Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

After the reading I came to believe that while Siddhartha’s life journey brings him to a nihilistic view, it is short lived. We can clearly see towards the end of the book that all of his experiences lead him to believe that the ultimate goal was to be one with the universe and to accept things for what they are. This is a total contradiction to nihilism. I felt that Hesse showed a since of surrender trough Siddhartha, because after all of his struggles and tribulation he just gave up the idea that there is a better world that could be obtained. When he starts his journey, he wants to fill a void. He knows that what he is after is not a material thing but a higher level of understanding or existence. In the end he comes to the understanding that everything in the world is good.  I can’t help but wonder if this was just a way to justify, rationalize and explain the things he was seeing in Germany at the time. It was a way of seeing the good in the evil that his society was turning into, if you will.

            I believe his detachment from his family made him more numb towards relationships and people in general. Only after falling for the beautiful Kamala, does he settle down and have a child with her. Even then he eventually leaves her and his child and runs away into the woods. It seams that he only cares about himself and his quest for internal peace. I am not sure he made an effort to maintain his friendship with Govinda. In the book it says he encounters Govinda and tells him all he has learned. Govinda is necessary to the story because it is through his interaction with his friend that we learn of his final philosophical take on life.

            In the end Hesse becomes more incline to believe that we are one with the universe. I like to think of him as a Star War Jedi saying that we are one with the force.

Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha (1922):

“What is meditation? What is leaving one's body? What is fasting? What is holding one's breath? It is fleeing from the self, it is a short escape of the agony of being a self, it is a short numbing of the senses against the pain and the pointlessness of life. The same escape, the same short numbing is what the driver of an ox-cart finds in the inn, drinking a few bowls of rice-wine or fermented coconut-milk. Then he won't feel his self any more, then he won't feel the pains of life any more, then he finds a short numbing of the senses. When he falls asleep over his bowl of rice-wine, he'll find the same what Siddhartha and Govinda find when they escape their bodies through long exercises, staying in the non-self. This is how it is, oh Govinda."

I believe this passage is about the different ways people can achieve temporary rest from the pains of the world.  I like it because it rings true today. In our daily lives most people take alcohol, others take drugs like marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, ect… but they are all  looking for the same thing. They want to numb the pain, the stress or agony of being alive and feeling helpless and only being able to find momentary reprieve from it all trough the use of substances. A good friend of mine who is a former alcohol and drug addict told me that after running for 45 minutes he feels the same high as he did when he used drugs, but it only last a couple of minutes. It is so much easier to take a pill or smoke something and the effects last longer too. Whether meditating, drinking alcohol, fasting or smoking weed, we are all trying to achieve the same goal which is to escape reality.

1. I believe Siddhartha left his father because he understood that there was nothing left for min to learn from his father or his other teachers. He also felt that his soul was not at peace. He was not satisfied and he believed that he needed to leave in order to seek higher knowledge.

3. I don’t think Siddhartha would have reached Enlightenment faster if he never lived with Kamala and the people in the city, because it was his relationship with Kamala and the people of the city that drove him to change himself so much that he ended up contemplating suicide. Without those experiences, he wouldn’t have hit rock bottom and according to himself it was only after hitting rock bottom that he was able to see the truth.

4. The river represents the fullness of existence. It was the same river at the mouth and at the end. Like the river Siddhartha believes he could view his life in the same way. The boy he was when his life began and the old men that he’ll be at the end, are part of him. They are all inside of him but he can only experience them one at time.

8. Vasudeva is the ferryman who Siddhartha begins to suspect is a god or the river itself is speaking to him.

10. Siddhartha decides not to follow Buddha because he believes that nobody will achieve Buddha’s level of enlightenment by means of teaching. He thinks a person must take his or her own journey in order to achieve salvation.  

Hannah Höch's Tamar

Tamar 1930

In Höch Tamar we see the figure of a women seated with crossed arms that appear to belong to a men she has a porcelain face and is looking down at a sea lion. The seal lion is wearing makeup. The eyes of both sea lion and mannequin are very similar, almost suggesting that the same soul is peering out of them. At the same time the eyes of both subjects appear to be looking at the viewer. Once you start to look at women and then at the seal, you start to wonder many tings. For instance who is superior and because of their confident smiles. Also it stirs up the question of whether they are one and the same; or are they looking at each others self-projected image? But more importantly what does it all mean and why does it matter?

Hannah Höch

            Hannah Höch was born in the town of Gotha, Germany 1889. She studied at the College of Arts and Crafts in Berlin under the guidance of Harold Bergen. During war world one she left the school for a year to work with the Red Cross.   During her final school years Höch began an influential friendship with a member of the Berlin Dada movement name Raoul Hausmann. After College, she worked in the handicrafts department for The Ullstein Press, designing dress and embroidery patterns for The Lady and The Practical Berlin Woman. These experiences will later influence her works of art by incorporating her knowledge dress patterns and textiles. Höch was one of the first pioneers of the art form known as photomontage.
 Hannah Höch (wikipedia)

           

            Höch lived an interesting live. She became Hausmann mistress and after several years Hausmann refusal to leave his wife, and a couple of abortions latter, she became sexually involved with women. These tough life experiences helped shape he views on women’s wrights and to point out the hypocrisy in German society.

 

From the Dada Manifesto (1916, Hugo Ball)

How does one achieve eternal bliss? By saying dada. How does one become famous? By saying dada. With a noble gesture and delicate propriety. Till one goes crazy. Till one loses consciousness. How can one get rid of everything that smacks of journalism, worms, everything nice and right, blinkered, moralistic, europeanised, enervated? By saying dada. Dada is the world soul, dada is the pawnshop. Dada is the world's best lily-milk soap. Dada Mr Rubiner, dada Mr Korrodi. Dada Mr Anastasius Lilienstein. In plain language: the hospitality of the Swiss is something to be profoundly appreciated. And in questions of aesthetics the key is quality.

 

          I believe the meaning of this paragraph is that happiness if found within. If we accept that the word Dada means nothing and everything, and that we give that sound a name and meaning, then the way to create something whether is bliss of fame is with your mind. When Mr. Ball says to one should say the word Dada till one goes crazy and loses consciousness, he is instructing us to let go of everything. Our earthly possessions, relationships, sentimental values, family ties, religious believes, desire, love and hate, these are all things that prevent us from getting in touch with our true self. If one can let go of it all, one get to higher state of being. A state where we can appreciate how absurd or nonsensical a thing, person, rules, or ideas can be. I believe that this passage instruct us to renounce the reality in witch we live and create our own. Hugo Ball was motivated by his disapproval where society was heading in Germany after the war. A philosophy that proclaim to have the ultimate truth, accepted by the general public, helped build the foundation for the start of the next war. I can’t help but fear about the parallels between out time and Mr. Ball time. We are once again at a point in time where nations believe that they way of life is not only the best way, but the only way; and are willing to use military powers to impose their way of life on others. In a time of multiple and perpetual wars between people and nations around the world, the only thing that can keep you from going crazy is Dada.

I am a senior at Lehman college. My mayor is Therapeutic Recreation and my minor is Exercise Science. I look forward to learning about new concepts and different ways of looking at life. I am an open minded person who thrives on adrenalin and enjoys learning about new (to me) philosophical perspectives like Nihilism.