Demain--Herman Hesse

[fr.novumorganum]

Just finished this for the first time. An excellent read, and one I must recomend to any on the path.

While Hesse's interest in Buddhism is well known, this text reveals his currency with Jung and with the Western Occult tradition. The discussions of "Will" are on target and ring true to liber al.

Abraxas is a central theme...

The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born first must destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas

[Kain]

This sounds like a very interesting read fr.novumorganum, thanks a lot for reccomending it!

Kain

[Kuroyagi]

If you liked this you should also read "Steppenwolf" by the same author which is even better in my view, Hesses strength lies in his trying out of and following up on ideas concerning lifes probs themselves; his characterization may not be as good as those of other greats like Dostojewsky etc., but he's intense in his authenticity of his quest...e.g. also in his "Siddharta" this comes out well yet its still too indecisive- and the end is a bit disappointing in that he leaves the reader standing alone in the desert so to speak...yet Steppenwolf offers you much much more- thats why its my fav book by him- though again the goodies are presented in the middle of the text...e.g.:
Man is not...of fixed and enduring form. He is...an experiment and a transition. He is nothing else than the 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...man...is a bourgeois compromise.
That man is not yet a finished creation but rather a challenge of the spirit; a distant possibility dreaded as much as desired; that the way towards it has only been covered for a very short distance and with terrible agonies and ecstasies even by those few for whom it is the scaffold today and the monument tomorrow....as always it ends in a more or less romantic haze, but this time its more convincing, more fitting to the story then in Damian. (or if you read "Narziß and Goldmund" a personal fav of mine too, then you can see the 2 seperate strands of the "Hessian" higher human being in the two main characters, somehow being consolidated at the very end..)

So look into it, colleague, if you havent done so already, anyway. :)

[frater luciferi]

thanx for the recommendations all, i have read herman hesses book "siddhartha" and have found it revelatory. I tell everyone i meet to buy a copy of that book.