How beautiful the world was when one looked at it, without searching... just looked, simply and innocently.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the beauty of the world when observed with an open and innocent perspective, free from preconceived notions.
Hermann Hesse's quote reflects the idea that genuine appreciation of the world around us comes when we observe it without the filters of judgment or expectation. In a society often clouded by distractions and biases, approaching the world with simplicity and innocence allows us to experience its inherent beauty more profoundly. It encourages a mindset of mindfulness and presence, which can unveil the wonders that lie in everyday life.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of slowing down and appreciating life, I shared this quote to emphasize the need for mindfulness.
I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever. I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha." He looked around as if he were seeing the world for the first time.
That is where my dearest and brightest dreams have ranged β to hear for the duration of a heartbeat the universe and the totality of life in its mysterious, innate harmony.
I, also, would like to look and smile, sit and walk like that, so free, so worthy, so restrained, so candid, so childlike and mysterious. A man only looks and walks like that when he has conquered his Self. I also will conquer my Self.
You're quite right there," he said. "I have practiced abstinence myself for years, and had my time of fasting, too, but now I find myself once more beneath the sign of Aquarius, a dark and humid constellation.
I call that man awake who, with conscious knowledge and understanding, can perceive the deep unreasoning powers in his soul, his whole innermost strength, desire and weakness, and knows how to reckon with himself.
Despair is the result of each earnest attempt to go through life with virtue, justice and understanding, and to fulfill their requirements. Children live on one side of despair, the awakened on the other side.
Laws must be clear, precise, and uniform for all citizens.
By the anxieties and worries of this life Satan tries to dull man's heart and make a dwelling for himself there.
We divorced ourselves from the materials of the earth, the rock, the wood, the iron ore; we looked to new materials which were cooked in vats, long complex derivatives of urine which we called plastic. They had no odor of the living, ... their touch was alien to nature. ... [They proliferated] like the matastases of cancer cells.
A dispassionate white sun shone at the summit of the sky. I wanted to hone myself on it till I grew saintly and thin and essential as the blade of a knife.
The pursuit of otherness, the sense that we are somehow different than our brothers and sisters, no matter where we find them, allows for all the other great evils: racism, sexism, homophobia, violence against gay people and against women.
...the more a person becomes spiritually minded or advances towards God, the more tolerant he becomes and the less differentiation he sees.
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