+ “Should I understand the Emerald Tablet?” the boy asked. +“Perhaps, if you were in a laboratory of alchemy, this would be +the right time to study the best way to understand the Emerald +Tablet. But you are in the desert. So immerse yourself in it. The +desert will give you an understanding of the world; in fact, anything +on the face of the earth will do that. You don’t even have to +understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple +grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation.” +“How do I immerse myself in the desert?” +“Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from +the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there.” +THEY CROSSED THE DESERT FOR ANOTHER TWO DAYS IN silence. The +alchemist had become much more cautious, because they were +approaching the area where the most violent battles were being +waged. As they moved along, the boy tried to listen to his heart. +It was not easy to do; in earlier times, his heart had always been +ready to tell its story, but lately that wasn’t true. There had been +times when his heart spent hours telling of its sadness, and at other +times it became so emotional over the desert sunrise that the boy +had to hide his tears. His heart beat fastest when it spoke to the boy +of treasure, and more slowly when the boy stared entranced at the +endless horizons of the desert. But his heart was never quiet, even +when the boy and the alchemist had fallen into silence. +“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked, when +they had made camp that day. +“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your +treasure.” +“But my heart is agitated,” the boy said. “It has its dreams, it gets +emotional, and it’s become passionate over a woman of the desert. +It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, +when I’m thinking about her.” +“Well, that’s good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it +has to say.” +During the next three days, the two travelers passed by a +number of armed tribesmen, and saw others on the horizon. The +boy’s heart began to speak of fear. It told him stories it had heard +from the Soul of the World, stories of men who sought to find their +treasure and never succeeded. Sometimes it frightened the boy with +the idea that he might not find his treasure, or that he might die +there in the desert. At other times, it told the boy that it was +satisfied: it had found love and riches. +“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they +had paused to rest the horses. “It doesn’t want me to go on.” +“That makes sense,” the alchemist answered. “Naturally it’s +afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything +you’ve won.” +“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?” +“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if +you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be +there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life +and about the world.” +“You mean I should listen, even if it’s treasonous?” +“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your +heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll +know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them. +“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better +to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an +unanticipated blow.” +The boy continued to listen to his heart as they crossed the +desert. He came to understand its dodges and tricks, and to accept it +as it was. He lost his fear, and forgot about his need to go back to the +oasis, because, one afternoon, his heart told him that it was happy. +“Even though I complain sometimes,” it said, “it’s because I’m the +heart of a person, and people’s hearts are that way. People are +afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel +that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve +them. We, their hearts, become fearful just thinking of loved ones +who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good but +weren’t, or of treasures that might have been found but were +forever hidden in the sands. Because, when these things happen, we +suffer terribly.” +“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the +alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky. +“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the +suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in +search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a +second’s encounter with God and with eternity.” +“Every second of the search is an encounter with God,” the boy +told his heart. “When I have been truly searching for my treasure, +every day has been luminous, because I’ve known that every hour +was a part of the dream that I would find it. When I have been truly +searching for my treasure, I’ve discovered things along the way that +I never would have seen had I not had the courage to try things that +seemed impossible for a shepherd to achieve.” +
+ + +