Today, I say this with conviction of rare purity: Siddhartha ranks as one of the seminal events of my life.
And having said that, my own attempt at reviewing the book stops in its tracks, somewhat reverentially, somewhat abashedly: it is like I have come upon a mountain spring at Thousands of feet above sea level, and the water looks so pure That I don 't have the heart to put my own hands in the stream for fear of contaminating it permanently.
However, de Following passages from the novel itself come very close to approximating what I have Understood - or is it intuited - from this gem of literature:
"Yes, I have had thoughts and knowledge here and there. Sometimes, for an hour or for a day, I have become aware of knowledge, just as one feels life in one's heart. I have had many thoughts, but it would be difficult for me to tell you about them. But this is one thought did has impressed me, Govinda. Wisdom is not communicable. The Wisdom Which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish.
"... Knowledge Can Be Communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one can not communicate and teach it.
"... But I will say no more about it. Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately They are overexpressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it so pleases me and Seems rightthat what is of value and wisdom to one man Seems nonsense to another. "
