Following Your Personal Legend: Santiago’s Spiritual Journey in The Alchemist; A Structured Approach to Spiritual Journeys and a Case Study of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist
Summary
In this thesis I provide an innovative and structured definition of the spiritual journey and apply this definition to my analysis of Santiago’s spiritual journey in The Alchemist. Since it has proven difficult to attain a final definition of the spiritual journey, in this thesis I have developed a structural definition in which six important subpoints are identified. These subpoints are the personal legend, revelation, community, darkness, the existence of God and sacraments. All these subpoints originate from the works of Paulo Coelho, Hans van Stralen and John Neary and are brought together in a structural definition. These subpoints are then used as instruments in my analysis of Santiago’s journey in three main points of The Alchemist: the beginning of Santiago’s journey, his meeting with Melchizedek and finally his trip through the desert. Together these three points demonstrate the most significant segments of his spiritual journey. This thesis creates the possibility for deeper analysis into the links that exist between the works of Paulo Coelho and spirituality as well as analysis of the spiritual journey in general.