Life's meaning is found in nature - Hermann Hesse's Genius Philosophy
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- Опубликовано: 13 июн 2024
- Do you sometimes get the feeling that modern life is a little stifling? Do you feel that perhaps you’re a free-spirited animal stuck in a human body? Do you feel like a lone wolf that does not fit in society? These are the questions this German-Swiss novelist tackled in his writings. Hermann Hesse was a novelist, poet, and painter whose best known novels Steppenwolf and Siddhartha have been influential since they came out in the 20th century.
In this video I will dicuss the life of Hermann Hesse, summarise his two famous novels and dicuss some of his life philosophies.
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00:00 Intro
01:02 Life
16:30 Siddhartha Summary
25:00 Siddhartha analysis
28:48 Steppenwolf summary
35:49 Steppenwolf analysis
38:45 Hesse philosophy
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#hesse
#literature
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Nature can be therapy. I know this firsthand. It saved me, from the worst of mental illness. I jumped into the wilderness and disorder to escape civilization and society. I then realized we are wrong about everything. I had been wrong about everything. A bear ate my tent. I didn't get angry. The universe made sense. I survived. And, I smile every time I think about it.
This is a powerful comment. I love it.
Yes, it made me laugh so hard that I peed in my panties. (A little humor to not be so heavy.)
That's a hungry bear!!
That’s fuckin great!
Acceptance is a solution to most situations. Grateful the bear ate the tent and not you! Great comment.
Hesse is among the most beautiful German writers, one can read. His books are like readable paintings.
Wasn't Hess a Nazi? If he was then I couldn't care less about anything that he had to say or what he believed in.
Ok imma check out his work! You’ve persuaded me 😀
Siddhartha - read it. read it again. It hits hard!@@michaeldrew3292
My big takeaway from Siddharta, my favourite novel, is this, as you quote.
*“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else ... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.”*
This philosphy informs my life as a person and as a teacher. This is the starting place for everything.
Wisdom only comes from experience, it seems.
Knowledge, Wisdom, and Insight. All 3 go hand in hand
That's a wise observation.....so I guess it can't be imparted😂
@ChestPass87 Oh I resonate …training a spouse at a sport is tricky territory, as in life, best left for them to let you grow by experience!
Wisdom can be found in the bible, a whole book called Proverbs is found,
and the beginning of wisdom is the
knowledge of God who is the source
I’m so glad there was no music in background which is distracting 🙏🏻🙏🏻
"You see Mark, that's the thing. We've destroyed Nature. Irreversibly and immutably. All we need to do is keep on focusing on how Special we feel we are."
Thank you for another deep and insightful work.👏 As a former trained Buddhist monk...reading Herman Hesse's work makes one feel at home..a sort of living-loving bridge between the nature and culture..East and West..heart and mind. Thank you. 🙏
Another excellent essay. Thank you, Fiction Beast. I was a huge Hesse fan beginning at 17 and read everything. When I read Steppenwolf at 19 I identified with the 50 year old Harry Haller and still do. This is still my favorite Hesse book probably because of how Hesse places Haller in a position where he must face his dull, world-weary nihilism, which has him on the brink of suicide, and to find meaning in both the common, everyday experiences of human community (the dance hall, for example) as well as reconnecting him with the magic of the immortals, such as Mozart. We may always be part animal, but we can transcend that through compassion for the human condition and from our instinct to transcend the humdrum through the act of creation, when we are inspired by others and works to do so.
I am happy that You have finally arrived at Hesse. For those who haven't read him, they don't know what is greatness and what is beauty.
exactly arthur schoprpenhauer held onto the love of his dog this can be a stable effect on your life human ego is destructive force it can be tempered by studying philosophy emotions lead to nihilism theology fills these empty spaces
Excellent observation: “All artists borrow, great ones steal”.- Picasso. “The secret to creativity is covering your tracks!” - Einstein
"I have always believed...that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value." - Hesse (Siddhartha)
Okay, but it sounds to me that Hesse's quote is not about accepting things as they are (the metaphor of accepting the wisdom of the river/nature) but transforming things as they are into something else, not of nature but of the mind, through an interactive process with the human psyche (i.e. what neuroscientists refer to as the infrastructure of our evolved brain and mind) which requires the person to interpret experience into meaning, because meaning is necessary for humans to survive and thrive. We are not meant to be nihilists. Nihilism, it seems to me, is an avoidance of the responsibility to find (invent?) meaning and so they may rationalize that, because they find no meaning in nature, that therefore there is no meaning for humans. But, it seems to me that this way of understanding meaning is question begging in that there is an assumption that the meaning must be grand, at the scale of all phenomena, including nature. But, if I am understanding the neuroscientists correctly, our need for meaning is not to discover some occult or gnostic wisdom, e.g. God, the creator of the order, and therefore leaving us to try to figure out the meaning inherent in the order, but rather, that our minds, having left the "garden" of instinct (like animals who seem to require no meaning because their brains/psyche/minds have not evolved to require it), we require more than instinctual drive to survive and prosper. We require meaning, which is a social construct, although not constructed on a blank slate, something we create together. And the most ingenious of the creators are those who seem to have an intuitive understanding of the psychic structure.
Hesse 's books are timeless !!! Thanks for making this video on my favourite writer !!! You are diamond... Thanks for sharing this. Your efforts in each video is inspiring
Kunlp
I have read Siddatha . I enjoyed it. When I feel a little down I escape to the nature and just spend time in it . Nature isnt perfect , but, it's more what I like . Than over crowded ,manufactured places.
I wonder if Hesse could really see hundreds if not thousands of personalities in himself like Titian who is said to saw fifty colours in what ordinary people see as one colour.
I think the line ‘like opening a wound and staring at it without averting your gaze’ is a perfect description of Steppenwolf.
I LOVE GERMAN THEY CREATED LOTS OF PHILOSOPHY AND ENGINE FOR WORLD TO ENJOY.
Indeed. They are the creators of civilisation.
Currently reading all of Hesse's work chronologically, and I keep coming back to this detailed analysis of yours of his life and work. Really helps me contextualize his writing and oeuvre. Thanks mate for putting the hard work.
Well done. I read all of Hesse and the Glass Bead Game was the book that I think is his most mature work, it is difficult to distinguish it from his other works, but it goes further so much that we find ourselves accepting the ending, the end, because the end is a new beginning. It is a meditation that asks one simple question in a teasing way of human earthly experience, it asks what do we know and gives the same answer.
How many of us have been on top of the world, and then got entangled with a nightmare lover and plummited into dispair and depression?
I relate to the painting after his tumultuous relationship he had with the singer that was 20 years younger.
It's hard to ever get back to the happy, high mountain top again.
I don't agree with going to the other extreme of loose living with drugs and sex...that only surrounds a person with people plagued with addictions running from their pain. Those individuals are creating a life that is far worse than that which drove them there to begin with.
Best to practice self-love, heal the inner child through simple joys, and relearn seeing the world through eyes of wonder, and gratitude, but also retaining your pearls of wisdom.
Another great lecture. Just one tiny niggling criticism: an infamous Nazi war criminal was named Rudolph Hess. Our great writer was named Herman Hesse. You must pronounce the final e to avoid unsavoury associations. "hessa"
Like Porsch'eh automobiles
He pronounces Goethe correctly…but mispronounces Hesse.
This Guy's Channel is Gold 🤩🤩🤩(or something Beyond Gold)
Diamond !!! For forever ... His contribution on RUclips is amazing
AMAZING!!!
It's been ten years since I read Steppenwolf and I think I finally understand what the hell it was I read. Thanks for pointing out the literary connections too.
Wonderful analysis! I was one of those hippies who read Siddhartha, then later Steppenwolf.
Your channel is wonderful! I'm so glad I stumbled upon it. Please keep going. 💛
"Yes, yes, yes and yes", me to all those questions at the beginning. Great video!
I've criticised you for certain points in the past, but you are too good. Loved this one. Thank you.
Thank you, entirely enjoyable and made me realize I was too young when I read, and re-read, most of Hesse's books in hippie days. Time to reabsorb them again. Big thank you.
I usually listen to videos more than looking at them. This one was one of the kind I’ve listened ten time non stop , thank you 🙏🏻
Wow, thank you!
I Love his accent!
Herman Hess.. my first spiritual book when I was 17 thanks Herman namista 🙏
I enjoyed reading several of his books as a teenager and one required reading
in my English class was Siddhartha but
after becoming a Christian, Hesse wasn't coming from a Christian world view
Kinda puts you to sleep but thank you for this great memory of when first reading these books. Very genuine.
When I was a child I used to lift up pieces of wood in my back garden and wonder at what I found. Slugs, millipedes, worms etc. This was the wonder of nature. Am 64 now and over the past 2 years have found that wonder in nature again. Looking into a stream for hours, or listening to birds. Retired 4 years ago and am thankful I have the time again.
Thanks 1,000,000, Brother Matt, for sharing your work. Another gem! I read somewhere (sorry, no reference) that "The Journey to the East" was a thematic sketch for "The Glass Bead Game" in which the themes mentioned in the prior are fully developed in the latter. I love both of these. Also, for some reason, I haven't read Steppenwolf, but will now that you mention all that immorality!!!
Hesse is a favourite for me 🙌🏽🙌🏽thank you so much!
I read Hesse when I was a young hippie (now I am an older one) but his philosophy of life stayed with me and I grew out of it : same search of old souls !
"...but from time to time we must also indulge in things that are not morally good or socially acceptable."
I find this so relatable.
Shop lifting? lol
Nope.
Well that could be used by an perv as licence
Well that be used by any perv as licence to practice
yes, a fib or a flirt helps. A fib will rejuvenate your psyche, a flirting helps your love life.
This channel is great! I'm so lucky to find it. Thank you.
🌟
Thank you for all your work.
Wow this is so beautiful, thank you so much for this video ❤️
Thank you. I read and had taught his works. Your video essays help a great deal.
Great video and channel, brother. Thank you
I love your work.
Watched this analysis in a single sitting. Brilliant work Matt! Hesse has been a great influence in my writing and reading taste. I am working my way through 'Beneath the Wheel.' Strange thing is although written a century ago, it's still resonating with me because of its contemporary thought process. Please keep your videos coming, man. Awesome work!!
Thank you so much sir,, after a long time I am watching a new video
Very interesting! Adding yet another author to my list thank you ❤
I read Steppenwolf in Calcutta in 1967 on the brink of renunciation. I preferred it to Siddharta.
Learning greek is just wow!
Hesse practised asceticism for three years to take the difficult task of writing about enlightenment as close to the truth as possible. The interesting thing is that Siddhartha says fasting and meditation are only temporary anaesthetics against pain and the meaninglessness of life. He even says he could have learnt what he has learnt to this day earlier in the pub(!) He doesn’t follow Gautama (the Buddha) because he thinks if the nirvana experienced by the Buddha is put into words, the essential meaning is instantly undermined. Truths can only be learned by experience, not by words.
hesse novel are buda iven much more rich..hees talk and expiriance live like rich nature alow them to se beutty in eny particular way of expresion this is ultimate truth no limitacion truth
Thanks. Great work, with comic asides.
Thanks. One of my favourite
Impeccable presentation. Thank you.
You're very welcome!
True a guru cannot realize life's goal for one a guru that's also an acharya shows one HOW to LIVE in such a way that one may. ✋
u have no idea how much i love ur videos. Ти благодарам многу.
I enjoyed Narziss und Goldmund, and didn't realise Hess was writing about his own troubled youth and ideas of Nietzche. Interesting,
Amazing!Thank you so much.🙏
Thanks, I needed that
Excellent video thank you
Siddharta's philosophy anticipates quantum mechanics in that one can be at every place and at every time simultaneously and that life is an infinitely complex unity. But art is in the telling of it through poetry, literature, music, painting, building, and human kindness.
Thanks so much for this great video
Nature can be everything to mankind. Man is in nature and lives and learns from her. He cannot develop nor ennoble himself without close loving respectful relationship with nature. Nature is not to be exploited as modern deludes himself of. Rather nature teaches man everything he needs to become truly what he should be, a spiritual being dwelling in nature.
Thank you for this.
Any time
I've read Siddhartha and enjoyed it very much!
"The Glass bead game" - a life changing book of philosophy and so many other pseudo sciences, all beautifully interwoven into this one masterpiece.
It matches my inner observations and love of nature that I thought all were accessible. Carl Jung, about subconscious actually determines or directs our conscious; Hesse’ view, and Kafka’s, I couldn’t disagree more. How wonderful I get to know their views. God is in Nature, as it created it, the rivers and also the stars, isn’t it.
I also read "The Prodigy" and enjoyed it very much. I find Hesses` novels very unique.
"Harry and .... oops!" Very funny! and the rest, very wonderful. Love the narration, your wit and intelligence. Thank you!!
Great work, thank you🙏🏻 Stevenson’s novel “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” and Dostoyevsky’s “The Notes from the Underground” came across my mind while listening to your analysis on “Steppenwolf” and of course Nietzsche’s novel “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” on the analysis of “Siddhartha”.
Subscribed, thanks!
Awesome, thank you!
im just about to read steppenwolf this video came at a perfect time fr
THANK YOU
Beautiful 🎉🎉🎉
Wow. I woke up this morning with a question in my head. I reached for the Google God in my phone for answers and came here.
Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote a lengthy comment in a video you made about Carl Jung. To which, you thanked me for my "wonderful" comment about how I live alone in the woods and have found that we are all problem solvers stemming from that characteristic in predators who want to eat every day.
Once again, your video is extremely well written.
Perhaps this is a coincidence-if I believed in coincidence.
Perhaps it is a sign that I should continue work on my book-if I believed in signs.
Perhaps it is because I subscribed but my phone did not know that (I keep my phone in the dark).
Regardless, thank you for your great video and supportive replies.
BTW there was a moving picture of a wide-eyed child coming out of a portrait in this video. I've never seen it before today. Thank you for that, too.
Pere Borrell del Caso (1835-1910), Escaping criticism, 1874
That’s really to hear that my videos can inspire you. I say you should write. You might get immense satisfactions from it. Also something you can share with the world. I think many people stuck in cities dream of living in open spaces. Close to nature.
Western philosophy is questioning, arguing and sedulous writing, while Buddhism is...I don’t know, but when I read the Japanese essays written in the 12-14th century; during the turbulence of civil wars and natural calamities, I saw how Buddhism struck their chords.
Steppenwolf was abstruse for me (it was a while ago). I hope to understand better by re-reading it after having watched this and the Jung video.
I like that the video is calm and soothing like the river.
'how Buddhism struck chords'?
@@hazelwray4184 There already existed an idea of reincarnation so Buddhism was easy to accept (it was imported via China so it was a little different from the original). The idea of being born to this world of suffering again and again was daunting, so the nirvana, which means getting away from the cycle, was very attractive.
Jodo-shu promises nirvana after death if you only chant, on the other hand, Shingon-shu (or Zen) which was targeted to the warrior class, teaches you to reach nirvana in this life by rigorous practices.
Can you guess which became more popular?
Caution: I’m not a Buddhist priest nor a historian.
Philosophical arguments never satisfy. There is no end to it, no resolution.
@@davidtrindle6473 But it’s part of the distinctive and rich culture of the west from my point of view.
Eastern philosophies like Hinduism and Buddhism is centralised more upon the "non-dual" aspect which not only doesn't include nature, but becoming something that is beyond nature or it's laws.
This does not make sense. Learning from the truth of the way things are, meditation on the four elements - Buddha learned from nature.
nice!
Read a couple of his works while learning German. Recommended Siddharta to an Indian friend as an example of what a philosopher might make of a religious figure, but didn't find that or Demian particularly appealing. As a backgammon player at the time, intended to read "das Glassperlenspiel" & might invest in "Die Morgenlandfahrt"(Journey to the East) as my son was interested in Eastern philosophy. But it was Hesse's art that does appeal to me...I need it to be decorative, and it is; very.
I’m carving that path. Learned that long ago. Individualism. One with self.
I saw the characters of Siddhartha and Gautama as the historical Buddha split in half, between the search for enlightenment and the elimination of suffering.
Hesse's greatest work was Narcissus and Goldman.
I am a Goddess worshiper. I love Herman Hesse’s fiction. I believe in the Earth Goddess: all of Nature as the Higher Power.
I missed your videos
Nature speaks, it shouts of our creator!
Liked this video a lot!
I read Hesse in college about a million years ago, so revisiting the novels was good.
However, if you want to encourage future Hesse readers, don't associate him with Timothy Leary.
My theory is that Peter Camenzind wrotes the treatise of Steppenwolf
Please do a video on Hemingway, Mr Beast, it will bring extreme enjoyment to me, as does all of your painfully good content. ERNEST HEMINGWAY PLEASE FICTION BEAST
Nature is alive it's all conscious and alive , I knew this from a very small child you and it are not separate . When you think you are you have issues then .
My interpretation of Steppenwolf was a man experiencing a spiritual awakening/spiritual crisis and his attempts to integrate the shadow function.
(...deleted...) Interesting and worthy review of two very interesting books by Herman Hesse.
Watch it again.
@@Fiction_Beast Okay, thank you for the challenge, I have listened again, and I’ll admit, I was a victim of my own expectations. I’ve read Siddhartha and Steppenwolf and others, thought about them a lot, but at this point I myself was looking for something more biographical about Hesse himself. That said, your observations on both stories are excellent, especially Steppenwolf (the more challenging for me.)
Allow me to highlight some of your own words from the section about Siddhartha specifically about the nature human connection:
22:40 Siddhartha realizes he and the river are one …
26:30 Siddhartha’s true teacher was a river …
26:45 In the East, Nature and Human are pretty much the same thing …
28:45 Hesse: ‘There’s a river running inside of you.’
____
Have you reviewed, “Das Glasperlenspiel”?
Hesse didn’t inspire me to go to India as I travelled from India overland to Australia as that was my original intention.
But having read all of his books as an alternative person,
they certainly influenced me and all of my friends to go there,especially “Journey to the East”,people I met on the way certainly looked for a Guru or some answer to Western Rationalism and it’s empty promises.
Natures good but l learned /experienced the strongest fit to use ,destroy 'weaker'
👍
Magister Ludi came to my meditation hut this morning
That's him? His writing creeped me out. Now I know why
⭐💯💓💯⭐
🌺✝️☸️🔯♈️🕎♉️☮️✡️⛎☦️⚛️☪️🕉️🌺
Prima facie convincingly so Inspiring to combine the Advait Unity of Existence with Islamic Wahadat Al Vuzud with the Absurd philosophy of Albert Camus… All bliss is the fruits culminations out of the soil of Meaninglessness & Boredom etc.
It’s Divine Absurdity which we may endeavour every moment 🌺🌺🌺
Love your work. Just a comment on your audio. You a popping your mic(plosives). Learn about gain staging and use a pop filter.
I'm a little disappointed that you didn't mention the rock 'n roll group that took is name from Steppenwolf.
can someone explain why jordan peterson would love the snake in the story
Siddhartha is the only unread book on my Buddhist shelf. DL somerset Maugham?
I like how he discovered schopenhauer after nietzsche like me, poor schopenhauer was underapreciated even then, I guess before the dm nazis, Nietzsche is so overrated.
This was great though
His name, Hesse, is pronounced as we pronounce Goethe.
More like Hesseh. Or Hessah
Sidhartha: BOOK 📕 BY HESSE…
Perhaps something closest to my Absurd philosophy etc.😴🤫😂
Nietzsche Nature - sounds a lot like with your accent