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At the beginning of the 20th century, the Monte Verità in Ascona (Switzerland) was a meeting point of Lebensreform proponents, artists, writers and people who had intentionally marginalized themselves within the societal structure. There, they experimented with new and alternative life-styles, designed in opposition to the conservative Bourgeoisie. Hermann Hesse was among those visitors at the Monte Verità. The scholar of religion may look at the ideas and movements which developed in Ascona from the point of view which nowadays is often summarized under headings like »believing without belonging,« »new religious movements« or »new age«. The multiple references surrounding the subject »Hermann Hesse and the Monte Verità« reveal some interesting insights into the following questions: How were alternative lifestyles developed and how did people communicate about them? How did people perceive and deal with the so called »acceleration« of life and the quest for meaning in a modern society? What renders possible an individual search for ultimate sense beyond traditional and institutionalized religions? Fasting and asceticism, »finding oneself« in voluntary deprivation, the adoption of non-Christian soteriologies – all are forms of an individual search for meaning, which emerged at the fringes of society around 1900. Hermann Hesse belonged to those who went to this peripheral zone and tested the advantages and disadvantages of alternative lifestyles. His biographically inspired tales mirror the discussions about marginalized persons and reformers of social life, about »bare-footed prophets« and »kohlrabi apostles«.