The Alchemist

by Paulo Coelho

‘The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.’”

There’s a motto in Alchemy: “Concentrate and dissolve”. As you may know, alchemists would, through laboratory studies, try to distill mercury from sulphur and then refine the mercury until it converted into gold. This quest would lead them to the Philosopher’s Stone (which was the solid component) and the Long Life Elixir. All the process of distilling is based on this very simple motto: concentrate—meaning extracting the essence—and dissolve—meaning mixing the essence with something else. Many disregard that through this routine, alchemists were also training their patience and thus transforming their perception of the world. I think you can apply this same motto to love and to life: in order to preserve our freedom, one has to be able at the same time to dive into its essence and to share it with others.