Bridging The Gap Between Innocence And Experience.
"The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhere higher." Thomas Henry Hurley. Paulo Coelho and Hurley share the same concept the meaning of life is not to be fulfilled at where you are at, instead to take it to a whole new level and keep climbing up the latter. Coelho takes us through a journey of a young shepherd boy who is trying desperately to climb the rungs of his ladder to reach his personal legend in the international best-selling novel, "The Alchemist". Along this never-ending journey, Santiago was phased with the quest to bridge the physiological and physical gap between innocence and experience. Coelho leads the reader on a riveting expedition through the good and bad of chasing your authentic self to the point of self-discovery. Paulo truly captures the essence of a young man who wasn't completely fulfilled at where he was at so it leads him to search for something deeper. The remedy to bridge the gap from total innocence to utmost experience is a pinch of ignorance, a dose of growth and a heap of wisdom.
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As humans we adapt to the environment that we have grown in and have come to know. Santiago knew that in order for him to pursue his personal legend he would have to leave his sheep behind. Santiago's initial reaction, like many of us was to ignore the signs and the omens. Santiago had endured a reoccurring dream of finding a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids, met with a fortune telling gypsy who told him to go to Egypt and a king who offered to take one tenth of his sheep in exchange for two valuable stones and advice. After all the signs and omens Santiago received his first reaction was to ignore it all and go back to shepherding because it is what he new best. On page 28 Paulo Coelho writes, "While standing at the ticket window, the boy had remembered his flock, and decided he should go back to being a shepherd.