Molly: The central conflict of Siddhartha is that “Siddhartha didn’t please himself; he didn’t bring himself joy” (Hesse, 7) because he doesn’t know himself. If asked to write his own P1, he might even be unable to find his own totem animal.
Sharad: People get focused on what they want to be 10-20 years down the road. They forget to live in the present, fail to see who they're turning into. People base their careers off of how they want to retire or what they want their legacy to be
Jade: Siddhartha answers this question after years of searching, and only after he experiences the entire spectrum does he confidently settle down with one identity. “I reviewed my life and it was also a river, and Siddhartha the boy, Siddhartha the mature man and Siddhartha the old man, were only separated by shadows, not through reality” (Hesse 87). He matures from his past experiences and is now able to appreciate how his previous “roles” have shaped the person he is today.
Project 4 is going to focus on leadership. What I learned about leadership when reading Siddhartha while considering our course goals was that there are many different types of leaders: quiet, loud, sincere, unsure, willing, unwilling, good, bad – the list is endless. What kind of leader do you think Siddhartha is? What kind of leader do you think he tries to be?
Alex: Siddhartha is an example of a passive leader; he advises others when they seek him, but he does not try to spread the wisdom he found
Chris: Siddhartha spends the whole novel searching for enlightenment but in reality is going through a”soul-searching” that all individuals go through in order to answer the question, “who am I?
Helen: Unlike most kids in his town, Siddhartha is known for his remarkable thirst for knowledge. He sets out leaving his home to gain a greater understanding of the world, the purpose of life
Helen: Unlike most kids in his town, Siddhartha is known for his remarkable thirst for knowledge. He sets out leaving his home to gain a greater understanding of the world, the purpose of life
Emily: Emily: To me, you have to be looking out for something in particular to be able to listen. Siddhartha was looking for the meaning of life and was on a sure path to find peace and enlightenment.
Project 4 is going to focus on leadership. What I learned about leadership when reading Siddhartha while considering our course goals was that there are many different types of leaders: quiet, loud, sincere, unsure, willing, unwilling, good, bad – the list is endless. What kind of leader do you think Siddhartha is? What kind of leader do you think he tries to be?
Alex: Siddhartha is an example of a passive leader; he advises others when they seek him, but he does not try to spread the wisdom he found
Lauren: Siddhartha was a leader to Govinda in the first part of the novel, and after Govinda left Siddhartha kept trying to lead, but eventually he had to realize that it was sort of his time to follow, and though he wasn't a follower in the sense that he did listened to everything the ferryman said without question, he did sort of adopt his lifestyle.
Chris: I guess in that way we can learn from Siddhartha that being a leader is “more about composition of self” (P4 instructions) and being able to listen and empathize with others.
Alice: I personally feel that leadership comes from having creative solutions to problems and being willing to take risks to let those solutions come into reality. Siddhartha displays this trait of a leader completely. He is never satisfied with pre-existing knowledge; he must solve the problems of his identity and of the universe through his own methods.
Chris: I guess in that way we can learn from Siddhartha that being a leader is “more about composition of self” (P4 instructions) and being able to listen and empathize with others.
Alice: I personally feel that leadership comes from having creative solutions to problems and being willing to take risks to let those solutions come into reality. Siddhartha displays this trait of a leader completely. He is never satisfied with pre-existing knowledge; he must solve the problems of his identity and of the universe through his own methods.
Jose: It seems almost paradoxical, but in many ways some of the world's greatest leaders MUST be willing to not accept the advice of others. Intiution is an important aspect of leadership, but at the same time I think advice from important leaders and thinker in our society should never be totally ignored.
Katherine: While I wasn’t sure of Siddhartha’s outright leadership skills, he exhibits the other “six traditional core values of U.T.”: “individual opportunity; discovery; learning; freedom; responsibility.” (Course goals)
Molly: However, once Siddhartha opens his mind to what others have to teach him, he finds wisdom in the river
Helen: In a way, at the start of each journey, Siddhartha creates his own leadership vision, stating what kind of person he wants to be and what he wants to accomplish.
When we first see Siddhartha he sees himself as “better” or more superior to many of those around him. This changes drastically by the end of the novel. Which aspects of our course goals and overall themes of this course does this call to your mind?
Helen: In essence, Siddhartha achieves one of the most important goals of this course and replaces “fear and greed with love, compassion, tolerance, and the sympathetic imagination” (Course Goals).
Katherine: We are told to “accept ambiguity and multiplicity at first,” (P4 instructions) something which Siddhartha did in an unconventional way. At the beginning of his journey, he really only saw one appropriate and complete way of life and became a samsara. Gradually, however, he realized that he wanted to enter the real world and opened his eyes to a different way of life.
When the book ended, many of you – including myself – felt disappointed that we did not get to see Siddhartha go back into the world and live as a newly enlightened individual. Did you feel this way? If so, what do you think would have been the result of Siddhartha re-entering the real world? Are there similarities to the way we will leave this class and the way Siddhartha leaves his various teachers behind? Differences?
Jose: Siddharta was searching for something incredibly personal, to the point that teachers and teachings were useless. We are learning to be leaders for the benefit OF society, and as such we must learn from those who came before us to teach us what exactly we can do to benefit society.
Chris: I kind of thought Siddhartha’s conclusion was that leadership is limited. Siddhartha’s aim is not to “become the kind of person who can lead others for the benefit of society” (P4 instructions)
Katherine: While I wasn’t sure of Siddhartha’s outright leadership skills, he exhibits the other “six traditional core values of U.T.”: “individual opportunity; discovery; learning; freedom; responsibility.” (Course goals)
Molly: However, once Siddhartha opens his mind to what others have to teach him, he finds wisdom in the river
Helen: In a way, at the start of each journey, Siddhartha creates his own leadership vision, stating what kind of person he wants to be and what he wants to accomplish.
When we first see Siddhartha he sees himself as “better” or more superior to many of those around him. This changes drastically by the end of the novel. Which aspects of our course goals and overall themes of this course does this call to your mind?
Helen: In essence, Siddhartha achieves one of the most important goals of this course and replaces “fear and greed with love, compassion, tolerance, and the sympathetic imagination” (Course Goals).
Katherine: We are told to “accept ambiguity and multiplicity at first,” (P4 instructions) something which Siddhartha did in an unconventional way. At the beginning of his journey, he really only saw one appropriate and complete way of life and became a samsara. Gradually, however, he realized that he wanted to enter the real world and opened his eyes to a different way of life.
When the book ended, many of you – including myself – felt disappointed that we did not get to see Siddhartha go back into the world and live as a newly enlightened individual. Did you feel this way? If so, what do you think would have been the result of Siddhartha re-entering the real world? Are there similarities to the way we will leave this class and the way Siddhartha leaves his various teachers behind? Differences?
Jose: Siddharta was searching for something incredibly personal, to the point that teachers and teachings were useless. We are learning to be leaders for the benefit OF society, and as such we must learn from those who came before us to teach us what exactly we can do to benefit society.
Chris: I kind of thought Siddhartha’s conclusion was that leadership is limited. Siddhartha’s aim is not to “become the kind of person who can lead others for the benefit of society” (P4 instructions)
Alex: The question imposed in option two of P4 is, "How can I become the kind of person who can lead others for the benefit of society?" (P4 Instructions). Siddhartha is an example of a passive leader; he advises others when they seek him, but he does not try to spread the wisdom he found. I, however, want to be an active leader who seeks different ways to benefit the society.
Katherine: As I’ve said before and in class, I’m not sure that Siddhartha did enough. Sure, I think he got himself figured out and achieved a state any of us would—and probably do—envy. But did he go far enough? Wouldn’t the “ultimate end” (as we said at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party this past Saturday) have been to transform not only his life but “lives for the benefit of society” as we are urged to do?
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