A Quote by Hermann Hesse & Spirals Rising Above the Street Once Laid Upon a Syrian City
by Steven McCabe
“I have no right to call myself one who knows.
I was one who seeks,
and I still am,
but I no longer seek in the stars or in books;
I’m beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me.
My story isn’t pleasant,
it’s not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories;
it tastes of folly and bewilderment,
of madness and dream,
like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.”
― Hermann Hesse, Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend
I digitally reconfigured Syrian street photos (from happier times) for non-commercial artistic purposes, photographed by Vatse: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?s=62af56d2f3036c7b81759a06c26b1f1d&t=993201
One might intuitively connect seemingly disparate elements, only later discovering threads of DNA sound (or something) opening further into a parallel, related world. For example, Hesse & Syria:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Gundert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_literature
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians
poemimage 
Thank you for reminding me of Hermann Hesse, Steven. As with many of us, I loved his writing as a youth. And to think Demain was written almost a hundred years ago, just after WW1. In some important ways, with the world in the state it’s in, not much has changed.
Thank you Jana. It is true isn’t it. After your comment I began wondering about the various reasons for relating Hesse to Syria and (upon further investigation) added the final comment (with 3 links) above. I read him too ‘in my youth’ and suddenly realize I miss that ‘head space.’ Thank you again.
I was thinking the same thing, Steven, about missing that ‘head space’ … for me it was an opening onto the importance of serious reflection, a personal internal revolution, and a very earthy mysticism. All so new at the time. Demian was one of my favorites. It also balanced out all the existentialism I was reading. At least for awhile…
The Hesse family and Syrian Christian connection is pretty astonishing….That was quite an intuitive pairing! Your head must spin at times… good exercise! Thank you…
Yes I do hear you about the space of that time. Yours sounds very grounded (maybe like a tower). Sometimes with intuitive pairings like this it’s almost like something wants to be known. Something that ‘was’ feels itself, tangentially perhaps, being ground to dust and wants to say ‘hey wait.’ This was and is. So I’ll do my part in lending a hand.
“This was and is. So I’ll do my part in lending a hand.”
What I admire about this (and ultimately enjoy like a puzzle), Steven, is that your take is less a chronicling of patterns, or of cause and effect. It’s more a pairing or partnering of relevance. Sometimes uncanny, sometimes inscrutable, but always interesting! Cheers!
Nicely folded together which is your wont. You create magic lantern shows…
Thank you John. You have sent me off on a wild tangent of studying Magic Lantern Shows. Fascinating! Thank you very much. I’m going to look into this and see how this ‘pre-cinema’ approach (@ poemimage) relates!
I was pretty sure you wouldn’t let that one slide by without exploration…pun not intended 😉
I like the pun too John. Even if it’s ‘accidentally’ there! Yes, the magic lantern shows, a fascinating subject, genre, field!!!!
Thank you Steven, for this quote. Books of Herman Hesse will always remain on my shelves and these words come as a reminder, to think for ourselves, to be aware of what is in our heart and mind, and for me, having already decided this morning to put away my reading and listen to my own heart, “the teachings of my blood pulsing within me,” the timing is right on cue.
Your link with Syria and this particular quote, together with your wonderful graphics, are inspired.
Thank you Teri for your thoughts on the post and how interesting it is) that today (today then) you decided to focus more on the Hessian thought of ‘pulsing blood within…’ or ‘heart…’ as you say…I think it would be a gift to be finely attuned to the ‘within.’
It’s intriguing how these links, connections, synchronicities seem to make themselves known.