Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Death is but the next great adventure

By angelao, January 9, 2015

So many of J.K Rowling characters show us how to be brave and, if I may be cliche, how to live. Take this quote from Albus Dumbledore, said when Harry asked if the Sorcerer’s Stone (which turned metal into gold and produced the elixir of life) was to be destroyed.

“After all, to the organised mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all — the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.” Albus Dumbledore

It reminds us that so many things we pursue as goals — love, happiness, money, health — are really not meant to be the end goal, but “currency” to be spent along the way. What we’re really looking for is how we would feel if we had as much money and life as we needed — freedom, carefree spirit, willingness to live and take risks, to be brave in the face of failure. When we pursue money or happiness as an end in itself, we find ourselves greedy, stressed, and often poor, in more ways than one.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling