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Siddhartha
This classic novel of self-discovery has inspired generations of seekers. With parallels to the enlightenment of the Buddha, Hesse's Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmn's quest for the ultimate reality. His quest takes him from the extremes of indulgent sensuality to the rigors of ascetism and self-denial. At last he learns that wisdom cannot be taught-it must come from one's own experience and inner struggle. Steeped in the tenets of both psychoanalysis and Eastern mysticism, Siddhartha presents a strikingly original view of man and culture, and the arduous process of self-discovery that leads to reconciliation, harmony and peace. Considered to be a classic of 20th-century fiction, Hesse's most celebrated work reflects his lifelong studies of Oriental myth and religion.
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Community Reviews
I got this book for my birthday from a good friend of mine, and what a present it turned out to be. What a great book with a lot of wisdom contained inside.
“It took awhile to get past the "holy" mumb jumbo-ness and just allow the story to unfold into the bittersweet tale of "seeking and finding" that it is.
"Have you too," he asked him once, "have you to learned this secret from the river:
that time does not exist?"
Vaudeva's face broke into a radiant smile. "Yes, Siddhartha," he said.
"Is this what you mean: that the river is in all places at once, at its source and where it flows into the sea, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the ocean, in the mountains, everywhere at once, so for the river there is only the present moment and not the shadow of a future"
"It is," Siddhartha said. "And once I learned this I considered my life, and it too was a river, and it too was a river, and the boy Siddhartha was separated from the man Siddhartha only by shadows..."”
"Have you too," he asked him once, "have you to learned this secret from the river:
that time does not exist?"
Vaudeva's face broke into a radiant smile. "Yes, Siddhartha," he said.
"Is this what you mean: that the river is in all places at once, at its source and where it flows into the sea, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the ocean, in the mountains, everywhere at once, so for the river there is only the present moment and not the shadow of a future"
"It is," Siddhartha said. "And once I learned this I considered my life, and it too was a river, and it too was a river, and the boy Siddhartha was separated from the man Siddhartha only by shadows..."”
I decided to try and read one classic a month this year and this was my January pick. This book definitely had a great moral to the story, which is finding your path of enlightenment. And sometimes the path that you think will take us to happiness is not the correct path for us at all.
it took me a little bit of time to read this book. Again this is a different type of book for me: I would say that this is for personal growth and self transformation which is something I normally don’t read. However, I think it’s necessary to read because the story is very important no matter who you are.
I highly suggest this book to anybody who has not read it !!
So this resonated with me.
Three or four thoughts on it.
1. We are all Siddartha.
We all are born into a value system, experiment with organized religion, experiment with materialism and conventional success, seek meaning thru parenthood, and I think some folks ultimately arrive at a Siddartha-like understanding of the world as connected and the self as somewhat unimportant.
2. The book’s criticism is powerful and relevant. The author uses a very simple story to show where many traditional sources of values fall short. I think he succeeds.
Virtually everyone - at some point - experiments with stepping beyond the conventional values they grow up with. Siddartha experiences that as a part of his maturation from childhood and I think there’s something familiar in that for a lot of folks.
Then comes organized religion. The problem not so much with its aim as with its form. It must teach and teaching takes the form of verbose things that one must practice and memorize. But these feel far from what the author calls wisdom. Can wisdom be taught anyway?
Then comes material success. Siddartha gets rich, married a beautiful woman, and enjoys the good life. And as he does so he can feel his body withering under the strain of alcohol and delicious food, his mind atrophying as it spends its days calculating profits.
These are all caricatures, but I find them to be effective ones.
2b. The author sneaks a criticism of our relationships into what is otherwise a criticism of our value systems. He uses a compelling device - the author has Siddarthas childhood friend show up from time to time and fail to recognize Siddartha in his new form. What’s up with that? Well I think he’s trying to show that most of the time we spend a lot of time observing the condition of others rather than their humanity. And so when their condition changes, we lose sight of them as individuals. And so we didn’t really know their humanity before. We knew only their role, their status, their belief system, what have you. It’s another silly little device that actually gets more powerful the more you think of it. How many close friends in my life would I ‘recognize’ were they not the professionals I knew them to be?
3. The book’s positive vision offers something novel and compelling.
Were the book to stop with a critique I think it would feel hollow. Easy to throw stones, but what is the point of that after all. The point is not to object to ways to live but to choose one and embrace the good life that it can provide.
And so the author takes us to the river and the ferryman who spends his days in simple service helping folks from one side to the other. The ferryman has not learned intelligence but observed wisdom. He feels how things are - the interconnected nature of people and nature, the division between Siddartha and his child. The ferryman does not spend his days lecturing but observing and being in harmony with the things around him.
And out of this pops enlightenment.
A simple but compelling story,
FOUR STARS
Three or four thoughts on it.
1. We are all Siddartha.
We all are born into a value system, experiment with organized religion, experiment with materialism and conventional success, seek meaning thru parenthood, and I think some folks ultimately arrive at a Siddartha-like understanding of the world as connected and the self as somewhat unimportant.
2. The book’s criticism is powerful and relevant. The author uses a very simple story to show where many traditional sources of values fall short. I think he succeeds.
Virtually everyone - at some point - experiments with stepping beyond the conventional values they grow up with. Siddartha experiences that as a part of his maturation from childhood and I think there’s something familiar in that for a lot of folks.
Then comes organized religion. The problem not so much with its aim as with its form. It must teach and teaching takes the form of verbose things that one must practice and memorize. But these feel far from what the author calls wisdom. Can wisdom be taught anyway?
Then comes material success. Siddartha gets rich, married a beautiful woman, and enjoys the good life. And as he does so he can feel his body withering under the strain of alcohol and delicious food, his mind atrophying as it spends its days calculating profits.
These are all caricatures, but I find them to be effective ones.
2b. The author sneaks a criticism of our relationships into what is otherwise a criticism of our value systems. He uses a compelling device - the author has Siddarthas childhood friend show up from time to time and fail to recognize Siddartha in his new form. What’s up with that? Well I think he’s trying to show that most of the time we spend a lot of time observing the condition of others rather than their humanity. And so when their condition changes, we lose sight of them as individuals. And so we didn’t really know their humanity before. We knew only their role, their status, their belief system, what have you. It’s another silly little device that actually gets more powerful the more you think of it. How many close friends in my life would I ‘recognize’ were they not the professionals I knew them to be?
3. The book’s positive vision offers something novel and compelling.
Were the book to stop with a critique I think it would feel hollow. Easy to throw stones, but what is the point of that after all. The point is not to object to ways to live but to choose one and embrace the good life that it can provide.
And so the author takes us to the river and the ferryman who spends his days in simple service helping folks from one side to the other. The ferryman has not learned intelligence but observed wisdom. He feels how things are - the interconnected nature of people and nature, the division between Siddartha and his child. The ferryman does not spend his days lecturing but observing and being in harmony with the things around him.
And out of this pops enlightenment.
A simple but compelling story,
FOUR STARS
I can't remember if i had read this back in college when i was supposed to (or high school the first i should have) but i do remember rereading it as background for Zelazney's Lord of Light and it is well worth the (small amount) of time investment.
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