SeanDSB

Sean's Scrapbook This is the place where I will write about the journey I follow to self-realization. My goal is to gain wisdom and takes steps towards enlightening myself. I will be following the journey of Siddhartha, the title character of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, as a model for my own journey. The steps I have taken follow.

= With The Samanas =

[[image:milk.jpg width="275" height="374" align="left"]]The Assignment
To get a feeling for how the Samanas, Indian ascetics that are found in the novel // Siddhartha //, try to reach enlightenment, we gave up something we enjoy for a week. I chose to give up milk, because it's technically not something I ** need **.

=The Beginning= Honestly, at first, giving up drinking milk was not too bad. Sure, I drink milk everyday so it's not easy, but whenever I needed a drink I just grabbed something else (usually water). The only time I really felt the loss was in the mornings and I couldn't have breakfast, because pretty much everything comes with milk at that time of day. When I realized I couldn't have cereal or even an instant breakfast (a weird shake type drink), "Life was torment" (Hesse 7). I would have to be hungry until lunchtime.

=Mid-Week= Not having any milk was definitely a nuisance to me, because I would instinctively reach out and grab a hold of the milk whenever I opened the refrigerator door. I would forget and then be bummed out because I don't get any milk. Like Siddhartha, "he was moving through the cycle; he felt thirst, overcame his thirst, felt new thirst" (8). I kept wanting milk, getting water instead, then some time later wanting milk again.

=End of the Week= Somehow, even though I didn't find the absence of milk too bothersome, I didn't go the full week. I had forgotten to not drink it and ended up having some with spicy food for lunch one day. This doesn't bother me however because, "What is concentration? What is the ability to leave one's body? What is fasting? What is retention of breath? It is a flight from the self," (9). I should not worry about changing something I do because it is one of the things that makes me who I am.

=Awakening=

=The Quote= In the text, Siddhartha becomes awakened to the world around him after leaving the Samanas and Gotama (the Buddha). He sees "the world for the first time. The world was beautiful strange and mysterious. Here was blue, here was yellow, here was green, sky and river, woods and mountains, all beautiful, all mysterious and enchanting, and in the midst of it, he, Siddhartha, the awakened one, on the way to himself. All this, all this yellow and blue, river and wood, passed for the first time across Siddhartha's eyes. It was no longer the magic of Mara, it was no more the veil of Maya, it was no longer meaningless and the chance diversities of the appearances of the world, despised by deep-thinking Brahmins, who scorned diversity, who sought unity. River was river, and if the One and Divine in Siddhartha secretly lived in blue and river, it was just the divine art and intention that there should be yellow and blue, there sky and wood -- and here Siddhartha. Meaning and reality were not hidden somewhere behind things, they were in them, in all of them" (39). =The Image= = Analysis  =

I drew my image the way it is because we were supposed to draw Siddhartha in a peaceful environment that he was seeing for the very first time. I believe that if Siddhartha was seeing the world for the first time, he would notice all of the beautiful colors and images in the natural world around him. He would especially notice all of the light around him, I know at least that's what a blind man would notice first. This is why I put Siddhartha in a peaceful, calm outdoor environment.

=Kamala=


 * Name:** Kamala


 * Location:** I live in a town in India


 * Eyes:** Dark and "clever" (28)


 * Hair: ** Black (28)


 * About Me:** I REALLY like money and luxuries, I only like men that are able to provide those things to me, "No, my good man, he still does not satisfy me! He must have clothes, handsome clothes, and shoes, good-looking shoes and a lot of money in his purse, and gifts for Kamala" (30). I get my servants to carry me around on a litter.


 * Hobbies / Profession:** My hobby and profession is to teach men 'the joys of life'(30). Men come to me to learn about relationships and desire.

**Looking For:** I am looking for rich men that have many luxuries and fancy clothes, "No, my good man, he still does not satisfy me! He must have clothes, handsome clothes, and shoes, good-looking shoes and a lot of money in his purse, and gifts for Kamala" (30). I only take the richest, handsomest men that I can teach love to.

=Samsara=

My Daily Life

 * 1) Wake Up
 * 2) Take a Shower
 * 3) Go to School
 * 4) Go to Classes
 * 5) Go Home
 * 6) Go to Bed

=The Comic!=

=Analysis= Everyday I get woken up by my mom or dad so that I can get ready for school and still make the bus. I always go right to the shower after waking up and spend a decent amount of time in there before rushing to the bus. I go to school, having classes, talk with friends, then go home. I do homework (maybe) then go to bed. When I think about my life, it seems that "the years sped by" (40). Weeks, months, and years all seem to fly without me making any significant changes to how I go through life day to day. Time seems to fly, and yet it doesn't feel like I've done much. I feel stuck in Samsara.

  =The River= media type="custom" key="24523400" I come from down in the valley where mister when you're young They bring you up to do like your daddy done Me and mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen Wed ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green
 * Song: "The River" by Bruce Springsteen**
 * Lyrics:**

Wed go down to the river And into the river wed dive Oh down to the river wed ride

Then I got mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote And for my nineteen birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle No flowers no wedding dress That night we went down to the river And into the river wed dive On down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the johnstown company But lately there aint been much work on account of the economy Now all them things that seemed so important Well mister they vanished right into the air Now I just act like I don't remember, mary acts like she don't care But I remember us riding in my brothers car Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir At night on them banks I'd lie awake And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take Now those memories come back to haunt me, they haunt me like a curse Is a dream a lie if it don't come true Or is it something worse that sends me Down to the river though I know the river is dry Down to the river, my baby and i Oh down to the river we ride