Here is a short passage from The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse that illustrates the moment of renewal and return — when the narrator, H.H., begins to understand that his despair and confusion were rooted in ego, and that recovery lies not in striving, but in surrender and openness.
“I had failed because I had always tried to use words, instead of silent acts of love, to prove my faith. I had placed too much reliance on my mind and on my language, too little on my heart and on simple deeds. I had sought out the meaning of the journey as if it were a story, a chronicle, a fixed sequence. But now I began to understand: the Journey itself is not linear. It is not something that happened in the past — it is eternal. It is always accessible. The way to it lies within.”
This moment represents H.H.'s transformation:
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He recognizes that he tried to possess the truth through memory and intellect.
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He shifted toward presence, humility, and a softer kind of trust.
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He lets go of the idea that the League is something external that he lost, and starts to understand it as something still living within him.
This recognition — that the sacred journey never ended, and that it could be entered right now, through sincerity and openness — is one of the most healing moments in the book. It aligns powerfully with the Buddhist idea of beginning anew, and with the gentle encouragement often found in Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teachings: that the present moment is always available, no matter how far we believe we've strayed.
Would you like to continue with another scene from the book, or look at how this theme appears in one of Hesse’s other works, such as Siddhartha?
