• SIDDHARTHA
• by Hermann Hesse
• [rated by PBS readers as #63]
• 152 pages – whew! feels good!

Wow. I’m in a little culture shock, I am! Moving from The Stand to Siddhartha! But Siddhartha it is. I was led to it. As I think I mentioned before, this list has very little comedy in it, so I opted for soul instead. And I got it.

I remember reading it in high school but I vaguely remember that I wasn’t really taking it in that much. That was probably because it was forced on me and it followed Beowulf or something. I was always a voracious summer reader throughout my life, but I balked through having to read stuff I didn’t pick.

Well, I’m picking it now.

I also remember it having a rebirth in the 60s (originally written in 1951, the cover says). The reason was that people needed texts that said what this text is the most famous for – that one cannot learn from other people’s wisdom. One can only learn from direct experience of life’s lessons. Whoopee, said the new followers of the text. Time to hit the road.

I’m just starting it and reading almost every page twice. I’m wanting to get all of it. I’m also not sure I agree with the basis of this, but man, do I need a soul journey right now. So game on.

DONE….

…in something like three days! Wow. What a wonderful small book about the biggest themes of all.

Siddhartha is a fable of a man who had all the gifts to be successful and loved in his life, but he also had a restless heart. The tale follows his life as he tries every way to find the answers he is seeking. Are you closer to God by losing yourself? Are you closer by indulging?

Eventually he finds answers by a river. The answers that eventually all lead to Om, away from judgment, accepting all, not seeking out thoughts or simple answers.

It is a clever and deeply difficult story for an author – to write down words and thoughts that lead to the conclusion that thoughts and words mean nothing!

This insurmountable goal is beautifully wrought by Hermann Hesse, who has fashioned a masterpiece. Like Siddhartha’s river with all the answers, I will return to this book. after reading it now as an adult, again and again, I suspect. It seems of inestimable value to sit in the solutions that have no words and no plan.

Reading this, I found a new definition of a classic. From the first word, timelessness, a goal in this book, exists. This could be written at any point and be as good. The purity, the depth and the solace are there, between its covers – humming a tune that we can sing along with at any time.