To start off this reaction paper, I am going to list the books I have read and the YouTube video I have watched to form this reaction paper. The first part of this paper will be about my reaction to Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. The second part of this paper will be about my reaction to the YouTube video titled, “Letting Go of God” by Julia Sweeney. The final part of this paper will be about my reaction to Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt.
I would like to mention that there are no “chapter” numbers in Siddhartha which is the book I am going to be writing about first. Instead, there are titles before the beginning of each part of this book. So, the first title is Son of the Brahman. For the first portion of this paper, I will be italicizing the titles since there are no “chapters” in this book.
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Finally, in the instructions for this paper, it says “You may concentrate on one of two of three books you read. Just mention why you chose to concentrate on a particular book and what others you read.” I have chosen to concentrate on the YouTube video that is part of the list, Letting Go of God by Julia Sweeney. I have chosen to concentrate on this because throughout her video, I was able to point out some things that she mentioned in her video that I can actually relate to because some of the things that she mentions in this video, I can relate it to real life experiences. Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy this paper as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Part 1: Siddhartha
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse tells the reader about the spiritual discovery of Siddhartha. The first thing I learned while reading this book was that Siddhartha grew up in a house directly located under a fig tree in a sal wood forest. On page 1 of “The Son of the Brahman” of Siddhartha, it states, “In the shade of the house, in the sunlight on the riverbank where the boats were moored, in the shade of the sal wood forest and the shade of the fig tree, the boy named Siddhartha grew up” (Hesse 1). After reading page 2 of “Son of the Brahman”, I learned that Siddhartha began the path to enlightenment at a young age because it states, “Siddhartha has been getting involved in the many discussions of the wise men, taking part in debate with Govinda, and practicing with Govinda in reflection meditation” (Hesse 2).
One of many things I enjoyed about this book is how Siddhartha was always willing to help people in. In the section, “With the Samanas” it states, “Siddhartha gave his robe to a poor Brahman on the road” (Hesse 13). Throughout this text, it seems as if Siddhartha is always lending a hand to the poor in order to find the path to enlightenment without any sort of hesitation.
On page 38 of “Awakening” is when the book “touched” me with happiness and sadness. This is when I learn that Siddhartha left his family and friends behind. On page 38 of “Awakening” it states, “When Siddhartha left the grove, where the Buddha, the perfected one, stayed behind, where Govinda stayed behind, then he felt that the grove in which he grew up also stayed behind and separated” (Hesse 38). I felt like he should’ve taken somebody with him onto the path because the world is a crazy place, and anything can happen, but I do understand why he left everyone that he knew behind and ventured off on his own.
On page 58 of “Kamala”, Siddhartha asks Kamala, “I have the ability of writing poetry, would you like to give me a kiss for a poem?” (Hesse 58). This part of Siddhartha has surprised because I never imaged in Siddhartha writing poetry and I did not imagine Siddhartha asking Kamala for a kiss in return for a poem because I did not know that Siddhartha liked Kamala that way.
On page 91 of “By the River” of Siddhartha, I truly enjoyed when Govinda and Siddhartha have been reunited once again, even though Govinda did not recognize him until Siddhartha said, “I know you, Govinda, from your father’s home, and from the school of the Brahmans and from the offerings, and from our walk to the Samanas” (Hesse 91). Once Siddhartha left the grove, I felt sadness because of all Siddhartha left behind, but it brings me happiness knowing that Siddhartha and Govinda have been reunited.
To close this portion of the paper, I have learned a lot of information from Siddhartha and there was a good amount of information that I was able to relate to the information we learned in class. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about Siddhartha and the spiritual self-discovery of himself.
Part 2: Letting Go of God (YouTube video)
To continue this paper, I have decided to watch the YouTube video titled “Letting Go of God” by Julia Sweeney. In this part of the paper, I am going to be writing about what I enjoyed, what I was confused about, the affects it had on me, and how it increased my knowledge. This video is about a person’s comedic and dramatic view about losing one’s religion which in this video that would be Julia’s and the religion that will be involved in this video is Catholicism.
Approximately 3 minutes and 8 seconds into this video, I was confused to an extent because she started talking about Santa Claus and that if people are good he will bring presents because I was unsure as to how Santa relates to this video as Santa does not relate to God., she busted out saying, “There is no Santa Claus” (Sweeney, 00:03:08 – 00:05:38).
14 minutes into this video, she said to the audience, “God made woman better than men and woman are less violent, better to cooperate, and adapt better to things” (Sweeney, 00:14:00 – 00:14:30). I am not offended by what she had to say because everyone has a right to voicing their own opinion. I appreciate learning about her opinion and what she has to say because I enjoy when people are completely straightforward with topics regarding woman.
One of many things that I took away from this was at the 26 minutes and 15 second mark of this video. She informed the audience by stating, “Adam and Eve were born at the same time” (Sweeney, 00:26:15 – 00:26:30). This is something that probably shocks most people because I never knew that Adam and Eve were born at the same time, but that is what this paper is for.
I started thinking to myself at the 38 minutes and 47 seconds mark of this video because of what happened. At this point of the video, she is using examples from the Bible to prove how aggressive Jesus is. In the video, she used Luke 21 as an example, “Anyone who does not recognize me, bring them in front of me and slaughter them” (Sweeney, 00:38:47 – 00:38:50). Another example that she used to back up her statement is from John 15, “Jesus said anyone who does not believe in me is like a withered branch that will be cast into the fire and burn” (Sweeney, 00:38:55 – 00:39:02). This is something that I enjoyed, but after I heard this I started to wonder if Jesus is welcoming to all people.
Coming from someone who is Catholic and never read the Bible, I always thought Jesus was welcoming with open arms to all people. Since she mentioned her original statement in the video about how aggressive Jesus was and then backed it up with proof from the Bible, I questioned if Jesus is truly welcoming, caring, and loving towards all who pass through the gates of heaven (if there is a heaven).
At the 1 hour 30 minutes and 12 seconds mark of this video, Julia said something that I can relate to with my real-life experiences, she started saying, “God did not create us because we created him. Julia stated, “Everything I have done has a common denominator and truly accepting with what is true and what I wished was true” (Sweeney, 01:30:12 – 01:30:40). Whenever I heard Julia say that in this video, I paused the video and said to myself finally someone agrees with me about this.
Something that I absolutely disliked happened when Julia said, “My parents got up and went out to get their morning paper and there I was in the back of the front section a big picture of me with bold letters Sweeney loses her religion and the first two sentences of the article were Julia Sweeney came out of the closet as an atheist” (Sweeney, 1:45:16 – 1:45:33). At the 1 hour 45 minutes and 45 second mark in this portion of the video she said, “The first call I got was from my mother and it was mainly her screaming atheist then my father got on the phone and said you betrayed your family” (Sweeney, 01:45:45 – 01:45:51).
I disliked that part because not only should the public media announce that to the world about someone’s religion like that while saying “came out of the closet” but my belief is that her parents should accept her for religious perspective instead of screaming at her phone and making her feel betrayed. What her mother and father told Julia on the phone, almost put me in tears because of her parents not accepting Julia for who she is.
To conclude this portion of the reaction paper, I must say that this video has changed my view on many religious aspects in so many ways. I can relate 85% of the topics she discussed in the video. There were topics I liked, disliked, that affected me emotionally, and topics that I learned from this two-hour film. I highly recommend this film to anyone who is interested in learning about how someone went from being a Catholic to an Atheist.
Part 3: Black Elk Speaks
For this final section of the paper, I will be writing about my reaction to the final book I have read, Black Elk Speaks. Black Elk Speaks is a marvelous book that I recommend to anyone. This book holds the purpose of telling a story about a Lakota visionary and healer, Nicholas Black Elk. When deciding about what book I should read to officially end this paper, I wanted to end it with a powerful book and after reading what the rest of the books on the list were about, I decided to pick Black Elk Speaks.
On page 52 of Chapter 6 I reacted in a positive way when Black Elk said,“You know, in the old days, it was not so very easy to get a girl when you wanted to get married” (Neihardt 52). because it’s still not easy to find two people are dedicated to the relationship to get married. It is nice to know that getting married today is as difficult as getting married in the nineteenth century.
On page 70 of chapter 8, I had mixed feelings because Black Elk says, “My aunt, who was living at the Soldiers’ Town, must have felt the way we did, because when we were breaking camp she gave me a six-shooter like the soldiers had, and told me I was a man now” (Neihardt 70). I had mixed feelings about this because I believe that there is no need to be carrying a firearm around without a purpose unless he only uses it to defend himself.
Something that bothered me was on page 86 of chapter 9. In this section, his Uncle told him, “When you have eaten, you must go to the horses right away something might happen” (Neihardt 86). This bothered me because as soon I read that line, I became hostile and immediately thought to myself, if something did happen, how would he know it happened? Is he a part of the attack or is he just being cautious? As I continued reading, it said on the same page, “Before I finished eating there was an excitement outside, then I heard our crier saying that the chargers were coming” (Neihardt 86). I questioned myself how his uncle was able to guess that something like this way going to happen or if he was just being cautious.
At the end of page 109 of chapter 11, I became rather upset. In this section, Black Elk says, “Crazy Horse was dead, he was brave and good and wise he never wanted anything but to save his people, and he fought the Wasichus only when they came to kill us in our own country” (Neihardt 109). This section upset me because not only did I enjoy Crazy Horse’s presence in this book, but I do believe that he did not deserve to die because of all that he has done.
On page 150 of chapter 17, I have reacted in a positive way because I have learned something that I did not know from the Indians. In this section, it states, “The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance” (Neihardt 150). I liked this section of chapter 17 because I did not know how the Indians treated each Cardinal direction.
On page 157 of chapter 18, I have learned something that I did not know. In this section, Black Elk says, “A men who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after he has performed the vision on earth for the people to see” (Neihardt 157). Believe it or not, I did not know that there was a “power” in a vision of any sort. I found this section of the book to be interesting because I learned something that I did not know about.
To close the final portion of this paper, I must say that I truly enjoyed reading this book and there were times where I learned, liked, disliked and even got emotional. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the story of Nicholas Black Elk and his people during the nineteenth century. There is so much information that I have learned from this book that I did not know prior to reading Black Elk Speaks.
Conclusion
I have learned so much information by reading Siddhartha and learning about his spiritual self-discovery. I have also learned a great deal of information from the YouTube video, Letting Go of God and Julia Sweeney’s transition from Catholicism to Atheism. Finally, I have also learned a handful of information from Black Elk Speaks about the life story of Nicholas Black Elk and his people. In closing, I hope you truly enjoyed reading this paper on my reaction as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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