Coelho

 

I  have been  on a reading binge…I finished reading “The Zahir” by Paulo Coelho.  It is said to be autobiographical although I don’t know if that is true and to a degree don’t care if its true. It has a repeating theme that he has used from his other novel “The Alchemist”- a pilgrimage that the main character makes.  But the direction this pilgrimage takes is different than the one made in  “The Alchemist”.

 

Zahir – if pronounced  the way I think it is, would mean  “evident/obvious” in Urdu but in Arabic it means “present or  something  that cant go unnoticed” so I guess it means the same in both languages. He talks of a love that borders obsession, which becomes obvious to him only when the object of his love- his wife, Esther - suddenly disappears without a trace.   He goes on a self-examination spree while doing what needs to be done in life and gets to meet people who know his wife more intimately than he has ever attempted to know her.  His description of the Kazakh landscape is beautiful, almost made me feel like I was there.

 

There is this part in the book which made me go on my own inner quest- an answer to the restlessness I tend to ignore from time to time. Esther asks why people are sad? "That's simple," said the old man. "They are prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people's ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams."  

 

It also reminded me of something that I see differently than most others... Patents and copyrights- Here's my view, fine we have all these laws that make it a crime should someone infringe the rights.  But here's my thought, nothing is ORIGINAL.  They only differ in presentation and the way someone said something, the message is usually said by someone, someplace in the past.  So the way I see the rule, if someone is dead and no one is gaurding that person's right then its ok to take that person's words or work and get credit for it.  Irony isnt it?

 

As I was reading, it felt like I was going through my own memories of what I have seen happen to others or to me at some time or another and the conclusions drawn from those experiences and the after-effects of those experiences. It does ask the question very subtly about what we choose to do or do without being aware - Do we shut-down certain aspects of our personality and work from a point of fear or do we open-up to the experiences and discover our wholeness?

What does it mean to love another? 

 

I did enjoy the read…

 

Here are excerpts from the book that was available on Amazon