

9:26 pm

July 22, 2011

I know, it doesn't seem like he belongs here, but when I discovered his book Siddharta over the summer, I was really blown away with the wisdom in it, and the eloquent way Hesse wrote. I'll say this with a very quiet voice, but reading his book made me feel the way I wish Paulo Coelho's books would make me feel. Although I love Coelho's books, there's something that leaves me wanting. Of course, we'll keep this between us.
I recently picked up Hesse's Steppenwolf, and although I'm not finished with it yet, all I can say is, Wow! Let me give you a couple of quotes so you can see what I mean:
"Man is not by any means of fixed and enduring form (this, in spite of suspicions to the contrary on the part of their wise men, was the ideal of the ancients). He is much more an experiement and a transition. He is nothing else than the narrow and perilous bridge between nature and spirit. His innermost destiny drives him on to the spirit and to God. His innermost longing draws him back to nature, the mother. Between the two forces his life hangs tremulous and irresolute."
A dream-conjured Goethe speaking to the protagonist, Harry Haller, "Seriousness, young man, is an accident of time. It consists, I don't mind telling you in confidence, in putting too high a value on time. I, too, once put too high a value on time. For that reason I wished to be a hundred years old. In eternity, however, there is no time, you see. Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke."
Don't you love his piercing insight, so artfully put?
9:24 pm

October 13, 2010

I agree Celina that Hesse is pretty amazing. I will have to revisit his works when I have a moment between reading books for review! However, I find nothing wanting in Coelho's The Alchemist... or were you referring to some other work of his? - Andrew
9:33 pm

July 22, 2011

Admin said:
I agree Celina that Hesse is pretty amazing. I will have to revisit his works when I have a moment between reading books for review! However, I find nothing wanting in Coelho's The Alchemist... or were you referring to some other work of his? - Andrew
I definitely think that The Alchemist is by far Coelho's best novel. I just find some of his other novels to lack at times a certain focus. For this reason, I enjoyed his Veronika Decides to Die far more than books like The Winner Takes it All. Some of his novels similar to that I found to be a bit like eating maringue; in Hesse I found a good steak.
1:04 am

October 13, 2010

Celina Pavan said:
Admin said:
I agree Celina that Hesse is pretty amazing. I will have to revisit his works when I have a moment between reading books for review! However, I find nothing wanting in Coelho's The Alchemist... or were you referring to some other work of his? - Andrew
I definitely think that The Alchemist is by far Coelho's best novel. I just find some of his other novels to lack at times a certain focus. For this reason, I enjoyed his Veronika Decides to Die far more than books like The Winner Takes it All. Some of his novels similar to that I found to be a bit like eating maringue; in Hesse I found a good steak.
I love the food analogies! Not having read his other works, I will take your word for it...
1:04 am

December 28, 2012

Admin said:
I agree Celina that Hesse is pretty amazing. I will have to revisit his works when I have a moment between reading books for review! However, I find nothing wanting in Coelho's The Alchemist... or were you referring to some other work of his? - Andrew
Ditto Celina,
I read Siddharta when I was seventeen and it touched a deep place inside that set me on my own spiritual path While Siddhartha put me in a state of spiritual seeking "on the road to mastery and bliss," that was not the case with Steppenwolf, which touched a great unsettled space in my soul, at the time. Maybe I'll go back and read it now and enjoy it more. My wife, Chantal, also loves Narcissus and Goldmund, which impacted her greatly on her own spiritual path.
Jay Allan Luboff
Author- Harry Pond Looks Homeward, The Spiritual Adventures of an Ohio Farm Boy
http://www.harrypondadventures.com
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