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Self-discovery

Person attempts to determine how they feel about spiritual issues or priorities

Person attempts to determine how they feel about spiritual issues or priorities

A "journey of self-discovery" refers to a travel, pilgrimage, or series of events whereby a person attempts to determine how they feel, personally, about spiritual issues or priorities, rather than following the opinions of family, friends, neighborhood or peer pressure. The topic of self-discovery has been associated with Zen.

A related term is "finding oneself". There are different stages of finding oneself. Cultures from around the world have developed an array of modalities in the journey to discover oneself. In modern times practitioners and scientists have come together to create a map that brings clarity to the process of self-discovery. This is referred to as the levels of consciousness.

A journey of self-discovery is a popular theme in literature. It is sometimes used to drive the plot of a novel, play or film.

Fiction

A journey of self-discovery is a popular theme in fiction.

Literature

  • Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha (1922)
  • Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957)
  • Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses (1992)
  • Yann Martel's Life of Pi (2001)
  • Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones (2002)
  • Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (2006)
  • Craig Thompson's Habibi (2011)
  • Cheryl Strayed's Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012)

Film

  • El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973) by Alejandro Jodorowsky
  • A film version of Siddhartha (1972)
  • The Pillow Book (1996) by Peter Greenaway
  • Samsara (2001) and Valley of Flowers (2006) by Pan Nalin
  • Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) by Kim Ki-duk
  • Where the Wild Things Are (2009) by Spike Jonze
  • Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) and Cemetery of Splendour (2015) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
  • The Tree of Life (2011) by Terrence Malick
  • Avalokitesvara (2013) by Zhang Xin
  • Voyage (2013), Utopians (2015), Thirty Years of Adonis (2017), and Apostles (2022) by Scud
  • Sodom's Cat (2016)
  • The Red Turtle (2016) by Michaël Dudok de Wit
  • Please Stand By (2017) by Ben Lewin
  • Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017) by Mouly Surya
  • Humba Dreams (2019) by Riri Riza
  • Nine Days (2020) by Edson Oda
  • Wendy (2020) by Benh Zeitlin
  • Soul (2020) by Pete Docter
  • Nomadland (2020) by Chloé Zhao
  • Across the River and into the Trees (2022) by Peter Flannery

References

References

  1. "[https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S13/93/40E52/ Pilgrimage takes anthropologist on journey of self-discovery]", Princeton.edu, February 7, 2006
  2. "[http://blogs.yu.edu/news/a-journey-of-self-discovery/ Yeshiva University News - A Journey of Self-Discovery]", [[Yeshiva University]], February 12, 2010
  3. "[https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/oct/09/film-holidays-eat-pray-love-greece Film-inspired holidays: The Journey of self-discovery]",''The Guardian'', 9 October 2010
  4. "http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/Journey-of-self-discovery/articleshow/7451701.cms Journey of self-discovery]", ''Times of India'', 18 April 2011, webpage: [https://archive.today/20130103095057/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-18/science-of-spirituality/28547781_1_dreams-awareness-kaam TOI-18].
  5. "[https://www.chicagotribune.com/2002/02/05/elegy-journey-of-self-discovery/ 'Elegy' journey of self-discovery]", ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', 5 February 2002
  6. "[http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/aug/11/surfer-and-zen-master-discusses-journey-self-disco/ Surfer and Zen Master Discusses Journey of Self Discovery]", KPBS.org, August 11, 2009
  7. Gama, Daniela. (2025-09-04). "The 10 Best Movies About Finding Yourself in Your 20s".
  8. Gama, Daniela. (2024-11-23). "The 10 Best Movies About Mid-Life Self-Discovery, Ranked".
  9. "[http://www.denverpost.com/theater/ci_18044370?source=rss The Pride" a 50-year journey of self-discovery]" ''[[The Denver Post]]'', May 12, 2011
  10. Dhulekar, Anshula Udayraj. (2024-12-24). "Films of Reflection: Six must-watch movies about self-discovery".
  11. (August 2016). "Screening Belief: The Life of Pi, Computer Generated Imagery, and Religious Imagination". Religions.
  12. (June 2001). "Mainstreaming Basic Writers: Politics and Pedagogies of Access". Routledge.
  13. (November 2013). "BLACK". Author House.
  14. (12 July 2016). "A Study Guide for Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha"". Gale Cengage Learning.
  15. (18 February 2014). "Billy Corgan is going to perform an eight-hour concert about Siddhartha".
  16. (18 August 2014). "Hermann Hesse was one of the most iconoclastic of European authors". The Conversation.
  17. (13 October 2016). "Lessons from Literature: Siddhartha". The Georgetown Voice.
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