My Touchstone- Reinvented!

I was looking through my touchstone blog...sure, those passages are great and motivating, but what novel have I read that I think of constantly? Siddhartha! I read Siddhartha for the first time a few years ago for high school. I read it so quickly- then read it again, and again...still, I read it!

If you have never read Siddhartha, I highly recommend it! It is by far one of my favorites!

Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin, lives in India and struggles with his spiritual identity. His religion should allow him happiness, wisdom and peace, but it doesn't. He always feels that something is missing from his life. Siddhartha takes a journey to achieve enlightenment. This journey takes him through many religions and ways to achieve enlightenment including fasting, prayer, meditation and his connection with nature.

This whole entire book could be my touchstone, but here are a few of the most noteworthy passages:

"One must find the source within one's own self, one must possess it."
~SIddhartha is a strong believer that in order to find the truth one must go through many experiences. The truth lies within those experience. To be able to seek out the truth though one must "possess" the ability to experience and immerse one's self in their own life as an individual. It seems for Siddhartha that truth and happiness are very much related.


"All this had always been and he had never seen it; he was never present. Now he was present and belonged to it. Through his eyes he saw light and shadows; through his mind he was aware of moon and stars"
~ Siddhartha has a significant connection to nature- largely through the religion he grew up practicing. Though he had this connection with nature, he never truly saw the beauty in it. Living with minimal material throughout his journey, Siddhartha begins to see the beauty innature and appreciates the aesthetic value of it. The beauty of nature becomes central to the novel, Siddhartha's life and his search for truth and beauty.


This love of nature and beauty reminded me of the "3 apologists" that we read (Arnold, Pater, and Shelley). This idea of beauty first brought Shelley to mind because he is such a romantic. Siddhartha is very poetic and his search for truth and beauty is very intriguing.