Inside Us

Shocked, I interposed, "But you can't do everything that comes into your head. You can't do away with a person because he is hostile to you."

He stepped closer to me.

"In certain circumstances even that! In most cases, however, it is merely an error. Nor do I mean that you should simply do whatever goes through your mind. No. But you should not spoil those ideas which have their good aspect by rejecting them and moralizing about them. Instead of nailing yourself or someone else to the cross, you drink from a chalice in solemn mood and reflect on the mystery of sacrifice. Even without all this, it is possible to treat one's actions and so-called temptations with love and respect. Then they will reveal their meaning - and they all have a meaning. If something that seems quite mad or sinful enters your head in the future, should you feel like murdering someone or committing some enormity, remember for a moment that it is Abraxas at work in your imagination! The person you wish to murder is never Mr. So and So. He is only a disguise. When we hate someone we are hating something that is within ourselves, in his image. We are never stirred up by something which does not already exist within us."

- Hermann Hesse's Demian, page 124

"The things we see," said Pistorius gently, "are the things which are already in us. There is no reality beyond what we have inside us..."

- Hermann Hesse's Demian, page 125

I don't know what you get from reading the above extracts, what flashes through your mind. But they say a lot to me. Without sounding pompous, I think that I see the positives in others because I have exactly the same positives in me. Similarly, I see the negatives in others because I have exactly the same negatives in me. Hence, "When we hate someone we are hating something that is within ourselves, in his image. We are never stirred up by something which does not already exist within us." Am I making any sense? I hope so. Like I used to say, Singaporeans should all read Hermann Hesse's novels. I have much to learn from him. Perhaps too much for this life.

P.S.: Now, I know I will not rest till I finish this.