Siddharta

About the book

Book Author: Herman Hesse

We follow Siddharta, a young sort-of priest in India, who abandons that life to find his own way of life. We get to follow him through leaving his ascetic life, to a hedonistic city life, to becoming a ferryman who ponders about rivers.

It’s a wholesome book, not too long, about ~120 pages. Also, Herman is a nobel laureate.

Reflection and takeaways

I enjoyed reading the book, it was well-timed with relevant things going on in my life. The general theme of the book is that noone can tell you how to live, you can only discover it through experience. You can spend a lifetime reading books about it and seeking guidance as a constant “seeker”, but really, the actual truth behind any of these guiding words cannot be conveyed, only experienced. Everyone is different, and so there can never be perfect advice.

I liked Siddharta’s reflections about that hedonistic pleasure living in a city as a rich person is not the answer. It’s going to be very convenient and nice and fun, but it will never make you feel fulfilled. It will never be anything external, it can only be internal and come from one person: himself.

I vibed much with the ferryman. I love to listen - people can tell me things I don’t know. I liked how the ferryman’s thoughts lead to even being able to love a stone, because that stone will one day be ground down to soil, and maybe become part of a plant. If you look through time far enough, everything is part of everything. I haven’t really thought about it, but I was reading this bit in a green park, and everything did become a little bit more vibrant and happy when reflecting on it.

A great theme is also that Siddharta becomes very depressed at certain points. This is what forces him to “move on” to a different chapter. Every time this happens, it leads to something better. Suffering is part of life so you must embrace it and grow from it.

The story’s underlying philosophy also melds with other thinkers. Finding one’s own meaning and listening to oneself is a bit Jungian and a bit Nietzschian.

Why did I pick it

My mom has talked about this book for 15 years. She was very happy when I started reading it.

Verdict

3.5. I enjoyed reading the book but I feel like I am familiar with most of the lessons.