Living is Learning

“Writing is good, thinking is better.

Cleverness is good, patience is better”

“…when you throw a stone into the water, it finds the quickest way to the bottom of the water. It is the same when Siddhartha has an aim, a goal. Siddhartha does nothing; he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he goes through the affairs of the world like the stone through the water…He is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal…Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait, and fast.”

There are certain books that you will read in life that affects you like no other. I first read Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse back in highschool during World Literature class. It impressed me. Now, I’m reading it again for the same course in university. It got me. I can officially say that it has made into my list of best books I have ever read. It’s a masterpiece, an allegory, and a lesson.

It basically is a telling of Siddharta Gotama’s (Buddha) life. He goes through different doors, learning to let his ego disappear and find legit peace and enlightenment. The idea may sound grand and you may say that it’s just a teaching but we can relate Siddhartha’s experience in our everyday lives.

Now we’re not perfect and human beings will feel dissatisfied, a lot times. Things will never be enough as we always want more, but Siddhartha thinks “Hey, wouldn’t it be just awesome to just take a few moments and be in peace of where you are in the world?”. So, it reflects what we are searching for in life, which is happiness once again and if we would just remind our occasionally greedy selves to be grateful, we’ll feel that joy surging through us.

Specific parts of this book involves Siddhartha saying that wisdom can’t be taught through words or teachings but we gain it from experience. I know that we all are aware of this, but it’s always good to remind ourselves. Okay, I’m not explicitly telling you that we should just forget what we’re learning in class lectures and just go out to explore the world without any sort of wisdom you can hold on to. It’s all about the balance of learning and living to help us on this quest of making sense of the world around us.

“Writing is good, thinking is better. Cleverness is good, patience is better” “…when you throw a stone into the water, it finds the quickest way to the bottom of the water. It is the same when Siddhartha has an aim, a goal. Siddhartha does nothing; he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he goes through…