1. If I were to take a survey, I would guess that nine out of ten people would consider themselves a good listener. If I asked you what percentage of people you know are really good listeners, I think you would say fewer than nine out of ten.
If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
2. Siddhartha finds the ferryman a good listener. What makes him a good listener?
3. Siddhartha is taught by the river that time does not exist. Can you put into words how this could possibly be true?
4. Why would the knowledge that time does not exist cause Siddhartha to feel ecstatic, "blissful"?
5. Vasadevu the ferryman says that "the voices of all creatures are in [the river's] voice. Can you put into words what he means?
6. Also, when all the voices speak at once, the voices say "om." Can you put into words what he means?
7. Find a sentence that you like or that is helpful to you in understanding the reading and explain.
If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
2. Siddhartha finds the ferryman a good listener. What makes him a good listener?
3. Siddhartha is taught by the river that time does not exist. Can you put into words how this could possibly be true?
4. Why would the knowledge that time does not exist cause Siddhartha to feel ecstatic, "blissful"?
5. Vasadevu the ferryman says that "the voices of all creatures are in [the river's] voice. Can you put into words what he means?
6. Also, when all the voices speak at once, the voices say "om." Can you put into words what he means?
7. Find a sentence that you like or that is helpful to you in understanding the reading and explain.
13 comments:
Heather Rhee
Q2
A
"I also thank you Vasudeva for listening to me so well!"
Siddhartha and the ferryman had a long conversation until night. During the conversation, Siddhartha thinks that ferryman is a very good listener.
Vasudeva, the ferryman, had listened to Siddhartha in a very attentive manner. He absorbed and learned everything while he was listening and felt every feelings from Siddhartha. This quailty of Vasudeva made Siddhartha happy. Siddhartha even asks the ferryman to teach him.
"It was from the river that taught me how to listen"
This was the answer from the ferryman. At first, it was hard for me to understand this answer. How can a river teach a person? Siddhartha felt the same but after he learned some technics, such as handling the boat, from the ferryman, he starts to learn from the river. While he was learning the technics he learend how to listen with a silent, open, waiting soul.
Thus, a short answer for this question can be 'the river'
Yeena Sung
1. If I were to take a survey, I would guess that nine out of ten people would consider themselves a good listener. If I asked you what percentage of people you know are really good listeners, I think you would say fewer than nine out of ten.
If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
I agree with the statement above that there are less that nine out of ten who are really good listeners. Including myself, most of the people think that their experience and their life is more interesting that other people, so they like to talk about themselves or talk about their life. So, they don't try to listen to others but instead tries to get people interested to their story. I believe that it is a great privilege to be able to listen well to others because then, you get to hear other people's story and learn about different people more than the people who only talks.
3. Siddhartha is taught by the river that time does not exist. Can you put into words how this could possibly be true?
On page 94 Siddhartha is explaining himself. He says, "...the river is everywhere at once, at its source and at its mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once, and only the present exists for it, and not the shadow of the future?"
He means that because the river is ever-flowing somewhere but it already everywhere, it has nowhere to go and everywhere to go. It doesn't matter if a second or an hour should pass because it is already where it is and where it is going at any time.
Sang Eun
5. Vasadevu the ferryman says that "the voices of all creatures are in [the river's] voice. Can you put into words what he means?
And once again, when the rive swelled in the rainy season and was roaring mightily, Siddhartha said: "Is it not true, O friend, that the river has many voices, very many voices. Does it not have the voice of a king, and of a warrior, and of a bull, and of a night bird, and of a woman giving birth, and of sighing man, and a thousand other voices?"
Vasudeva means that river has the present moment everytime in everywhere. It is keep flowing and only the present exists, not the shadow of the future. Also, river has various characteristics inside itself. From time to time, it changes its appearance and sounds. I think that Vasudeva is trying to refer the river as the model of the truth he is trying to explain.
1. If I were to take a survey, I would guess that nine out of ten people would consider themselves a good listener. If I asked you what percentage of people you know are really good listeners, I think you would say fewer than nine out of ten.
If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
I would agree with the statement above that less than 9 out of 10 people I know are good listeners. Although I love each an everyone of the people I know, I feel they have this sort of ego that entitles themselves to talk about their life stories. Although they will briefly listen to my interesting facts, they want to interrupt, not listen and tell their own stories. It seems to me that I'm the one who listens and they talk. Now this isn't a bad thing, they might not even know that they are doing it. In fact they probably see it as entertainment or a source of conversation, but they like to revolve things around them all the time. Also this environment that we all live in now and the "context" of our world entitles us all to be leaders and independent of each other. I think this is what makes us the ones who want to talk and not listen. Also, the context of my specific world is theater. The types of people I know are very outgoing and tend to want to be the center of attention as they do the same as on stage.
1. If I were to take a survey, I would guess that nine out of ten people would consider themselves a good listener. If I asked you what percentage of people you know are really good listeners, I think you would say fewer than nine out of ten.
If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
I agree with this statement. I think most would say they were good listeners because they are constantly aware of themselves listening and hearing things whether people think they pay attention or not people are constantly being talked to and therfor think that means they are realy paying attention and being conciouse of the other's words.
1. If I were to take a survey, I would guess that nine out of ten people would consider themselves a good listener. If I asked you what percentage of people you know are really good listeners, I think you would say fewer than nine out of ten.If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
I agree with the above statement that most people listen in class but only a few truly listen well. I would explain this that most people generally listen to everything that is going on around them, but only a few are really paying attention. An example would be that a student could be "listening" to the teachers conversation, but at the same time could be doing homework, singing a song in their head, or thinking about what they are going to eat at lunch. They were listening but they were not comprhending or paying attention. I believe when someone is fully engaged in the conversation or what the teacher is saying, and they are truly concentrated on nothing but what they are taliking about, I believe that is when someone is being a good listener. And this listener could remember specific details about the conversation they had just listened to and they can reflect back on it and use it as a reference.
2. Siddhartha finds the ferryman a good listener. What makes him a good listener?
The ferryman learned from the river how to listen with a silent heart, with a waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgment, without opinion.
Ka Yeon Nam
Question2
Siddhartha finds the ferryman a good listener. What makes him a good listener?
"Without a word from Vasudevam, the speaker felt that the ferryman took in his words, silent, open, waiting, missing none, impatent for none, neither praising nor blaming, but only listening. Siddhartha felt what happiness it is to unburden himself to such a listener, to sink his own life into this listener's heart, his own seeking, his own suffering."
When Siddhartha tells his story, the ferryman listens, without interupting nor commenting, he just litens. The way he listens makes Siddhartha want to tell the story more and it made him happy that there was a person who could listen and feel his pain and his experience that he had. I think his stillness and his attension towards the speaker makes him a good listener.
1. If I were to take a survey, I would guess that nine out of ten people would consider themselves a good listener. If I asked you what percentage of people you know are really good listeners, I think you would say fewer than nine out of ten.
If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
I agree with this statement completely. Many people hear but do not listen, by this I mean that they hear the words coming out of your mouth and conjure up a response but do not feel your feelings. They do not have an "open soul" to what you are saying. They are not even filtering it, just "in one ear and out the other." In theater one right now Naomi keeps telling us to "listen to your partner!" I think it is so hard for us just to list and be focused on them because we're so focused on ourselves all the time.
Sung Kun Kim
3. Siddhartha is taught by the river that time does not exist. Can you put into words how this could possibly be true?
" Is this what you mean: that the river is everywhere at once, at its source and at its mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once, and only the present exists for it, and not the shadow of the future?"
- When Siddhartha crosses the river with the ferryman, he thinks about what the river might have taught the ferryman besides the ability to listen. Then Siddhartha asks if the river taught the ferryman that time does not exist. In a sense time could not really exist as Siddhartha says. He says that his past, present, future is divided only by shadow, not by substance. That everything just has being and is present. This could also mean that there is nothing chosen. The future is how we do in the present. In a sense like this, time could not exist as it says in this book.
Answer to #4
"Oh, were not all sufferings time? Were not all fear and self-torment time..."
The realization that time does not exist is a very happy, "blissful" epiphany for Siddhartha. I suppose that it means that he is now free from all sufferings, or perhaps it means that all along, his sufferings have been self-imposed. Some of the information seems to contradict itself. For example, if he is happy that time does not exist, meaning that suffering does not exist, why is he happy? If that is he case, that means that suffering is "self-caused", which would be an even greater obstacle to overcome. It doesn't make logical sense, at this point.
1. If I were to take a survey, I would guess that nine out of ten people would consider themselves a good listener. If I asked you what percentage of people you know are really good listeners, I think you would say fewer than nine out of ten.
If you agree with the above, how would you explain it? If you disagree, explain why.
I agree that not a lot of people are a good listeners. Even I, myself is not a good listener. I think to be a good listener, you have to be able to constraint well, able to think a lot, and has to be able to be open-minded. It takes a lot to do all these works and you have to be good at these in order to be a good listener. Although sometimes, there are people who can listen a lot, it doesn't mean that they could listen "well". I think talking is much easier than listening to some people and for some people it might be easier to listen so, it depends on the personalities of that person. But, I still agree with the statement that there are small amount of listeners and talkers.
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