Siddhartha Reading Blog Part 3

What purpose does the bed that Kamala and Vasudeva's wife died have?
What differences are there between Kamala and Siddhartha? How do these differences reconcile or repel?
What is the purpose of the golden bird, and why did it seem interested in bringing Siddhartha back on track?
What role does Govina play in Siddhartha's journey to nirvana? Is he a positive, negative or neutral influence?
What will the secret knowledge which Siddhartha will learn at the river do to Siddhartha?
What does Siddhartha mean when he says that samsara is a game which "can only be played once, twice, or at most ten times"?
What is the role of suicide in Buddhism, and how would Siddhartha's suicidal thoughts be reflected on his doctrine? Would he still stand by these thoughts later on?
What does it really mean when Govinda doesn't cry for Siddhartha?
 How has Siddhartha's self dissapeared and is it even true?
 

Siddhartha Reading Blog Section 2

I connected the passage in which Siddhartha says "I can think, I can wait, I can fast" to the book The Savage Detectives. The reason is because his quest for knowledge reminds me of the way in which the poets starved and wrote and promulgated revolution. Their quests are quite similar, because Juan García Madero, who also lived a privileged life, left it to walk with the proletarian poets in Mexico in the 70s. 

I also connect the relationship with Kamaswami and Siddhartha with the generic kid-hating adult which has to take care of a kid but in the end the adult learns more from the kid than the kid with the adult, for example Martian Child. This movie model isn't exactly my favorite, and I admit to critique it, however I can still appreciate it in terms of trying to show the spirit of Siddhartha in terms of the people which surround him.

Reading Blog Section One

  Here are some of the questions I asked myself while reading:


          • How did the relationship between Govinda and Siddhartha emerge? Are they more than friends? How will they overcome the obstacles within the story together? Will they continue together?

          • Why does Siddhartha decide to go beyond his usual practices and search for the enlightenment in such a radical way? Is there a specific reason for this?

• Why is Govinda so attached to Siddhartha? Is he in love with him beyond a platonic relationship?
• Why was Gautama Buddha not enough for Siddhartha's thirst for knowledge?
• Why wasn't he satisfied with the Samanas?
• Does Siddhartha have special powers, and if so, how did he use them with the Samanas?
• Are Siddhartha's feelings towards Govina reciprocal? If not, how will Govinda react to this?
• Where does Siddhartha's quest for knowledge come from?  Why is he so persistent on being enlightened?

Paradoxes

 This is a math paradox that actually exists. The paradox is that though the space taken up by each individual figures is the same, the piece as a whole in different arrangements takes up less space. It is inconsistent with itself, and so it is a paradox.

 This is a paradox because of the premise that Pinnochio's nose grows when he lies. His nose would only grow if the statement wasn't true, so it would be made true if it had been a lie at the beginning. This is a paradox because it presents an invalid, unsolvable argument that is problematic because of itself.

This paradox shows a painting of a wooden box, however the structure is an impossible one. This makes it a paradox. because since the structure is impossible, yet portrayed in the painting, its very portrayal goes against common sense. The box would be impossible to represent in real life because of its physical qualities.

Confucius Analects

The analect that I chose was 4.14.

I chose analect 4.14, which states "The Master said "Do not be concerned that you lack an official position, but rather concern yourself with the means by which you might become established. Do not be concerned that no one has heard of you, but rather strive to become a person worthy of being known.""
   
 I relate this to the black metal subculture. Black metal is a musical genre that arose in the 90s, and is characterized by lo-fi production and fast tremolo picking. It also is extremely influenced by obscurity. One of the defining features of this genre is to reject the mainstream and profit, and to instead focus on making inaccessible music. This can be seen with also a defining feature of black metal, which is to make limited edition releases, as well as releasing them on strange mediums, such as cassette or vinyl. This is related because they follow their own path and actually try to not reach the mainstream or fame, instead doing it for the music.

Advertisements

This commercial uses pathos, by manipulating emotions to promote the product. It does not give much ethos, persuasion through authority, or logos, persuasion through facts.

This one uses pathos, by showing the children eating cake, supposed to stimulate emotion, and logos, telling of how cutting and shaving will be unnecessary to make the cake.

This advertisement uses pathos, by talking about how women will be attracted to the cigarette, and then you, and also by, in the description box, describing the flavours excessively.

Opinion

Women should never be treated this way, and it is outrageous how much discrimination still goes on in the world, despite all the progress we've supposedly come to. The reason I think that things like this still happen today is because of the material conditions that cause fundamentalism to rise in third world countries. Feminism is an important movement which, I think, attempts to combat discrimination. I would like to comment on what many people are saying, which basically equates religion to fundamentalism, and says that if religion didnt exist these types of things wouldnt happen. That is blatantly incorrect, and evidently there are places where religion is widely practiced where this doesn't happen.