Aphorism blog

"We are the hero of our own story."

We are the heroes of our own stories in a journey called life.  One of the most important stories in my journey is going away to boarding school in Switzerland.  Like a hero, I was "called to adventure" in 2010 when my parents sent me to summer camp in Switzerland.  My summer was an extraordinary experience meeting new people from around the world, learning new languages, and participating in all sorts of activities.  My "death" took place as I left home for the first time and travelled to a new place independently.  When I returned home I felt as if I had "reborn" into a new person.  I overcame the obstacles of living in a room with a complete stranger and becoming responsible for my possessions during that summer to discover my desire of going abroad to boarding school.  I was willing to ace the quest of being able to study in Switzerland.  Since that summer, I began researching about boarding schools in Switzerland and seeking information with relatives.  I focused on my academic studies to achieve high grades and increase my possibility of acceptance to my top-choice school.  In the fall of 2012 I applied to boarding schools and luckily I got accepted.  With hard work, I aced my quest and became a hero in my story.  

Metamorphoses - Erysichthon scene QUESTIONS

1. Erysichthon cut down the tree to make wood that would serve useful to him.  Erysichthon: "We need the wood, cut it down".
2. "Get off me, you, pious son of a bitch!" I think piety is relating to religious devotion.    Erysichthon insults the man by laughing at his religiousness.  
3. This term relates to Erysichthon, because he "scorned the gods and declined to sacrifice on their altars or do them honor. Nothing was sacred to him he only looked for the usefulness of things." 
He even makes fun of the man saving the sacred tree for his foolish religiousness ("pious son of a bitch!")  
4. The boy and Erysichthon are similar, because they destroy things to make them useful for them.  In this case, they both cut down a tree for their own interests (Erysichthon for wood and the boy to build many things).  Erysichthon and the boy are selfish, because they don't care about the tree or the fact that they are destroying something important.  They only care about the tree providing them with the materials they need to execute their plans.  

5. I can connect this to the time where Siddhartha almost committed suicide. 
"Siddhartha reached the long river in the wood, the same river across which a ferryman had once taken him when he was still a young man and had come from Gotama's town.  He stopped at this river and stood hesitatingly on the bank.  Fatigue and hunger had weakened him.  Why should he go any further, where, and for what purpose? There was no more purpose; there was nothing more than a deep, painful longing to shake off this whole confused dream, to spit out this steal wine, to make an end of this bitter, painful life." Page 71

At the end of the scene, Erysichthon finishes himself by eating his body parts to satiate his hunger.  Siddhartha decides to finish himself too at one point, because like Erysichthon, he can't withstand the hunger and exhaustion of his spiritual quest.  

Blog #4: Connections

While reading Siddhartha, I made a connection to the famous quote: "like father, like son".  This quote can be applied to Siddhartha and his son.  They both face the same issue at one point in their lives, and they handle it the same way.  

The quote says a son will perform the same actions that his father did when he was younger.  In Chapter 11, the river "laughs" at the repetition of life's patterns, because both Siddhartha and his son run away from the lives they disliked.  Siddhartha was raised in luxury, but due to his desire for enlightenment, he chooses to run away.  Siddhartha's son despises living in poverty with his father and Vasudeva, so he decides to run away from the riverbank.  

A father always sets the example for his children, and in this case, Siddhartha taught his child that running away is the solution to an unsatisfactory way of life.  

Blog #3 Siddhartha: Character Analysis

Character Analysis

During the course of the book, I realized that Siddhartha is a constantly changing man.  He makes the largest changes to his lifestyle.  As Siddhartha transforms his lifestyle, his points of view change too, but his goal to experience enlightenment persists throughout the story.

Siddhartha begins in the story as the son of the Brahmin living a lavish life in a palace.  He is admired by both men and women.  He is raised by his parents to become a prince among the Brahmins and stay within the upper-class bubble (second paragraph, page two).  Siddhartha begins to feel discontent, because he doesn't want to achieve enlightenment through teachers anymore, but instead, through himself.  This is where Siddhartha's spiritual quest begins.  

Siddhartha decides to go live with the Samanas which are a group of wandering beggars (third paragraph, page six).  The character makes a grand transformation from wealth to almost extreme poverty.  With the Samanas, Siddhartha thinks that he will be able to eliminate his Self as well as his materialism to achieve inner peace (second paragraph, page 11) .  Still dissatisfied, Siddhartha decides to leave the Samanas to go somewhere else and reach his goal through a different path (fourth paragraph, page 18).  

When Siddhartha leaves the Samanas, he accompanies his friend Govinda to Gotama the Buddha.  Siddhartha stays with Gotama for a while until he realizes that he doesn't want to submit himself to discipleship. 

 Siddhartha goes to a town where the lady he falls in love with, Kamala, gets him in contact with a wealthy merchant to give him a job (second paragraph, page 49).  Siddhartha speaks with the merchant and is able to get the job.  This is the time in the story where Siddhartha breaks away from his quest for enlightenment, and instead, embarks on a quest to marry Kamala (third paragraph, page 50).  

In his job as a businessman, Siddhartha is able to build large wealth.  Siddhartha returns to the life of pleasures and riches.  After a night of heavy drinking and gambling, Siddhartha concludes that he has never experienced true happiness and that his life is not full of value (fourth line, page 67).  Siddhartha returns to simplicity by leaving his life of wealth behind to go to the forest.  By freeing himself from all possessions, desires, and experiencing profound sorrow, Siddhartha thinks he could find himself.  

After carefully analyzing the character's journey throughout the book, I can affirm that Siddhartha is in a constant struggle of choosing lifestyles, because he repeatedly goes from rich to poor and vice versa.  I can infer that the wealthy lifestyle distracts him from reaching his goal of enlightenment because as a businessman, he focused on marrying Kamala, not achieving enlightenment.  On the other hand, I think that the simple lifestyle centers him on reaching enlightenment as he is not distracted with pleasures nor materialistic endeavors.  In my opinion, I think Siddhartha will only be able to achieve inner peace through a poor, solitary lifestyle where he can experience enlightenment without entering discipleship.

Based on Siddhartha's changing lifestyle, two questions arose in my mind.

In what circumstances will Siddhartha end up in (rich or poor)? 
How will Siddhartha's experiences in the rich and poor life shape him to achieve enlightenment?

Visual Vocabulary: Siddartha Blog #2

Ablution: Religious tie and ritual washing for purification.

This is an ablution in a mosque.  Here, the men are washing their hands and feet before entering the mosque to pray.


Venerable: respectable due to age and wisdom.

This is a Buddhist master.  Among Buddhist people he is venerable, because he is an elder and has acquired enough wisdom so as to become a master.  

Atman: soul in a universal and individual sense.

This is Atman.  He is very important in Hindu culture because he represents the universe.  

Avaricious: Greedy.

Scrooge is a great example of avaricious, because he is greedy and only thinks about wealth all day.  Although he is wealthy, he isn't very generous.


Gait: A person's way of walking.

This is a picture showing how humans walk.



Onerous: troublesome.

Having to pay a debt can many times be onerous, especially if you don't have the money.




Emanate: To come or send forth.

The person is coming towards someone or something.  

Siddhartha Blog #1: Connecting text to personal life

While reading Siddhartha, I made a few connections to my life.  I can relate to some of Siddhartha's experiences which helps me understand the main character's feelings.  Being able to connect to some of the protagonist's experiences drew my attention to the story and increased my overall comprehension of it.  

On page 50 in the second paragraph, Siddhartha says: "It was my intention to learn about love from the most beautiful woman.  From the moment I made that resolution I also knew that I would execute it".  From this quote, I can infer that Siddhartha is a goal-setter and a go-getter, because he is determined to love this woman.  I myself am a go-getter with the plans that I make for the future.  My personal philosophy is that a person should be constantly striving to achieve something great so as to give meaning and motivation to their life.  My goal is to enter Wharton Business School at University of Pennsylvania, and I'm fighting for it by achieving high grades, having a high involvement in school clubs, practicing more sports, and participating in community service.    

At the bottom of page 59, Kamala and Siddhartha are discussing about how none of them can love for real.  From this dialogue, I can infer that both of them deeply want to be with one another.  A similar event happened to my uncle.  He had a Jewish girlfriend, and they had lasted more than five years dating.  They both adored each other, and it was logical that the next step they would take would be marriage.  One night at dinner, the Jewish woman told my uncle that she couldn't see him again nor marry him, because he wasn't Jewish.  The woman loved him, but she couldn't promise him real, eternal love in marriage because of their different religious views.  After a few weeks, she realized that letting my uncle go was a big mistake, so they married.  After seeing this woman and my uncle marry, I learned that strong, deep love can withstand any obstacle.  

Apart from helping me understand the story, the connections served as a foreshadowing aid.  With the connections, I was able to make logical predictions of future events in the story.  I enjoy finding things in common with a character, because I can compare and contrast how it is that him and I handle similar situations.  

ANALECT BLOG

The Analects in the book are quotes said by Confucius, a wise Chinese philosopher. After reading Books 4 and 5 from the book, I found an Analect that drew my attention, because it resembles something I often do.  This Analect says: The Master said, "When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves."  

The meaning of this quote is that based on the person we see, we should reflect on ourselves.  The quote gives us an example in which they say that if you see a man of worth you should try to be like them and copy the things they do well.  When I meet an admirable person that has accomplished obtain lots of merits in their lives, I feel motivated to follow their steps.  This example is similar to when you meet a successful person and you're inspired to work harder everyday at work to succeed like them.  The second example says that if we see a person that lacks good character, we should reflect on ourselves and judge our own defects.  I see this quote as the path to perfection because we have to recognize our mistakes before we try to improve them.  When I see someone that treats people badly I think in my head if I've ever mistreated someone as well, and try to avoid doing so in the future.  I always reflect on my behavior and try to avoid the mistakes that other people make.  Before judging someone else's attitude, I first examine my own.  

According to Confucius, we should be constantly reflecting on our attitude so as to improve it.  I agree with Confucius that reflecting on our behavior not only improves it, but guides us in the path towards becoming a better person.  We should perceive the good things from people, and avoid imitating their errors.