The Fifth Mountain: Mini Review


With an easy access to the promises of internet connection, unexpected invites from classmates for an afternoon or evening chill, or just plain busy with academic demands, I have left out my passion for reading. I’m not really a bookworm but, whenever I see or hear about a great book that interests and tickles my mind, I never fail to note and read it when time permits.

I just finished reading The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho. At first glance, one would not know it’s about a biblical person’s story. It is a reconstruction of the plight of Elijah, the prophet. Most of us, perhaps, would be indifferent or even critical to such stories for we have grown tired of anything Church-related. However, the great mind of Coelho has fashioned it so well that once begun, you would not stop reading it ‘till the end. In fact, I did half of the book in just one afternoon.

Israel had been invaded not by an aggressive and stronger nation, but by a woman, in the person of Princess Jezebel. She managed to seduce the king and take over everything. Cuius regio, eius religio. Whose region, his religion. Thereupon, the mandatory worship of Baal was enforced and whoever does not abandon the worship of the One True God will be persecuted. The prophets had fought against this and they, too, had been hunted for execution. Elijah is one of those prophets, yet with luck or God on his side, he lives. The arrow that was supposed to be his swerved, landing on the Levite beside him. Terrified of what he had witnessed, the expert assassin left him be. Poor Elijah banished himself to the desert discovering himself, then, was led to an accommodating nation, Akbar. There, he had been prepared until he was ready to go back to his own land and fight the evil that has afflicted her.

Don’t we always fancy having special powers to get things by easily – to write a paper due the following day with just a glance on an empty parchment, to command the switch to turn itself off, to teleport yourself from the dormitory to school so as to avoid traffic and pollution, to be flood- or rain-proof, to make the cute guy or pretty lady fall in love with you with a wink, to have access to the rich and wealthy bank of fashion items (those Burberry coats) with just thinking about it? Simply put, to be whoever, wherever you want to whenever, however you want it.

In Coelho’s presentation, prophets have this special gift of conversing with the angel of the Lord who reveals the will of God for man. Is this not something we would all desire and envy? It turns out, however, that even this seemingly cool and privileged position is not without its negative consequences. Elijah had to struggle with himself and God. He, too, is a man who falls in love, who gets hungry. Will the revelation of his affection for the widow who had housed him affect his mission? Why does God need to uproot him from where he had barely established a life of his own? These and many other torment the young man everyday. Nevertheless, it was through all these difficulties that he found himself, situated himself (for he had been rejecting and repressing his prophetic role since childhood) and consequently, he found God altogether. It’s not when you think your faith is unshaken that your faith is firm. Rather, it is in the unexpected high tides, ruptures, and disturbances that such a faith is affirmed and tested to its very foundation. Sometimes, struggle is necessary, but what do you do about it? How will you handle it when it comes-a-knocking at your door? Yes, we desire many things, in fact, all things, perhaps, like the abovementioned. There is nothing so intrinsically wrong with this. But if it moves us away from our ethical responsibility towards the other and compromises that element of struggle by resorting to extreme, easy measures, I advise you to exile yourself to the desert. In this day and milieu, the world needs more prophets, ones who take the responsibility of change in their own hands, not to wait or proclaim a catastrophic event that, in the end, is but a delusion.    


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