personal legends or myths? The Alchemist: a review

I should have reviewed this book whilst it was the new thing. Paul Coelho has been popular, if not influential, to say the least.

Coelho uses the simple journey for the treasure of a Spanish shepherd boy to bring to consciousness many general comments on the purpose of life. It is a sweet tale of a very innocent boy, just seeking his personal treasure. He starts with little but his flock, within his familiar country side of Spain. Through angelic and mystical encounters, twists of fate, so called "omens", and of course a personal desire and sheer belief to seek "treasure", the boy is led across the seas and deserts towards Egypt, the place of where his treasure was to be revealed. The final revelation leads him back home ironically, where his treasure had been all long, buried within his own memory and previous journeys as a shepherd. In sum, the Boy simply fulfills his Personal Legend as he responds with belief in the guidance of the Soul of the World.

Along the journey, there are significant characters that help the Boy. Firstly, the angelic character in Melchizedek, who first opens the Boy to the possibility of finding his treasure and prepares him with guiding words and tools to recognise favourable omens and answer questions by lots - the stones "Urim and Thummim". There are many helpers along the way: the gypsy who entices him toward seeking the treasure, the crystal dealer near the port who sustains the Boy physically and allows him to eventually sail toward Egypt, the Englishman who seeks the secrets to Alchemy and so leads the Boy to recognition of the Alchemist. The Boy also forms an emotional and spiritual bond with a girl in the desert plains, who is at once a distraction from his self-fulfilment as well as the source of his desire for that elusive treasure. Finally, it is the Alchemist who finishes off the education of the Boy in understanding the universal code of the world, called the language of the Soul of the World. It is with this understanding, Enlightenment for want of a better word, that the Boy is able to overcome his near-death obstacle at the hands of desert marauders, and successfully arrive at Egypt.

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I will choose only two major ideas to question. The first being the quest to fulfill one's personal legend. The second will be the idea of love alongside this calling. Though Coelho never admits to providing any ultimate answers to the purpose of life, the book does draw some conclusions to just what shape the fulfilled life looks.

Everyone seems to have a personal legend and the whole force of the universe, which is unnamed, impersonal but definitely powerful, is there to help everyone fulfill it. All we need is that extra self-belief and belief in this Soul of the World to the extent that it wills what we will. There is a fantastic scene where the Boy communicates with the Soul of the World after understanding the secrets of Alchemy, and it yields to the sheer desire and passion of the Boy for his goal. There may be an autobiographical element, or just very hopeful observations of our world.

Yet I do not think this translates very usefully into everyday living and certainly not for those in relation with the God of the Bible. The narrative of the Bible presents our lives as certainly integral parts of God's purposes in general. Yet the particular fulfillment of God's purpose lies in Jesus, coming to the world, revealing to the world the nature of God, rescuing the world in reconciliation to God Himself by His death for the fallen world and rising to life as the Ruler and Holder of all authority. Personal fulfillment come by being a part of God's grand plan, and not so much through our individual aspirations. Being a Christian means both losing the self and gaining more than what we can imagine. We lose the self-will to ruthlessly and selfishly achieve our own goals (see the call to discipleship in Mark 10:23-31), but in fact gain so much more from being in fellowship or one with Jesus, in His plans, goals and His community, which is God Himself. The Boy's treasure is really peas and pods compared to God Himself, who is the treasure promised to every disciple of Jesus, in submission to His plans and purposes. Further more Jesus Himself displayed this losing of Himself by deferring His own comforts and protection for the sake of others - the world - in need and He was duly rewarded by God the Father by His vindication at the Resurrection. God of History, not an impersonal Soul of the World, has shown His willingness to call people into such a relation with Him.

Where does love fit into peoples' plans and purposes? The Boy finds it, but must defer this to the pursuit of his personal legend; he is bound to reunite with his love, waiting for his return in the desert until the end. It ends happily and romantically. Perhaps for the sake of the story, the author had to prioritise the events. Yet if taken seriously, the personal legend seems to trump any other thing in the world, include marital happiness, relationship and people. We can leave even God out of the picture in thinking about this and just see how this happy ending is mere fiction. We know that people, relationships and most of all care for loved loves is costly. In daily terms it may be the constant effort, discomfort, hard work for the sake of loved ones. Those who have really loved will know what cost it is. Bringing God back into the picture, He does not seek love in this fashion, firstly He is satisfied, secondly He pours out His love, by the giving of Himself, even to the loss of His own Son. There is no greater price God could have paid in order to win the attention as well as salvation of his enemies. Christians are likewise called to suffer for the sake of love in this sense, not strictly love romantically. Love for the world, as God has loved, is worthy of our lives, time and even the loss of self once again. And this love is realised when we speak of God's love in action through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

A lot of people have been influenced by the novel. I do not mind it as fiction. But the best fiction can recreate and teach reality, not just providing false hopes for a generation that is in need of something real and substantial. For The Alchemist to be really inspirational, the Christian has to translate an impersonal and selfish force of the world into a personal, loving and selfless God.

Chaos still needs Light: The Dark Knight, a review.

(image: wallpaper downloads @http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/)

C. S. Lewis had said that it is easier to portray evil than good in art. I think the Dark Knight is another prime example of this trend. I know that many had seen the film because of the tragic death of Heath Ledger, and many would have been moved by how sinister his character was in this film. Chaos gained a face, as well as sadism, in this dark film.

There isn't too much to spoil by reading a review on the film, for we can easily guess the general direction of the characters' developments, their origins and their destinations. From "Batman Begins", we already know the love-hate relationship Bruce Wayne has with his alter-ego "The Batman". He yearns for normality and time for love with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The film introduces Harvey Dent/Two-face (Aaron Eckhart) and Joker, and it spends much time in explaining how these two characters become respectively bitter to goodness and sweet-toothed for evil.

The former disillusioned District Attorney of Gotham in Dent attains villain status because of personal suffering and loss. In the course of the Joker's plot to draw out and kill Batman, Harvey loses Rachel, his fiancee to the Joker's wicked designs. You see, the Joker gives Gotham city and the Batman a choice, to either choose to save either the honest, innocent and passionate District Attorney, Dent, with a history of successful prosecutions of the underworld bosses or an equally innocent, hard working and beautiful Lawyer, Dawes. The Batman and police choose to primarily save Dent, because of his capacity for doing greater good for Gotham, and as a result, just fails to rescue Dawes from a fatal explosion. This eventually leads to the conversion of the passionate crime fighter in Dent into a selfish avenger of personal loss that is Two-Face.

He is a helpful reminder, even as Christians, of just how weak even the moral and upright human being is in the face of deep personal suffering. Anger, bitterness but an irrational hatred of what is good can come out of undealt suffering. What if undeserved injustice befall on a great person, such as the archetypal Job? Would that man then shove his fists at God and let loose all his anger and blame God, others and in effect the whole world? Anyone without an understanding of where evil in this world comes from and who is responsible for evil, may act just as foolishly as Dent. But one who knows the God who is good and saves the right moment in history for the judgement of all wickedness will have true comfort and hope. There is also the aspect of God's transcendence as Creator over Creatures, that prevents us from ever rightfully demanding answers from God because of the order of beings and our limited understanding (see Job 38). Humility in the face of a awesome Creator is required.

The Joker's sadistic past is the direct cause of his evil nature. The film suggestively recreates the horrible abuse this man suffered, both as a child and as an adult, at the hands of his violent father and later by his own hands when he faces hardship in marriage and living in general. The scars on his face were brutally imprinted and stand for a deeply wounded soul, who now delights in evil and corruption of all that is good. He is like Satan portrayed biblically in this sense. The film of course gives Satan/Joker more degree of freedom and power than that is permitted by the Bible. There is also some element of pity the audience feels with respect to the Joker given his past; but the Bible does not give such pity to Satan, who is given angelic powers but desires God-like power that is not rightfully his. But both essentially point out the fear that the Joker/Satan can instill in people. This fear leads to much chaos and social nasties in the film (such as mob in/justice at the whim of the Joker's plot to blow up public hospitals for the price of certain public figures). Manipulation, enticement and threats to personal safety are the powers of the Joker, who wields control even over the lords of crime in Gotham.

We must be wary of giving evil too much limelight and 'power' for that is not how the Bible portrays our world. Yes we are fallen, and yes, we cannot even trust man, who is evil in heart and mind, hands and lips. The film finds some triumph in the general goodness of the most of mankind: when the Joker forces two boat-loads of people to play in a game of choice - that is the first boat to trigger the bomb on the other preserves itself - both boats decide not to pull the trigger and awaits their own destruction at the hand of the Joker. It is a lighter moment in the film. But this goodness or triumph of man is not the Biblical reason for hope over evil. In fact, Satan is in awe and dreaful fear of the Righteous Judge and Creator of the Universe. God's benign power, complete sovereignty and promise to crush evil, is the Biblical hope. We see this in the person of Jesus, who dies for evil man in substitution, and we see the full force of God's wrath on His Son on account of the sin laid on Him. The coming Judgement is not far and those not atoned for by Jesus' death will face the penlty ofr their own evil ways. All judgement has also been promised to Jesus, who is now victorious over death from sin. (See 1Cor. 15). Evil agents bow to the commands of God, who is untainted by evil; they are only permitted to act and misbehave, and this for a short while. The purpose of evil is difficult to comprehend, but here I trust in God's wisdom as Job has taught us. The Joker may enjoy being beaten to pulps by Batman; Satan squirms at the voice of God and pleads for lesser judgement. Even in the imagination of evil, "The Dark Knight" departs from truth into fiction.

There is much more to the problem of evil raised by the film. How can one truly cope with personal suffering at the hands of evil people? Where is God in this? What is man supposed to do in the face of crimes and wickedness in this world? Who should perform the acts of justice and punishment? How far can people go in the fight against evil, that with what means? Should the greater good be sacrificed or upheld if the disposal of one menial innocent party is required? Is the nature of man basically good and evil just a marring of this nature by an intrinsically evil world (say would the Joker have been if he was raised by a loving dad)?

You won't find many answers in the film that are satisfying, but the questions are intriguing. So are the action scenes, the cinematics of heights, depths and sounds. The Batman offers a likeable human model of imperfect yet personal agent of justice, and he is stylish. I was just glad that chaos still needs the light, for the Joker has no other purpose than to destroy what is good, he depends on some order even within the dark hierarchy of his company and most of all in the society he seeks to wreck. There is no meaning in evil itself, no end, no "good" - to state the obvious. Pure power just does not seem satisfying to my senses, and still forms an irrational basis for the existence of the Joker/Satan. I was glad for reality when the film was over, because we know that in Jesus, there is true Light, who has overcome the Darkness, and this Darkness has not overcome it (John 1:1-14).

The best film I saw overall this year. 4/5.