"There's is no reality except the one contained within us. That's why so many people live an unreal life. They take images outside them for reality, and never allow the world within them to assert itself." That;s a quote by Hermann Hesse. Nowadays, many people mistakenly assume Hesse was a Nazi. Not so. Hesse was a writer active during the early years of the twentieth century. While he was alive during World War II, he was not a fan of the Nazis. That would be evident to anyone who has read any of his works. There is the rub. I doubt any of you have read any of his work. In fact, I would imagine that maybe one out of every one hundred thousand people have read any of his stuff nowadays (and yes, I have read some of his work). And THAT brings me back to his quote.
Hesse was socially awkward in his younger years, and likely throughout his life. He was very bookish and wrote to express his thoughts. His first published works were not very successful, yet he persevered. Eventually, he won a noble prize for his writing. The book I read by Hesse was "Steppenwolf". To me, "Steppenwolf" was about Hermann Hesse's reality. The book was his way of expressing how he saw the world. The main character in the book (Harry Haller) has the same initials as Hesse, and his bouts with depression fit Hesse to a "T"! Moreover, in a part of the book where Harry is walking around town, afraid to go home because it is there where he figures he will commit suicide, Harry meets a dancer who gives him a reason to live. Oddly enough, Hesse wrote this book soon after he had met and married a singer. The dancer's name was Hermine. (I wonder if "Steppenwolf" is where J.K Rowling got her inspiration for her character with the same name?) Hermine teaches Harry that dancing, drinking, drug use and girlfriends are okay, and that they are part of living a "true" life. Give me a little leeway here folks on the story...I read it about twenty years ago and I am writing by memory right now. I may have spelled their names wrong, and I may have a few of the facts out of order, but I still think I am getting the gist of the story correct. (I will have to go back and reread it now to see how well I did!) Anyway, eventually Hermine introduces Harry to a musician named Pablo, who seems to be a psychedelic Buddha of the twenties. He brings Harry to his mythical Magic Theatre, where Harry meets the fantasies from his mind. So was THAT Hesse's reality? In part. In the book Hermine is killed off, and I do not remember reading about any homicides in Hesse's history. To me, Hermine might have just been a convenient way for Hesse to depict changes in his own thought patterns over time. "Steppenwolf" seems to be a journey. A journey that shows the progression of Hesse's thinking over many years, right up until the time he wrote that novel. The pessimism that pervades the novel to the end almost seems to finish with a ray of hope. Truly, Steppenwolf was a bizarre novel. If you are a thinker, it will make you think...just likely not about what you usually think about. In the end, it seems Hesse's reality was one of madness. Despair and pessimism, seemed to rule his early years (as it does with many people), yet as he grew older and he was exposed to the world, his world brightened a bit. Depression was a constant companion throughout his life, however. How little we know about a man's inner thoughts. Sometimes we can recognize little parts of ourselves in other people's writings. These are the stories that call to us. And they are not always happy ones. Reality is a mixture of emotions and thoughts swirling around us as we walk through the physical world. Two people can sit in the same room and experience totally different realities. The room doesn't change, our perceptions of it does. In a happy mood, I may notice the beautiful trees just outside my window. When I am unhappy, I may notice the dust on the furniture, or the nick in the wood near the bottom of my desk. All of those things were there yesterday...all that has changed is my mood. Reality IS what we make it. While we can share small slices of reality with each other, and find a commonality, the real game is within our head. Think, and change your reality. Act, and change everyone's.
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