The Search For Happiness In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

Happiness is an essential goal for most people. From books and expensive classes that teach people how to achieve happiness to the fundamental right of “the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, the importance of happiness is evident in society. This causes the rise to two fundamental questions: “How does one attain happiness?” and “,How does happiness create a meaningful life?” Both happiness and living a meaningful life are achieved simultaneously. The search for happiness and the factors that make it brings meaning to life. Happiness can stem from several factors such as wisdom and knowledge, savoring life and its experiences, and even suffering and pain. Analyzing these factors brings meaning to one’s life.

“Happiness is in the enjoyment of man’s chief good. Two conditions of the chief good: 1st, Nothing is better than it; 2nd, it cannot be lost against the will” (Augustine 264-267). As human

This existence we often call life is something we never chose to experience. Everyone is forced into a cage into a body that is materialized so that there is no chance of escape. Our will is not capable of resisting this unforgiving reality. Strangely, this is exactly what has allowed humans to each formulate their own views on life. By many it is seen as a torturous path of endurance and others as an object that should be cherished and allowed to blossom. People have these thoughts because their experiences have provoked them to think in such a way. Humans go through experiences but very rarely take time to reflect on themselves. Thus we never truly

Here Siddhartha is demonstrating that he is the only one that matters when it comes to thoughts of who he is, and only his opinion of himself matters. Acceptance and the ability to look into himself will lead to that road of happiness. Also, to be minimalistic as to if there is nothing to be needed then it is not. This is something many people should take into consideration as to stay away from being materialistic.

Siddhartha knows that his Self had merged into unity because he listened to the river. When listening to the river, Siddhartha hears all voices of sorrow, laughter, and all of the teachers that he has had. All of the thousand voices merged together into one song and sang perfection- Om. Hesse says, “...the same smile appeared on Siddhartha’s face. His wound was healing, his pain was dispersing; his Self had merged into unity” (Hesse 136). From this excerpt one can interpret that Siddhartha is content and has found peace in his life, the wound that was formed from his son was now gone, and had finally found peace.

According to the brilliant Albert Einstein, “wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” In Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse utilizes the reoccurring theme that knowledge and wisdom are different to show the readers how to actually learn and become more complete in life. This theme is proven at multiple points throughout the novel such as when Siddhartha is young and leaves home, when he meets Gotama and his followers, and when he advises Govinda at the end of his journey.

Feel the love and happiness in life? If not maybe these articles will help: The Essentials to Happiness written by Alexxandra Shuman, Dancing to the music written by Amanda Joseph and Leave the Light on written by Marianne Rogowski. The theme of these articles is Love. These authors use the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos to really persuade ways of living happy. The articles focus on many different ways one can find happiness from within and out all trying to pursued how to live happy and where to find happiness and love in life.

Seeking the Truth to Happiness How does a person define happiness? Herman Hesse shows in his novel, Siddhartha, the finding of his true path through the guidance of many others. The novel portrays that following your own path like Siddhartha does when he leaves home to go live with Samanas, or meeting a mentor such as Buddha is the true key to happiness. Siddhartha first left his family to go live with the Samanas in search of happiness.

The first Noble Truth “Life means suffering” is shown throughout Siddhartha’s journey to reach enlightenment. Siddhartha experiences suffering both physically and mentally. Siddhartha suffers physically when he decides to join the Samanas and must neglect his body in order to eliminate himself. He also experiences suffering when his son does not obey him, and he decides to leave the river and go to the city. For this first Noble Truth, I believe that life is suffering and change, and they are the only constants in life. Both happiness and sadness exist in the world, but you can’t have one and not the other and that’s the reality of human life because it isn’t perfect. Therefore, after reading of Siddhartha’s physical and mental struggles, I felt that I could really relate to them as a college freshman. There are so many temptations surrounding me including drinking and partying, but by partaking in these activities, I won’t feel happy permanently. I may feel happy temporarily and then I will likely suffer after when I have studying or I don’t feel well.

The pursuit of happiness is a timeless and ageless endeavor. Since the beginning of time people have searched far and wide for the source of happiness. Even the greatest minds attempt to discover the basis of all human contentment. The father of philosophy, Socrates, was one of those few that might have unearthed the key to human happiness. His understanding shaped the way that the western world sees pleasure, joy, and happiness. His views on how to obtain them are still alive today.

“Nothing was, nothing will be and everything has reality and presence.” In the novel, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, a young man named Siddhartha starts his journey in life to find his Self and obtain complete nirvana. He makes discoveries about life and finds that life is similar to a river. No one knows which way the river is flowing for certain and it is always changing. In life, we must choose our own path and make the most of the changes that happen to us. In my own journey of life, I have learned a lot of lessons and many things have changed, but I am only just beginning my journey.

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” -- Denis Waitley

Aristotle, one of the greatest philosophers of all time created an idea that happiness is the ultimate end goal. This world renowned philosopher argues that exercising a fulfilling life will lead to happiness. Likewise, happiness is said to be the ultimate end goal of all activities in life. Basically, Aristotle portrays every activity as a subordinate to becoming happy. He argues that being self sufficient, and leading a fulfilling life will create happiness through virtue. A virtuous person is noble and possess the ability to rationalize. In order to be noble one must posses the ability to create equilibrium of the soul. That is, staying within the mean. Similar to the mean, Aristotle depicts

Without happiness, people might not be living their lives the way they yearn to. This is a prominent part of the

It is common sense that all the human beings would like to live a happy life and they will spare no efforts in order to realize the purpose of really living a happy life in the end. However, different people have different definitions toward what a happy life is and they tend to have different standards as for how a life is that can be regarded as a happy life. There is no doubt that people will then try different means in order to pursue a happy life based on their definition toward what a happy life is. Therefore, the following will talk about the pursuit of a happy life from the perspectives of both Dalai Lama in The Art of Happiness and Viktor E. Frankl in Man’s Searching for Meaning, during which the experiences of some characters from the film Forrest Gump will be applied as evidence. Generally speaking, the pursuit of a happy life in the minds of Dalai Lama and Viktor E. Frankl can be achieved via experiencing sufferings and adversity. It is hoped that this analysis can help people understand what a happy is from a different point of view.