As I was reading reading the chapter of Siddhartha, By The River, I saw an amazing amount of thought provoking quotes. One of my favorites was from page 93, the bottom paragraph: "Remember, my dear Govinda, the world of appearances is transitory, the style of our clothes and hair is extremely transitory. Our hair and our bodies are themselves transitory."
This quote really stood out to me because of how true it is. Everything in this world is not permanent. We are constantly changing, constantly evolving. Whether it's how we style our hair, what culture we practice, popular music, popular clothing-- the list is endless. One day listening to obscure music and dressing in clothes from thrift shops is "in", the next listening to all the current hip-hop and wearing Jordan's is what we perceive as "cool". Each day, week, or month, there are new trends shoving out the old ones.
Also when Siddhartha says "Our hair and our bodies are themselves transitory." Our hair thins and falls out as we get older, or even now. As we age, our bodies slowly deteriorate, losing the muscle, the elasticity, the suppleness, that we contained when we were younger.
I never really thought about these things in such great detail until reading this chapter. Siddhartha has opened my mind to many new ideas. I feel like I myself, am going on this journey of self discovery alongside Siddhartha.
Have any of you guys felt this way also?
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Excellent quotes, they both really tie in together too. I enjoyed the first one a lot. It does get me thinking and reminds me just how fast life goes by.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out the different ways this quote can be perceive such as style and age. This quote is universal and can apply to anything. I especially like how trends are constantly changing. For example, hundreds of years ago it was beautiful for women to be plus size. In the early 2000's, it was trendy to be extremely skinny (Paris Hilton). Now it is beautiful to have curves.
ReplyDeleteI love the quotes you choose. They were vey symbolic to me and when i read the first quote I couldn't help but remember the short story we read in class. Like how you said that we are always changing and envolving, like the woman at the train station. That experience with her husband clearly changed her and she can not go back to her old ways. Also how it related to Siddartha dince throughout the whole novel we have seen him evolving and slowly accepting what he wants for himself rather than what others want for him.
ReplyDeleteI also found a lot of really great quotes through out this chapter. He's a wise man he's lived life longer than we have and these quotes are very relatible , nothing in life will last forever.
ReplyDeleteIt really is an interesting chapter! I think that Siddhartha has matured in so many ways and has become wise. He understands how we constantly change, but I think people fear change and try to stay the same to avoid it. It fellow secure when you think you know who you are and if you don't consider yourself as someone who is constantly changing, then you'll always just be a caterpillar in a cocoon, unable to hatch.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I feel you. It's a lot of work to keep up with what's "new" or "cool" even to the very end. I wonder how celebrities hold this up..our "role models" sucked into this petty worry though just more expensive and magnetized.
ReplyDeleteWow I'm really impressed. Everything you just said stood out to me and it makes sense. I never thought of it as you have said however in a way it did make sense to me all this time. Also Daisy I wonder the same thing you have asked about how celebrities keep their roles.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up style and I think it's interesting that although it's transitory it always comes back around. For example, crop tops or hatters, disco pants, mom jeans; it goes out of style but somehow it finds a way back around and becomes modern again.
ReplyDeleteits amazing how most teenagers can relate to Siddhartha because we are at a point in our life where our choices define our future.
ReplyDeleteYou think of the times before the Enlightenment; beliefs were based on religion. Once the Enlightenment came to life, beliefs were based on science. Practically the whole world went through a drastic transition from faith to science. If everything is transitory, do you think we will ever transition back to religious beliefs? Some of you may say, "No because science has showed us a perspective with more concrete aspects." I would beg to differ because, for example, the Atomic Theory is not concrete; it is a theory. It is an example of science not being entirely concrete. Anyway, I wonder if we will ever transition back to religion, or another establishment.
ReplyDeleteI like the first quote. The things we possess wil not last long. Like the second quote, we eventually get old and pass away, and the things we possess will be left behind.
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