Siddhartha Journey

“It isn't by getting out of the world that we become enlightened, but by getting into the world…by getting so tuned in that we can ride the waves of our existence and never get tossed because we become the waves”, is a quote by Ken Kesey. This idea is demonstrated to a certain degree in Siddhartha, By Hermann Hesse. Hesse shows Siddartha having to experience the ups and down of life before attaining nirvana, which relates to “getting into the world… getting so tuned in”. Siddhartha, explains the ideal journey of reaching enlightenment. As he goes through many stages in the novel, including being a Brahmin’s son to becoming a Samana where he deprives himself from all desires, and then becoming a man stuck in a cycle of sex, drugs , and rock & roll. All these stages are essentially lessons that ultimately bring him to enlightenment. The only way he will reach nirvana is finding stability and a middle-ground. Hesse eventually shows that nirvana cannot be reached through self-deprivation nor over-indulgence, but only through moderation.

The first step he takes on his journey to become a Samana is leaving his mansion and riches behind to start a new life by living homeless in the forest. Farther along in the process, he starts to fast and eat so little that “the flesh disappears from his legs and cheeks” (Hesse 13). Siddhartha does, “learn a great deal” (16) from the Samanas, but “will not attain Nirvana” (18). Siddhartha realizes that self-deprivation will not help him reach enlightenment and travels to the city, where he over-indulges himself into