The Zahir – A Story Of Obsession

Zahir , a story of love, obsession, loss, anxiety and myriad of emotions by Paulo Coelho, is written in an autobiographical style though it’s a piece of fiction. Zahir is the story of a famous author whose wife suddenly disappears and then begins the journey of author to discover his wife and in the process he rediscovers himself. So, essentially Zahir is a journey about visualizing the unexplored area within oneself.
I am not quite sure whether I did understand Alchemist when I gobbled it years ago, perhaps I should skim over it intensely again to really understand it. Like any other Paulo’s thought provoking writing, it is not easy to fully understand rather embrace the depth of his writing unless you have been through the same emotion yourself. This is precisely the main reason why there is so much criticism of his writing and his books are termed as being overrated and he himself being self-indulgent. I think I understood most part of Zahir though not completely, there are just so many emotions involved in it; it is even hard to put it in writing. But some of the lessons that he puts across are – It’s ok to be in love with multiple people at the same time, following our dreams by recognizing the signs of universe; life should be lived like an empty vessel, always there to be refilled; some of the apparent rules of society are simply archaic; love is the most important of anything and everything and most importantly opposite of love is not hatred, opposite of life is not death; opposite of art is not ugliness but it is Indifference.

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Tags: Awareness, Masala, Spirituality

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