Advice

Dear Advice Columnist,

I need advice for my friend Siddhartha. He has searched out to find him true self but has not done so yet and I feel has become side tracked along the way. He was a brahmin, then became a semana, then went on to follow the Buddha and finally set out to be free. His goals started out to be free from suffering, attain nirvana, and detatch from himself. He wanted to go beyond the 5 senses and see what else life had to offer. Siddhartha had a desire to look beyond what was just layed out in front of him and go beyond the obvious.

Siddhartha changed as he grew older. He became obsessed with the rich and stood alone with no one and felt loneliness. He became mean and mocked people because they had the power to love and he didn't. Hesse quotes Siddhartha, "He envied them the one thing that he lacked and that they had: the sense of importance with which they lived their lives, the depth of their pleasures and sorrows, the anxious but sweet happiness of their continual power to love." (Hesse 77) He felt that he no longer had a place in the world and that something within him had ceased.

Please give me your best advice so I can help my friend.

Sincerely, Bobo



Dear Bobo,

This topic is hard to give advice on. Siddhartha is at a point that everyone reaches in their life. It may not be as in depth as Siddhartha has reached but some point a long the way one will feel confused and out of place. Siddhartha has to get past this phase and once he does, he will go back to his goal and what he was set out do to. I believe he is a intelligent man and will continue to go far reguardless of this little phase that he is currently in. If anything try to spend some time around him so he might feel less lonely. Care for him like a dear friend would and make sure to be very patient with him. Soon it will pass over him and he will be back to him normal self and realize what he has done and what he needs to change.

Hope everything works out great and you guys continue to be good friends.

Sincerely, Advice Columnist