Hesse: For Those Passing Through a Season of Anxiety

First Path: Switch Off the Noise of the World and Go to the Hut Within

Are You Struggling to Walk Someone Else's Road?

Where on earth are you walking?

Is that someone else's road?

Is that why walking feels somehow so hard?

Walk your own road.

Then you will be able to go far.

- Demian

The Mask of Success That Society Put on You

Most people have never once met themselves.

Wearing the mask of the "successful citizen" that society fitted over them,

mistaking that mask for their real face,

they spend their whole lives.

- Demian

The Ostrich Does Not Imitate the Bat's Wingbeats

If you want to live making full use of your own traits and talents,

you must follow the voice that flows from your heart.

You need not mind the sounds of the world.

You need neither your parents' opinions nor your teachers' guidance.

Just as the ostrich does not imitate the bat's wingbeats,

there is no need, to begin with, to compare yourself or compete.

Of course, seeing you walk your own road,

the envious people around you will chatter this and that,

but you need not mind.

For you live in a world entirely different from theirs,

a different kind of human being.

- Demian

Travel Your Own Orbit, Like a Star in the Sky

Most people are like falling leaves;

they are blown about by the wind, stagger, and land on the ground.

But a few others are like stars:

they follow a steady course,