Siddartha by Hermann Hesse Reflection

"Having been pondering while slowly walking along, he now stopped as these thoughts caught hold of him, and right away another thought sprang forth from these, a new thought, which was: 'That I know nothing about myself, that Siddhartha has remained thus alien and unknown to me, stems from one cause, a single cause: I was afraid of myself, I was fleeing from myself! I searched Atman, I searched Brahman, I was willing to dissect my self and peel off all of its layers, to find the core of all peels in its unknown interior, the Atman, life, the divine part, the ultimate part. But I have lost myself in the process.'"

Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, portrays a young Brahmans religious struggles and his journey away from religion in order to find one's purpose. Siddhartha is an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzche 'superhuman' of nihilism. Govinda, the antagonist, is the complete opposite of Siddhartha and whom represents the blind religious follower, describes Nietzche's problematic religious 'culture'. Hesse uses nihilistic central themes in the short novel Siddhartha. He is able to juxtapose the two characters and bring life the importance of the 'superhuman'. In this quote, Hesse brings to life the enlightenment of the young Siddhartha as he begins his transformation from the young Brahman to the 'superhuman'.

The quote represents a turning point within the young Brahman. The nihilistic Siddhartha comes to an epiphany and realizes that all his religious teachings have taught to be anything but himself. Here, he is awakened and understands that in order to be able to live a fulfilling life. In search of happiness within himself, Siddhartha must break away from his religious shackles and live life. He was always in question of his faith, because all his religious teachings have said that the Atman, which refers to the Hindu belief of recognition of one's self before identification with higher beings, was the way to Brahman. However, the religious teachers were teaching their followers the practice of "numbing of the senses" through meditation and fasting.

Since birth Siddhartha was destined to be a holy figure. He was able to meditate better and faster than any of his peers. He was able to convince people of his greatness so easily because of his piety. However, Hesse cleverly makes the protagonist lose all his ties to religion in order to become a "superhuman". Siddhartha realizes here that he must embrace the fact that he is human. After being able to experience greed, lust and love Siddhartha becomes more humane but also more powerful as a religious figure. Govinda's journey provides concrete evidence of this fact. Govinda who has always followed the religious Gotama still was unable to find peace and asks Siddhartha how he can come to this understanding of peace, at the end of the novel.

It is important for people today to be able to make judgment through there own self and not follow other opinions blindly. Experience life, learn from the good and the bad. Religion is a beautiful concept, but should not be followed so closely that people are constantly in fear of living or forming their own judgment on people. These are all important principles within Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, but also for people in everyday life.