Lit: Achieve what you are looking for Siddhartha and Nirvana. The River speaks to you on the Road.
- Josh Jones
- Mar 10, 2022
- 6 min read
I must find balance, not all blogs need to be 10,000 words. Be less verbose and get to the point to move forward, but don’t rush so much that you miss the lesson.
I used to go up to the roof of my apartment on the 13th floor and it was dark regardless of the time day or night. Now I go up there and appreciate the beauty of my opportunity in this world. Thank you Joel Rose, I have found some enlightenment in my life, and in Siddhartha more wisdom. Took me a while to read it all, but I started processing the message instantly. I hope all can find their own enlightenment. Some.
Siddhartha was written by Hermann Hesse in 1922. 100 years old, the centennial of that wisdom. The Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, was born around 2,500 years ago in Nepal and his teachings, understanding of the world around him make up the foundations of Buddhism. I am not religious or a Buddhist, but maybe that will change in time. Some.
Siddhartha is the tale of one man’s journey to find enlightenment, in darkness there is light:
I had to experience despair, I had to sink to the greatest mental depths, to thoughts of suicide, in order to experience grace
The journey of self-discovery and the human spirit. Start with the breakdown of the title, which comes from two words as I so learned from Wikipedia and the Sanskrit language:
Siddha – achieved
Artha – what was searched for
And pulling those two words Siddha + Artha together you get to the point: he who has found meaning or he who has attained his goals. The story of the Buddha who leaves home to find spiritual illumination from a wandering journey, just like the one we are all on, the one I am on. I have found my meaning and learning, or at least I am on that path finally. Through pain, attentiveness, introspection and meditation you can find all you need. But you can’t find it all in a book or a movie, experience matters along with the reflection of those experiences, very important. Your path is one of growth and learning no matter how hard it may seem to forge onward, you must continue on. And the wisdom you find comes not from a teacher, but the lessons of the experience and cognition.
There is a river speaking to us all, but we must listen carefully and process the whispers. Like a flowing river, nothing stays the same. The river was a big part of Siddhartha's path to enlightenment. I listen to the ocean regularly with the same hope. The tides and rivers in constant motion, change, that is Annica or impermanence. That theme of everchanging life, that is also something I heard from Joe Paterno the legendary football coach at Penn State University. JoePa said it so simply, “Every day, you get better or you get worse. Every day, what is it going to be today? Nothing stays the same.” I still hear his scratchy yet powerful voice and those glasses like yesterday. The way he rolled his pants up, had that disheveled hair, he was deteriorating by the time I was there but still such a presence. That quote, there’s something special there - which way am I going to go, after getting worse for so many days and years, I have gotten better recently. But that guarantees nothing, that means nothing if I don’t continue to move towards better, actively working towards a positive future.
We are always changing and we must accept that fact to learn and grow. The cycle of life, death and rebirth called samsara. We all go through physical and emotional pain, dukkha is the idea in Buddhism that we must understand and accept that suffering exists, that is vital. And asking the most important question in the world is how we can end suffering and find enlightenment, we have to ask: WHY? All credit goes to Cheslie Kryst, the late Miss USA 2019, for that understanding:
“I discovered that the world’s most important question, especially when asked repeatedly and answered frankly, is: why?,” Kryst wrote of her change in thinking.
“Why work so hard to capture the dreams I’ve been taught by society to want when I continue to only find emptiness?”
I wish that Cheslie could have found enlightenment and balance, looked within instead of outside to the external world and pressures to find meaning and purpose, understanding. We lost her to suicide earlier this year and its another in a long list of the tragedies of mental health.
Ride in your chariot, as you have so much more than a collection of parts. The person exists because all those parts together make something more, the wheels, the axle, the rope come together and can take you on the most important journey of your life, the wheel of life. And stay in the middle of the road, for the ends of the spectrum are dangerous whether you are considering luxury vs. poverty, light vs. darkness, find balance.
Process the four noble truths of Buddha:
Dukkha – the truth of suffering - accept that life is not perfect and that suffering is a natural part of it all
Samudaya – the truth of the origin of suffering - know that things in life are meant to cause suffering and that is necessary
Nirodha – the truth at the end of suffering - we must detach ourselves from desires and cravings, we have to find balance
Magga – the truth of the path to end suffering - your suffering will end and you must always believe that
The Buddha taught that the Noble Eightfold Path (magga), the fourth Noble Truth is the way to end suffering – that is possible, you can accept it first, learn from it and then end the suffering. Know that you have the ability to end the suffering and blow out the poison like a candle – those three poisons of greed, hatred and ignorance. All three are part of human suffering and we have to break free of the destruction they cause and focus on the lessons they can teach.
When I see illumination and enlightenment I go to a common term and theme for myself – the balance between light and darkness and I land on light. I used to love to get lit, to escape reality and slow down the dark thoughts, to rest in another universe, but now I think of lit in a totally different manner.
Although light’s past participle has been used in American slang to indicate inebriation as early as 1899—and in rap music as early as 1997—the rapper Travis Scott’s “lit” took on a deeper meaning. “It’s lit,” “It’s litty,” and even just “lit” came to communicate a profoundly positive excitement beyond substance abuse. Calling something “lit” attributes the referent with a fiery, magnetic energy, and it soon became the highest compliment one could give a party, a show, or even a meal.
Be lit. Find your nibbana and end your suffering. And then some Nirvanna never hurt either, maybe even a little Lithium. Our will is good, we are not going to crack. We will listen to the wisdom in the river, we will travel the road and find what we seek.
Music is the most divine therapy on earth.
Lyrics to the song Lithium from Nirvana and their epic album Nevermind, 1991. Lithium is the song about mental illness, finding balance and the struggle with the swings on the edges of our mood and reality, if only Cobain could have found balance. Hopefully I am not finding Buddhism or religion as a last resort to stay alive as Cobain explained about the song. He also provided many alternate meanings of the song and that is also telling. Some.
I'm so happy 'cause today I found my friends They're in my head I'm so ugly, that's okay, 'cause so are you Broke our mirrors Sunday morning is everyday, for all I care And I'm not scared Light my candles in a daze 'Cause I've found God
Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm so lonely, that's okay, I shaved my head And I'm not sad And just maybe I'm to blame for all I've heard But I'm not sure I'm so excited, I can't wait to meet you there And I don't care I'm so horny, that's okay My will is good
Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah
I like it, I'm not gonna crack I miss you, I'm not gonna crack I love you, I'm not gonna crack I killed you, I'm not gonna crack I like it, I'm not gonna crack I miss you, I'm not gonna crack I love you, I'm not gonna crack I killed you, I'm not gonna crack
And the song Rivers and Roads from the band The Head and the Heart, their 2010 album:
A year from now, we'll all be gone All our friends will move away And they're goin' to better places But our friends will be gone away
Nothin' is as it has been And I miss your face like hell And I guess it's just as well But I miss your face like hell
Been talkin' 'bout the way things change And my family lives in a different state If you don't know what to make of this Then we will not relate So if you don't know what to make of this Then we will not relate
Rivers and roads Rivers and roads Rivers 'til I reach you
Ok so there is some brevity. Some.
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