Significance of the river
Symbolically, a river means different things to different people depending on their religion and culture. In Siddhartha, the significance of the river is held more in the religious light. Religion plays a large part in everyone's life. In Hermann Hesse's epic story Siddhartha, the images of the river represent the river's knowledge and wisdom. In the Christian and Islamic doctrines, the image of river represent tranquility, peace, serenity and the presence of a holy spirit. The aspect of religion is taken apart and looked at from nearly every possible angle. There are many key concepts revolving around the significance of the river in Siddhartha. But two which seem to be the most important and powerful are the closely related idea that time is not real and The Oneness of All Experience; and that knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. The first key concept concerning the significance of the river in Siddhartha is really two very closely related ideas. These thoughts are that time is not real and the oneness of all experience. All experience is happening every moment. Everything exists all at once, and the only thing separating these existences is the illusion of time. When Siddhartha is sitting by the river V
It is everything it will ever be at this moment, because these different forms are only separated by time, which is an illusion. This is the vision that Siddhartha at last sees in the riverą(80). Siddhartha believes this very strongly, and feels it is only right that one must gain wisdom for himself. So observed, his life also suggests only a present, and as such, timelessness. The one religious aspect I truly desire to experience is the realization that time is not real. He respects Gotoma and believes that he has actually reached Nirvana, but Siddhartha does not believe that Gotoma can teach him to reach it. Time and timelessness depends entirely upon what the individual in his observation concentrates upon(166). Now it represents a unity in which past, present, and future, all people and their experiences, all aspects of life flow together. Here he sees another wise man, Vaseduva, the ferryman. Yet none of them died, they only changed, were always reborn, continually had a new face: only time stood between one face and anotherą (150). When Siddhartha crosses it, he leaves on one side the Brahmins, the Samanas, the Buddhists-all aspects of the religious and spiritual. The river seemed like a god to him and for many years he did not know that every wind, every cloud, every bird, every beetle is equally divine and knows and can teach just as well as the esteemed river.
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Acceptance Essays
