Comparing Power Of Now And Herman Hesse's Siddhartha

Humans are curious and spontaneous beings. Some of them do not know what they want to do with their life. They have no idea on what will make them truly happy or what will bring them peace. Just like Siddhartha, people set out with a goal to find what will make them happy or what will bring them “enlightenment.” Eckhart Tolle’s, The Power of Now and Herman Hesse’s, Siddhartha discusses the obstacles to finding enlightenment which brings a person to a deeper level of finding oneself.

In many ways, the novel, Siddhartha is connected to Tolle’s essay “You Are Not Your Mind”. They relate on a more spiritual level rather than a technical level, meaning that not everything that the authors say come hand in hand, but still relates spiritually wise.

Siddhartha branches out in the topic more about finding one’s Self and enlightenment. Tolle’s “You Are Not Your Mind” is more about the greatest obstacle to enlightenment, freeing yourself from your mind, and the body's reaction to your mind. Although different, they still have similar topics and connect.
In the novel, Siddhartha, Hesse tells the story of a young brahmin named Siddhartha. He is very displeased with his life and wants to find true enlightenment. Siddhartha and his childhood friend, Govinda set out on a journey to find that enlightenment. After many obstacles and going off track several times, Siddhartha finally attains Nirvana with the help of a ferryman named Vasudeva. The novel, Siddhartha goes through many different themes such as dissatisfaction, mortality, love, spirituality, wisdom, and perhaps the biggest one of all, unity with nature. “But he learned more from the river than Vasudeva could teach him. He leaned from it continually” (Hesse 106). Unity with nature is a very prominent theme in Siddhartha because he finally finds enlightenment in nature.
In the essay, “You Are Not Your Mind”, Tolle discusses the ways of finding enlightenment and how it reacts to your mind. In the essay, there is a story about a beggar who sat on a box on the side of the road for over thirty years. One day, a man came by and asked him what was in the box. He replied that he has never looked inside because there is no point since there is nothing inside of it. He manages to open it anyways, and in astonishment, he finds that he box is filled to the top with gold. “I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself” (Tolle). If a person wants to find meaning behind something, then they have to look within and not just on the surface. It is sort of how Siddhartha reached his enlightenment. It wasn't just there, he had to look within nature and find it.
Enlightenment is described by the Buddha as the end of all suffering. Tolle believes that there is nothing superhuman about that. “It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you” (Tolle). Tolle describes enlightenment as something that you will achieve over time and that it cannot be measured nor destroyed. Siddhartha achieved it over many years just like Tolle described. If a person cannot feel this state, then they will be separated from the world around them.
Not being able to stop thinking can be harmful to a person. People don't realize this, because almost everyone does it. “This incessant mental noise prevents you from finding that realm of inner stillness that is inseparable from Being” (Tolle). When people cannot stop themselves from thinking, they will never be able to find enlightenment. Siddhartha had to clear his mind of all thoughts and focus on meditation to find enlightenment.
When a person sees someone talking and mumbling to themselves on the street, they come off as “crazy.” In all truthfulness, those people are just the same as anyone but instead of saying the thoughts out loud, people just keep them in their mind. “The voice isn't necessarily relevant to the situation you find yourself in at the time; it may be reviving the recent or distant past or rehearsing, or imagining possible future situations” (Tolle). When people think of all the bad things that could happen, they become scared and upset with themselves. That is called worry. Worrisome behavior is not good for mental health. It is very preventable though. To free people's minds, a person just needs to stop thinking of the negative things in life and stay focused on the positive. Almost everyone's thinking is useless and unneeded. “As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people’s thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful” (Tolle). If a person stays thinking of the positive, they will eventually attain their goal, whether that be enlightenment or just plain happiness.
In the essay, “Develop an Honest Heart”, by Thomas Jefferson, it discusses the certainty to having a life filled with happiness.

Jefferson believed that developing an honest heart will bring a person to a happy life. The first step to developing an honest heart is to exercise virtue. Exercising virtue will help a person become humble and have good morals. “Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give up the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act” (Jefferson). If a person gives up all the bad things in life then eventually good things will come. Also, Jefferson believed a person should have a knowing head. By a knowing head, he means to have knowledge. Jefferson believed a person should read books and learn beyond a person's knowledge. Siddhartha believes that a person must have wisdom, because wisdom and knowledge are two completely different things. “Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else...Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom” (Hesse 142). Lastly, Jefferson believed in having a strong body and mind. Having a strong body and mind comes hand in hand. A person can not just have one or the other; it is important to have both because that is what will lead a person to

happiness.
In Pema Chodron’s, “Abandon Any Hope of Fruition”, it claims that there are direct rules to follow to find happiness or enlightenment. One of the biggest and foremost teachings is to abandon any hope of the future. As long as a person is waiting for something to get better, it never will. A person has to just relax and let everything fall into place and it will eventually turn out good. “One of the most powerful teachings of the Buddhist tradition is that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will” (Chodron). Chodron also teaches people to never not feel good enough. People are always feeling that they are not good enough for anything. That negativity is unhealthy for people's well being. “The basic instruction is to always be awake in the present moment” (Chodron). Lastly, Chodron teaches to always be awake in the present moment. Never live in the past because the past is already done with. Never live in the future because it is still yet to happen. Always live in the present because living in the moment is the most healthy for a person's mental health and will bring happiness.
Siddhartha believed that there was a way to find true enlightenment. It took him time and at one point he lost track of it, but eventually he found his way back. Just like Siddhartha, Tolle believed that enlightenment would be attained through many steps. Siddhartha was able to find his inner Self the same way Tolle described it would be, giving up all thoughts and through time.