Siddhartha

German literature / Buddhist influence · Hermann Hesse · 1922

Siddhartha must live through every stage (asceticism, hedonism, despair) before arriving at the river (the unconscious) where the ferryman (Wise Old Man) teaches him to listen. The whole life is the individuation.

No stage can be skipped. The hedonism was as necessary as the asceticism.

The pattern underneath: Individuation. The lifelong process of becoming who you actually are: not who your parents wanted, not who society shaped, but the person your whole self is trying to become.