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absolute truth
April 2009 
The Alchemist
Posted on Feb 22nd, 2007
by 
Cre8beauty
Cre8beauty
Every year, I read this out loud to my students. In each class. Which is about 5 times a day. I have portions of it memorized. Yet, there are still new messages waiting for me everytime I read it, that I somehow missed in all the times that I have perused its pages. It's so full of simple wisdom, the kind we need, and the kind so often lost in everyday life, in our foolish, complicated world. It's so full of valuable lessons that my students can apply outside of the classroom, in "the real world."
And every year, I am bothered by Fatima, Santiago's soul mate. Every year, I cringe at these lines: "I'm a woman of the desert, but above all I'm a woman." This is around page 127 (in my copy). It's the part in the plot where Santiago is leaving the oasis to go in search of his treasure. He goes to her tent in the middle of the night to say his goodbyes. She tells him to go in search of his treasure, and that she is a woman of the desert, a woman who will await for her warrior's return. And then she cries. Says the lines I despise. Coelho narrates the next couple paragraphs explaining that from that day on it wouldn't be the oasis she would think about, but the desert. She would look to it and be happy, be filled with pride at the thought of Santiago riding out on the sands, fighting his battles, achieving his personal legend. I'm not bothered by her being proud of Santiago for fighting for his dreams, or about her looking at the desert with happiness and peace because it holds her love. Here is what irritates me:
why can't women be seen as warriors to? why do they have to wait around, sitting
pretty, waiting to be rescued? why do we have to wait for our warriors, for their battles
to be won? wait? girls maybe. but women? we don't, and rise above the symbolic prize that has been stereotyped in story after story since language has begun.
i don't want a warrior to fight FOR me. i want a warrior who fights WITH me. for Love. for beauty. for gratitude. for every unsung hero, and every unwritten song, for every unborn dream, and every seed that breaks beneath the ground but quakes with fear to grow tall and strong.
glory and honor are something i have earned over time, with my own hands, with my own mind. i don't want to fight with brute strength, i don't want to fight with force, i want my strength to be in loving, and my presence a force to be reckoned with because i walk in a state of grace. because my warrior pose is one of concentration, and my battle like balet.
fine go fight your battles, go seek your treasure, go have fun. but i'm not waiting around to be rescued, i'm revived by my own revolution, and we'll meet up when the day is done. and maybe i'll think of you if a moment's rest should arise, but don't think for one second that either of us can take our eyes of the prize. the treasure is something bigger than me or you. i'm not after a personal legend. i'm after absolute Truth.
Access: Public
Standing Ovation! Reminder of light-guider of victory! I stand with you. Hallellujah!
Try Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Haven't read it myself but have heard excellent things. An example of a woman who didn't wait around to be rescued as you put it.
Great post and pose, by the way.
Amen!
I was recently struck with similar thoughts on warriorship which prompted me to seek out stories about them so that I could connect with my own inner warrior. I went in with the idea that this is a male aspect of the self. I was lead to Shambhala; The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Here I learned that a true warrior is just how you described yourself; loving, aware, vulnerable (open heart), wise, graceful. There is a warrior-like strength within us that seems to be strengthened when we can allow the clouds to part. And anyone who has felt what its like to have an open heart will likely agree that this takes strength and courage.
Yes, we are warriors, warriors who create and love and let our light shine knowing that we may be attacked at any time. But we can take it (with compassion for others) and have an amazing ability to cut through to the heart of the matter because of the wisdom that comes with this peaceful state of warriorship. Think of how many people walk through life afraid to shine. We deserve to give ourselves credit for this choice we’ve made. I believe this is true warriorship.
Dear Keri,
I stumbled on your profile and then blog and something tells me to write my view on this particular line you mentioned from the Alchemist. I’ve read it a second time about a year ago. And yes I can see your point of view in man leaving, who must be supported, woman staying behind seemingly without battle. But if you continue the story of the woman then isn’t she in her own right fighting a battle or on a quest to find her treasure(s)? One does not need to go beyond the horizon to find ones treasure(s) isn’t that what the whole story is all about?
You could also ook at the story in another way and see Santiago and Fatima stand for the metaphors of feminine and masculine energy and not man and woman (this is at least how I read the book) and woman and a man are both made of masculine and feminine energies…
So woman are as warriors as men and depending on your ‘individual’ profile we’ll express ourselves differently and the chapter doesn’t say any different depending the angle one looks at it.
I could write some more personal experiences to this issue but I’m not sure if you’re interested.
Be good to you and Love from Brussels, Belgium
Tom
This is seriously not just shameless self-promotion, but you should try reading The Golden Scrolls by Tavis J. Hampton. There are quite a few strong female characters, and one of them is the most legendary and celebrated warrior of all. For many years, male warriors assumed she was a man, for those who trembled when hearing her name had never actually seen her in battle. Her name was Ahsan, The Seeing Wind. She was as feminine and caring as a new mother, yet as powerful and confident as the greatest of kings and warriors.