This year I'm reading the Dover Thrift Editions translated by Stanley Appelbaum, but most of my quotes are copied and pasted from the Standard Ebook, click here to read it free online.
More Shadows
Hesse was greatly influenced by Nietzsche. It is very present in Part 1 of Siddhartha. Nietzsche would approve of Siddhartha's critiques on traditional values and support his quest for self realization.
Siddhartha abandoned Govinda, his shadow. When his shadow is gone, Siddhartha awakes. If we run with this shadow idea, Govinda, his shadow, was keeping Siddhartha attached to his religious and societal norms. He tried to denied, escape, and destroy his self.When Siddhartha rejected his father, his shadow followed him. When he rejected the semanas, his shadow followed him. Now, finally, Siddhartha has rejected the Buddha, the holiest of men, the perfect man, the greatest teacher and teaching he could find; and his shadow doesn't follow him. Siddhartha is finally free. He awakens.
Jung, who Hesse was associated with through psychotherapy, refers to shadows as unconscious and repressed personalities. Running with this shadow idea, now that Siddhartha has abandoned his shadow, we should see Siddhartha arise. We should see his desires, impulses, and personality emerge in Part 2 of Siddhartha. Now that his previous identities shouldn't be holding him back. Will we?
False Narratives
Maybe I'm projecting my experiences as universals. But Siddhartha has created a new persona as the outcast among outcasts. He is the most unique and no one else can understand him which is both literally true for everyone and complete BS. Last year, I found an email where I told someone I wasn't like my family. Which I honestly thought was true even though is such a dumb idea. Like it or not, I'm very much like my family. I, maybe like Siddhartha, wanted to be different, better, and unique!
I suspect Siddhartha is very much like his father and family. Siddhartha is the most extreme one. He has the courage to seek outside their Veda texts. To challenge society, tradition, and himself. But this narrative of being so alone, so unique, such an individual among the masses of sheep, is probably a false narrative. A well crafted narrative by Hesse.
Part I
Day 1, 20 Dec- Chapter 1: "The Son of the Brahmin"
Day 2, 21 Dec- Chapter 2: "With the Samanas"
Day 3, 22 Dec- Chapter 3: "Gotama"
Day 4, 23 Dec- Chapter 4: "Awakening"
Part II
Day 5, 24 Dec- Chapter 5: "Kamala"
Day 6, 25 Dec- Chapter 6: "With the Childlike People"
Day 7, 26 Dec- Chapter 7: "Sansara"
Day 8, 27 Dec- Chapter 8: "By the River"
Day 9, 28 Dec- Chapter 9: "The Ferryman"
Day 10, 29 Dec- Chapter 10: "The Son"
Day 11, 30 Dec- Chapter 11: "Om"
Day 12, 31 Dec- Chapter 12: "Govinda"
I think you're correct. Seekers try to break free of anything and everything at one time or another, but they discover that they, too, even though they can see or appreciate things more than others, are just as conditional, just as rooted in their past, their bodies, their minds, the world ... there is no Incredibly Enlightened One who has broken free of everything! Even Buddha had back pain. :)
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