Reflection #2

Johanna Cabrera

February 24, 2011

LEH 300

Reflection #2

For some people, life has always been based on getting the most out of everything; on searching peace and happiness and not finding it. And for all of us, identifying and finding our selves is the quest of a whole life. Humans spend a lifetime trying to find themselves and never do, the reality is that we never get to know ourselves or others around us. And everyone has a different vision for life and all the things around us. For Siddhartha, finding himself was more than just meditating and fasting as he was taught. As he experimented religions, Siddhartha felt that all the things he had done following the different beliefs were worthless as he was not finding his true self as he was long searching for it. We are told so many things and we observe so many people trying to reach their goals and trying to find happiness and always failing. But if we look around, we can see how wrong some people are, just focusing all their time and energy in what’s not essential for our lives such as material things. Sometimes human beings do not appreciate the beauty of nature even though it is beautiful and pure, or a simple smile that can definitely bring happiness and joy to our lives. Instead, we sometimes appreciate things that are just temporary just like the people around Siddhartha. The more we have, the more we want, not considering sometimes that everything we need, well, almost everything, is in spiritualism; in how we can help someone with a simple advice or a smile. Also, sometimes we lack ourselves from happiness thinking that it will come through the things that won’t last forever. And that can relate to finding ourselves too, the merchants in the reading spent their time just trying to get more money and power and though that that actually made them happy when that was not the case.

This reading has impacted me in a positive way because people focus on finding their inner self by attaching themselves to the things the world offer and Siddhartha found a path to happiness and his tru self on his own, when he was taught differently. the conviction  and the determination he had till the end led him to achieve his goal which is very impressive.