My word against Paulo Coelho. - A.

Paulo Coelho writes in his celebrated book, the Alchemist, 'When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.' As the Alchemist gained universal popularity, this quote also became one of the most used, one of the most inspirational and beloved quotes of the year. It was once again used in Hindi in the blockbuster movie Om Shanti Om, the 'beautiful', yet sickeningly optimistic idea being imprinted into the minds of the masses. 'Ager kisi chees ko suche man se chaho to, sari kainat usay tum se milane ki koshish main lag jati hay' or something along those lines, anyway.

Paulo Coelho used to be one of my favorite writers. I like his sense of passion, his way with words and how he can convince anyone about anything. He holds a fascinating amount of spell over his readers, making them believe most of his words unquestioningly.  Also, then there is the ability to make far places seem near, a quality any writer should have. But despite being, a great writer I came to realize that I have huge issues with Coelho. I realized, as I read through his books that with him, the glass is always half full. He is a hopeless optimist. It is sickening. I mean, the general belief is that you have to be positive about life. (Note how, I said general belief and not my belief) and even if we do come to terms with that, this Brazillian genius just puts too much blind faith on the survival of the human spirit and the strength of will power, I mean give me a break. It makes you wonder, whether Coelho's early experiences as a psychotic in asylum might have got him a tad bit larger dose of positive psychology than required. His optimism about things reach a near Barney the dinosaur level of unbelievable. So folks, sing 'Coelho's writings are you friend too if you just make believe that this world is a bed of gross roses.'

Paulo Coelho's rise to fame has undermined the valid point that many of his critics have brought out. Paulo's stories while inspiring to many are near fable like. I mean come on, lets face it a nine year old girl would find Cinderella inspiring too but really? So Imagine my surprise today, when I came across an article which said, that the sickeningly beautiful Alchemist, have several law suits pending in Brazillian courts for actually being a dignified and more dynamic retelling of "The Ruined Man who Became Rich Again through a Dream" (Tale 14 from the collection One Thousand and One Nights, an actual fable. This is Coelho's gift to the world. Another fairy tale. As if, we don't have enough of that already.

Thinking back on the, Alchemist I can't help again but wonder, whether this inspirational writing of the Brazillian author, had indeed been a bi product of his time institutionalized, he has used positive psychology to tell, the reader what they want to hear. Nothing true, nothing factual just what people want to know. Another thing that appalls me in hindsight of the book i liked so much before, is the sheer hypocrisy of it. For someone who claims to talk about the survival of the human spirit believes too much in the Universe conspiring to help him out. I mean, come on. This reminds me of the Oral Passive or the sucking type of Freud's typology of Libido. Be optimistic, be happy and accept the universe to keep you well fed. So dear Ryloggers, quit your jobs.. stop going to your colleges. All you people have to do is really want something.

REALITY CHECK: You lay your arms up, and want something to happen, nothing will happen. The Universe will not conspire for you, even  if you are working hard for your goal. The only thing it will do is sit back and laugh at you as you fail miserably. Thats the human nature too. If you don't get what you want done. No one will do it for you. They'd just lie back, grab a drink and wait and watch while you struggle and ultimately, fail. Thats what humans have always known how to do best. Ignore, all the bad thats happening in the world as it does not concern you. Let the kids in Palestine die, they are not my children. Let innocent girls be raped somewhere in the world, they are not my sisters. Let people be murdered in Saudi Arabia in the name of upholding family name, they are not my family. Whats happening in the other side of the world, or the other side of the room had little or no appeal to send us into action oriented behavior, for so long that its sickening. And then, people like Coelho comes out and says, go want something real bad and your fellows and the whole fucking universe will conspire and help you achieve it.. I say, what a lord of CRAP.

"The Alchemist is the bastard child of that breed of horseshit known as the Self-Help And Actualization Movement cross-pollinated with Antoine de Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince and the fundamental plot structure of a particular story from Jalal al-Din Rumi's Mathanawi entitled "In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo:"
                    quotes  Cantankerous M0use, Esq. in Yahoo voices.

Amen, brother I couldn't agree more.

So yes, Paulo Coelho, you are a damn good writer no doubt of it. But your Barney like optimistic illusion idea of the world sickens me to my back teeth. If we continue, seeing the world as what it is not, we d never progress. If we accept human nature and then try to work for peace, keeping that in mind then we'd achieve peace.  #averymuchdisillusionedAaiz..