Herman Hesse's Siddhartha is a remarkable book that encapsulates many of the truths and questions of life in simple but powerful language. To me, it reflects the teachings of Buddhism, particularly those of self- actualization and finding one’s true path in life. Siddhartha as an individual follows his spiritual journey, meeting various teachers who each give him perspective and insight into truth. Each teacher helps Siddhartha move further away from being emotionally crippled by worldly desires, pain, passion and suffering towards a more free state of wisdom.

​

It captures very vividly the awakening of a man to achieve enlightenment, or Nirvana. He encounters characters along his journey who both enable him to succeed and fall back at times. This is engagingly drawn out through conversations with Govindas father and Govinda himself which demonstrate how we can be trapped, immersed in our own perspectives; or open ourselves to change which ultimately leads to wisdom born from experience – certain conversations throughout this great life-journey cause us to contemplate whether good or bad lessons are necessary for achieving enlightenment.

​

The novel's main themes are about discernment and awareness – themes I found highly appealing; its descriptions of nature evoking vivid images and moments thereof remain with me still today. The story emphasizes that our choices determine the quality of our lives: intuitive decisions can give rise to opportunities leading to fulfilment, while purely reactive decisions generally result in reactionary patterns developing over time leading often towards guilt or limited prospects until corrective choices arise out again from growth – knowledge-seeking seems near the core of love for the divine and allows us independence from expectation only when encouraged by those allowing such exploration without dubiousness or doubt replacing open-minded acceptance in its stead…

​

Overall this novel investigates life deeply on a spiritual plane, following journeys both physical (highlighting movement through India) and inner contemplation which some may find outside their comfort zone, but with patience offers an ample reward.. This is an impressive body work: insightful with vivid imagery easily translated into our own personal journeys serving as an inspiring reminder that we have all have something beautiful within us waiting to discover whilst growing along existing knowledge-paths set before us; very much worth a read!