Hermann Hesse

In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse shows and exemplifies the life and teachings of Buddhism by Siddhartha following his own path to enlightenment, living a life of simplicity, and using the Four Noble Truths to gain Nirvana; much like Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, did. Both of these men lead lives of agony and hardship to find their way to Nirvana or enlightenment. Siddhartha abandons his cast and Dharma, to gain his own way of enlightenment and make his own path in the universe. His father…

Regardless of complexities of plot and setting, the essence of a work can typically be distilled from a key moment in the novel – one that illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. In Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, the titular character travels throughout his life seeking enlightenment from a multitude of sources. Despite his efforts, Siddhartha struggles to fulfill his lofty goals and winds up constantly changing his life’s trajectory. As the story progresses, Siddhartha finally experiences…

When I think of Columbia, I think of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse because, just as Siddhartha experiences extremes before understanding the whole of existence, Columbians have their knowledge stretched between two polar opposites before realizing themselves. When I embarked upon reading Gateway to the Great Books, I learned that it was just the prelude of a project started in Columbia. However, unlike most schools with a strong humanities department, it’s also excellent in STEM subjects. In fact…

Stories from across vast time-periods, wildly different cultures, and distant geographical location share many common themes, plot structure, and especially character tropes. In the 20th century, legendary psychologist Carl Jung theorized that these similarities come from a collective human unconsciousness; so as a result, most characters in stories follow certain patterns, which allow us to place them into common archetypes (Edinger 1968). Knowing this I developed an interest in identifying…

sometimes separating from friends can help individuals find meaning in life. In Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, Siddhartha leaves his best friend to find a new path of life and find himself. He changes religion, becomes a ferryman, finds a wife, pictures his friend as a female and does weird things to her, and finds new friends. With the separation of friends, Siddhartha digs deeper to stay friends and not forget them. Hesse has Siddhartha leave his wife and his best friend Govinda; however,…

At a young age, my mother presented me what some people considered to be offensive terms. Growing up, I would watch Asian game shows with my mother which are pretty absurd but enjoyable to watch. The shows are good-humored, not undignifying, and allow underprivileged people to compete against one another to earn some money and prizes for their families. A game that was on one of the shows involved dwarves, really short people, doing obstacle courses and many other tasks in hopes of earning some…

“ The Servant as Leader” was inspired by Hesse’s writing about Leo. Isabel Lopez’s “Becoming a Servant-Leader: The Personal Development Path”, is inspired by Robert Greenleaf. While each of these short stories talk about leading by serving, I see Hesse as being a servant leader. He wrote this story bout Leo which served and inspired Greenleaf and after that Lopez was inspired by Greenleaf. All there pieces gave great insight on servant leading. From reading the “Narrative of Harriet Tubman” I…

This art work is based upon the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. The book is the story of a man’s journey to try to find Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of enlightenment, true happiness. It follows Siddhartha, who tries many different paths to reach Nirvana and finally realizes the key is a balance of both the material world and the spiritual. He follows the Brahmins, the Samanas, and even Gotama (The Buddha) until he abandons the spiritual path and searches for enlightenment through the material…

The setting of Siddhartha is ancient China; perhaps author Hermann Hesse is suggesting that good morals to live by can never be outdated. If I were to ask any person walking down the street if they felt the human race is better now than 100 years ago, they would most likely say yes. I believe that we have become more…

(Greenleaf 75). His idea is same as Lao-tsu’s, that leader shouldn’t be seen as a leader. Lao-tsu moves it to a next level implying a leader shouldn’t be noticed at all. These ideas relate to our reading “Journey to the East” in which Hermann Hesse presents the character of Leo (Hesse 65). Leo is a servant, basically leading the whole expedition;…