MASONIC BOOK REVIEW

“Siddhartha”

by Hermann Hesse

Knowledge of the self has been the central dilemma of all ancient mystery schools. It is the question that we are Masons aim to discover. It is such a central theme that even the Greeks at the Temple of Delphi wrote, “Know thyself and you will know the Gods and the universe”. One may even argue that this question is at the heart of every religious tradition. The question of what am I to the universe and God strikes at the heart of our human condition of being born and destined to die. How we approach answering this question determines, in many respects, the trajectory of our lives. It is this question that lies at the heart of Hermann Hesse’s “Siddartha”. It is a book that escaped my awareness until another close Brother recommended it as part of our discussion and studies.

For most, religion provides an avenue for exploring this question. The organization and structure reduces the fear of those larger questions and gives some semblance of control and ease. But life has a way of popping the bubble so to speak. Although many people find stability in religion and growth, Siddhartha sees this as a stifling of his inner self, which is the real mystery he wishes to understand. As Hermman wrote:

“Far is such a thought from my mind,” exclaimed Siddhartha. “I wish that they shall all stay with the teachings, that they shall reach their goal! It is not my place to judge another person’s life. Only for myself, for myself alone, I must decide, I must chose, I must refuse. Salvation from the self is what we Samanas search for, oh exalted one. If I merely were one of your disciples, oh venerable one, I’d fear that it might happen to me that only seemingly, only deceptively my self would be calm and be redeemed, but that in truth it would live on and grow, for then I had replaced my self with the teachings, my duty to follow you, my love for you, and the community of the monks… I am deprived by the Buddha, thought Siddhartha, I am deprived, and even more he has given to me. He has deprived me of my friend, the one who had believed in me and now believes in him, who had been my shadow and is now Gotama’s shadow. But he has given me Siddhartha, myself.”
Through Siddhartha’s journey, the pains, struggles, and conflicts of life are embedded in a larger desire for understanding and truth. Even those closest to him find his desire curious for he has gained everything his heart desired. But in those desires, he finds his being becoming disheartened and self-destructive. Fundamentally, the constructs we hold are disturbed by the greatest of all fears: death. Through the character of Siddartha, Hermann explores the journey of faith rather than the destination. Siddartha transforms and expands his understanding of life through each stage of understanding that is eventually distrubed and reformed to the next stage of understanding. At each stage, Siddartha’s journey is influenced by a central character. In the text, the most important of which is Vasuveda who teaches Siddhartha the essence of the divine life. It is this journey that makes Siddhartha exclaim:

“I want to learn from myself, want to be my student,
want to get to know myself, the secret of Siddhartha.”

It is curious that this central theme of Freemasonry, knowledge of self and union with God, is often covered in tradition, formality, and perfection of the ritual. Yet, deep within its narrative, Siddhartha’s journey mirrors our Masonic journey. A cycle of coming from darkness to light with a fellow Brother or Vasuveda to help us along the way. It is my belief that within the Craft, we all find a Brother who embodies the heart and wisdom of Vasuveda. They open our hearts and see the true self that lies within us. They find pleasure in joining the journey with us and delighting as we grow beyond what we imagined to find joy within our relationship with God and creation. But why do we find it so difficult to embrace this simple discovery of our self being the secret to all of life?

Perhaps, as I suspect, we find our imperfections and mortality as reflections of something abhorrent or unworthy to being a vessel of knowledge. In our deepest thoughts, we perhaps think that our “self” isn’t worth the exploring. What if I’m truly unremarkable? Reflecting on my Craft as a physician, I’ve come to the conclusion that each person has a remarkable and unfolding story to share. Not because of their own individual story. But how their story is interconnected to everyone else. It is the interconnectedness of life within ourselves and the universe that embodies the unfolding nature of the divine and love that Hermann writes through Siddhartha:

And everything together, all voices, all goals, all yearning, all suffering, all pleasure, all that was good and evil, all of this together was the world. All of it together was the flow of events, was the music of life. And when Siddhartha was listening attentively to this river, this song of a thousand voices, when he neither listened to the suffering nor the laughter, when he did not tie his soul to any particular voice and submerged his self into it, but when he heard them all, perceived the whole, the oneness, then the great song of the thousand voices consisted of a single word, which was Om: the perfection.

It may be that Siddhartha was a reflection of Hermann’s own journey to understand himself. What did Hermann discover? I believe it is the main answer we learn in Freemasonry: love. For it is the human heart and our relationship to all of the universe that defines our journey and the divine journey as one. It is learning to see our journey as a part of the larger journey of God to discover itself. And to understand what that means.

Written by: Bro. Jonathan Kopel

 

Bro. Kopel is a MD PhD in his neurology residency in Washington DC. He is a member at Potomac Lodge #5 and Benjamin B. French Lodge #15 of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC.

Samuel Lloyd Kinsey