I have just finished reading Siddhartha for the second time (the first was in high school), and I wept the entire last chapter because it was so beautiful. These days, the word beautiful is extremely overused, but this work truly is beautiful. The writing is so simple and yet so profound. Reading Siddhartha is like meditating; I sat in one spot for hours, completely oblivious to the world, and read it from start to finish. It seemed as if it whispered secrets to my soul.
I agree that it was a wonderful book, the one thing I didn't like so much was how the Native Americans place so much emphasis on things they cannot explain. I realize that is just ignorance on my part but isn't it hard to grasp some of the concepts because they aren't tangible?
It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.
Ahhhhhh.. Siddhartha. That book had a major impact on me. The first time I read it I was about 17 and searching for some answers. I had this friend, an older friend that I looked up to quite a lot, who fielded some of my questions at the time. Questions that often get ignored, sadly; such as: 'Who am I? What is this all about, anyway? What am I doing here?' Well my friend reccomended Siddhartha. It opened my eyes to a whole new perspective and confirmed some suspicions I had, i.e. that people are suffering partly due to attatchment to the passing names and forms of this world.
Anyway I have moved away since then from the principal message taught in that book. It will always signify a new beginning for me though.
The angels, happening that way,
This dusty heart espied;
Tenderly took it up from toil
And carried it to God.
Well... no native americans in Siddhartha, but I feel like intangible things are perhaps the only thing worth talking about. A world with just the tangibles seems empty. The intangible is what inspires people to write. Love, hate jelousy, faith, anger...all these things are intangible too.
Kadamba, I was 17 and looking for answers too when I read Siddhartha for the first time. It was the first time I ever encountered someone else thinking the same way I do about certain things. For instance, I've always had truble with a definate system of right and wrong. It has always seemed to me that everything is "right". Or maybe more so that right and wrong don't exist at all. I've just never been able to separate the baby, from the murder, from the feeble old man.
Other things though, I don't agrree with. For instance, I don't think that detatchment from "this world" can bring peace. I think it needs to come more through an active agreement with the world.
Regardless of agreeing or disagreeing with the themes of the book, it is beautifully written. To quote someone who I don't remember, Siddhartha is a "still point in a turning world." During the time I read it, it truly transported me out of this hapless world of action into the world of thought.
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft, and of thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left, sell one, and with the dole buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
Right and wrong. When we talk about a person in a baby body or an old man body, there is no concious decision involved. However, when a person decides to act in a particular way then automitically that action is subject to judgment. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not putting myself in the position of judge, I've just heard on good authority what some examples of right and wrong are. For example, it's wrong to r*pe (cybersitter, sorry) somebody. You have to be pretty hard hearted to refute that. There is a whole nonsense movement these days which basically states that a person can do whatever they want, based on their desires, because that's 'who they are'. Sorry, but that's based in ignorance. We could discuss that further but I'm not sure how much of a philosphical discussion we're looking for here.
'I don't think that detatchment from "this world" can bring peace. I think it needs to come more through an active agreement with the world. '
We agree here. Perhaps I should have placed emphasis on the word 'partly' in my previous post. What I mean to say is that one part of the problem is attatchment to the detremental aspects of the material world. But detatchment as a principle means for resolution or peace or whatever you would like to call it.. is inadequate. It is compared to taking a nail out of your foot. Great, I got the nail out, now what? The living being has an inherent tendency to love and be loved. If we attempt to abandon everything altogether, we will fail due to our need for a loving relationship. This brings up another problem, in that we attempt to satisfy this need for a loving relationship by placing our love on someone who is imperfect like ourselves. But that's a whole other subject...
A few apologies here, Piquant, and whoever else may be reading. I tend to write with a negative undertone and I'm sorry. Also this is a literature forum and I have gone off track, perhaps.
Thank you for sharing and please forgive me if I have been rude in my approach.
Siddhartha is beautifully written, as you said. I'm out of breath
The angels, happening that way,
This dusty heart espied;
Tenderly took it up from toil
And carried it to God.
i was 16 the first time i read it and 18 the second time i did, for school purposes. Both time i hated it. All that find yourself stuff...bleah...moreover in an indian 'new-age' environment...oh dear that kind of thing irritates me!
Just my very own humble opinion anyway...(and sorry about how terrible the langauge is in this post of mind, my brain is numb today so i express myself in this poor way).
dead on the inside, i've got nothing to prove
keep me alive and give me something to lose
Kadamba,
Sorry I disapeared from this discussion for so long; I just moved and didn't have internet access.
I believe in a superficial need for right and wrong. It is wrong to rape someone, it is wrong to murder someone, etc. For the purposes of keeping an organized society and for keeping any amount of sanity when making life decisions, we need right and wrong. Without it everthing would fall apart. You state correctly that people would act based on their desires.
However, underneath this concept of right and wrong I believe lies the fact that everything simply
is, that evil can lead to good, and good can lead to evil, and that it is absolutely impossible to separate the two. I think that the concept of good and evil was given to us as a much needed guideline about how to live our lives. A person cannot be evil. An act in a particular moment of time cannot be evil. All is leading to something else, a larger picture.
Perhaps the best way I can explain what I mean is this... In music, there are certain chords that go together, certain keys, etc. These all have a certain set of rules that they follow to create music that is pleasing to the human ear. However, at certain times these rules are broken to form dissonance. Alone, these combinations are repulsive and make you cringe. But the hand of a talented musicion can incorperate disonance into their piece to make it all the more beautiful.
I'm sorry I'm so confusing and longwinded in what I'm trying to say. Sometimes I even lose myself. Well, I hope what I was saying is somewhat intelligble.
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft, and of thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left, sell one, and with the dole buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
Lone crane makes its way
over charcoal autumn skies.
Twilight--still homeward.
It was a beautiful novel concerned with eternal happiness.
I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew.
It was utter tripe.
I wonder that why you did not like such a beautiful novel.Originally Posted by EAP
Last edited by Pensive; 01-20-2006 at 03:26 AM.
I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew.
Heh, I got it for Xmas and read it a week ago. Quite good, no revelation or anything though. Just comforts me in my idea that you need to be yourself.
"And the worms, they will climb
The rugged ladder of your spine"
I've read Siddhartha and it's a great work. Anyone would like to discuss the philosophies that involved in it? I think it contains a lot of Fr. Norris Clarke's philosophy. What do you think? Let me know
Siddhartha is like Hesse's counter manouver, usually the christian ideas were attempting to be transformed into something understandable for the east, this book tries to make the east relatable to the west.
It is one of my favorite books of all time.
If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.
Hermann Hesse
Demian
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