Siddhartha Journey
Derrick Bradley
Ms. Dorn
IB English 4A
3 November 2014
Siddhartha, a novel by Hermann Hesse, traces the journey of the title character as he searches for spiritual enlightenment, or nirvana. He deviates from his privileged life and encounters a multitude of people and situations. In doing so, he explores change through suffering, and seeks a state of ultimate peace. Siddhartha experiments with asceticism and a life of indulgence, and fails to find happiness in either. He goes on with no direction hoping he will end up in the right place, and learns many things through his rough travels. He ends up staying with a ferryman on the river who helps him with his struggle. Vasudeva, the Ferryman, is very knowledgeable and Siddhartha goes on to …show more content…
find out he has gained all of his wisdom from the river. Vasudeva assures Siddhartha he will find the same wisdom, as long as he continues to listen to the river. Siddhartha does so and comes to the realization that the river symbolizes time and how it is constantly changing, Siddhartha sits by the river yearning for the level of wisdom Vasudeva has acquired, and recalls Vasudeva telling him, “The river has taught me to listen; you will learn from it too.
The river knows everything. One can learn everything from it”(105). Siddhartha soon begins to understand the flows and unity of life. He realizes the river seems to be the same, but yet it is constantly changing. Siddhartha connects the river with time in the world and how it is constantly changing, but yet it is just one moment. The illusion is that lives consist of past, present, and future. The past determining the present, and the present determining the future. Though what really happens is present is the only thing that really exists;the past is nothing but expectations, thoughts and memories put together all in the mind. The world is made up of infinite separate moments chained together. Time needs to be looked at in the present point of view, and siddhartha did so when he realized that his, “ previous lives were also not in the past, and his death and his return to Brahma are not in the future. Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence”(107). Siddhartha’s previous lives made him who he is now, which he is focused on, instead of focusing on who he was then. He conquered time, dispelled of it, and reach peacefulness and happiness, which got him one step closer to gaining the wisdom which he
seeked.
Ms. Dorn
IB English 4A
3 November 2014
Siddhartha, a novel by Hermann Hesse, traces the journey of the title character as he searches for spiritual enlightenment, or nirvana. He deviates from his privileged life and encounters a multitude of people and situations. In doing so, he explores change through suffering, and seeks a state of ultimate peace. Siddhartha experiments with asceticism and a life of indulgence, and fails to find happiness in either. He goes on with no direction hoping he will end up in the right place, and learns many things through his rough travels. He ends up staying with a ferryman on the river who helps him with his struggle. Vasudeva, the Ferryman, is very knowledgeable and Siddhartha goes on to …show more content…
find out he has gained all of his wisdom from the river. Vasudeva assures Siddhartha he will find the same wisdom, as long as he continues to listen to the river. Siddhartha does so and comes to the realization that the river symbolizes time and how it is constantly changing, Siddhartha sits by the river yearning for the level of wisdom Vasudeva has acquired, and recalls Vasudeva telling him, “The river has taught me to listen; you will learn from it too.
The river knows everything. One can learn everything from it”(105). Siddhartha soon begins to understand the flows and unity of life. He realizes the river seems to be the same, but yet it is constantly changing. Siddhartha connects the river with time in the world and how it is constantly changing, but yet it is just one moment. The illusion is that lives consist of past, present, and future. The past determining the present, and the present determining the future. Though what really happens is present is the only thing that really exists;the past is nothing but expectations, thoughts and memories put together all in the mind. The world is made up of infinite separate moments chained together. Time needs to be looked at in the present point of view, and siddhartha did so when he realized that his, “ previous lives were also not in the past, and his death and his return to Brahma are not in the future. Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence”(107). Siddhartha’s previous lives made him who he is now, which he is focused on, instead of focusing on who he was then. He conquered time, dispelled of it, and reach peacefulness and happiness, which got him one step closer to gaining the wisdom which he
seeked.