When I finished Siddhartha I got into that contemplative state the book sort of forces you into. I felt that I had to think about things seriously—meditate even—and set everything straight. But I wasn’t able to focus. Like the early Siddhartha, I didn’t want to attribute my new (and fleeting) state of mind to anyone or anybody else. I stubbornly convinced myself that this book couldn’t change me, that I knew how to live and understood Siddhartha’s mindset better than even he did. That I would have come to a different conclusion.
In a typical, Plan II way (I’m sorry, but I think it’s true.), I generally think I’ve got most—if not everything—right. If I’m not enlightened, I am at least on the pathway to figure it out. I’ll rationalize that at least I know what I want to fix about myself: I just need to be a little more out there, a little more open, a little more patient with people I don’t agree with, and I’m set. I’m exaggerating...but not really. I think what I’ve learned through this is that none of us are ever going to get it right. There is no “right!” We can search all we want for the true path, but we’ll “never stop searching.” (Hesse 130) I would argue that there’s a checklist that we all need to fulfill in order to get it “right”—common courtesy, respect, compassion, self-worth, and definitely love being some elements—but I don’t see how you could ever justify one, absolutely correct way of approaching these foundational tenets.
In a typical, Plan II way (I’m sorry, but I think it’s true.), I generally think I’ve got most—if not everything—right. If I’m not enlightened, I am at least on the pathway to figure it out. I’ll rationalize that at least I know what I want to fix about myself: I just need to be a little more out there, a little more open, a little more patient with people I don’t agree with, and I’m set. I’m exaggerating...but not really. I think what I’ve learned through this is that none of us are ever going to get it right. There is no “right!” We can search all we want for the true path, but we’ll “never stop searching.” (Hesse 130) I would argue that there’s a checklist that we all need to fulfill in order to get it “right”—common courtesy, respect, compassion, self-worth, and definitely love being some elements—but I don’t see how you could ever justify one, absolutely correct way of approaching these foundational tenets.
Siddhartha shows that there are many different lifestyles that work.
Did you notice that in many ways Siddhartha’s story was a typical one? I realized that as I was reading through the second half: Siddhartha had not escaped Samsara at all. He abandons home to follow a path which is completely different, in a search to find himself. Later, to what would surely be the horror of his past self, he relapses into the norm, succumbing to greed and temptation—losing everything he thought he knew above everyone else. He realizes his mistakes and comes to a new, greater realization with the wisdom of his past experiences. Isn’t this not the experience most of us will have? It’s commonly held that most people try to break away from their parents and live completely differently just as Siddhartha has done. The young Siddhartha is the extreme version of a college student, seeking to find ourselves (or in his case abandon himself) and thinking that we understand the world better than we did before and much more clearly than adults—wondering why no one else can see the world like we (individually) can. Then reality kicks in. As hard as we try to fight it, the mythical understanding of the world we’ve achieved during college gets hit, and we begin to live just like everyone else. At some point, usually a long time later, we’ll realize we’ve been trapped and try to break free once again. I thought it was very interesting that despite everything Siddhartha has gone through, he is no different than all the other “childlike people.” He has only lived a life, just like everyone else, which differs solely in the fact that it’s his. When “self” is the only true entity he has, why is the ascetics’ goal to try hard to get rid of it? 
Is Siddartha's story in part just one from the mould of human experience?
The example that best supports Siddhartha’s total immersion in the cycle of Samsara is his son. As much as he had become enlightened and found a way of life which is very easy to admire and respect, his son could not see life the same way. He ran away from his father just as Siddhartha did his, leaving for the city—a radically different way of life than the life of the ferrymen and one which Siddhartha rejected, disgusted by what it meant. Siddhartha at first, “could not heed his friends advice; he couldn’t give up the boy.” (Hesse 113) He tolerated the behavior of this childlike person when his past self would have looked down on him in contempt, and most importantly of all he loved him. I think Siddhartha’s son represents in two ideas: his past and rejection of his past. The young Siddhartha is a reminder of what Siddhartha has come from: when Siddhartha saw his son’s face for the first time, it “oddly reminded him of something he had forgotten.” (Hesse 105) Siddhartha had grown up in a providing, extravagant home as well to caring, perhaps indulgent parents. He was once like his son, arrogant and too proud to acknowledge the voice of authority. And he likewise made a choice about what his life was going to be. While his son chose one path, Siddhartha ultimately came to a completely different one. We don’t know whether the son will change—perhaps he will come to be very much like his father, perhaps he won’t. The important point is that the answer to that question ultimately doesn’t matter. The son’s life is just as legitimate—just as substantial—as Siddhartha’s or yours or mine.
How does Siddhartha's son play into his journey? Are they similar or entirely different?
(This brings me to another minor point which I thought was interesting but couldn’t quite fit in. Would Siddhartha have made his journey if he didn’t have the luxury of being a Brahmin, the highest caste? Siddhartha was able to alter his life willingly, unlike his son who “had to leave all this [life of riches and the city] behind against his will.” (Hesse 110) Not everyone has a similar opportunity. Siddhartha could look on fasting as a religious high, not as starvation which to some is a daily occurrence. I’m not saying that only the “highest” can make enlightened journeys as Siddhartha did, but I think his position afforded him luxuries which many people can’t have which undeniably altered his path. I also don’t mean to knock the story of Siddhartha. I thought it was very interesting and truly enlightening, and I think it’s very important that we’re all able to gain so much meaning from it.)
No comments:
Post a Comment