Reflection About Religion

Their journey as samanas and students in the stages of life leads them to questioning the path that they were following. Although, Siddhartha did learn and become much more knowledgeable after knowing the teachings from the samanas, he didn’t quite agree with their beliefs in retaining enlightenment. "[Siddhartha] is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned from the Samanas. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons...there are no demons...everyone can reach his goal if he can think, wait, and fast." With this new found attitude Siddhartha sets out once again, with many new experiences and lessons waiting ahead for him.

The two boys leave the town to join the Samanas, a group of people who believe that spiritual enlightenment comes with the rejection of body and all other needs. The boys quickly realize that their ideas of the group are very different, Govinda loves the way that improvements that he has gained spiritually and morally. While Siddhartha has yet to reach the spiritual enlightenment that he wishes to achieve. “Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas; he learned many ways of losing the Self. He traveled along the path of self-denial through pain, through voluntary suffering and conquering of pain, through hunger, thirst and fatigue. He traveled the way of self-denial through meditation, through the emptying of the mind through all images. Along these and other paths did he learn to travel. He lost his Self a thousand

In Siddhartha, the main character Siddhartha decides to leave his family, along with his best friend Govinda, in order to seek enlightenment. They travel to the woods to find the Samanas, a group of people who decide to live without property. During the

In the first transition Siddhartha makes, he leaves his Brahmin caste and his father to join the Samanas, a group of people following ascetic values, that were passing by. He believes he can learn something from them

In Confessions, Saint Augustine recounts his infancy, adolescence, and adulthood, which entails a journey from different philosophies, ideologies, and religions. Confessions is considered the first autobiography and is a model for Christian writers into the middle ages. Augustine’s gives anecdotes and uses biblical references to make insightful messages about his sinful youth and mid adulthood. His main struggle is with his search for understanding truth, good, and evil, while being sidetracked by his lust. Eventually, he is able to rise above his desire for sex, breaking the shackles which held him to a life without God.

When he is with the group he is, “ Instructed by the oldest of the Samanas, Siddhartha practiced self-denial and meditation according to the new Samana rules.” (p. 11) This is how Siddhartha began to seek the life he thought he wanted. The Samanas helped guide him into a state of self-denial that allowed

Significance: This displays Siddhartha’s first stage in his development. His life as a Brahman brings him much discontent, which prompts him to follow a path toward enlightenment. In order to dismiss his current state and discover his true inner being, he believes he needs to pursue a life as a Samana. This choice requires him to leave his current life and parents behind in the Brahman community.

St. Augustine’s Confessions is a book written by Augustine about his life. The book goes through his whole life from and important events during it. It is mainly about him and his journey to becoming a Christian. His mother; Monica, is a firm Christian believer while his father; Patrick was a Pagan. Patrick never wanted Augustine to be baptized or raised as a Christian. Augustine grew up to be a “bad boy” who would sin a lot. In book 2 he is a teenager and like every other teenager, he has raging hormones and a sex drive. He has a craving for women and he gets in with a bad group of boys who steal things. Augustine steals a pear only for the thrill of stealing something but eventually he hits rock bottom with

Siddhartha begins his lifelong journey of achieving enlightenment by going to live with the Samanas, the ascetics. During Siddhartha's three years with the Samanas, a group of wandering people who practice strong self-discipline, he realizes that through example by his predecessors that he will never reach Nirvana with

Saint Augustine was one of the most important and well-known theologians in the history of the Christian religion. He was born and raised in Thagaste and died in Hippo. He was a brilliant minded person, until later when he sought for truth and virtue. The book, Confessions tells a story in the form of a long translation with God. Throughout the book, Augustine often experiences darkness, blindness, and confusion while attempting to find rest in God, but he knows that when he eventually finds him, his restless heart will be saved. Since Augustine did not believe any of the philosophical tendencies or Biblical Scriptures, he spent most of his life searching for other types of truths that would resolve his doubts. He went through a dark period

The first book of Confessions by St. Augustine is a recollection of his childhood ranging from his infancy to his days as a young school boy. Throughout this first book, St. Augustine goes in to analyze many aspects of the human being. He describes the human origin, will, desire, memory and language.

At the beginning of the story Siddhartha is learning the way of the Brahmin. Then he realizes that the Brahmins have never actually lived the life they teach. After that Siddhartha decides to start living the way the Brahmins have only talked about by becoming a Samana [wandering ascetics(a person who practices severe self-discipline and abstention) from ancient India]. By taking up this new teaching he gives all his possessions away to the poor until he is only wearing a loin cloth. The first thing he learned was life is pain and all were doomed to decay, so he rid himself of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure, and sorrow.

From the onset of the novel, the character of Siddhartha seeks to leave his old traditions set by his family and society in search of his own path that will provide a good life. Upon leaving his home and family, he immediately defies the societal expectations set forth for him as he is expected to follow in his father’s path and to become a Brahmin. Instead of settling for this expected life, he searches for his own good life leaving his village likely disappointed. In joining the Samanas, Siddhartha and Govinda show their own personal growth and strength in finding their own life paths. However, through each phase in searching for his good life, he must decide to leave one society and its beliefs in trade for another.

When asked the question on my definition of religion, I decided to look at it in a way that goes beyond just my religion. Religion goes much deeper than being something that we just believe in, it is a relationship or a part of a person’s culture. My purpose of religion is something for me to try and understand what my goal in life is, as well as building a relationship with a higher being. Religion gives people that higher being that they can look to for guidance and comfort. I feel that you can also express your culture through religion as well as explain some of the reasons for some of the things that you have done in your life.

During the course of this class, I have learned a lot about different religions. I still have an unprejudiced view of religion. However, I did not suspend my belief to have an understanding of religion. I have been able to learn of other religious beliefs without feeling threatened of my own. I found there are many different practices in other religions, some I agree with and some I do not agree with. I have come to except others, ways of worship without getting upset. I have become humble in my conclusion now that I have a better understanding of others beliefs. The world seems to jump to conclusions and be judgmental about other religions. Postponing ones judgement on a religion is a difficult thing to do. Being raised and taught a certain religion and set of beliefs is distilled in to one’s mind. I, on the other hand, reserved my personal judgement until I have learned more about it.