Siddhartha

1. When is Siddhartha most attentive to the natural environment around him? When is he least attentive? Now think about is spiritual awakenings. Do the two mesh in any way?

The main characters in Siddhartha are able to attain enlightenment by developing and refining their relationships with nature. The natural world also represents a middle road between asceticism (which is all about depriving yourself so you’re barely conscious, much less being able to appreciate nature), and the material world (which is all about seeking as much pleasure as possible). By paying attention to the natural world, both Siddhartha and Vasudeva are able to see the unity of life and attain enlightenment.

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I think when he has to decide something or let something go, he notices the natural world around him. Check out this quote from Chapter 4,

"He looked around, as if he was seeing the world for the first time. Beautiful was the world, colorful was the world, strange and mysterious was the world! ...Blue was blue, river was river, and if also in the blue and the river, in Siddhartha, the singular and divine lived hidden, so it was still that very divinity's way and purpose, to be here yellow, here blue, there sky, there forest, and here Siddhartha. The purpose and the essential properties were not somewhere behind the things, they were in them, in everything. "

As Siddhartha lets go of the material world of desire, nature's truth becomes visible to him like never before. It's like the 3D version of The Avengers!