The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom

Product Information

His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams. If you like parables, don't read this book. Go read a book of Hasidic tales collected by Martin Buber, a book of Sufi stories collected by Idries Shah, or a book of parables and sayings by Anthony de Mello instead.

The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom

Personalmente debo admitir que disfruté “Veronika Decide Morir” mucho más; pero si alguna vez tuviste en mente leer Coelho algún día, “El Alquimista” es también una buena elección. Una historia altamente elevadora con un mensaje muy memorable, para aquellos dispuestos a escucharla. anyways, i liked the idea. i personally try to live my life by many of the lessons and teachings in this book - i believe it is important for one to follow their dreams, to always listen to their heart, and to never give up on something they are passionate about (as much as realistically possible). but i think the effectiveness of those messages was lost in this story. His first stop during the pilgrimage is Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port where he is given a cape and a hat with scallop shells (a dress code for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela). He then meets his guide Petrus, who accompanies him through the pilgrimage across a sacred path illuminated by the light of the Milky Way Galaxy. As they travel through the desert, Coelho learns valuable life lessons. He learns to tap into his intuition, to love unconditionally, and to enjoy the journey without worrying about the destination. The guide also teaches Coelho several ‘exercises’ which Coelho intensely practices as his journey progresses. With each exercise, Coelho undergoes an inner transformation—he learns to dream, fight the demons within, accept his imperfections, and even overcome fear.

Customer reviews

RAM ) والتي كان عضواً فيها منذ عشر سنوات. ورام – كما يقول كويلو عبر موقعه على الإنترنت – هي أخوية مسيحية أسُست عام 1942, غرضها الأساسي هو دراسة اللغة الرمزية للعالم, وأسمها هو اختصار لـ (regnum, agnus, mundi) وتعنى ( الصرامة, الحب, الرحمة ). في أخوية رام يكون لكل عضو سيف خاص برتبته, وتنصّ تعاليم الأخوية أنه أثناء طقوس ترقية أحد الأعضاء يجب أن يَدفن سيفه القديم, ومن ثم يُعطى السيف الجديد الخاص برتبته الجديدة. So in the end, I’m mostly ambivalent to this book. I see why people enjoy it and it is admittedly pretty and sweet and uplifting. It’s a good vibe to be in. It didn’t do much for me, but that’s alright too. I’ve read a few of Coelho’s works, including The Alchemist (of course), Veronica Decides to Die, The Witch of Portobello, and a few others. Each has served as a fun way to complement my travels, but I was really looking forward to this read because I had just had a similar experience.

The Pilgrimage: A Contemporary Quest for Ancient Wisdom (Plus)

If the sheep are only his"friends" as long as he brings them food, do they really count as friends? Are they not just following their needs?Then....there was a supernatural element which was just plain dumb. Granted, I am not religious. I think god-fearing people get more out of this bc they can take that leap of faith, excuse the phrase. If this was supposed to be a story of magic, I may have been into it. But it was supposed to be a simple story of knowing yourself. And I think, philosophically speaking, when you truly know yourself that is when you truly realize your destiny. Why do you need supernatural forces to convey that message? This was about realizing your destiny, or "personal legacy." It could have been done without the hocus pocus, and, yes, the cheese.

The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho - Google Books

Perhaps I am being too harsh. I can see how a few individual young persons, hemmed in by parental expectations and seeking their own paths, may find enough hope and courage here to help them venture forth. But I am convinced the damage done by books like this--like The Secret, The Celestine Prophecy, and anything ever written by the late Dr. Wayne Dyer (or, for that matter, anything he may ever choose to channel from beyond the grave)--is far greater than the little good they may achieve. Obviously I'm being facetious, and Coelho intended to say that one should follow their dreams no matter what, even if it transcends a nice, content life, so long as you are in pursuit of a life that would be even greater than you can ever imagine, sacrificing what is good now for what can be great later. But he did so in an extremely simplistic way, and the revelation of the Santiago's treasure being literally treasure was a major disappointment. secondly, i didnt connect with the any of characters, as i found them to be very two-dimensional. for a story that was meant to be about personal growth, i did not get any sense of emotion in the writing. a boy sells his entire livelihood, sets sail for distant continent, and crosses an entire desert in search of something he desperately desires - and yet, i couldnt care less about his journey. also, the portrayal of women in this is frustratingly poor. Todas las obras de Coelho tienden a ser espiritualmente reveladoras, aunque después de leer muchos de sus libros eventualmente todos terminan pareciendo lo mismo hasta el punto que lo único que realmente destaca es la historia. Y lamentablemente esta no lo hace. Es interesante, pero carece de ese increíble efecto “vuela la mente” que caracteriza muchas de sus otras obras.

You might also like

I also think of the comedy / performance art of Andy Kaufman and the constant, uncomfortable tension about what he was doing and why. Was it really so bad it was funny? If it was so obviously corny and insincere, was that not funny? Or was it? Was he really wrestling women and then getting beaten up by Jerry Lawler? That was a joke right? Do they really "generously offer their wool, their company, and -ONCE IN A WHILE - their meat? At least as far as the meat is concerned, I am sure they offer it once, and not again, and not by free choice, and generously? Google collects visitor information for videos hosted by YouTube on maps integrated with Google Maps. This journey is about self discovery, fighting with your own demons, letting your heart being your own eyes and leading you throughout the dark and threatening roads of life. It’s epic, uplifting, motivational, inspirational,heartfelt, poignant! The Pilgrimage paved the way to Paulo Coelho’s international bestselling novel The Alchemist. In many ways, these two volumes are companions—to truly comprehend one, you must read the other.

The Pilgrimage – HarperCollins The Pilgrimage – HarperCollins

I like everything spiritual, but this felt more on the religious side, and that doesn’t appeal me that much. The issue of responsibility is also part of this book's sexism. The main male characters in the novel have 'Personal Legends' - they are either seeking them, or have achieved them, or have failed to achieve them. But Coelho never mentions 'Personal Legend' with regard to women, other than to say that Fatima, Santiago's fiance, is 'a part of Santiago's Personal Legend." Thats fine, but what about her own Personal Legend? Instead of traveling to find her dreams, she is content to sit around, do chores, and stare everyday at the desert to wait for his return. This is her 'fate' as a desert women. The fact that women don't have Personal Legends is even more galling considering the fact that according to Coelho, even minerals such as lead and copper have Personal Legends, allowing them to 'evolve' to something better (ie, gold). I really disliked this book. I dislike it in the way that I dislike a great deal of modern self help books. Their basic message is that if you want something to happen, you need to want it as hard as you can, without caring about anything else, not allowing yourself to doubt it, or let criticisms will get in the way then it will happen. This book is the authors first one. In it, he writes about his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Despite the fact that the journey was filled with many unpleasant things ( injuries, exhaustion , bad weather conditions and so on...), in the end it turned out to be a priceless life experience for Paulo. Not to mention everything he learned from his guide Petrus, who accompanied him along the way. It's difficult to write a review of this one. It completely depends if you feel attracted to the book and the story.

Jorge Luis] Borges said there are only four stories to tell: a love story between two people, a love story between three people, the struggle for power and the voyage," Coelho has said. "All of us writers rewrite these same stories ad infinitum." Its not that I find anything wrong with these messages. They are important, but must be balanced with responsibility. In my experience, 'following your dreams' (or personal legend) is not the only way toward wisdom and strength. Is the person who struggles to put food on the table every day for his or her family, consciously realizing that he or she may not be following his or her 'personal legend' any less heroic than some traveler who leaves everything and everyone he or she is responsible for to go on a spiritual quest? Coelho comes close to labeling such people, as losers in life, which I find completely off the mark as some of these people have the most to offer in terms of wisdom. For me, this book was slower, less relatable (if only because very few people are on this kind of a mystical quest) and just less smoothly written overall. I also had a hard time sympathizing with the protagonist. I also didn’t really like the ending. Sure it is riffing on the whole “it’s the journey not the destination” aspect but it felt a bit flat for me with the deus ex machina moment. It is a happy ending though, and one full of success and rewards. As a bookclub member pointed out, it sort of resonates with a quote by T.S. Eliot: ‘ We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.’ There are quite a number of excises in the book you can practice. I certainly are going to work with several of them.