Journal and reflection

"You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at you 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 choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."

In chapter 4 of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha wants to sit like the Buddha did and just wait and let the world teach him. In Buddhism, it is taught that the world is your Dharma, meaning that you must allow the world to teach you. Later in the book, Siddhartha lets the river teach him about Samsara
and life and this is what Hesse is trying to say in the quote. A tree is Dharma because it teaches about how things are impermanent. Hesse is trying to say that you will ultimately learn the most if you just sit and wait because all the lessons that are to be learned can be learned from listening and waiting.




In chapter 10 of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse Siddhartha realizes why he is suffering from the love of his son and  realizes it. Siddhartha has such strong emotions towards his son and he wants his son to love him back. He is trying so hard to hold on to him and make him realize how much Siddhartha loves him, that he is hurting himself. "But now, ever since his son had come, he, Siddhartha, had become a child person in his own right, suffering because of another person, loving another person, lost, a fool, because of love" (Hesse 102). Siddhartha is suffering because he loves his son so much. He has become a child in the since that he is being foolish and loving someone who doesn't love him the same way. Siddhartha tries to cling to his son and realizes that it is not getting him anywhere. After Siddhartha's son leaves, he tries to go and find him, still hoping to receive the love from him that he had given. He tries to go and find his son after he ran away and has a realization that it may not be worth it. "He could not help his son and he should not cling to him" (106). Siddhartha reflects and realizes that the reason for his suffering was the fact that he was clinging to his son and the love that he wanted him to return. The suffering that Siddhartha felt was brought on by himself and by the fact that he was clinging to something that he expected to be there but wasn't and that's why he felt disappointment.