Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Final Analysis

     I have greatly enjoyed this class before we even started doing this poetry assignment. To be honest, in middle school, my teacher made me hate poetry. We studied it so much and did not even analyze it. But, now that I have studied and analyzed the poem The Bridge by Octavio Paz, my love for poetry has started to come back. The first time I read the poem, the first question I had was, What is this even about. I understood that he was about overcoming an obstacle but there was so much beauty to it that I never saw. At first, I thought that such a small poem wouldn't be too hard and would hide so much. I was wrong. The best things in life come in the smallest packages. This poem brought a lot of light to my eyes to see what the world perceives. The poem was education filled, that I do not someone would get from reading the poem once. "I’ll sleep beneath its arches." (Paz, 12). The poem was indeed confusing, but the ending adds so much to the understanding of the poem. My beginning question was answered and taught me so much more! 
      I learned that his poem represents how people look at the world. A bridge can lead people to places they never thought they would ever be. The author has the optimistic outlook that with every step you take, it can representative of a bridge. The choices you make can play a part of how and where your bridge ends. Also, the choices you make play a major part in how you perceive the world and what the world gives you. "Entering it / you enter yourself: / the world connects / and loses like a ring." (Paz, 4-7). In the whole second stanza, when entering yourself, you'll have to make choices which will change your outlook on like and how people see you. In life, you're going to come across obstacles that look impossible.
      Paz wrote this poem around the time he was Mexican ambassador to India. The poem could be related to an issue that was happening between India and Mexico at the time. During this time, the Green Revolution between Mexico and India was going on. The Green Revolution was based off big spending in modern scientific research for agriculture, which led to higher crop yields in the industrial countries. The Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation helped transfer and adapt these scientific advances to the conditions in developing countries.The first investments were in research on rice and wheat, two of the most important food crops for Mexico and India. The breeding of improved plant varieties, combined with the expanded use of fertilizers and pesticides, and irrigation, led to big yield increases in Asia and Latin America, beginning in the late 1960s. The term "Green Revolution” was used to describe this large growth in agriculture.
      When I first looked at the poem, I found it in a book filled with Octavio Paz's poems. There were hundred to choose from, but this one poem caught my attention. The title drew me in and wanted me to know more! The Bridge is what the poem was called. I was immediately intrigued and read through the poem. I thought the poem was lovely and wanted to know the true meaning behind the words. "Between now and now, / between I am and you are, / the word bridge." (Paz, 1-3). The poem started off with my confusion. I read it over and over again, trying to figure out what it was saying. I finally understood what he was saying I read through the poem a few times. Between now and now is what can happen if he makes that choice, if he does, then he can be in a different place and will be different. Between I am and you are is the difference between what you have done and what I have yet to do. The poem continued to be analyzed for every line, and each line meant another meaning which brought the whole picture together.
      When I first approached the poem, I only thought it was about over coming an obstacle. I was not 100% wrong. I now believe the poem is about overcoming that obstacle by communicating with others. In order to see the world for its true beauty, you'll need to communicate with others. Otherwise, your world would have no meaning. "I’ll sleep beneath its arches." (Paz, 12). When you are finally able to communicate, you'll feel peace. As though a rainbow is laying above you, you'll see the beauty and all the colors. You'll be at peace and home.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Poem Interview

      I walked into my fathers bedroom, the scent of dinner and chocolate cake followed me in. My father huge bedroom, surprisingly empty looking seemed welcoming. I sat on the comfy king size and laid my laptop upon the white comforter and walked for Melanie to walk in the room. When Melanie walked in, the fan blew through her hair sending her black hair flowing behind her. She had a light tan stain on her white t-shirt and came and sat on the other side of the bed. I turned my computer over for her to read the poem for the first time. When she read the title, the first thing she did was tell me that the title tells most over every poem or story, and that this seems to be the same way. She got into a comfortable position, sitting criss-cross, ready to start the interview.
      When asked to read the poem The Bridge by Octavio Paz, Melanie Thomas Rogers responded with what she thought of the poem. “I think it sounds lonely but at the end, peaceful. It sounds like a big long question someone is trying to figure out.” The poem is a representative of how people perceive the world. A bridge often leads somewhere different. The author has the optimistic outlook on life that with every step you take, it can be representation of a bridge. The choices you make can play a part in how you perceive and look at the world and what the world gives you. Melanie’s reaction is close to mine. Overcoming an obstacle could involve a difficult decision. The decision could be an answer to a long question. The representation of how the author perceives the world is also similar to mine because I feel as though the author was talking about communication. In order to be able to perceive the world, you need to be able to communicate to people.
Melanie noticed the poem was very sad, and lonely. Even though, the poem is about learning to communicate, it is sad that he even has to learn. Communication comes naturally to people. When you are born, you understand the communication of your mother. This is the first form of communication. When you begin to learn to speak, you are about to Communicate back. The author feels as though he needs to learn to communicate, which he already knows how to do. He is still alone, but he still has optimism. He is making this whole communication issue, a metaphor about life. When overcoming an obstacle, you have a bright view on what is happening next. It leaves you peacefully looking into the future, leaving a good wonder and no fear.
The inspiring thing about this poem was the end, it’s a happy ending. He overcame that obstacle and sleeps beneath the rainbow, “I’ll sleeps beneath it’s arches.”(Paz, 12). This gives the reader a reminder to keep looking at the bright side of life. Melanie thought the poem was about a man trying to look at all the sides of a difficult decision. Overcoming an obstacle, or a question helps get you to your destination. “The author’s choice of using a rainbow could mean that he originally thought the obstacle was bad and dangerous, but once he found out is was good and kind, he felt safe.” (Melanie). He is connecting himself to the world when he discovers the truth behind the obstacle. When he finds this connection, his whole outlook on the world becomes different. In the end, he is no longer scared of the rainbow, because he sleeps below it. In order to keep the optimistic outlook and to keep going each day, you’ll first need to learn that every step you take, leads you to a different bridge.
The poem if it had to be a color, would either be an orange or a deep blue. Orange represents a sunrise or a sunset, something that welcomes each new day, or something that wraps a day. Sorta of like a beginning and an ending. The sunset starts the day, which makes a new obstacle, and the sunset is the reward to the completion of obstacle. Another color that would work is a deep blue. Blue is a very vibrant color, and the darkness adds a lot of mystery. Deep blue can either good good or bad. Like the ocean, it can either be pretty or a storm. Melanie said that if this poem reminded her of any movie, it would either be Forrest Gump, or Finding Nemo. In Forrest Gump, there is always the things he decided to do, obstacles he wished to overcome, that you don’t think he could do, but they all work out. In the Finding Nemo, Dory continues to tell Marlin to “Just keep swimming.” To continue to get over the obstacle of finding his son.




Monday, May 12, 2014

Poem Biography and Analysis

Biography
Octavio Paz was born in Mexico City in March 31, 1914. He was the son of an active politicians journalists who, together with other progressive intellectuals, joined the agrarian uprisings led by Emiliano Zapata. Paz’s Grandfather was a prominent liberal intellectual and one of the first authors to write a novel with an expressly Indian theme. Thanks to his grandfather’s library, Paz came into an early contact with literature. Paz began to write at an early age, and in 1937, he travelled to Valencia, Spain, to participate in the Second International Congress of Anti-Fascist Writers. Upon his return to Mexico in 1938, he became one of the founders of the journal, Taller (Workshop), a magazine which signaled the emergence of a new generation of writers in Mexico as well as a new literary sensibility. In 1943, he travelled to the U.S.A. to on a Guggenheim Fellowship where he became immersed in Anglo-American Modernist poetry. Two years later, he entered the Mexican diplomatic service and was sent to France, where he wrote his fundamental study of Mexican identity, The Labyrinth of Solitude,and actively participated (together with Andre Breton and Benjamin Peret) in various activities and publications organized by the surrealists. In 1962, Paz was appointed the Republican Mexican ambassador to India. In 1968, he resigned from the diplomatic service in protest against the government's bloodstained suppression of the student demonstrations in Tlatelolco during the Olympic Games in Mexico. Paz founded two important magazines dedicated to the arts and politics: Plural (1971-1976) and Vuelta, which he has been publishing since 1976. In 1980, he was named honorary doctor at Harvard. Prizes include the Cervantes award in 1981, the most important award in the Spanish-speaking world, and the prestigious American Neustadt Prize in 1982. Eliot Weinberger has written that, for Paz, "the revolution of the word is the revolution of the world, and that both cannot exist without the revolution of the body: life as art, a return to the mythic lost unity of thought and body, man and nature, I and the other." His poetic corpus is nourished by the belief that poetry constitutes "the secret religion of the modern age." His is a poetry written within the perpetual motion and transparencies of the eternal present tense. Paz has written a prolific body of essays, including several book-length studies, in poetics, literary and art criticism, as well as on Mexican history, politics and culture. Paz was influenced by D.H. Lawrence, and practiced poetry like it was a religion. He was also greatly influenced by many of his grandparents’ books, due to the massive library he had. Octavio Paz died on April 19, 1998 after suffering from cancer of the spine. His death was announced by no less than the president of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo.


Poem Analysis
My original impression of the poem based on the title is that there is a bridge that symbolizes something important in Paz’s life that he has expressed his respect and analytic representation of this bridge. The first stanza represent the thing that connects you and me is communication. He is saying that the obstacle is getting between him and he can’t overcome it or get over it. IN the second stanza, by communicating, you connect deep within yourself, and it’s what connects the world. He is saying that entering the obstacle or the "bridge" is like entering yourself, as in a whole new person, and you can connect yourself better with the world, or communicate with another person. Finally, the third stanza, communication is always the primary connecting point between any two things, and it is the best way to connect to anything. It is what we should realize, and it’s what i choose. At the end of the obstacle there will always be a happy ending, which he expresses by the rainbow. The tone is one of peaceful and unity, because all it talks about in the poem is how everything is connected through communication, and communication itself connects the world. It speaks this in a passionate yet pleasant way. The poem never truly shifts to different tones, as the message/theme and style of saying it is the same way. The attitude is repeated in each stanza of the poem. Although, there is a shift in imagery and its representation. In the last stanza instead of using different representations to symbolize communication and its impact as a way of connection. Belief in communication as the key. So in the last stanza, it shifts from emphasis on unification to a claim of satisfaction and decision. The theme is communication is a bridge of connection for the world. Another possible, but subtle theme is that communication is a connection of yourself, as the way you communicate is a characterization of you and is used to further understand yourself and achieve self-realization. Octavio Paz describes communication as the connection, the 'bridge' if you will, between everyone and everything.



Sunday, May 11, 2014

Siddhartha Final Essay

Natalie Witherell
P-1 Adv. World & Comp.
Siddhartha Final
The book Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse has a very close relation to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. Siddhartha goes through a life long journey that starts in his youth and ends when he dies. In Hero’s Journey, the hero’s cycle begins with the ordinary world and ends with the return. In Siddhartha’s case, he starts his ordinary world is his youth and his return is his death. “There is no validity except the one contained within us. Thats why so many people live an unreal life. They take images outside them for reality and never allow the world within them to assert itself.” (Hermann Hesse). Siddhartha started his life by taking control over what he wanted. It worked for a few years, then society got to his head until he left it all behind. He ended his life being what he wanted to be and the wisest he could be. Everything Siddhartha does is related to the heroic journey cycle. From his beginning to his end.
According to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, Siddhartha is taken on an elaborate adventure that lasts his whole life. It starts off when he was in his Youth. Siddhartha lived in his ‘Ordinary World’ at the place where his father resided. “In the shade of the house, in the sunlight of the riverbank where the boats were moored, in the shade of the sal wood and the shade of the fig tree, Siddhartha grew up, with Brahmin’s handsome son, the young falcon, together with his friend Govinda, the son of a Brahmin.” (Hesse, 3). Siddhartha had spent his whole life here and now, in his early twenties, he wished to flee from the nest. Siddhartha was an attractive young man who grew up besides his companion Govinda, the two boys had grown up learning the ways of the Brahmin. Siddartha brought everyone in his village joy, but he felt little joy himself. Siddhartha started to get troubled by restless dreams and began to wonder if he had all there is to learn from his father and teachers. “He had begun to suspect that his venerable father and his other teachers, all wise Brahmins, had already given him the richest and best part of their wisdom, had already poured their plenty into his waiting vessel, yet the vessel was not full: His mind was not content, his soul not at peace, his heart restless.” (Hesse, 5). Siddhartha was dissatisfied with the Brahmans despite their knowledge, the Brahmins are seekers still, performing the same exercises again and again in order to reach their goal‹ of Nirvana. It is Siddhartha's search for this new path that leads him to the Samanas. A Samana is one who lives a life of piety and self-denial, free of possessions and desires. Siddhartha's search for a new path is his Call to Adventure. “...Now it is beginning, now Siddhartha is on his way, now his destiny is beginning to bud and, along with mine as well. And he turned as pale as a dried-out banana peel.” (Hesse, 8). Siddhartha told Govinda about his plan first, which made Govinda think about what he was going to do with his life. When Siddhartha announced his intention to his father to join the Samanas, he became very upset and forbad Siddhartha's wishes to join the Samanas. In respectful defiance, Siddhartha did not move. His frustrated father left the room, and hours at a time, he glanced out his window to find Siddhartha still standing motionless. “ He looked through the small window of the room and saw Siddhartha standing there, his arms crossed unmoving. The light cloth of his tunic was shimmering pale. His heart full of disquiet, the father went back to bed.” (Hesse, 9). When the night finally passed, Siddhartha’s father returned to his son. He realized that Siddhartha’s body remained present, but his mind had already departed. Siddhartha’s father let him leave and became a Samana and if he should ever leave the Samanas, he wass welcome back too. On Siddharth’s way out of the city, Govinda stood waiting for him. When Siddhartha was a Samana, he had learned the art of patience, waiting, and listening. Three years after joining the Samanas, Siddhartha and Govinda heard intriguing rumors of a great man, Gautama, the Buddha, who, had attained enlightenment, taught others the way to peace. Siddhartha and Govinda travel to Savathi, where they discovered the Buddha was staying in Jetavana, in the garden of Anathapindika. Arriving in Jetavana, Siddhartha recognized the Buddha immediately despite his nondescript dress. “Siddhartha recognized him at once, as if a god had pointed him out: a simple man in a yellow cowl, walking quietly, alms bowl in his hand.” (Hesse, 25). Siddhartha is not terribly interested in what the Buddha had to say, he was completely taken with the Buddha's demeanor. After the two men hear the Buddha’s sermon, Govina decided to join him and become a monk. Siddhartha gave him his consent but did not wish to join him. When Siddhartha was leaving the city, he ran into the Buddha. He refused his call and disagreed with the Buddha on his doctrine. Siddhartha, afraid that he had offended the Buddha, repeated his confidence in the Buddha's holiness. Siddhartha expressed his doubt that any teaching can ever provide the learner with the experience of Nirvana. And while Gotama's path may be appropriate for some, Siddhartha said that he must take his own path. The Buddha admonished Siddhartha to beware his own cleverness then wished him well on his path.
Along on his journey, Siddhartha came to a river. He asked the poor ferryman to ferry him across the river. Little did he know that this man was his mentor in  the years to come. Half way across the river, Siddhartha told the man that he had no money or any collateral to give the man in exchange for the trip across the river. “‘This too I have learned from the river: Everything comes back again! You too, Samana, will come back again. And now farewell! May your friendship be my wages. May you remember me when you are sacrificing to the gods.’”(Hesse, 44). Siddhartha departed the man thinking only of his kindness and wisdom. Siddhartha had kept what the man had told him in his thoughts when he came to his next step, crossing the threshold. Siddhartha came across a beautiful garden next to a city. Within the garden was a beautiful woman sitting upon a sedan chair whose name was Kamala. “....learned that this was the grove of Kamala, the famous courtesan, and learned that in addition to the grove she owned a house in town.”(Hesse, 47). Siddhartha had befriended the barber’s assistant and he had his beard and long hair removed showing the world his youthful face. The next day, Siddhartha had one of Kamala’s servants send her a message that a young Brahmin was waiting to speak with her. The servant took Siddhartha to Kamala and she instantly notices him. “‘But did you not have a beard yesterday, and long hair, and dust in your hair?’” (Hesse, 47). Siddhartha was giving up his hair to impress her, he was giving up his past with the Samanas. Kamala told Siddhartha that they could never be anything until he had money and expensive clothing. Siddhartha went to the Kamaswami who instantly made Siddhartha a merchant when he found out that he could read. While being a merchant, Siddhartha had his hand full of tests, allies, and enemies. “Never did Siddhartha have a willing ear for Kamaswami’s worries, and Kamaswami’s worries were many.” (Hesse, 60). Siddhartha used his acts of waiting, being patient and listening to help him throughout his merchant duties. Although Siddhartha is successful as a merchant, he shows little enthusiasm for business or anything else except for being with Kamala. This lack of enthusiasm stems from a realization Siddhartha has about his relations with other people. He possesses a distance from his emotions and behaviors that ordinary people do not have. This distance indicates that his Self is not really participating in his daily activities. The only aspect of his life in which he felt truly involved was Kamala, who he admitted knew him better than anyone ever had.
The more time Siddhartha spent in the town, the more distracted he became from his quest. Siddhartha Approached his downfall. He had fallen to the sins of the city life and had forgotten all that he learned from the Samanas. Siddhartha started to feel empty and Kamala could see it. “ Siddhartha had spent the night in his home with dancing girls and wine, had made a show of superiority before others of his standing, though he was no longer superior…” (Hesse, 69). Siddhartha went to bed drunk and close to tears. He spent nights at a time doing this, unhappy of what he had become. “Siddhartha realized that the game was over; he could no longer play it.” (Hesse, 71). Siddhartha left the town and told no one, not even the pregnant Kamala, of his future destination. Siddhartha walked into the forest that was near the city, knowing he could never return, and continued to walked until he reached a river. Siddhartha came along a palm tree, Siddhartha wrapped his arms around the tree and started to climb. He wanted to leap from the tree and let the water take him away. “This was the Great purging he had longed for: death, the smashing of the form he so despised!” (Hesse, 74). Siddhartha longed for his life to be over! He longed to be in the Abyss he felt in his heart. Siddhartha sunk to the bottom of the tree trunk, and said a word he had not spoken for many years, Om. The moment the sound of the Om hit his ears, his spirit awoke and recognized the foolishness in his actions. Siddhartha, deeply shaken, laid his head his head upon the roots of the tree and fell asleep. When he awoke, he was rewarded with the sight of an old friend. Govinda laid across from Siddhartha, sleeping. “‘You were asleep,’ Govinda replied. ‘It is not good to sleep in such places where there are often snakes and the creatures of the forest have their paths.” (Hesse, 77). Siddhartha was excited to finally see his friend, when it was time for Govinda to leave, Siddhartha said, “Farewell, Govinda.” Govinda stopped in his tracks and turned around asking how this stranger knew his name. Govinda learned that this strange man in expensive clothing was his long lost friend, Siddhartha. Govinda left to catch up with the monk, and Siddhartha’s spirit was wide awake. “...the greedy Siddartha, could die. He had died, and a new Siddhartha had awoken from sleep.” (Hesse, 83). Govinda reminded him how to love, now he was happy and free like a child, and had a great capacity to love. He was now ready to complete his life's journey.
Siddhartha did not return to the city, he followed the river until he came across the ferryman’s dock. He asked the ferryman to take him across the river, almost like a Road Back to when he stayed there the first time over twenty years ago. Half way across the river, Siddhartha offers up his clothing for payment for the ferry across the river. The Ferryman, thinking this is strange, asked is Siddhartha wanted to continue without any clothes. “... what I would like Best would be not to continue at all. What I would like best, ferryman, is if you were to give me an old loincloth to wear and keep me on as your assistant, or rather your apprentice, for I would first have to learn how to handle the boat.’” (Hesse, 87). The Ferryman searched Siddhartha’s face, he recognized who he was, but not his name, only that he had come across the river over twenty years ago and was a Samana. Siddhartha introduced himself and he was welcomed by the Ferryman, Vasudeva. Twelve years passed and one day the two ferrymen heard that the Buddha is dying. Kamala, on hearing the news as well, travels with her son to be near Gautama as he passed into eternity. As she sat down to rest in the forest, she was bitten by a snake. She cried for help, and the nearby Vasuveda comes to her aid. The old ferryman took her back to his hut where Siddhartha immediately recognized her. “Then he saw Kamala, whom he recognized at once, though she lay unconscious in the arms of the  ferryman, and now he knew it was his own son whose face has so stuck him, and his heart stirred in his breast.” (Hesse, 94). The dying Kamala introduced Siddhartha to his son. Siddhartha recognized that he had finally found the peace he sought for so long, and Kamala died.  Vasuveda and Siddhartha make her funeral pyre where Vasudeva's wife pyre was, as the young boy sleeps. After Kamala’s death, Siddhartha kept his son with him by the river. The boy, though, refused to accept Siddhartha as his father and consequently did nothing he is told. Many months passed, but the boy remains intransigent. Vasuveda advised Siddhartha to let the boy leave and rejoin the life of which his mother's death deprived him. Siddhartha agreed in theory, but he could not let his son go. He loved the boy as he had loved no other and wanted to save him the misery of his own follies in the town. Siddhartha began to feel that this experience with his son had awakened new emotions in him. Eventually, the boy ran away and Siddhartha became very distraught. Vasuveda told Siddhartha to let him go, but Siddhartha followed him. Upon reaching the town, Siddhartha recalled his own experience there and admit to himself what he known all along, that he cannot stop the boy from living his own life. Siddhartha felt a great sorrow at this loss, and a wound opened wide. The happiness he had known as a Ferryman had left him. He sat down and waited for his suffering to cease, murmuring "Om" to himself to counteract the pain. Vasuveda arrived and led the despondent Siddhartha back to the river. The pain of losing his son is long-lasting for Siddhartha. It enabled him, to identify with ordinary people more than ever before. “ How simple his thoughts had now become, how lacking in understanding. That’s how greatly he had come to resemble the child people.” (Hesse, 108). Though his sorrow allowed Siddhartha to begin to understand what wisdom really was, the thought of his son has not yet left him. One day his pain became too much and Siddhartha set off in a desperate search of his son, but stopped as he heard the river laughing at him. He looked into the river, saw his own father whom he had left, and turned back. Siddhartha Returned to his hut, he told Vasuveda all of what had happened, but as he does, Siddhartha noticed a remarkable change in the old man. Vasuveda led Siddhartha back to the river, and implored him to listen deeply. At first Siddhartha heard only the voices of sorrow, but these voices were soon joined by voices of joy, and at last all the voices were subsumed under the great sound of "Om." Realizing the unity of these voices, Siddhartha's pain faded away, and his wound healed. “His smile gleamed as he regarded his friend, and now Siddhartha’s face too gleamed brightly with this same smile.” (Hesse, 114). He has at last found salvation, his Resurrection. Vasuveda recognized his friend's achievement, he departed into the woods to die, thereby joining the unity he had helped Siddhartha find at last. Years passed after Vasudeva’s death and news gets around about a wise ferryman. Still restless and unsatisfied after all his years of searching, Govinda goes to speak to the Ferryman reputed to be a sage. The Ferryman, Siddhartha, recognizes Govinda immediately, though Govinda does not recognize him. Govinda tells Siddhartha about his inability to find what he has so long sought. Siddhartha tells Govinda that he does not find because he pays too much attention to the search. When Siddhartha finally addressed Govinda by name, Govinda recognized him, and happy to have reunited after so long. Govinda spent the night at Siddhartha's hut. The next day Govinda asked Siddhartha to explain the doctrines by which he lived by. “One can pass on knowledge but not wisdom.” (Hesse, 119). To Siddhartha, words never express the entire truth of anything. The reason for this is that time is not real. Ultimately, expressing love and admiration toward all things is the most important thing in the world. Govinda was confused by most of what Siddhartha said, but he felt certain that his old friend is a holy man. Preparing to leave, Govinda asked Siddhartha for something to help him along his path. Siddhartha told Govinda to kiss his forehead. Doing so caused Govinda to see a continuous stream of different faces in place of Siddhartha's. Siddhartha’s motionless face was in return with the elixir. Siddhartha reached Enlightenment and left Govinda with the knowledge in his heart.
Siddhartha’s life played out like an open book. It started with his ordinary world, then took its twists and turns until it came to his he return. When the hero’s reach their return, they are awaiting their next call. In Siddhartha’s case, his next call is awaiting Nirvana. “There is no thing that could be Nirvana; there is only the word Nirvana.” (Hesse, 122). Siddhartha has reached enlightenment when he died, and Govinda saw this in the way Siddhartha’s motionless face was left smiling. Govinda left Siddhartha with more knowledge and wisdom he ever expected to grasp. He too, was on his way to reach peace and enlightenment. “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no chance, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.” (Hermann Hesse). In the end, though, we should follow Siddhartha's example in determining how much significance to give to the Indian religion/philosophy in Siddhartha: let each come to his or her own conclusion.

Friday, May 9, 2014

The Bridge by Octavio Paz

The Bridge

Between now and now,
between I am and you are,
the word bridge.

Entering it
you enter yourself:
the world connects
and loses like a ring.

From one bank to another,
there is always
a body stretched:
a rainbow.

I’ll sleep beneath its arches.

-Octavio Paz

Monday, May 5, 2014

From Old to Old

    In the beginning of Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha leaves his house to become a Samana. While beginning a Samana, he learned to wait, listen, and to be patient. Once he left the Samanas and met Kamala, he kept his talents and was patient while being a merchant. Slowly, he forgot how to do each of these tasks. Once he grew to his mid forties, he became aware of what he had forgotten and left to commit suicide. When he left, he also left Kamala pregnant. When he failed to commit suicide, he feel to the bottom of the tree and slept. This is where he meets Govinda, his friend from his childhood again. When Govinda reconizes Siddhartha, he is shocked on who he has become and does not think very highly of him anymore. Once Govinda leaves to join the other monks again, Siddhartha goes acroos the river and joins the Ferryman and lives with him. Around 12 years pass when the news of the Buddha dying brings numerous monks across the river. Kamala is one of the people who come to cross the river with her son, Siddhartha. Kamala gets bitten by a snake and dies at Siddhartha's hut leaving her son in his hands. Siidhartha Jr. constantly tests his father will and becomes this obnoxious child. Eventually, he runs away. Siddartha Senior runs after him and reaches the edge of the town where he had once lived, where Kamala had once lived. He did not enter but sat outside the city for numerous hours wait. It is here that he has Master the art of Patient and waiting. Earlier in the story when he begin to live the ferryman, he mastered the art of Listening. Another 10 or 20 years pass and Govinda hers the stories of a very wise ferryman. When he goes, he soon learns that is is Siddhartha. He is shocked that he ever doubted the smarts of Siddhartha. After their conversation over wisdom, Siddhartha reaches Enlightenment. Siddhartha dies in Govindas arms.

 

Monday, April 28, 2014

Siddhartha Reflection #1

       In the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha's life is closely resembled to Gregor's life and Joseph Campbel's A Hero's Journey. In the beginning, it starts off as an Ordinary World with Siddhartha living his normal life. The Call to Adventure is when Siddhartha asks his father if he could go and join the Samanas. When his father finally said yes, he left to create a new life. After a few months of living wiotht eh Samanas, his friend Govinda hears about a Buddha and wishes to go and hear his teachings. Siddhartha is reluctant at first but eventually gives in and goes with Govinda. Once Siddhartha and Govinda go to the town where the Buddha resided, Govinda goes to become one of the Buddha's monks. Siddhartha gets angry at this, which is his Refusal to the Call, and goes to confront the Buddha. The Buddha teaches Siddhartha more than he thought he would. Siddhartha went originally to be angry with the Buddha, but the Buddha kept an open mind and calmed down Siddhartha. As well as this being his Refusal to the Call, this is also Siddhartha's Meeting the Mentor stage. Buddha gave Siddhartha more advice that anyone else could have. Once their talk is finished and the Buddha has walked away, is when Siddhartha realizes that he has Crossed the Threshold and decides to become his own teacher.