"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

So this book is a little pantheistic, but it makes some interesting points. It is the story of a shepherd boy who  decides to go visit the Pyramids and figure out what his "Personal Legend" is. It is kind of like a warm cup of tea. I like tea, for the most part. ^_^

Anyway, let me share a passage I thought was interesting.

"There's no need for iron to be the same as copper, or copper the same as gold. Each performs its own exact function as a unique being, and everything would be a symphony of peace if the hand that wrote all this had stopped on the fifth day of creation. But there was a sixth day," the sun went on.


"You are wise, because you observe everything from a distance," the boy said. "But you don't know about love. If there hadn't been a sixth day, man would not exist; copper would always be just copper, and lead just lead. It's true that everything has its Personal Legend, but one day that Personal Legend will be realized. So each thing has to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new Personal Legend. . . . This is why alchemy exists . . . So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life . . . That's what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."


"Well, why did you say that I don't know about love?" the sun asked the boy.


"Because it's not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it's not love to see everything from a distance, like you do. Love is the force that transforms and improves . . . The world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that's were the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are."