1. Feraco Search for Human Potential 18 October 2011
By the River
Feraco
Search for Human Potential
18 October 2011

2. Siddhartha
“By the River” opens with Siddhartha in turmoil, heading back in the direction of the river – essentially doubling back on himself, cycle-wise
A quick review of the book’s geography is in order here.

3. Siddhartha There are forests on both sides of the river.
Siddhartha comes out of one (where his village is located), crosses the river, and moves through the other into the town
Now he’s back in the woods, which (although they also represent other things here) are an archetypal symbol of loss and confusion

4. Siddhartha
He spends the first couple of pages praying for, wishing for, craving his own death
But such a desire is silly; what’s he running from that death will solve?
Moreover, what’s he running from that living can’t?
There’s no plan here – he’s the 1-year-old running for the front door on impulse

5. Siddhartha
He’s about to throw himself in the river when he hears the sound of Om – the reverberation of the connection between all living things – humming in his soul and the river, and he stops himself
Instead, he plunges into a deep sleep, and when he awakens, the first sound he hears is the water of the river
That combination – the river and Om – will prove to be extremely important later, especially in Chapter 11

6. Siddhartha
He felt as though a decade had passed when he awakens; it doesn’t quite make up for the two decades he lost, but it’s a good starting point
Hesse slyly says “he had not slept like that for a long time,” hearkening back to his original awakening in the fourth chapter
We’re now in Chapter 8, and the cycle’s spun ‘round again

7. Siddhartha
“On awakening, he looked at the world like a new man…Never had a sleep so refreshed him, so renewed him, so rejuvenated him! Perhaps he had really died, perhaps he had been drowned and was reborn in another form. No, he recognized himself, he recognized the hands and feet, the place where he lay and the Self in his breast. Siddhartha, self-willed, individualistic. But this Siddhartha was somehow changed, renewed.”
We’re into the fourth shell now

8. Siddhartha
Gradually, Siddhartha realizes that someone’s watching him: Govinda, his long-lost childhood companion
As we’ve mentioned before, Govinda’s a midwife here
He helps Siddhartha emerge from one shell and come out on the other side
When there’s a beginning, Govinda’s there: he’s there for the beginning of each Shell (in the forest, with the Samanas, in Gotama’s grove, here, and at the end)
It’s just another way for the book to reinforce the cycle motif

9. Siddhartha
For the first time in a long time, Siddhartha doesn’t feel nauseated – the book’s favorite signal of inner turmoil, with one’s system rebelling from the inside out
He realizes that he’s lost the ability to think, wait, and fast – everything that once made him proud as a younger man – without even realizing it
Kirkegaard…

10. Siddhartha
And yet he stands again as he did at the end of Chapter 4, after leaving Gotama, the Samanas, and his village behind: free of attachments, free of possessions, free of everything
Page 78 is too long to jam into a single slide, but the whole page is essentially quotable; it’s a very cogent summary of everything that’s gone before
If you have to rebuild an existence…where do you begin?