The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is a captivating novel set in a past era with truly applicable lessons for current day living.

The story is told from the perspective of a shepherd boy. He is restless and wants to do more than shepherding sheep; he wants to explore the world and go beyond his limited horizon of the fields and the sheep. He wishes to find the appropriate woman to marry and change his lifestyle.

In this process of soul-searching, he encounters some wise folk who give him lessons on life and admonish him on the existence of omens—the good ones and the bad ones. These omens are there around him and it is up to him to ensure that he interprets them appropriately. The boy, as the author refers to him, is on a quest to create his personal legend. Since he desires to travel he embarks on a journey of fulfilling his dream of witnessing the pyramids in Egypt.

Through this journey he loses his life’s savings, works hard to re-gain some of these savings; he meets interesting people—there are those who wish to make their dreams a reality while there are others who prefer to keep their dreams as part of their imagination. This boy, eventually ventures on his quest to realize his dream; he travels through the desert where he encounters an English man who is determined to find the alchemist. This man wants to unravel the code of the philosopher’s stone as well the elixir of life; he wanted to know how to turn lead into gold.

The boy comes upon a young woman who he believes is the woman he wanted to marry; it was instant love at first sight. But the boy needed to fulfill his dream before settling down to a life of marital bliss. He continues his venture towards Egypt. Through various encounters with different types of people and adventures in the desert he realizes his dream. Throughout he has learned many lessons and accepts the trials, tribulations and the many joys of self-actualization.

Paulo Coelho writes in an easy to read style incorporating many startling yet very common sense approaches to living one’s life. He elevates these life’s lessons in dramatic and fascinating episodes throughout the novel.

Downsizing in Retirement

In retirement, one’s lifestyle changes. The routines are different as time is not of the essence, as the world becomes your oyster. You can reach out to explore, ponder for as long as you desire, meditate whenever you want to; essentially you can create your own timetable according to your wants and needs.

Since my retirement a year ago, I was able to stop and look around. For the past ten years we lived on the West Coast of Canada in a four-bedroom house with a good size garden both at the back and front. It needed that tender loving care at crucial times of the year, in the spring, summer and autumn. All that tender loving care brought us an immense amount of joy and pride. We explored the many wonders along the West of Coast of America and Canada and were in wonderment at the natural beauty of these parts of the West Coast. In retirement we felt we missed the lifestyle and culture of Central Canada. We decided that it was time to go home to Toronto where we spent most of our adult life. It was time to retire to familiar ground. In this re-thinking process we thought it was necessary to downsize to a 2+1 bedroom condominium apartment. We believe it will liberate us in many different ways; we will travel as often as we want to and spend more time enjoying the sights and sounds of big city living, indulge in reading, writing, and exploring the internet. The decision is made; we are moving.

The next step was to assess and evaluate all of our treasured furniture, mementos, books, clothing, tools, electronic equipment and so forth. This step proved to be most traumatic; parting with a memento, a piece of furniture or a book was heart breaking as each parting brought back a flood of memories that was attached to that particular treasure. But there will be no room for all these treasures in a condominium apartment. It was cathartic and yet it was a kind of a cleansing by reducing our treasures. Our children took possession of their favourite family treasures and are safely resident in their homes.

The protocol for selling our home was an eye-opening experience, as we had to hide away all personal photos or anything that depicted or symbolized any kind of religion; essentially we had to de-clutter. This process forced us to further evaluate our mementos and wall hangings. We gave away some of our treasures, while we sold some other treasures on craigslist. Our home became a house for sale; it sold.

We think we are down to just the right amount of possessions that we believe may comfortably reside in our new home of a two-bedroom condominium apartment. Moving date is fast approaching and as we pack we are discovering more treasures to discard. We have recycled out of date electronic equipment and made more trips to the local charity store with more treasures for them to sell and use the funds for the local hospital. Every weekly garbage day we dutifully put out the allowable two bags full of garbage. We are ready to move to indulge in a new lifestyle.

As we leave the West Coast we take with us many, many cherished memories of our stay here; our work and volunteer experiences along with the many people that we met and engaged with.

The Socratic Dialogues

The Socratic Dialogues as captured by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett and published by Kaplan Classics of Law. New York. In the foreword of this resource, Professor Kaplan describes brief overviews of five specific dialogues. He reminds us of the use of the Socratic method that the law students are encouraged to master in their practice of law. He observes that Socrates was not a lawyer or a judge instead he was a “philosopher” of his era. The five dialogues were documented by Plato, a student of Socrates. The dialogues are entitled with the names of the persons that Socrates engages in dialogue.

The dialogue with Euthyphro is focused on discourse that relates to “piety” and “impiety”. Their exchanges concentrate on the meanings, examples of practices and the rationale for being pious and impious. They further engage into the merits and demerits of these practices and their impact on exploring the meaning of truth.

In Apology, Socrates deliberates on how he got into trouble with the law. He is accused of “corrupting the youth.” He reflects on the theme of “let the speaker speak truly and the judge decide justly.” He encourages the youth to question and follow the line of interrogation towards authority. He attempts to delineate wisdom from established opinion.

In the prison where Socrates is held, Crito engages Socrates in dialogue about escaping from the prison and ultimately the charges laid against Socrates. Crito claims that these charges are futile and have no merit in any court of law. Instead, Socrates defends his right to stand in front of the judges and claims that he is guided by reason and the principles by which he adheres to.

The dialogue with Lysis is an uplifting discussion on love and friendship. They examine vanity and the process of conquest. The discourse leads to defining friendship and what it entails to be a friend. The probes are enhanced with examples that Socrates uses to illustrate his viewpoints.

Socrates engages Laches on the themes of courage and bravery; Socrates encourages independent thinking by posing questions that will focus on deliberate thoughts. He alludes that “a good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” He probes further on the acquisition of knowledge and how this knowledge is imparted that makes it relevant to being courageous and brave.

The dialogue with Charmides is based on “Know Thyself” and “Be Temperate.” The probing evolves around these themes relating to the science of health and “the knowledge with which he discerns good and evil.” Ultimately it becomes a discussion on having the gift of wisdom and temperance.

This resource highlights the artful way of having a discourse, a discussion or a debate on topics of interest. Socrates was obviously a master at probing individuals into thinking independently and deeply about any philosophical topic. He used the unique technique of engaging in discussion by developing examples that anyone could understand; they were real life examples, examples about animals or nature or ways of thinking of everyday issues and problems. Socrates, magnetically draws his debaters into profound exploration of what they are talking about.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Author, Seth Grahame-Smith adapted Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice into a different novel entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Grahame-Smith uses Austen’s novel as a basis for incorporating vampire-like creatures into this story. One of the main characters, Elizabeth Bennett, becomes an expert in attacking and annihilating the zombies who died of the plague and are now arisen to attack the living.

As the story evolves, the fine art of killing and maiming citizens are described in gruesome detail. These citizens are continually confronted by the zombies who suddenly appear in the day-to-day living of the citizens of the town. Some of these citizens also get ill with the plague and meet their demise.

Grahame-Smith turns a soothing, comedic novel about a regular family into a macabre novel. He elevates some of the women into prized fighters who surpass the skills of the men around the town. There is some sort of gender equality in the essence of this novel with strands of female superiority throughout the novel.

This author has a good style of writing; he brings out the raw reactions to the different scenarios that are evident in the story. As a reader you will react with horror and disgust as you absorb what is happening in these scenarios of the story.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

From February 12^th to February 28^th, Metro Vancouver was inundated with many thousands of international visitors. Along with the athletes came their families, friends and spectators to witness the athletes doing their very best to win medals. The venues for these competitions were in Vancouver, Whistler Mountain, Cypress Mountain and Richmond. The athletes were housed in Olympic Village in the heart of Vancouver. There were the usual glitches due to weather conditions that resulted in some competitions being postponed or spectators not being able to witness some of these competitions as the weather turned out to be warmer than expected.

Then there was the cultural Olympiad that was evident everywhere in the Vancouver area; there were a varied form of entertainment that included a broad range of musical artists and bands. During the day the streets were filled with people milling around and visiting the individual country pavilions as well as the different Canadian provincial pavilions showcasing the beauty of the vast expanse of Canada; the lineups were long, orderly and well worth the visits to the different pavilions. It was like one great big fair that lasted for two weeks. The nights were abuzz with music, dining and special concerts. As a resident of Metro Vancouver, it was an extraordinary “happening.” As we walked in our familiar streets, it was especially wonderful to observe and engage with the international visitors in small or long conversations about Canada.

My favourite competitions were the skating events including the ice dancing. I was awestruck by Joanie Rochette who skated to win the bronze medal despite the very tragic and sudden death of her mother. We all watched her every move on ice with bated breath. She captured the hearts and minds of everyone as she skated to the victory podium. Towards the end of her skate, it was particularly poignant to observe her lift her hands up in recognition of her mother watching over her. That was memorable!

Vancouver is still abuzz with Olympic fever as this city continues to host the Winter Paralympics which commenced on March 12th.

Reflections on Spending a Winter Month in Mazatlan

It felt so good to wake up every morning to warm temperatures that lasted all day, while cooling off in the evenings; the temperatures ranged from 32 C to 25 C in the evenings; there was no humidity just warm and cool sea breezes to contend with each day and night. Since it was January, it felt surreal; in the past we did spend a couple of weeks away during the winter months, but a whole month felt odd. What to do was the question. Yes, we beach-combed by doing our exercise walk each morning along the beach followed our attempts to do some non-fictional reading while watching the waves of the sea. Mazatlan has a large expat community from the USA and Canada; everyone escaping the winters of their home bases; some are there for six months while others are there for one, two, three or four months. It was definitely a time to witness the baby-boomer generation enjoying their sunset years in the sun. The Mexicans appear to accept this phenomenon. It brings them employment of a wide variety that includes promoting time-share and beach club purchases all along the new development area of New Mazatlan.

We lived in the Golden Zone area; an area where all the hotels and tourists hang out. We decided to venture further and took day trips to the Historica Centro (the City Centre or old Mazatlan) exploring the history and learning about the restoration of the City Centre. There is a vibrant arts and cultural community as well as a variety of Mexican and other restaurants dotted throughout the Centre.

We went on a countryside tour that took us to Copala. On the way there we stopped to see how small family entrepreneurs made bricks for sale as a sole source of income. Despite fierce competition from the major industrial brick makers these families persist. Mid-way through our journey we stopped at Concordia to observe another family tradition of making floor tiles and other artifacts. Here we visited a Cathedral and a Town Centre with an impressive courtyard. Along the wall of this courtyard was a historical mural depicting the history of Mazatlan. It illustrated how the French, English and Spanish came ashore, pillaged from the local people and raped their women. The Tour Guide, in a matter-of-fact manner described this sordid past as their reality. He also emphasized how the locals of the time were forced into being converted to Catholicism. Once in Copala located among the mountains we visited yet another Church and an artist who specializes in creating art forms with the leather medium; they ranged from fridge magnets, brooches, lapel pins and masks. He demonstrated the use of one of the masks in preparation for Mardi Gras that is to occur in the middle of February. Apparently, Mazatlan has the third largest Mardi Gras with Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans taking first and second place respectively. Our tour ended with a Mexican lunch and a quiet ride back through meandering hills and roadways.

Mazatlan was a beautiful experience; one that we can easily repeat many times over.

Mazatlan, Mexico

It sure was a busy, hectic and enjoyable time over the Christmas holidays. With family left for their homes to spend New Year's Eve with their friends, we decided to spend New Year's Eve in Mazatlan, Mexico. We met up with a friend who lives in Mazatlan for most of the winter months. He took us to the public square, called Machado Square, where all the local folks gather to bring in the New Year. We arrived at the Square around 10 p.m. There were three bands located at different ends of the Square, each band taking its turn to play their sets of dance music. It was great joy listening to the variety of music and watching the local folks performing their dance moves to the rhythm and slow movement of the band music. The New Year was brought in by the band on the Centre Stage with the usual count-down to midnight. At the stroke of midnight we all kissed and greeted each with best wishes and prosperous times for 2010.

We will be in Mazatlan for the whole month of January in an attempt to escape at least one Canadian winter month. So far, it has been an exhilarating time. We have walked the long, long stretch of the Malecon twice. Rumour has it that this stretch is about 12 miles in length; it overlooks the sea--one can choose to walk along the beach or along the sea wall. Since the weather is very warm, this walk tends to be hot, exhausting and yet quite entertaining as one views the different monuments along the sea wall as well as the fantastic views of the sea and beyond. Midway through the walk we did stop for a slight snack of salsa, chips, guacamole and a beer to refresh ourselves and give us the energy to complete the walk.

Our daily routine, so far, consists of an hour or so walk along the beach with another hour or so of reading, watching the tides come in as well as watching the kids frolic in the sea waves. We then meander our way back to our abode for a light lunch, a light snooze and then some active exploration of the city sights. It is fascinating and enriching as we speak little to no Spanish; we certainly get by with a great deal of help from the English speaking Mexicans who delight in telling us stories about Mazatlan.

Stay tuned for more news as we continue to live out the month of January here.