The final mystery is oneself. When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself.
Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?
-       Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

Thoughts by Hermann Hesse from Demian on the path that leads to oneself:

I do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me. My story is not a pleasant one; it is neither sweet nor harmonious, as invented stories are; it has the taste of nonsense and chaos, of madness and dreams — like the lives of all men who stop deceiving themselves.  

Each man's life represents the road toward himself, and attempt at such a road, the intimation of a path. No man has ever been entirely and completely himself. Yet each one strives to become that — one in an awkward, the other in a more intelligent way, each as best he can.

I realize today that nothing in the world is more distasteful to a man than to take the path that leads to himself.

. . .

       At the age of sixteen, the path seemed straight and clear
       But as I encountered the real world, bounced off it,
       Suffered defeats, enjoyed victories
       It became a convoluted, twisted path.

The twisted trail that has been the path toward myself
Full of setbacks, of unpleasant truths I’d rather avoid
I try to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me
Then turn away, then return to try again
Return to try to calculate the orbit of my own soul.
              - Journal note

. . .

Describe the orbit of your soul. How has it shaped your path in life? How would you describe the path toward yourself?

How has your path affected your creative work?

In the healing of that wound, which never closes, lies the invented, strange qualities of a man's work.
      - Lorca