bluegreen17 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bluegreen17) wrote2004-03-29 12:44 pm
bluegreen17) wrote2004-03-29 12:44 pm
(no subject)
a proper Glass Bead Game player ought to be drenched in cheerfulness as a ripe fruit is drenched in its sweet juices. he ought above all to possess the cheerful serenity of music,for after all,music is nothing but an act of courage,a serene,smiling,striding forward and dancing through the terrors and flames of the world, and festive offering of a sacrifice...such cheerfulness is neither frivolity nor complacency; it is supreme insight and love,affirmation of all reality, alertness on the brinks of all depths and abysses; it is a virtue of saints and of knights; it is indestructible and only increases with age and nearness to death. it is the secret of beauty and the real substance of all art. the poet who praises the splendors and terrors of life in the dance-measures of his verse; the musician who sounds them in a pure,eternal present-these are bringers of light,the increases of joy and brightness on earth,even if they lead us first through tears and stress. perhaps the poet whose verses gladdened us was a sad solitary, and the musician a melancholic dreamer; but even so their work shares in the cheerful serenity of the gods and the stars. what they give us is no longer their darkness,their suffering or fears,but a drop of pure light,eternal cheerfulness. even though whole people and languages have attempted to fathom the depths of the universe in myths,cosmologies, and religions, their supreme,their ultimate attainment has been their cheerfulness.
-hermann hesse
excerpted from the glass bead game
-hermann hesse
excerpted from the glass bead game
no subject
hesse
i actually haven't read glass bead game yet.this was an excerpt in a book about hesse.i did buy myself a copy,though,as i've been meaning to read it for a long time.
siddhartha is one of my favorite all-time books,though in truth i just reread the 'om' chapter often! i also have read 'narcissus and goldmund' and 'steppenwolf',which i thought was pretty heavy-duty. how about you?