AGENDA November 12 th, 2014 Warm-up Reading Check Quiz Review “Amongst the People” Review “Samsara” Reading Groups with Guided Reading: “By the River” Review “By the River” HW: Quiz tomorrow (Amongst the People, Samsara, By the River) Bring IR book tomorrow

My Personal Philosophy  Take a look at the 20 different elements of life highlighted in What Color is Your Parachute?  Choose 7 elements that guide your life the most.  Write personal belief statements about each of those 7 elements.  Share with at least one person near you.  Keep this in a very, very, very safe place.

Reading Check Quiz  6 points

Amongst the People: Essentials Qs  Why can’t Siddhartha and Kamala love?  Why does Hesse refer to Siddhartha’s activities as “play” and “game”?

What is the heart of a Samana?  What makes Siddhartha so good at business?

 From the start Siddhartha says, “I am not in need.”  Kamaswami is fully invested and Siddhartha is fully detached, never fearing failure.  Kamaswami has many troubles, but Siddhartha is separated from them because he was a Samana.  He sees others lament, but he laughs.  His inner voice complains because he feels more like a player in a game, observing from elsewhere. Why does Hesse continually refer to Siddhartha’s activities in chapter 6 as “play” and “game”?

Can you explain?  Explain this quote: “Perhaps people like us cannot love. Ordinary people can –it is their secret” (73). Secret to what?   Open up your books and your minds

“Perhaps people like us cannot love. Ordinary people can –it is their secret” (73).  Kamala cannot/should not love because she is a courtesan. It is a skill/art.  Siddhartha, the Samana, has the ability to separate himself from pain and pleasure.  They both have a “stillness and sanctuary to which [they] can retreat at anytime” (71).  Most people find sanctuary in the outside (things, other people, experiences, etc.)  For ordinary people, the secret to their fulfillment IS love. Siddhartha is not ordinary.

Samsara Essential Questions  Why does Siddhartha gamble so passionately?  Why is the chapter called “Samsara”?  What makes Siddhartha understand that passion and death are closely related?

Samsara  “Like one who has eaten and drunk too much and vomits painfully and then feels better, so did the restless man wish he could rid himself with one terrific heave of these pleasures, of these habits of this entirely selfless life” (82).

Samsara  Why did Siddhartha gamble so passionately? “In no other way could he show more clearly and mockingly his contempt for riches, the false deity of businessmen” Turn to page 81. What makes Siddhartha understand that passion and death are closely related? What does this mean?

Samsara  What does Siddhartha dream about the songbird? What might the songbird represent?

Samsara  “Then Siddhartha knew that the game was finished, that he could play it no longer. A shudder passed through his body; he felt as if something had died” (84)  Why is this chapter entitled “Samsara”?

Reading in Groups  Pick one to three other people to read with.  Read “By the River” out loud and work on the guided reading.  If you are behind in your reading, I will give you an alternative guided reading. Maybe I can even form a different group?

By the River  Have you noticed that this river keeps coming up?  Why does Siddhartha want to kill himself? Page 88  Why does he not kill himself? Page 89

By the River  “Om,” he pronounced inwardly, and he was conscious of Brahman, of the indestructibleness of life; he had remembered all that he had forgotten, all that was divine.  Even after all this, there is still divinity.  Then what does he do?

By the River  He sleeps a restorative sleep and awakens to Govinda!  Siddhartha lectures Govinda saying, “The wheel of appearances revolves quickly, Govinda. Where is Siddhartha the Brahmin, where is Siddhartha the Samana, where is Siddhartha the rich man? The transitory soon changes, Govinda. You know that” (94).

By the River  As Govinda walks away, Siddhartha realizes that he is suddenly able to _______. He thought he was incapable of it!  He realized also that he has exchanged his original possessions of power and strength (___, _____, and _____) for riches and pleasures, wretched transitory things.  He became an ________ person.

By the River  He says to himself, “Things are going backwards with you, he said to himself and laughed, and as he said it, his glance lighted on the river, and he saw the river also flowing continuously backwards, singing merrily. That pleased him immensely; he smiled cheerfully at the river. Was this not the river in which he once wished to drown himself –hundreds of years ago- or had he dreamt it?” (96).

By the River  Turn to page 99. What has died in Siddhartha?

By the River Essential Questions  Why does Siddhartha want to kill himself? Why does he change his mind?  What understanding does he reach at the end of the chapter?  Is life linear?  Is time a real thing? Does it help us or hurt us?