Steppenwolf

A friend of mine gave me the book Steppenwolf to read. It is the result of an exchange of books - he is reading 'God's Pauper' - Nikos Kazantsakis. I see many of the traits described by Herman Hesse of Harry Haller in my friend, he seems to battle with his 'wolf' and his humanity. It seems as if the book was written for human healing but Hesse says that many have taken it out of context and look only on the sorrow and despair in it. The book apparently doesn't have any great outcomes - it seems as if Hesse is interested in describing a way of coping with the world, a way of tolerating it. I don't see how it can be tolerated if in the end all results in death anyway. I believe the only way in which this life can be tolerated is if there's a better life to come, otherwise what's the point. Another book that has often been misinterpreted is the bible - now there's a book that speaks of love, of patient endurance BECAUSE there's an ultimate end in a heaven. To get our idea of heaven we so often use our own thoughts and these will be so moribund and below the reality that we may actually find the heaven of our fantasies uninviting, even dull or pointless. I suggest we read the bible with other people who read it to get a picture outside of ourselves, hoping that the mystery of God will be revealed - magically. The real mirror is the bible, not The Magic Theatre of Herman Hesse. Please pray for my discussion with my friend - that God will reveal his picture apart from our own ideas.