Siddhartha: Life is a River

 

 

There are few stories that depict the human condition in a way that can resonate with everyone who reads it. That story is Siddhartha, written by Herman Hesse in 1922. A relatively short read of only 107 pages, it is a book that everyone who is trying to figure out life should read at least once.

The story starts out with a young man named Siddhartha, who is part of the upper caste system of India. He is depicted as a young man who is loved by all. He has intelligence, looks, money, basically everything anyone finds desirable. He however is not satisfied with this life. He feels that something is missing. This sets he and his best friend Govinda, on a physical and spiritual journey to find the best way of living.

I don't want to give away the entire plot of the book, but Siddhartha joins a group of ascetics, meets the Buddha, falls in love with a girl, changes his life style to that of a more materialistic ideal, but ultimately finds peace in the most unlikely place. It is the quintessential story of life. While reading this I found myself feeling like Siddhartha, lost, hopeful, inquisitive, and passionate for knowledge of all sorts. The story has this sweet melancholic feeling to it that is hard to describe, but the general theme of the story is that everything is intertwined, and everything returns.

Like many on this journey of understanding, Siddhartha's views and beliefs change like the seasons. People come and go like bends in a river, and you're left with just memories that have become lessons in the pages of the book of your life. Like for many, the answer to life always seems to come near the end, but maybe its for the best. Life is about the journey and this book depicts that incredibly well in such a short time frame. It is like you're riding a raft on a river, it moves so fast and fluidly, almost too fast to be able to savor the elegant descriptions Herman Hesse has written. But that is life. Life doesn't slow down, life doesn't wait, it continues to move even if we choose not to move with it.

If you're looking for a book that reads you, then Siddhartha is an excellent choice. Some things that I thought about while reading this book were:

• Is there any right way to live?
• People change, and this isn't their fault.
• Youth goes by so quick.
• If you can't do anything, you can at least think and wait.
• Don't base your beliefs or thoughts on one person or experience.
• Don't stop learning. Experience everything you can.
  
• Stop and listen to nature.
• Our time here goes by quick.
  

I recommend reading the book chapter by chapter and reflecting after each chapter. When I read it again I will do this. Though it is a short read, there is a lot of wisdom within the pages. Its not the kind of book to read and then set aside, it is really meant to be meditated on during the journey it takes you on. If you're just getting started on your journey of understanding, I can't recommend this book enough as a place to start as it is almost like reading the book of your own life.

Overcoming Yourself

 

 

 

Lately I've been reading some of the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, mainly Good & Evil, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I can't pretend that I've understood everything that I've read in both books and I'm only about half way through Zarathustra, but what I've been able to ascertain from Nietzsche is the need for humans to overcome themselves. Nietzsche calls this idea of a higher form of man "overman." The idea that a select few people will be able to "ascend" to a higher morality and state of being is something that I don't take great stock in. However, I feel that something else can be gleaned from this idea, the idea that we should always strive to overcome ourselves.

Early on in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche presents the "Three Metamorphoses" wherein the spirit of man changes into a camel, then a lion, and finally a child. I personally see the idea of the spirit as our own beliefs that we've carried with us since we were young. These are often superstitious beliefs brought about by our families and those that we spend a lot of time with. Either way, these are ideas that have been cemented in us by others. In order to move past this phase we have to start considering that maybe these beliefs and ideas are wrong. We have to start looking at other ideas.

The camel to me represents taking on new ideas and then traveling with those ideas into a kind of desert of ideas and moralities. Camels are beasts of burden that can exist and travel in very desolate climates. They are loaded down with supplies and rode across the desert to far away places. When we begin to read philosophy or religious texts we are loaded down with new beliefs/ideas, some beliefs/ideas that change the way we view reality, some that burden us with thoughts that we didn't know we had and thoughts that we did not want. The camel represents the start of our journey. It is up to each of us to decide what beliefs/ideas we will keep and what we will discard on this journey. Once we have decided what beliefs/ideas we will keep and focus on and what ideas we reject, only then can we turn into a lion.

Lions represent strength and power. As we go forth with our new set of beliefs/ideas, we will have to defend them from others who wish to take them away. We will have to establish our freedom. Freedom in this case means the freedom from being influenced by others who are not going the same way as us. It means not needing validation from others on whether our beliefs/ideas are correct. We must have the conviction to trust ourselves and to think for ourselves. Only after we accomplish this can we be what Nietzsche calls "creators." Only then can we graduate to that of a child.

The child represents creation. Children possess great imaginations and abilities to create. Essentially once we hit this phase, we have been reborn into something greater than what we were.

Its very possible that I misinterpreted Nietzsche on this idea, but this is what I personally believe each of these phases represent. The key piece of information here that matters more than anything else that has been written here is that we should always try to become a better version of ourselves. We all need to start a journey to better understand who we are, and by figuring out who we are, we can become better as we move through the phases. Its possible that most of us will never reach the phase of child, or even that of lion, but as the saying goes, its not about the destination, its about the journey. And to learn about ourselves even just a little can make a life worth lived.

Productive Work

When we think of work, what do we think about? Money? A job? A career? That's what I thought when I heard the word work. All three were what I pictured when I was younger. It started at the age of twelve umpiring baseball to make money so that I could buy a bike and anything else that I wanted. When I got older it progressed to working part time at a grocery store to save up for a car. And when I graduated college it meant finding a career to start a life of my own. Hardly at all did I ever think of doing something I would enjoy. I just wanted money so that I could move forward in life and for awhile, it was fine. I moved up in my company which happened to be the grocery store I started at, and all of my twenties were dedicated to making as much money and moving up as much as possible to make even more money. In terms of money earned, I succeeded. But at thirty four, I look back at the trail of blood, sweat, and tears I laid down just to get ahead, and ask myself, is it/was it worth it?

This thought led me to quit the company I worked for of nearly twenty years, and move on to another company of a similar nature. In hindsight, it was a panicked move, a desperate grasp to leave behind a company I hated. But now I'm back to square one and I quickly realized this time that this isn't what I want to do with my life. The word work has taken on a different meaning for me than it once did when I was twelve years old. I realized that what I wanted was productive work. I even took the time to create my own definition for productive work:

"Achieving or producing a meaningful result in an activity involving mental or physical effort."

Meaningful is the key word in the definition. I realize that I want something that makes me feel like I've accomplished something when I come home, something worth while, something I want to be doing. In my opinion work should be something that us as humans see as a worthwhile and rewarding endeavor. Doing something that we enjoy that provides us with a way of living can be a great pathway to happiness. 

The temporary goal of this blog will be to study what productive works looks like and how I can achieve the goal of finding such work that provides me with meaning and purpose.

M