BOOK - SIDDHARTHA by HERMANN HESSE - (NO SPOILERS)

One of my favorite books of all time!! 

HERMANN HESSE (1877 - 1962) wrote SIDDHARTHA in German and it was published in 1922. It was subsequently translated into English and published in 1951. WIKI states that it became popular in the 1960's.

In late high school (1969) SIDDHARTHA was introduced to me, but I just can't remember by whom, darn it. The first time I read it I highlighted meaningful passages in YELLOW. I re-read it the following year in college and highlighted additional passages in PINK. The following year I used GREEN...... etc. I enjoyed looking back on what stood out to me at each age.

This month I recommended SIDDHARTHA to one of my 4 BOOK CLUBS for our "ANNUAL CLASSIC". When I started to read I didn't see any "highlighting", but instead passages were underlined - some in black ink and some in brown ink. I seem to remember now that my original copy disappeared (most likely it fell apart from overuse), so apparently I bought a replacement.

In my second year of college I had to leave before the end of the last semester, because I had contracted MONONUCLEOSIS (for the second time). I spent weeks in bed recuperating and reading 13 more books by HERMAN HESSE. They are all still on my bookshelf - apparently surviving several moves.

Only 122 pages, SIDDHARTHA is about a young man's JOURNEY, a sort of SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, yet even more so, a JOURNEY to KNOW HIMSELF. The story is pleasant, but the INSIGHTS are what have ALWAYS grabbed me. Ahhhhhh....... the WISDOM.

It's NOT a book about RELIGION. It's more a book on HOW TO LIVE A HAPPY, CONTENTED LIFE - how to KNOW yourself, FALL IN LOVE with yourself, have COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in yourself. The influence of this book in my late teens helped to shape my THOUGHTS and ATTITUDES at an early and formative age. Oh, but there's still SO much to PONDER - SO much to LEARN!!

The following are a few excerpts that stood out to me in the past, with some new ones this time around. I encourage you to read each of them SLOWLY, followed by a moment of reflection, before charging on to the next........

Page 54

     "He, who was still a boy as regards love and was inclined to plunge to the depths of it blindly and insatiably, was taught by her that one cannot have pleasure without giving it, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every glance, every single part of the body has its secret which can give pleasure to one who can understand. She taught him that lovers should not separate from each other, without being conquered as well as conquering, so that no feeling of satiation or desolation arises nor the horrid feeling of misusing or having been misused."

Page 58

     "Most people, Kamala, are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path."

Page 61

     "However, many things which he had learned from the Samanas, which he had learned from Gotama, from his father, from the Bahmins, he still retained for a long time: a moderate life, pleasure in thinking, hours of meditation, secret knowledge of the Self, of the eternal Self, that was neither body nor consciousness. Many of these he had retained; others were submerged and covered with dust."

Page 81

     "Now he understood it and realized that the inward voice had been right, that no teacher could have brought him salvation. That was why he had to go into the world, to lose himself in power, women and money; that was why he had to be a merchant, a dice player, a drinker and a man of property, until the priest and Samana in him were dead. That was why he had to undergo those horrible years, suffer nausea, learn the lesson of the madness of an empty, futile life till the end, till he reached bitter despair, so that Siddhartha the pleasure-monger and Siddhartha the man of property could die. He had died and a new Siddhartha had awakened from his sleep. "

Page 93

     "In this hour he felt more acutely the indestructibleness of every life, the eternity of every moment."

Page 106

     "Within Siddhartha there slowly grew and ripened the knowledge of what wisdom really was and the goal of his long seeking. It was nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life."

Page 117

     "Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another."

My copy of SIDDHARTHA is quite "worn", but still holding up. As you can see, I used "STICKIES" this time instead of highlighters or pens.......

If you pick up this book for the first time, I hope you'll find INSPIRATION, ANSWERS, NOVEL IDEAS and/or QUESTIONS to further EXPLORE. And if you decide to re-visit it, I hope you find NEW INSPIRATION..........

JOAN