Death of the Ego
This “Death of the Ego” was when the song bird inside of him had died, really his inner voice. Without it now he is "like a child, so full of confidence, so fearless, so full of joy." Though he thought before when he was told he was wiser than others and amazing for such a young soul he was finding a path to enlightenment, when really he was making his ego bigger. He now realizes that his ego was a problem he was having to being able to find enlightenment. The quote I chose is “That is why he had to continue to endure these ugly years, to endure the revulsion, the emptiness, the meaninglessness of a lost and desolate life until the end, to the point of bitter despair, until Siddhartha the hedonist, Siddhartha the greedy, could die.” This quote is saying that in order to find happiness, you must feel the pain in life and suffering, experience all that life has to offer. This way you know how good life is when the pain and suffering has ended. Also I thought that getting rid of his ego was important because it’s him letting go of what was growing more inside him. It was making him unhappy; this is what was stopping him from reaching happiness and enlightenment. Loosing it is what will help him reach what he is seeking.
You make a good point when you say that he was only making his ego bigger. The whole point of going off with the ascetics was to get rid of his ego completely. In order for him to reach enlightenment he must get rid of his ego. Also you're right in saying that in order to get rid of suffering you must acknowledge it exists.
ReplyDeleteYou use the quotes very well and I thought it was very interesting. You are absolutley right he needs to loose his own self so he can reach his destination. I thought it was very good.
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