Mything in Action

I initially picked up this book, because the title sounded interesting and because iTunes offered it as a free audio book download. Since I’ve been studying alchemy lately, I figured the title couldn’t lead me anywhere but in a good direction. If that makes any sense.

So, in a nutshell, the story is about a shepherd who needs to go “find his personal legend” in the form of finding a treasure he dremt about. This personal quest leads him from his home in Spain to Tunisia, across the Sahara to Egypt, and more, but I don’t want to spoil the ending. Along his way, he meets people who help guide him closer to his goal, including a gypsy who interpreted his dream, the King who gives him the tools he needs to read good omens, the thief who robs him blind, the crystal shop owner to dreams of going to Mecca, the Englishman looking for the Alchemist, and the Alchemist.

I don’t know if Coelho did this intentionally or not, but his approach to alchemy is akin to the often-critiqued Jungian approach. The Alchemist teaches the shepherd, who has already learned to read the unspoken language of the world, how to utilize that skill for what is essentially personal alchemy. When asked why most alchemists didn’t “get it,” the Alchemist responds that they were too focused on turning lead into gold, rather than on what that process means to them as individuals. Essentially saying that the goal of alchemy isn’t the philosopher’s stone in and of itself, but, rather, the journey one undertakes to get to the philosopher’s stone. Furthermore, the Alchemist teaches the shepherd to rely on his experience, rather than teaching him what he needs to know from the get go. The “treasure” the shepherd is seeking is paralleled with the “treasure” he is unlocking within himself by undergoing the quest.

One of the critiques against Jung is that he internalizes alchemy. I think this book demonstrates that the internalization comes as a result of the experience, and that the two must work in conjunction to produce the philosopher’s stone, which I interpret (and Jung too) to represent the Self, capital S, which is the ultimate archetype, the archetype that links the psyche of the individual with the numinous psyche of the world, which leads me into a discussion of the semantics that Jung is often criticized for and which I will leave alone at this time.

The book isn’t one that took my breath away, but I still highly recommend it. It is not a primer into alchemy, so I do suggest a little dappling into the subject before reading the book to appreciate it on that level. Otherwise, it is a really good mythic story. A couple sources on alchemy that I have read are both source texts, but they deliver the subject in a way relevant to the Western reader are: Alchemy by Johannes Fabricius and Jung on Alchemy, but I forget the name of the editor just now.