Reading Siddhartha and Realizing I Might Be Siddhartha

This is my first day/night reading Hermann Hesse's book, Siddartha. The other night, like I usually do when I finish one book and start on the next, I read the introduction and anything that precludes the story. I have always done this when reading a classic. In order to understand the story, I need to understand the world where the story came from, as well as the author.

I started taking notes the other day. When I take notes on anything, it is usually something that I found interesting and something that stuck out to me. In a nutshell, our main character is a very knowledgeable human, but he is not satisfied. He wants to know what else is out there, so he starts his spiritual journey to discover the meaning of life.

This is literally me.

After reading the introduction and reading the first two chapters of this book, I found myself relating to Siddhartha. I perceive myself to be a fairly intelligent person, and I guess other people think the same about me. I just don't take compliments all that well, especially when it comes to my intelligence. "I am just an average person," I think to myself every time someone says, "Wow, you're so smart." In my mind, I respond with a, "yeah sure okay" response, but instead, I can feel my ears go red and I tell that person, "Thanks" and then run away from them.

Because of the book's relatability to me, and the lessons I am learning from this story already, I decided maybe I should occasion myself by sharing what I am learning about this book, and inadvertantly myself, on my blog. Granted, I have ABSOLUTELY no followers and whatnot, but maintaining this blog is more so an exercise in something for me I don't know what yet. As I may have said before, I love to write, even if I know I will be the only one reading my shit.

Thanks for (not) attending my Ted Talk.