Cuteness is Indeed a Problem

Dear Daniel,

I think that this is a very good article because it is showing us a new way of seeing cuteness. Some of us see cuteness as a very good thing, but you are demonstrating how it can also become a burden. According to your article, cuteness can have pros and cons that can be good like when you say how it immediately attracts girls or bad like when you say how this attraction is in a motherly way.

I think you have some very valid and reasonable points about how surviving cuteness is a real problem. One of them was when you said, “Its only that sometimes I have to say “Hey stop staring at my cheeks, my eyes are up here.” Maybe you have had to face the same situation, especially if you are a a girl that is “well endowed,” so I hope many of you can relate to the fact that after a while it gets boring”. I found this to be a very interesting and comical point because you were able to catch my attention in a fun way and also make me understand cuteness from another point of view.

I thought this article was a very good one because of how you could also relate your problem with other problems that many people have. An example of this was when you related your cuteness with the “well endowed,” girls. You were able to express every aspect of your problem in a compact way and you were able to start the article and end it with.

A Man Made for Change

This time, this article will be different to the others done about Siddhartha. The article will be about a summary of The chapters "Amongst the People" and "Samsara" but about a summary only concentrating on the main character. In part one, most of us would have never imagined Siddhartha as a person of worldly pleasures but instead as an ascetic. He started being a Brahim's son, then a Samana, then his own teacher, then an apprentice of love and now he became a business man. He is a man of change. And in this chapter we can see how he is not only a man of change in profession but also in his beliefs. If you had stopped reading this book after the end of part one you would have thought that I was crazy for saying that Siddhartha became a man of worldly pleasures.

In the beginning of the first chapter, he and Kamala continue in a relationship in which one benefits financially and the other learns the ways of love (this includes erotica). Kamaswasmi is convinced by Kamala to let Siddhartha live in his house for a while. Seeing this as an opportunity, the merchant decides to let Sidshartha help him with his business without much trust. As time passes, Siddhartha proves himself and becomes a very skilled merchant. As most of us would think, at first he stays the same and does not fall for money. His ideals remain intact and he follows what he learned with the Samanas. But like any normal person he becomes happy with all that money can bring after a long time. At the beginning when Kamaswami tried to convince him that money was good, he did not listen to him. As his skills grew his ideals diminished and he became a normal person. "Gradually, along with his growing riches, Siddhartha himself acquired some of the characteristics of the ordinary people, some of their childishness and some of their anxiety." page. 62. He now liked to eat the finest foods and wear the best clothes. He continued like this for many years and finally realized that this was not the way to enlightenment (personally I thought that a man who would later on become the Buddha would realize much faster that this way was not the one that he had to follow). One morning he decided to leave town and continue on the path that lead to enlightenment. He gave no good-bye, he just left. 

In this short summary we can see how Siddhartha lost his way again. This time it was with the thing that he despised the most, a life of pleasure. "The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally also the vice that he had always despised and scorned as the most foolish-acquisitiveness." page 63. He stayed strong at the beginning and even mocked other merchants. But men are not perfect so he succumbed. Who would have thought the great Siddhartha would get corrupted so easily? His teachings were supposed to prevent this but they didn't. And it all was because he wanted to learn about love. It was like a cause and effect chain that in my opinion made him waste many good years of his life pursuing something that was not meant for him. But at least he found his way back. I had lost my hope in him. Thank god  I continued reading till the end of the chapter and did not throw away the book because I thought Siddhartha's  adventures to become enlightened were over. Now I am a little more motivated so let's hope that he doesn't lose his way for the fiftieth time.

The Girl of Ambitions

What a curious title isn't it? For me, the girl of ambitions is no one else but Kamala. This time the protagonist in this reading blog is not only Siddhartha as he usually is but instead the thing he wants along with him. I think that Siddhartha only decided to open to her because he now wanted to feel the world of senses. She awakened a feeling that he had not felt in a long time. A feeling called Love. And this feeling would still be in the shadows if it wasn't because he now wanted to interact with the world.

At first, I thought Siddhartha was a man who would never be able to conquer the field of love. This was because in the book he was depicted as a man who wanted no worldly pleasures. So I made a reflection and saw that if someone would truly want to leave all of this, then the one that he was to deny the most was women. So I never thought he would actually be able to be with someone like Kamala. She is someone who I think represents the opposite of Siddhartha in this stage of his life. She represents love and desire while Siddhartha represents the self.

But as this specific love story goes on, Siddhartha stops to represent the ascetic life style and choses to travel the path of love with Kamala. At first this is hard for him because he has never done this before, but as time passes it becomes easier for him. We can see this on page 42 with this part of the book, "Siddhartha also felt a longing and the stir of sex in him; but as he had never yet touched a woman, he hesitated a moment, although his hands were ready to seize her. At that moment he heard his inward voice and the voice said "no!"". This is the Siddhartha we all remember. A naive and shy man who has not discovered the path of love. Later on in the book we will see if this will finally change.

The Beggars Can Be The Gods

Baucis and Philemon:

A. Baucis and Philemon are a married couple that could be considered poor but with great hearts.

B. They differ from other people because even though they had the least, they were the only ones who took in the beggars.

C. Zeus rewards them because of their service and because of how they acted towards the situation.

D. They wished to die together so they got turned into trees, besides each other, that won’t die until they stop loving.

E. This story suggests to be good with others so that others will be good to you.

F. I agree with the idea of love because it is something that is necessary in someone’s life.

Is Love Totally Blind?

I agree with the aphorism “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness”, because love can be blind but not in some senses. It is like why Eros is transparent, because love is also transparent. But I think that there can also be love that is not totally blind. A kind of love that has a reason behind it. A kind of love that is logical.

Quitter or Achieve?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q-8-555zT4&feature=youtu.be

Is the link to the best Siddhartha video blog yet.

Batman and Robin? Or Was It Siddhartha and Govinda?

As many of you might know, every great hero or person has a sidekick that appears in times of need and is always loyal no matter what consequences await for him. In this case, we can see it with Govinda. He is the person who most loves (not erotica) and admires the great Siddhartha. He is what people now call a true friend. And let me tell you; nowadays they are actually hard to find. Think of someone who doesn’t want you for personal gain other than your family. It is tough, isn’t it? Up to the point in which Govinda meets the illustrious one, there was not one time when he didn’t follow his friend. In other words, he was like a slave who loved Siddhartha. And the thing that made him a slave was being the shadow hiding inside the greatness of his friend.

Were can you find someone that will do whatever you want, not because of fear, but because of love? Govinda followed and protected him anywhere he went. When he left home Govinda followed him. When he left the Samanas and Govinda was happy, he still followed him. How can someone be so loyal to a friend?

After they met the Buddha, I thought that Govinda would still follow him but something unexpected happened. Govinda saw more knowledge in the Buddha than in his friend so he left him. I was quite shocked when this happened because I thought Govinda couldn't do anything by himself. I still think Govinda is a shadow. Maybe now he is a more present shadow, but with his personality he will never be a leader. He passed from being an only follower to one of many. I also think this is actually the first decision he makes alone. But we also have to acknowledge that Siddhartha also suffered with this lost. He is a leader so it didn't affect it as much, but it did affect him. "The Buddha has robbed me, thought Siddhartha." Siddhartha pg.29.

Foils are important, they help the main character be the person he wants to be. Govinda followed Siddhartha. This made Siddhartha feel empowered and better because he saw people loved and admired him. No one thinks the foil will be independent, so this story is full of surprises. When have you heard that the sidekick leaves the hero? It is not very common.

Apparently Robin is as important as Batman.

Seeing Knowledge In Others Makes You Knowledgeable

As time passes, Siddhartha became smarter and better. I am not saying that he wasn’t at first, but he has been improving. Through suffering and patience he has discovered how to achieve nirvana. He is not enlightened yet but the method has been discovered. This is a very important step because without the formula, the results cannot be completed.

At first he thought knowledge and learning were the ways to achieve inner peace. Later, he discovered self and how the cycle works. Gossips lead him to leave the Samanas and search for the enlightened one. When he got there he realized that what he desired could not be achieved by listening and learning from others. He needed to experience it.

He knew that the Buddha’s teaching was the best and that no others were better but he also knew that in all this there was a gap, a flaw if you want to think about it in this way. “O Brahmin’s son, and it is a credit to you that you have thought so deeply about them. You have found a flaw.” Siddhartha pg. 27. These are some wise words the illustrious one said.

There are many kinds of intelligences. Two of them are knowledge and salvation from suffering. Siddhartha wanted to achieve both of them. He already found the first one. With the Buddha he searched for the second one and learned that there were some things that could not be found just by reading books. You may think you know everything because you have read about everything, but do you truly know what things are like if you only have a description about them? The answer is no. True knowledge comes from experience. Experience is what truly matters in these kinds of situations. Forget about statistics and meet the real world.