EmilyScrapbook3

=Emily Walsh's Self-Realization Digital 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
The Assignment: To get a feeling for how the Samanas, Indian ascetics that are found in the novel Siddhartha, try to reach enlightenment, I gave up something I enjoy, for a week. I chose to give up listening to music in the morning while I am getting ready for school, because it's technically not something I need and something that I really enjoy.

Getting Started:
The first two days of giving up music in the morning were not that bad because it was the end of the week and I was not that tired. I usually listen to it when I go downstairs after getting dressed and ready, and listen to it while I am making my lunch and eating breakfast. I experienced " the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought" (Hesse, 14). Not listening music gave me time to think about my day and focus more on school before I left. Overall for the first few days it was not hard at all, but I knew by the time the end of my week was over it would be very challenging for me not to turn on the music.

Mid-Week:
By the middle of the week not listening to music in the morning was getting harder. By Wednesday, I was very tired and I needed an extra boost in the morning to wake me up and get me going. The week started to seem, "like a hunter as a chasm where the life cycle ends, where there is an end to causes, where painless eternity begins" (15). The week was getting long, and I just wanted this week of giving up music to end! I knew I would be happy next week when I could listen to music in the morning again and not go to school half dead because I am so tired.

By The End:
I knew the week of giving up music in the morning was coming to an end! Next week I would be so much more awake in the mornings and actually be ready to start my day off on a good path. There were only a few days life and "the path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps" (18). I knew I could end the week strong and finish it off, no cheating now! I think I would be able to do this challenge again, because even though it was hard I could get through it and it showed me that the little things in life do not matter as much as the bigger things. I am very fortunate for all that I have and if I did eliminate music in the morning, it would not kill be, because technically I do not need to have, I just like to have it.

Awakening

Siddhartha reached awakening after he spoke with the Buddha and "he left his former life behind him in the grove" ( 37). In the grove Siddharta decided that he truely needed to find himself, so he started on his path to find this. Starting on the path, "he looked around him as if seeing the world for the first time" (39). The path that he took was described as, "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" (39). ==== In the drawing that I drew, I tried to incorporate all of the aspects in the last quote. I used the colors blue, yellow and green. I also drew woods, mountains, the sky and a river, which were also mentioned in the quote. I imagined that Siddhartha would be on a visible pathway, by himself. He would be walking and thinking about his life and his journey to find himself, and what this truely meant to him. ====

Kamala
Name: Kamala Location: The Pleasure Grove (52). Eyes: Brown Hair Color: Dark brown/black

About Me: I am described as looking like, " black hair... bright, very sweet, very clever face, a bright red mouth like a freshly cut fig, artful eyebrows painted in a high arch, dark eyes, clever and observant, and a clear slender neck above her green and gold gown. ....hands were firm and smooth, long and slender" (51). Hobbies/Professions: For a living, I am "the well-known courtesan" (52). I have a big home in the town and I am very wealthy. I like to give advice to people that need it and love to play games with men.

Looking for:" He must have clothes, fine clothes, and shoes, fine shoes, and plenty of money in his purse and presents for Kamala" (54).

My daily life:
1. Wake up and get ready for school. 2. Go to school on the bus. 3. Get to school and learn. 4. Ride the bus home from school. 5. Get home from school and eat a snack. 6. Do homework. 7. Eat dinner with my family and watch a little bit of tv. 8. Get ready for bed. 9. Go to bed.

Quote from Siddhartha:
"For a long time Siddhartha had lived the life of the world without belonging to it. His senses, which he had deadened during his ardent Samana years, were again awakened. He had tasted riches, passion and power, but for a long time he remained a Samana in his hear........ His life was always directed by the art of thinking, waiting and fasting. The people of the world, the ordinary people, were all alien to him, just as he was apart from them " (75 ).

Analysis:
====My daily routine is fairly normal for a high school student. I usually wake up around 6:45 and then get ready for school. I catch the bus around 8:15 and then head off for school. Sometimes my mornings seem like Siddhartha felt, " lived the life of the world without belonging to it"(75). I just feel like I am in a haze and I don't want to do anything. When I get to school, it gets a bit better when I see my friends and they get me all happy. After school is the peak of my day, because I am just so tired and all I want is to get home! And dinner is also very nice because I get to spend a little time with my family and we can talk about how our days went and what was the best part. I think that my daily routine is a positive aspects of my life because I am already use to it so I don't have to adjust to anything different and it gives my life a little bit of structure without making it too much!====

The River
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Song:
"U.F.O." by: Coldplay

Lyrics:
Lord I don't know which way I am going Which way the river's going to flow It just seems that upstream I keep rowing Still got such a long way to go

Quote from the text:
"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?" (88).

Analysis:
Coldplay is one of my favorite bands, and I knew they would have a song that has something to do with a river. So when I googled "Coldplay songs about a river" this song came up. I decided that I should listen to it before I just put it in my scrapbook, and when I did I knew this would be a perfect song for this project. The singers sings about trying to find something/himself and feels like giving up and does not know what the purpose or why he should continue, but he just keeps going. Siddhartha is on a journey to find himself, just like the in the song. On his journey "he stopped at this river and stood hesitatinly on the bank.... Why should he go any further, where, and for what purpose?" (88). I think this part in the book is very similar to what the singer is trying to portray in the song and what they want the listener to imagine in their head.

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Song:
"Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake

Lyrics:
"The damage is done....So I guess I be leaving.....Cry me a river"

Quote from the text:
"The river's voice was sorrowful. It sang with yearning and sadness, flowing towards its goal" (134).

Analysis:
I think most people know this song and can relate to it in some way or another. This song is sad and kind of depressing. I had a hard time finding a quote that would match the song and that could relate to it in some way. The river "voice was sorrowful. It sang with yearning and sadness...." in the story (134). In the song Justin Timberlake says "the damage is done, so cry me a river." The two sources are talking about different things, but they are talking about the same emotions and feelings. Both sad and depressing. Sometimes even though two sources can be talking about different objects the emotions can be very similar.

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Song:
"What Do You Say" by Taylor Swift

Lyrics:
"We go walking down the river all together It's a warm May beautiful day And I feel like I could Talk to you forever With the sun shining bright It feels just like a day When everything's gonna go just right"

Quote from the text:
"...he saw the river also flowing continually backwards, singing merrily. That pleased him immensely; he smiled cheerfully at the river" (96).

Analysis:
I had a hard time finding a third song that I wanted to use in this project because I wanted to use recent songs, and songs that people my age would know. So, I decided to see if Taylor Swift had any songs that mentioned rivers. I found this song, that I think is fairly new and I liked the catchy beat of it! In this song, she describes the day as being very cheerful and a beautiful day. The song made the river sound very happy like the book "the river also flowing continually backwards, singing merrily."(96) This song was very happy and the way that I interpreted this quote was very happy and cheerful like the song!