The+way+I+viewed+and+interpreted+this+story

What to say about Siddhartha. This was interesting to read and how Siddhartha went through life wondering that there is more to life than what is doing now. He was the son of Brahman and was much respected by everyone around him. He lived in ancient India and was a religious person just like his father. Everyone around him expected him to be as successful like his father. But there was something that he was missing. As he went from place to place hoping that this was the right one and where he belonged. Sometimes when he got there he decided this still wasn’t what he was looking. He was hoping that whatever he found, that was his life and what he hoped to accomplished. Hoping that this was the right answer he was looking for he still was looking for some enlightenment. In the Encarta Dictionary under achievement of spiritual state “the realization of spiritual or religious understanding, or, especially in Buddhism, the state attained when the cycle of reincarnation ends and human desire and suffering are transcended.” There are even people today that could be in the same place as Siddhartha. People around us trying to find the purpose of life. They go out into the world to find their answers that they have been looking for. Just for curiosity I looked up Siddhartha in the book (page xviii) - the meaning it gives is “Hesse’s hero, ‘one who has achived his goal’ in Sanskrit (in Pali, Siddhattha). This was also the personal name of the man who became the Buddha.” ADDED ON The second half of the book- As I was reading the second half of Siddhartha, again Siddhartha was still searching for more to life than what he is doing now. This book shows Siddhartha and Govinda going through life and struggles to achieve the spiritual enlightenment they have been looking for since there early days. This was an interesting book to read and see how Siddhartha really wanted to have this enlightenment. At the second half of the book it shows Siddhartha studding the river while Vasudeva is teaching him the many secrets of the river in which Siddhartha needs to know. Over time Siddhartha becomes more confident and learns all over the rivers lessons. Vasudeva eventually retires from his position and leaves into the forest. Siddhartha takes the place of becoming the ferryman. Also the second half of the book Kamala tells Siddhartha’s about his eleven year old son. Siddhartha tries everything he can to do his best and provide for his son, but the boy is spoiled. His son wishes to leave to his familiar city and his wealth but Siddhartha doesn’t accept his wishes. Until one morning Siddhartha awakens to find that his son ran away and stolen all of his and Vasudeva’s money. The end of the book talks about Govinda returning to the river and happens to find Siddhartha. Govinda is still with Gotama. They talk about “wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness.” Govinda and Siddhartha both finally accomplished the spiritual enlightenment they have been look for. Siddhartha has a ferryman. As we discussed in class we compared the differences between the author, Hermann Hesse, and the book, Siddhartha. I noticed how great they are connected and appear to be similar between each other. The idea that Hesse went through life style the same way as Siddhartha did. I enjoyed reading this book and seeing many different things. Maybe Hermann Hesse is expressing is life styles as Siddhartha’s character in this book.

Have you ever been in the situation that one of your best friends wanted to kill them or was in the process of doing something close to that and you stop them? It is really hard to have to try to convince someone that there is a point to living life and enjoying it. When you see someone that you truly love with all your heart, you do not want to lose them. I can’t even imagine getting to the point of life that you are just so down and feel like nothing else will make you happy that you want do not want to live anymore. There are different types of dying, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When we die physically we are not alive anymore. I know that I am personally scared to die. I have been told my whole life that there is no reason to be scared that we are just going to go onto a new life. We will be with people that have already passed on. Many people now days, commit suicide. When I was in high school there was an individual that committed suicide. People struggled with it and the hardest part was when another individual died within the dame year. There became a big problem because when the person passed away the school did things for the family and did a remembrance for her. Then it came to the person that committed suicide no one at school did anything for him. The friends of that individual went irate about it. I can see the point of the school not doing anything for him though. I believe that if they did, then some individuals would say you are encouraging suicide or why are we remembering someone that was not happy with him so took his own life. If we really think about it, does the society really take time to talk about someone that took there life. Yes, they will mention it but I feel like they spend more time on the people that died unexpected or because of an illness. Another way that we can die is emotionally. I would have to say that we all suffer this at least once in our lifetime. Our emotions can come and go throughout our life that sometimes it is hard to even know that they have gone. I am going to give you an example of when my emotions died. Two and half years ago there was a tragedy that happened, it was my senior year and everything was going perfect for me. I was the happiest girl that could ever be alive until my family got a phone call one night. In that phone call we were told that my mother’s parents have been in a horrible car accident. They were rushed to the emergency room were my grandma and grandpa were pronounced dead. That is when I lost it and did not want to go on with life. My emotions could not handle that horrible news. I was numb for two months after that. It never really came to me that they had passed away until I was getting ready to graduate, sending off invitations. I didn’t know what to do or say, I couldn’t just call them up or just tell them what was going on in my life. It hurt and I felt like I didn’t have anyone to turn to. When we get to the point of losing our emotions and getting lost, that is not a problem as long as we get out of it soon enough. I know that if we do not get our emotions back then it will take over our lives and we will really be lost. I feel that if we do not gain our emotions back it can lead to worse thing, like suicide. The other thing that I believe that can die would be spiritually. Most people would think this is the worst, but it really depends on how you were raised. I was raised were that church was a very important thing in life and that you really should be coming unto Christ and trying to be like He is. When we lose our spirit we can feel lost or try to figure out what our purpose in life is and not really know. We really do need to have the spirit with us so that we can know why we are here on this beautiful earth and what the purpose is for each one of us. Siddhartha I feel like was lost and just really did not know what he was supposed to do and why he is here. I think about my life and think do I know why I am here or is my life the way I want it to be. I know I have been in the position that I am lost but I feel that every one can get out of that situation if they are willing to try hard enough. I have seen many of people change there life around and really find out who they are and why it is important to live life. They all start to have a better attitude about things in general. The thing that I really like about this story is that he turns his life around. He knows what he has been taught his whole life and he can not deny it. It is like when he starts to drink and feel like nothing else will be worth him living. I feel like he knows that everything will work out and then remember what he has been taught his whole life. He has changed his attitude and is happier about life. There is one thing that I absolutely love and that is to see people become the people that they want to become, not what everyone else wants them too. I feel like Siddhartha really does become the person that he has always wanted to through trial and error. The greatest thing that we have about this life is that we are able to learn from our mistakes. I believe that there is a reason that we are given a memory for is to remember what we did wrong and that we can do better if we have a desire too. That is why there are many people that rarely make the same mistake, because they want to grow and be the person that they have always had a desire to be. I know that if we really put our mind to it and have a great desire then we can turn out the way we want to be. I also believe that there would be a lot of less thought of suicide and murder; if we thought for a minute on whom we are and why we are here on earth, what is our purpose. We really don’t need to be thinking about the negative in life, we can actually focus more on the positive to make this world a better place. There would be a lot less murder or suicide if the society would focus on the good instead of the evil that we have today.

We all make mistakes throughout our whole life because nobody is perfect. That is one of my biggest pet peeves is that people will judge others for there mistakes and I assume that they just forget about the mistakes that they have made throughout there individual life. I assume that we all know and comprehend that we do make mistakes like about taking our life. It is not as bad as it can be until you act upon it. Its like Siddhartha only thought about it and did not do anything g about it and eventually he became a better person then what he was from the point of time that he was thinking about taking his life. Eventually he did change his life where he was a better individual and helping people. I believe that we can truly help ourselves by helping others and doing the things that are necessary to do, to allow ourselves to be happier with us and to be happy when we are around people that we care about and love. I know that it is a struggle that we all face once in our lives that we do not want to, but we need to realize that it is part of life. We all need to remember that we eventually be the person that we want to be as long as we try on a daily basis to become that individual. That is one thing that love about having day after day to learn from our mistakes and try to improve. The fact is that we are blessed with each and every day to become better and make ourselves the way we want to be. I feel that as long as we put in the appropriate effort then everything will be better and you will be more enjoyable to be around, just like Siddhartha was at the end.