All things change. Nothing stays the same. All things return. As I have finally come around to re-reading Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha a second time, its chain of existential inquiry resonates differently than before. The first time I read it, I was filled with ideas of aspiration, possibility and fellowship. This time, I have been emptied of all of it. It seems the delusions promised simply by imagining their existence have dried up, much like the American Dream unrealized. The moreness – the +1 – the historical materialism draw an asymptotic projection of attainment that is – without the data to support this – inversely proportionate with happiness. Perhaps Biggie said it most eloquently: "Mo Money, Mo Problems".
Toward the end of his life, reunited with his childhood friend, Govinda, Siddhartha reflects on the direction his life has taken. From a Brahmin's son, to a sadhu, to a successful merchant with a beautiful consort, to a possessionless wayfarer who ferries people across a river, he has come a long way from his roots. He abandoned his family, his friend, and his consort all in the search of Enlightenment. Finally, alone and in possession of the greatest gift – himself in full freedom – he reveals his truth to Govinda, who beseeches Siddhartha to offer a kernel of wisdom to aid in his search for Truth. Siddhartha replies that the reason Govinda is discontent is not just because he set out on an unachievable goal, but because he has a goal at all. Remove the goal, and one can simply live in the present. (Note, there is a strong irony in the fact that Govinda is a disciple of the Buddha at this point, so it would have made sense for him to abolish any desire he had long ago...) As pragmatic as it sounds, could this simple solution work in American culture today? Can we forgo goals and just... "be"?
The answer is an uneasy yes and no. No, so long as we honor the obligations of the social contracts we were born into and must uphold through an enslaving capitalist system designed to in-debt us and hook us for life (more on that another time). We cannot just "be" when we have bills to pay and a family to take care of. But what if we didn't? How would that be possible? Not having a family is imaginable, but one will always have bills so long as one honors the social contract thereby participating in society. The only solution to achieve the level of presence Siddhartha did and advocates is to opt out – must like Henry David Thoreau did with his experiment at Walden Pond.
But this will never happen in America. Sure, there may be a few social deviants – the Emory student on which the movie Into the Wild is based, as an example – but psychologically the vast majority of us are so hopelessly attached to the system, so interdependent, so oblivious to how to subsist without it, that even though subconsciously a return to Eden of sorts is desired, people wouldn't know where to begin or would simply be too afraid to act on their alienated (fill in the blank). It's not that we as Americans are hopeless – though we are – but that there was an asterisk next to the opportunity we were promised that clearly stated we would effectively be selling our souls in order to attain from the sweat on our brows. Unfortunately none of the immigrants could read the language of American sophism, so cleverly disguised with the inviting words engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor..." Yes, give them to us, so we might enslave them for our utility. Shameless Americans. We've been exploiting our population since our independence. My only question to America is: was it worth it to get where, or become what, we are today?
Siddhartha was right about goals being the undoing force precluding happiness, but few of us if any will ever have the opportunity to test his hypothesis.
In response to the first half of your post, mind you I read Siddhartha upon your recommendation, I would ask you consider, the Diamond Sutra, which you may already know. It says that there is no such thing as suffering or enlightenment, we need only accept, as you said, the "now."
ReplyDeleteIn response to your "just be" in America dilemma, I would recommend the book Life Inc. to you. It talks about how corporations have slowly and slovenly corrupted all aspects of the American dream. At the end of the book the author recommends a return to a dual currency monetary system, i.e. one local, one national, and the possibilities of making it work.
great post though : )
ReplyDeleteJack, I apologize for the delay in my response. I'm familiar with the Diamond Sutra though I have not read it. It is, like other Buddhist sutras, emphatic of the more philosophical assertions of Buddhism. Coupled with the argument from a book I recently read called Simulacra and Simulation, the very act of asserting there is something is evidence that the asserted is not real and is a cognitive construction. I think the author, Baudelaire, would sympathize with the Diamond Sutra, though I'm not sure what he would say in response to emphasizing the reality of the now. It would be an interesting comparative analysis, to say the least. What makes the now real, or do we just construct it as well?
ReplyDeleteI'll check out the book you recommended, as it seems right up my present alley of interest. Thanks for reading the blog and for following through on my recommendation.