These are my initial reactions upon finishing Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.

Siddhartha response A
by Samuel Hammond

His whole journey up to the end, is him suffering, and consciously rejecting (at least trying to) his self. When he finally finds enlightenment he is accepting his ignorance and character flaws, and lives like the rock -- not as indifferent, but as tolerant, loving, and accepting: The rock and the tree accept the spots where they are planted, as opposed to the sufferer, like the Samanas, who go through self deprivation in order to find the same revelation. This is the underlying irony of Siddhartha. Siddhartha's naive son does the opposite by running away from his father. The self is thus the default. It is what every man processes at birth, and is what the naive man tries to breach.

Siddhartha the elder, therefore, did not reject his self, but rather he embraced it. But like what happened with Kamaswami, even though one must accept their self, they must not over indulge upon it, for that is amplifying your self, which incidentally, is as precarious as it is to denigrate it. This doesn't mean living through your desires, but letting your desires live through you, with moderation and self control.

The whole purpose of spirituality is that our bodies are only our spiritual medium, and that the important interaction takes place within the consciousness, soul, and all things strictly immaterial. I feel as if Siddhartha's awakening came when he realized our spirituality is actually the medium for our body, and that love is not expressed through nature, but that nature is expressed through love, for, whilst doctrine taught that humanity created love, Siddhartha learned that love creates and exemplifies humanity, through a type of pseudo-spiritual, existentialist beatitude. Put differently, he learned that he cannot define compassion, but must let compassion define him.


Siddhartha response B
by Samuel Hammond

"If they (the stone & the tree) are illusion, then I also am illusion, and so they are always the same nature as myself. It is that which makes them so lovable and venerable. That is why I can love them. And here is a doctrine at which you will laugh." p 147

Siddhartha, as I've already explained, embraced his self, and used his compassion to exemplify who he was. What I think is fascinating about this is how closely similar it is to Siddhartha's metaphor. Basically, he compared himself -- as shown by the above quote -- to nature, like the stone for instance. Nature seems to me to be the epitome of self. It is neutral to everything, meaning it neither amplifies or denigrates it's existence. It lives freely and openly, with a placid acceptance and love. This is the definition of the self. The self is your ignorance, desire, and so forth. The rivers natural desire is to flow, as the tree's is to bloom, and the stones is to rest, and never do they do so immoderately. Siddhartha's desire is to love, which all of nature is invariably destined to do so as well. Ignorances are therefore seldom solved through wisdom, because in doing so, would be contradictory to an involved self, and would not fit the premise. Ignorance is thus assailed with knowledge. Siddhartha doesn't particularly enjoy knowledge, so this is another way in which Siddhartha and nature are accepting their self's and consequently their ignorances.

The ferryman, who presumably found a wisdom similar to that which Siddhartha found, was completely ignorant of his surroundings, and accepting of that truth. He knew nothing of the world beyond the river and the people he assisted across it. The ferryman, therefore, perhaps unknowingly, also embraced his self. What natural man would think it beneficial to break away from one's self, whilst nature itself, stays so align to one path? The rivers stream around the world, and the stones never try to get up and walk away, and the trees are perfectly content to stay rooted in spite of gusting wind. When finally Siddhartha reunites with the ferryman, he comes full circle, like the seasons of the earth, or the self-referent river, or the ferryman making his way back.

Siddhartha is therefore one with nature. He sees all of humanity as nature while Govinda continues to be ironically ignorant of that fact. (Ironically of course, because his ignorance is due solely to his attempts at ridding his ignorances (or self))