JOURNEY TO THE EAST
In simple, mesmerizing prose, Hermann Hesse's Journey to the Easttells of a journey both geographic and spiritual. H.H., a German choirmaster, is invited on an expedition with the League, a secret society whose members include Paul Klee, Mozart, and Albertus Magnus. The participants traverse both space and time, encountering Noah's Ark in Zurich and Don Quixote at Bremgarten. The pilgrims' ultimate destination is the East, the "Home of the Light," where they expect to find spiritual renewal. Yet the harmony that ruled at the outset of the trip soon degenerates into open conflict. Each traveler finds the rest of the group intolerable and heads off in his own direction, with H.H. bitterly blaming the others for the failure of the journey. It is only long after the trip, while poring over records in the League archives, that H.H. discovers his own role in the dissolution of the group, and the ominous significance of the journey itself.
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What Hacker News says
- "Right now, on a Saturday night, where is there an all-ages music show going on anywhere in the US where the kids in the pit are 14, 15 years old and no adult knows or cares that they're there?"
I used to go to those kinds of shows in my late teens. For what it's worth, I mostly am out of that because a) I like calmer music and b) the kids should have their own space.
But that doesn't mean that I don't run into small all-ages punk shows. There's usually one going on in Durango, CO a couple weekends a month that I have seen. I'm certain that in larger places the same thing is happening even though I don't know about them.
Consider that older folks not knowing about the show is kind of the sine qua non of what you're looking for, so I am no surprised that I, an "older folk", don't know about them.
But I know enough to know they are there. It's easy to find new music if you're looking for it.
Maybe go read or review Hesse's "Journey to the East" if you want a longer version of what I am getting at.
- Hesse's other books are also well worth reading, if you liked Siddhartha. My favorites are Narcissus and Goldmnund, The Glass Bead Game, Journey to the East, and parts of Steppenwolf.
His perennial themes are coming of age, division within the self, and intellect vs intuition/emotion, success in conventional society vs renunciation and seeking on the spiritual path.
- Alan Watts - The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are - The Wisdom of Insecurity - Psychotherapy East & West
Herman Hesse - Siddhartha - The Journey to the East
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
Seneca - Letters to Lucilius
Daniel Quinn - Ishmael
- I read many of Hesse's books. I liked his "Journey to the East" - a really interesting statement on leadership through service.
