Siddhartha and the Way of the Ferryman
Jan 18
Here’s a great book that snuck up on me and delivered quite a punch. A solid read if you’re looking to flex your inner-game muscles.
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Click to check out the book
I read it for the first time three years ago while traveling in Italy. At the time I was struggling to understand my place in the world when my passions and career firmly placed me in the bustling material world and my spiritual journey deeply rooted me in a consciousness that showed me the illusory nature of that material world.
My feet in both worlds, I couldn’t sell out to the mindset many of my friends and colleagues held. But I wasn’t about to spend my days meditating in a cave somewhere either. My colleagues couldn’t fathom why I stayed in hostels and “cheap places” when I traveled. My hippie friends couldn’t comprehend why I would own a BMW if I was “spiritual.” I felt I had nowhere to fit in. No one understood me. I didn’t belong.
Reading Siddhartha I discovered that my “feet in both worlds” predicament was a common theme and the book explored it beautifully. It illuminated the shortcomings of many paths (as well as their grace and beauty) and demonstrated how sometimes the most enlightened, peaceful and happy people are the quiet ones you’d never notice whose sole and sacred purpose is to ferry you from one side of the river (one aspect of our dual nature) to the other side (your divine nature beyond the dual).
What I loved most about the book was this ferryman did not tell people which path to seek once they reached the “spiritual” side of the river. They were free to explore and choose their own path.
Reading Siddhartha helped me wrap my head around, and accept, my greatest fear and hope: that perhaps I could liberate people from the ties that bind them and ignite their own search for meaning, spirit, and purpose – without telling them where that path should lead.
Here in Las Vegas, where I’m currently visiting for a few conferences and meetings, I came across the following passage painted on the wall of my favorite raw cafe here. Reading it brought me back to that day, on the roof of this quaint hostel in Ischia, when I finished the book and exhaled deeply… finally beginning to guess at where I’d one day belong…
I would not interfere with any creed of yours, or want to appear that I have all the cures.
There is so much to know… so many things are true… The way my feet must go may not be the same for you.
And so I give this spark of what is light to me, to guide you through the dark, but not to tell you what to see.
Author Unknown
That is beautiful!!
I need to read that book
Hi
I love this book, it’s my favourite!
I’ve actually read Siddharta twice, once when I was 21 when my then-German girlfriend gave me a copy, and fairly recently when I was 42.
Aged 21 I knew nothing about self-help or spirituality but Siddharta still fascinated me, particularly his prowess as a lover (and as a ‘rich man’). It pretty much became my favourite book, then!
Aged 42, after much self-help education and immersion into spirituality etc., I started re-reading some of my favourite books, for inspiration more than anything – inspiration to be a reader again (writing my first novel seemed to make me anti-novel for some reason!).
And some of the books I re-read I really didn’t enjoy (e.g. Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man by Thomas Mann). But I loved Siddharta even more, and was able to recongise and fully identify with Siddharta the main character this time (not as a lover, I hasten to add lol, but as a searcher).
To me, Siddharta is about someone finding HIS own way, rather than following what others believe; and this is who I consider myself to be.
Anyway, just thought I’d share, Jaime. Just watched an interview with you and Chris Cade and finished reading a chapter of The Motley Phoenix (which I enjoyed, despite not ‘liking’ this ‘kind of thing’ normally – I’m just not a fan of story, which is very puzzling to me).
Thanks, and good luck with JaimeMintun.com!
Steve
PS What’s up with your Ignite the Phoenix website?
Hey Steve!
Sorry to only see your comment now. Been buried in consulting work the past month.
Fascinating that you mention writing your first novel made you anti-novel. Same thing happened to me when I first dove into writing my current novel (not Motley Phoenix, another strictly fantasy novel).
For me, I didn’t want to accidentally copy someone else’s style and wanted to make sure I was cultivating my own talent and voice.
Then I found that immersing myself in books again, as I’ve done recently with my much-beloved kindle (!), my writing has evolved exponentially – a quantum leap recently.
I’m glad you liked the intro chapter of Motley Phoenix. That book has evolved dramatically as well.
The site crashed (the whole server did, I lost all my websites) which is why Ignite the Phoenix is down.
I’ve also come to a spiritual quandary with the Law of Attraction market and am not sure I want to participate in it anymore. I think it’s time to evolve the conversation beyond “how to make money with universal laws.”
So until I figure that out, I’m sitting on that one for a bit.
However, I am in the process of revamping those materials in the vein of lifestyle design, empowerment, and life authorship – which is really what Motley Phoenix and the Cosmic Playbook are about.
Once that’s solidified they’ll be available again, and probably still under the Phoenix brand as that archetype is near and dear to my heart.
Thank you so much for sharing! Glad you found me.