Self-discovery
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. Drama films like Eat Pray Love and Life of Pi are examples of films associated with the idea of a journey of self-discovery.Literature
- Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha
- Jack Kerouac's On the Road
- Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses
- Yann Martel's Life of Pi
- Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones
- Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love
- Craig Thompson's Habibi
- Cheryl Strayed's ''Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail''
Film
- El Topo and The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky
- A film version of Siddhartha
- The Pillow Book by Peter Greenaway
- Samsara and Valley of Flowers by Pan Nalin
- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring by Kim Ki-duk
- Where the Wild Things Are by Spike Jonze
- Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Cemetery of Splendour by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- The Tree of Life by Terrence Malick
- Avalokitesvara by Zhang Xin
- Voyage, Utopians, Thirty Years of Adonis, and Apostles by Scud
- Sodom's Cat
- The Red Turtle by Michaël Dudok de Wit
- Please Stand By by Ben Lewin
- Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts by Mouly Surya
- Humba Dreams by Riri Riza
- Nine Days by Edson Oda
- Wendy by Benh Zeitlin
- Soul by Pete Docter
- Nomadland by Chloé Zhao
- Across the River and into the Trees by Peter Flannery