Interior+&+exterior

media type="custom" key="3674095" NOTE: changes made to the last slide- clarification to Jerome's question about the last slide. It should be "I'ts not what he experienced but HAVING EXPERIENCED it that matters.“. This is what i thought i meant, but somehow the words came out differently -_-. (Sorry for the confusing former last slide!)

Presentation:

 * ===Opening:===

n In Hesse's Siddhartha, Siddhartha's path to enlightenment started by following paths, dogmas and learning skills that are supposed to lead to enlightenment, but those were only on the exterior, on the outside. He succeeded only when his soul, the interior part of him understood the true meaning of time, of life; only then did he reach enlightenment. Through this Hesse tells us the very philosophy that enlightenment isn’t something exterior or could be reached by practicing exterior deeds, but only by feeling it with our souls.
 * ===Being a Brahmin:===

n Firstly during his early years as a Brahmin, He was wondering whether these things he does are meaningful or not: Did he not go continually to the holy springs with an insatiable thirst, to the sacrifices, to books, to the Brahmins’ discourses? Why must he, the blameless one, wash away his sins and endeavor to cleanse himself anew each day?” (5) Everything he does during his living as a Brahmin’s son was like this, doing things, hoping to reach enlightenment through a certain way, going along a certain path. But this didn’t work for him, since all these things were exterior, these paths, these ways, they didn’t reach his heart, didn’t help his spirit move up to the higher level. As a smart and fast learner, he realized through this way he cannot reach enlightenment and so he left the Brahmins and went for the Samanas.
 * ===Being a Samana===

Being a Samana, he gave his clothes away, ate only once a day and never cooked food. He did all this because the old samanas teach them to do so. This is supposed to help them to reach enlightenment. These again are rules, beliefs, dogmas. Simply following them was all Siddhartha did.This again, was the same as what he did being a Brahmin, following exterior beliefs but not going into the interior. "Siddhartha gave his clothes to a poor Brahmin on the road and only retained his loincloth and earth-colored unstitched cloak. He only ate once a day and never cooked food."(10) “Siddhartha had one single goal- to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow- to let the Self die.”(11)

“We find consolations, we learn tricks with which we deceive ourselves, but the essential thing- the way- we do not find. ” (15)--- This is what Sidd Said to Govinda when he was talking about leaving. The samana’s teachings happened to fail as well. He didn’t realize any changes in his spirits, his interior. n He had gone into the material world after he failed to learn the true path to enlightenment from all his attempts from earlier. [READ the underlined] He learned to do them, and yet he failed more. All those were purely materialistic and didn't help him at all in reaching spiritual enlightenment. (When he was leaving them he was thinking about the time he passed in his pleasure garden, and that stage was when Siddhartha’s spiritual world developed quickly. “Siddhartha had learned how to __transact business affairs__, to __exercise power over people__, to __amuse himself with women__; he had learned to __wear fine clothes__, to __command servants__, to __bathe in sweet-smelling waters__.” (61)) In the second quote he realized that this living doesn’t bring him others but material benefits. He realized he hadn’t had a goal, any thirst for a long time. He even doubted the things he got from this living can be called “benefits”. Failed again to reach enlightenment, he left them. (“How flat and desolate his path had been! How many long years he had spent without any lofty goal, without any thirst, without any exaltation, content with small pleasures and yet never really satisfied!”) n We could see his approach to enlightenment through his time by the river.: The first quote was yet still when he hasn’t pursued the meaning of the river, the second quote by ferry man, during the conversation in which he moved a step further towards enlightenment. The connection between the river and the time, began to occur in his mind. Then he started to see his life in the river and then he got what the river was “trying to tell him.” His smile reflected his heart. Through the changes of his exterior appearances, we can see the changes of the interior, his mind gradually reaching enlightenment, gradually becoming at peace.
 * ===Around Kamala and Kamaswami===
 * ===By the River- Gradually reaching enlighment.===

“The new Siddartha felt a deep love for this flowing water and decided that he would not leave it again so quickly”(81) “The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future.”(87) "As time went on his smile began to resemble the ferryman's, was almost equally radiant, almost equally full of happiness, equally lightening up through a thousand little wrinkles, equally childish, equally senile." (88) “You are Siddhartha and yet you are not like him.-Kamala” (93) n Om was a motif throughout the book, mentioned many times we could see how his attitude, his comprehension of the Om changed. First He was simply “reciting”, “Siddhartha softly recited verse” (5) not pursuing the true meaning behind the words, not getting the great philosophy about time, about life. dogmatic again, same as fast, eating raw, wearing bad clothes (2nd quote: "His wound was healing, his pain was dispersing; his Self had merged into unity." (111) not feeling the words flow in his heart,) But then he got it. understood the true meaning of the Om. reached the true enlightenment of the soul/ the perfection pain was healing, Self merging into unity. at peace. n The different paths he tried to take, themselves were exterior forces that failed to bring him to enlightenment, but his journey- him deciding to leave the brahmins, him deciding to leave the samanas, him deciding to leave Kamala, him deciding to settle down at the river, was interior. This internal journey led him to the river, and after all that he’s experienced, when he looked through the material world, looked behind the exteriors, he reached spiritual enlightenment. Through this Hesse shows to us enlightenment cannot be just under the external forces, but has to be obtained through the spirit, through the journey. It is not what you experienced but experiencing it that matters.
 * ===Practicing the Om===
 * ===Closing===