Siddhartha literally translates to "he who achieves his goal." I believe this is very fitting for him and fits easily into life experiences I've had, but for the opposite reason. Towards the beginning of the book is when Siddhartha's frustration and situation can be as easily compared to my life. "[Siddhartha] had begun to feel that the love of his father and mother, and also the love of his friend Govinda, would not always make him happy, give him peace, satisfy and suffice him. He had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom [but] his soul was not at peace."(3). This quote can easily be tied into my life currently because I feel that I've just begun to be appreciated by my parents as a person, no longer a child, but I'm still not sure what I want to do for the rest of my life and it's slowly eating away at me.
Finding your goal in life is important before you do any planning towards that goal. Siddhartha's goal becomes clear when he sits with the Buddha for a second time after nightfall, he proclaims "I, also, would like to look and smile, sit and walk like that, so free, so worthy, so restrained, so candid, so childlike and mysterious. A man only looks and walks like that when he has conquered his Self. I also will conquer my Self...No other teachings will attract me, since this man's teachings have not done so."(29). This somewhat connects to my life because I found a definite possibility when I shadowed at Perpich Center for Arts Education, it made my life goal become more clear, if there hadn't been one there before, after touring at Perpich (My Buddha) I realized what I wanted to do for the rest of me life.
However, actually following through and achieving said goal is an entirely different story. For Siddhartha it wasn't as simple as taking 1 step in the right direction and he's there, there were multiple paths to take, multiple mistakes to be made, luckily he chose all the right paths. The first 'lesson' Siddhartha learns is one from Kamala. "[Siddhartha learns] that one cannot have pleasure without giving it...She taught him that lovers should not separate from each other after making love without admiring each other, without being conquered as well as conquering, so that no feeling of satiation or desolation arises nor the horrid feeling of misusing or having been misused."(54). Now this quote can't be directly connected to my life, but the principle of it can. Essentially what the quote is saying is that someone shouldn't be appreciated and then deserted and left alone, the person should be surrounded with attention and care from, for lack of a better term, the first party. This applies to my life, not directly, but with purpose. My dream of becoming a studio producer is something that I must pay attention to lest it dwindle and die, I don't want to lose my dream or my grip on it, therefore by attending Perpich or making a point to attempt to attend Perpich is my way of "admiring"(not abandoning) my "lover."(dream).
