When one experiences life at the highest of highs in a lavish community, one simply cannot comprehend the joys and journeys that could be a result of giving up their material possession. Experiencing life at “below par” to what one considers normal is necessary to understand and appreciate the good things in life that do not necessarily come from being on cloud nine all the time. Although Hermann Hesse uses an impassioned and personal tone throughout his novel, Siddhartha, his use of appeals to emotion most effectively build his argument that experiencing something negative aids in the appreciation of the good things in life (the things taken for granted) as he clearly elaborates on Siddhartha’s journey, explains the necessities to understanding
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As Siddhartha continues on his journey, he comes to believe that you must start out your path to enlightenment alone if you expect to endure the teachings of Gotama. Siddhartha has a private conversation with the Buddha, telling him the new identity he is going to undertake: “‘I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever. I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha.’ He looked around as if he were seeing the world for the first time” (Hesse 36). The negative experience of having to leave Govinda behind with the Samanas is difficult for Siddhartha, but he would never be able to forget his past and move on with his journey if he hadn’t done so. When we wakes up after this, he sees the world from a new perspective and thinks to himself “All this had always been and [I] had never seen it; [I] was never present. Now [I] am present and belong to it” (Hesse 38). It would have been impossible for Siddhartha to achieve enlightenment had he not left his old world behind him. No matter how much pain it caused him in the moment, it was a necessary step for him to reach enlightenment. In "Samsara", before Siddhartha says goodbye to the mango tree, the author stated, "Slowly, like humidity entering the dying stem of a tree, filling it slowly and making it …show more content…
If not for the conscientious decision to alter his lifestyle, Siddhartha would not have been able to compare his materialistic world to his preferred world of few possessions and he would not have been able to find his niche in society. Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha teaches that the road to unity may not necessarily be reached from lessons and teachings, but rather experiences, some negative and some not, that lead up to the ultimate goal, which in this case is enlightenment. Although it is difficult to change a lifestyle and change everything one knows, it is necessary to experience that which is unknown, because as unexpected as it is, one could have the most in the world, by really having the
As Siddhartha continues on his journey, he comes to believe that you must start out your path to enlightenment alone if you expect to endure the teachings of Gotama. Siddhartha has a private conversation with the Buddha, telling him the new identity he is going to undertake: “‘I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever. I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha.’ He looked around as if he were seeing the world for the first time” (Hesse 36). The negative experience of having to leave Govinda behind with the Samanas is difficult for Siddhartha, but he would never be able to forget his past and move on with his journey if he hadn’t done so. When we wakes up after this, he sees the world from a new perspective and thinks to himself “All this had always been and [I] had never seen it; [I] was never present. Now [I] am present and belong to it” (Hesse 38). It would have been impossible for Siddhartha to achieve enlightenment had he not left his old world behind him. No matter how much pain it caused him in the moment, it was a necessary step for him to reach enlightenment. In "Samsara", before Siddhartha says goodbye to the mango tree, the author stated, "Slowly, like humidity entering the dying stem of a tree, filling it slowly and making it …show more content…
If not for the conscientious decision to alter his lifestyle, Siddhartha would not have been able to compare his materialistic world to his preferred world of few possessions and he would not have been able to find his niche in society. Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha teaches that the road to unity may not necessarily be reached from lessons and teachings, but rather experiences, some negative and some not, that lead up to the ultimate goal, which in this case is enlightenment. Although it is difficult to change a lifestyle and change everything one knows, it is necessary to experience that which is unknown, because as unexpected as it is, one could have the most in the world, by really having the