on seeking
an excerpt from siddhartha again:
Siddhartha said: "What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find."
"How is that?" asked Govinda.
"When someone is seeking," said Siddhartha, "it happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal. You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose."
5 comments:
if u liked siddhartha, i would also recommend narcissus and goldmund.
absolutely! i second that recommendation, superb read!
ask and it shall be given to you :)
why would all this not be applicable when someone's seeking/looking for/trying to attain, etc, enlightenment?
can an argument be made in the same vein, then?
adu/aa: thank you for the suggestions. i think i shall read it. right away, if i can get my hands on it :).
nishant: it does apply for someone who seeks enlightenment. in fact, that is the context here. the point, i think, he tries to make is that when we seek, we shouldn't go in with certain pre-conceived notions. the truth we are seeking may not be in the form of a teaching or a lecture (as is the context here, from the book). this is why some people say that to realize god, one must negate every other concept that is known. that only when one is able to move beyond the realm of the 'knowable' is one *one* with god.
does that make sense?
Post a Comment