Awakening Cornell Notes

Transcription

1 Big Ideas/ Questions/ Quotes: Reason Awakening Cornell Notes Observations/Notes: Siddhartha logically thinks through his emotions in order to move past them. In today s society, we tend to dwell on emotion rather than the cause of those emotions. We try to treat the feeling instead of the cause of the feeling. I wonder why Siddhartha is only just now feeling that he has left part of him behind. He left his family and his entire known life behind at the beginning of the book, but never showed remorse. Govinda is a truly special character to

2 Siddhartha. He is definitely a foil, who pushes him. Will they meet again? Deep Thought/ Contemplation Realized he was now a man, that something has left him. This something is his desire to be taught and to learn from teachers. His desire to know the Self is overwhelming him, as his attainment of the self eludes him consistently. The question is, what is he missing? Where can he find it? In pursuing teachers, he has actually roamed further from his goal. The Samanas and Brahmin both taught to flee the self in order to reveal the Self,

3 Atman. However, all that has occurred is Siddhartha not knowing himself at all. He is lost. Awakened- Aha Moment Siddhartha will not longer try to escape from Siddhartha, as was taught to him. He will no longer devote himself to the sorrows of the world, or destroy himself like with the Samanas, he will no longer heed teachings, He will learn from himself, be my own pupil. Siddhartha recognizes that the Self is indeed unique, and that only he can find it. Nobody knows you half as much as you know yourself. He

4 cannot rely on others for this quest. Wisdom/ Experience Siddhartha starts to look around and see things as they are, not as he was taught to see them. The Brahmins taught that what exists is only illusion for what is beyond. The world Siddhartha lived in was ignored because he was told it was meaningless. Now, he is looking at the world for the first time. He is seeing the beauty in the world. Is beauty for beauty s sake meaningless? Does everything have to have meaning, or importance beyond being? He is gaining wisdom. He

5 has knowledge, but he needs experience. This is his first step. Illusion Identity Siddhartha was eluded by the beauty of the world, like in Fahrenheit 451. He was blinded to what truly existed by what he was taught. In what ways is education conditioning? Montag and Siddhartha were both taught to believe specific things by the societies they lived in, which turned out to blind them from the truth of their existence. Who are you? When your parents are stripped away, and your home is stripped

6 away, and your title is stripped away? When you are not a Brahmin s son, nor a Brahmin, nor a Samana, when you are not a disciple of the Buddha, or resident of some small village, who are you? How do we define ourselves when our ties are cut? Siddhartha is unsure how to define himself. Siddhartha defines identity as when you belong to a group of people. He defines it as unity. Govinda has unity, and the Samanas, and the Brahmins. But he no longer belongs to anyone or anything. He no longer shares an ideology with anyone else. He is

7 completely alone. He said he would make this journey alone, but it seems he was unprepared for what that meant. Is a journey made alone more meaningful than a journey made together? At the same time, is being alone freeing to our individuality? Home When he set out from the Buddha s gardens, he was intent on going back to his father to find what he needed alone. However, he realized along the way that going home would not bring him what he needed because he would not be truly alone there. He would be a Brahmin again.

8 Instead, Siddhartha decides to set out, in what direction we do not know. He is not going backwards, but finding a new path. Summary: Siddhartha has left Govinda with the Buddha, and has set out on his own. Physically, there is nothing to summarize in this section. Siddhartha is walking, with no place to be spoken of. However, he journeys significantly far within his mind. He comes to the realization that he is completely alone, but also feels completely whole in who he is for the first time. He realizes the world he lived in before was an illusion created by the teachings of the Brahmins. Siddhartha has knowledge from those teachings, but now he has set out to experience the world. He is chilled by

9 loneliness, but also has a renewed sense of purpose in what to do next.