Siddhartha Journey

The path for inner peace and self discovery is a long journey that endures a lifetime of opportunity and courage. Influential discoverers may not always be the ones exploring distant lands, but exploring their minds instead. In the novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Hesse explores the lessons that Siddhartha has learned through his self discovery. Siddhartha struggles to find himself in his mind, body and spirit. Throughout Siddhartha’s long journey, he learns how to continue his goal of achieving Nirvana by finding a sense of self and mind first. On Siddhartha’s journey through small villages and towns in India made way for his mental growth. He believed that wisdom is one of the most impeccable elements that make up the mind. Siddhartha

Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else… Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” Siddhartha struggles finding wisdom rather than pure knowledge because the Samanas have been searching for the raw and pure wisdom of an enlightened being, but have been unable to locate it and produce such wise contexts themselves. Wisdom can not be taught, as he said, it must be found by the person themselves. Siddhartha took on a lifetime mission to become wiser, thus improving the state of his own mind. Another way of expanding his mind was by completing smaller goals to accomplish a much bigger one. Siddhartha wanted to reach the ultimate Nirvana and believed that the expansion of the mind would help him achieve this. He states, “ It is not for me to judge another man’s life, I must judge, I must choose, I must

Siddhartha’s one goal was to become just like the Samana’s at one point which was to become empty of everything. Siddhartha exclaimed his feelings about this by saying “I had a goal, a single one: to become empty- empty of thirst empty of desire, empty of dreams, empty of joy and sorrow.” At first he thought that the Samanas were the most wise people he knew and his friend Govinda as well as himself followed their lessons for years.Siddhartha finally realized the lessons were not for him. Siddhartha then left the Samanas and went on his own path with Govinda to find Buddha, the enlightened one. Later on Siddhartha met a woman named Kamala and she asked what his skills were. Siddhartha said “ I can think. I can wait. I can fast.” Siddhartha thought that these three statements were the greatest achievements he has made. Siddhartha, before starting his journey, was ready to put his body to the test. While talking to his father, Siddhartha proclaimed to his dad in their conversation “‘Why are you waiting?’ ‘You know why.’Will you go on standing and waiting until it is day, noon, evening?’ ‘I will stand and wait.’ ‘You will grow tired, Siddhartha.’ ‘I will grow tired.’ ‘You will fall asleep, Siddhartha.’ ‘I will not fall asleep.’ ‘You