Have you met anyone that made it to the pyramids? Or more currently, have you seen the Netflix series Dare Me?
Better yet, I recommend you check out The best American essays 2001 by Kathleen Norris and more specifically; How to Pray: Reverence, Stories & the Rebbe’s Dream by Ben Birnbaum.
Yes, as popular a publication it is, I have just read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho in 2025 and have written my *book club* discussion piece below. There are some summary reviews on goodreads if you want specifics and opinions.
About the reality of the book, do people still do religious pilgrims and is anybody out there aiming for completing a personal legend?
I can recall a soundbite from everyone I’ve met since 2019 that reinforces this idea of a person who has ‘made it to the pyramids‘ and only one who has ‘made a stack of rocks in their backyard’.
The thing about these pyramid talkers is they fall somewhere in the category of hopeless romantic, not good enough to be a starving artist, life-apologetics. Their pyramids are word salads, saucy overused colloquialisms and catchphrases. You hear ‘Memento Mori’ and you think, that one guy in college that wore a Jersey to class everyday, and a suit every time you ever saw him after that. Or you hear a well-used clique slogan and you think, in-group, out-group andhow old am I again.
Of all the sub-categories, the life-apologetics are the worst. Trust me, you don’t ever want to be caught in a five hour text conversation with a life apologetic. They approach life as if they are owed their personal legends, instead of needing to create them. They do not just talk of pyramids, they talk of underground railroads, dead languages and fortune tellers.
Imagine having a conversation with someone who believes in their family heritage of fortune telling in 2025?
Now imagine this person secluding themself and family from normal society. Now imagine them living in a highly technologized physically protected structure that is not just secluded from society but Wakanda-type advanced. You should get the not-good-enough to be starving artist type trope now (if we are talking personal legends).
There is obviously no disconnect between their past, current reality, and what they expect from life. The problem I perceive is expecting some reciprocation and fallen-man origin or trope commiseration with the when there simply is none.
I feel this is the main idea of The Alchemist. It is about personal journeys, temptations, triumphs. I talk about Singularity References often in my own writing and the concepts in the book were strikingly similar. It is now one of my foundation references for the details I explore regarding this concept.
Because… the thing about pyramids is… they so very obviously cannot be built by a single individual. Their very existence suggest collectivism, as opposed to say a Statue of David, which symbolically attracts almost as much historical attention.
On weekends, do you commiserate with your community about all the things we are no longer capable of doing or do we all have personal statutes and statues to explore? Are we visiting museums or stadiums? Which of these buildings hold more history?