After hearing about Gautama, the enlightened one, Siddhartha visits him to learn the secret of enlightenment. After visiting Gautama Siddhartha realizes that enlightenment is achieved through experience, which is found by following one's ego. Siddhartha leaves religious teaching, deciding to find enlightenment by following his ego, he states that "no one is granted liberation through teaching" (Hesse 32). Siddhartha communicates his decision to Gautama by saying: “…there is one thing that the teaching so clear, so venerable does not contain: it does not contain the secret of what the sublime itself has experienced” (Hesse 33). Siddhartha's teachings will not allow him to achieve enlightenment since they cannot make him experience what Gautama experienced. This meeting shows Siddhartha following his individual decisions. While Joan enthusiastically follows Gautama and urges Siddhartha to do so, Siddhartha questions her teaching and disembarks them, choosing his ego over society.