Scottsdale Preparatory Academy

Who We Are and Who We Are Not:

Practical Ethics and Their Application in the Modern World: Moral Reasoning and

the Human Paradox of Self Preservation, in Relationship to the Social Contract; a

Treatise on the Value of Universal and Mutually Beneficial Ethical Responses, as

Displayed in Everyday Interactions.

Tyler Bryant

Andrea Loftis

1 March 2021
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Life is full of suffering; this is a fact humans are steeped in. Naturally, attempting to

relieve this suffering is the end of much of human action. A name is ascribed to those who have

achieved this end, not only the alleviation but the complete transcendence of suffering:

enlightened. Enlightenment—blissful and individual—is the complete removal of oneself from

death, suffering, and desire. The understanding of enlightenment as well as its perusal is

paramount to overcoming suffering and meaninglessness. Truth is the only tool by which one

attains enlightenment. In Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha Siddhartha seeks Brahmā. Brahmā is a sort

of ultimate reality, a realm of ultimate Truth. He wants to know ultimate Truth. Atman is similar

to Brahmā but instead of external Truth it is internal Truth. Siddhartha seeks in many different

places for Truth first in hinduism, then in asceitism and then in lust and worldly desires. He

ultimately attains enlightenment through the understanding of two truths: the candid beauty of

reality and the falsity of separation. Sydney Carton is a English lawyer who gets caught in the

midst of the French revolution. His life is filled with suffering, the cause of which is his lack of

purpose. He finds his purpose, however, in sacrificing his life for Lucie Manette.

Enlightenment is an individual process in the following ways. The first way in which

enlightenment is individual is that it cannot be reached by means of teaching alone. Siddhartha is

taught by many along his path to enlightenment. His primary guide is Vasudeva, a ferryman.

Vasudeva teaches Siddhartha many things that undoubtedly assist Siddhartha in attaining his

enlightenment but ultimately it originates within himself. The utility of Vasudeva’s teaching lies

in the teachings' relationship to Siddhartha. Vasudeva’s tutorship does not inform Siddhartha on

the exact steps he should take to accomplish self-actualization. Vasudeva teaches Siddhartha to

listen and to observe. He does not teach anything to Siddhartha that Siddhartha could not have

discovered himself; and so acts not as a means to enlightenment but as a guide to it. Vasudeva
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does not hand Siddhartha a tool, he just reminds Siddhartha of one that he already possesses. One

always has the ability to contemplate what one observes and it can be a boon to be reminded of

this fact. It is impossible, however, to be taught to do what one can already accomplish.

Enlightenment is also individual because it cannot be forced upon others. Siddhartha’s

son is an example of this fact. While raising him Siddhartha is nothing but kind to his son and yet

his son is greatly unhappy, constantly lashing out at his father. Siddhartha believes that his

persistence in trying to help his son will lead his son to happiness but it only pushes him further

away. His son tells him “to spite you, I’d rather be a highwayman and murderer and go to hell”

(Hesse 108). Vasudeva when he hears this from Siddhartha explains that his son is “seeking the

path to town, and he is right”. He is “doing what [Siddhartha] [him]self has failed to do. He is

taking care of himself” (109). Siddhartha’s son is right because enlightenment is individual. By

attempting to guide his son to the path of enlightenment, he not only hinders his son’s happiness

but also his own. The realization that Siddhartha needs to come to is that he can never be a

means to enlightenment for his son. His son’s enlightenment requires his son's agency and by

continuing to try to teach his son the way to enlightenment, he is neglecting to take care of

himself as well. He cannot force his son to be happy if his son does not want to be.

Enlightenment is individual in the sense that it is relative to the self. The enlightenment

that Sydney Carton attains at the end of A Tale of Two Cities seems to look nothing like that

supreme happiness that Siddhartha experiences. How can one man’s sacrifice be just as blissful

as finding universal perfection—known as Brahmā? Sydney Carton states just before his death

that “It’s a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done”(Dickens 361). Depending on

whether or not enlightenment is understood as relative, Sydney’s sacrifice takes on two very

different meanings. In the latter case—if enlightenment is not relative—his sacrifice would be
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less significant because it is not of the same caliber as Siddhartha’s discovery since Siddhartha

seems to discover something more fundamental to the universe than Sydney. It would follow that

because the sacrifice of Sydney is not equivalent in scale, his best will never be as good as that of

another. However, in both cases, that of Sydney and that of Siddhartha, they are described as

blissful. Sydney is described as the “peacefullest man...ever beheld” (Dickens 361) at the

executions and Siddhartha is described as “smiling, smiling softly and quietly, perhaps very

gently, perhaps very mockingly—just as he”, the buddha Gautama, “had smiled, the Sublime

One” (Hesse 132). These two descriptions portray the same level of bliss. If Enlightenment is

then in fact relative, then Sydney’s sacrifice is just as meaningful and important as Siddhartha’s

finding of Brahmā. Both Sydney and Siddhartha arrive at fundamental truths but the specific

truths that they realize are relative to their attainment of enlightenment.

Enlightenment frees one from death. Sydney’s last words as well as his repetition of the

mantra allude to what freedom from death means: “I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the

Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and

believeth in me shall never die”(Dickens 360). While this quote pertains to a life after death it

can hold significance for those still alive. This significance involves living in the Lord. The

primary idea that the Lord represents to Sydney is forgiveness for his idleness. Sydney

experiences immense pain because he believes that his life has been a waste. He mumbles to

himself drunkenly: “A good reason for talking to a man, that he shows you what you have fallen

away from”(81). Sydney believes that he has fallen, that he has thrown away his life. As a result,

his fear of dying without having attained meaning or purpose is made more cogent and

threatening. The forgiveness that the Lord represents for Sydney serves to alleviate his pain,

communicating not only forgiveness in the eyes of the Lord, but forgiveness for himself. This
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forgiveness not only serves to alleviate Sydney’s pain but also to lead him to a greater truth

about the meaning of his existence—his sacrifice for Lucie. Having found his purpose Sydney is

able to live through the forgiveness that the Lord represents to him and comforted in this

forgiveness he is able to free himself from the fear of Death.

Enlightenment frees one from suffering. Sydney Carton leads a life full of immense

suffering. This suffering is caused by several factors: his environment, his friend, his lack of care

for himself, and many others. While some of these factors may be the fault of Sydney, it is

certainly true that many of them are out of the realm of his control. It seems that only in his final

days of being alive does this suffering become lighter. He is able to find the strength to console

another person despite him being in the same situation (Dickens 359). This is not a result of his

quality of life becoming better, in fact, they seem to worsen near the end of his life because he is

killed at the hands of a mob. Sydney has discovered something or come to some understanding

and it is possible to see this understanding come to a head in his final moments. He states “it is a

better rest that I go to than I have ever known”(Dickens 361). His suffering is ending because his

life is ending, but this is not the only reason. Sydney has found meaning and purpose for his life,

he has found the pinnacle of himself—his sacrifice for Lucie and her loved ones. This realization

frees Sydney entirely from the bonds of suffering not only because he is about to die but because

he has a purpose and fulfills it.

Enlightenment frees one from desire. While on his path to enlightenment Siddhartha is

continually driven by his desire to find Brahmā and experience ego death. Ego death is the state

in which one has escaped the self to find some greater reality. Siddhartha’s drive serves as a

motivation for him, but it also turns out to be one of his largest barriers to achieving

enlightenment. It is upon freeing himself from this drive that Siddhartha is able to ultimately
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ascend and find Brahmā. Upon realizing how his desires hold him back Siddhartha finally

“stop[s] fighting with destiny, stopped suffering. On his face the serenity of knowledge

blossom[s], knowledge that no will can resist, that knows perfection, that agrees with the flow of

events, with the river of life” (Hesse 119). Desire is like struggling against the tide of a river. The

tide is how existence unfurls (e.g destiny or fate); it is inevitable and unchangeable. The river

extends endlessly in both directions; all desire merely serves as a delay of the inevitable tide.

Because the struggle is futile one is always left dissatisfied and suffering. Siddhartha escapes this

by accepting the flow which means letting go of desire. It is difficult to see this manifest in

Sydney Carton because he reaches enlightenment so near to his death. But freedom from desire

most likely in his case is not that significant. This is because he does not desire much in the first

place. He confesses to Lucie, “If you will hear me through a very little more, all you can ever do

for me is done. I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul” (Dickens 145).

He expresses this as his only wish and having fulfilled it he is able to reach enlightenment.

Enlightenment is blissful. The characters of Sydney, Vasudeva, and Siddhartha show this.

Sydney, near the moment of his death is in a state of complete bliss: “They said of him, about the

city that night, that it was the peacefullest man’s face ever beheld there. Many added that he

looked sublime and prophetic”(Dickens 360). Sydney has reached such a state of peace and bliss

that he is described as prophetic. This bliss can also be seen in Vasudeva. Siddartha sees that

“Radiant, he went away; Siddhartha gazed after him. Deeply joyous, deeply earnest, he gazed

after him, saw his steps full of peace, saw his head full of radiance, saw his figure full of

light”(Hesse 120). Hesse repeats again and again the radiance and light with which Vasudeva

meets his end. The bliss and light that Siddhartha sees in Vasudeva is enough to inspire joy

within himself. Additionally, the bliss of enlightenment can be seen in Siddhartha. Govinda, a
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long friend of Siddhartha, upon seeing his bliss “bowed low. Tears ran over his face, but he was

unaware of them; the feeling of deepest love, of humblest veneration burned in his heart like a

fire. He bowed low, down to the ground, bowed to the motionless sitter, whose smile reminded

him of everything that he had ever loved in his life, that had ever been valuable and holy to him

in his life”(Hesse 132). The word bliss does not just indicate a great amount of happiness. It is

transcendent happiness, it is enough to inspire reverence in others. By better understanding what

true bliss is one can better understand enlightenment itself because bliss is fundamental to

enlightenment.

If truth is the tool by which one reaches enlightenment it is important to examine what

can hinder the attainment of truth. False enlightenment limits the attainment of truth. False

enlightenment is the belief that one has already reached the pinnacle of the self. Nowhere is the

idea of False enlightenment better represented than in the character of Mr. Stryver in A Tale of

Two Cities. Stryver is the friend of Sydney as well as a lawyer of relative popularity. He is

heavily motivated and often steamrolls others with the size of his personality. He is described as

having a way of “shouldering himself into companies and conversations” (Dickens 76). Stryver's

belief of his own enlightenment is shown in his conversations with Sydney: “I have made up my

mind to please myself: on the whole, I think I can afford to please myself. She will have in me a

man already pretty well off, and a rapidly rising young man, and a man of some

distinction”(Dickens 134). Stryver believes that he has reached the pinnacle of himself. How

does one avoid becoming like Stryver or how does one avoid false enlightenment? It seems that

Stryver might have been put in the position that he is in, at least partially by others. He has not

been told that he is wrong, he is too busy shouldering his way through life. In order to free
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himself from his current state he must stop lying to himself. Others might be able to lie to him

but he cannot reasonably lie to himself forever and continue to be happy.

Desire hinders the attainment of truth. This was partially demonstrated earlier. Desire is

the resisting of the river of destiny. Resisting is fundamentally a form of falsity because it denies

what will inevitably happen. The character Govinda displays how this suffering at the hands of

desire manifests. Govinda is the friend of Siddhartha and he accompanies him throughout his

search for truth. When the two of them come across the Buddha Govinda believes that becoming

an acolyte of the Buddha is the way to enlightenment, so he leaves Siddhartha. His discipleship

of the Buddha however does not yield the enlightenment that he hoped it would. Upon asking

Siddhartha how he can escape his suffering Siddhartha tells him “When someone seeks, then it

easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to

take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing that he is seeking, because he has

one goal because he is obsessed with his goal” (Hesse 124). The most obvious example of

resistance being error is the desire to escape death. One can do whatever they can and the fact

that death is inevitable remains. To desire otherwise would be to lie. Naturally the question of

whether desire is fundamentally deception, how can one find motivation to do anything arises.

Desire denies the reality of the flow of events. The difference between desire and

motivation lies in their understanding of destiny. Siddhartha desires that his son find happiness.

This is not in and of itself a bad thing. It is only when Siddhartha begins to fight the path that his

son is taking. As was stated earlier, Siddhartha’s patience and want for his son to find happiness

has only exacerbated his son’s misery. He is actively exerting himself in an attempt to help his

son attain happiness. When Siddhartha witnessed this happening he should have allowed his son

to find his own path and let go of the desire for his son’s happiness through his direct
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intervention. Siddhartha must detach himself from his son’s life because his intervention is in

conflict with the flow of events and only worsens his son’s life. Upon letting go Siddhartha is

able to finally ascend to the pinnacle of himself.

Ephemeral pleasures hinder the attainment of truth. In his search for enlightenment

Siddhartha takes a detour to understand the ways of the child-people. The child people are

described by Siddhartha as “ living in a childlike and animal fashion, which he both loved and

despised. He saw them struggling, saw them suffering, saw them turning gray about things that

stuck him as not worth this price, about money, about petty pleasures, petty honors”(Hesse 62).

The central problem with ephemeral pleasure is exactly in the title: they are ephemeral. Child

people struggle, suffer, and turn gray over pleasure that is fleeting.This results in a downward

spiral. One exerts themself sacrificing much and after all of this suffering gains the most short-

lived, miniscule amount of pleasure—honors, money, etc.. This continues, each cycle lowering

one until nothing of one’s soul remains. Siddhartha falls into this cycle and eventually sinks to

the lowest, emptiest abyss of the human soul: “Nothing was left for him but to snuff himself out,

but to shatter the failed formation of his life, toss it at the feet of snickering gods”(Hesse 78).

Before his encounter with the child-people Siddhartha had prided himself for the strength of his

soul. This cycle of ephemerality, called samsara, came upon him silently. He didn’t notice until

his soul was all but consumed.

Other people can hinder the attainment of truth. The relationship between Sydney and

Stryver is one that hinders Sydney by enabling his greatest weaknesses. Stryver enables

Sydney’s idleness. In a conversation with Sydney, Stryver believes that “the one delicate thing to

be done for the old Sydney Carton of old Shrewsbury School was to shoulder him into it”. He

tells Sydney that Sydney’s way “is, and always was, a lame way. You summon no energy and
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purpose” (Dickens 85). Stryver believes that he is giving Sydney help by trying to perhaps get a

rise out of him (i.e shoulder him into it) but all he accomplishes is to further push Sydney into

irresolute idleness. Stryver continuously pushes Sydney into a state of believing himself to be

worthless. As long as Sydney is convinced of his worthlessness, he will never be able to find

meaning. Sydney is suffering at the hands of Stryver who is actively preventing his

enlightenment. The effect that Stryver’s shouldering has on Sydney manifests itself after the

night’s festivities are over: “climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses...threw himself down

in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears” and “sadly, sadly, the

sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good

emotions...incapable of his own help and his own happiness”(Dickens 87). The effect that

Stryver has on Sydney is clear. He only further makes Sydney incapable of his own help and

happiness. This weight of suffering also seems to be present in the child people in Siddhartha

who seem to be so obsessed with their desires that they too have sunk to the level of being

incapable of their own happiness.

Dickens is clear that Sydney by himself is incapable of happiness. There, however, is a

distinction in meaning between “individual” and “able to be accomplished by oneself” (i.e

without the help of others). The meaning of the phrase “able to be accomplished by oneself” is

clear on the face of it. That which is individual requires agency of the subject. Sydney is

incapable of his own happiness without help from others but he also must be an active agent in

his own process of enlightenment. This is where the individuality of enlightenment lies. The

question follows, having recognized what can hinder enlightenment, of how one can avoid that

which hinders enlightenment?

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For Siddhartha to understand that ephemeral pleasure was hindering his attainment of

truth, he had to experience the downward spiral that this kind of pleasure leads to. He needed to

learn to understand the child people but is it always necessary for one to experience this spiral in

order to learn to avoid it? It is often very difficult for one to recognize that what one views as

pleasurable is in reality only transient. This is because as soon as one gains an amount of this

kind of pleasure it is immediately followed by more seeking. This seeking blinds one to

everything that is not the object of one’s desire, and in turn blinds one to truth. It is also the spiral

of seeking that can itself further hinder the acquisition of truth as shown by Sydney Carton. If

one falls deep enough into this abyss the weight of suffering and exhaustion that follows can

inhibit one’s acquisition of truth. The avoidance of this spiral may be impossible without first

experiencing it in some way. The suffering that falling into this abyss brings is much more

tangible than any kind of advice warning against it. This difficulty may be why most of the

people that Siddhartha encounters are of the child people. All of the other factors that hinder the

acquisition of truth are difficult to avoid for the same reasons. It is because these factors hinder

the acquisition of the truth that it is difficult to recognize them. To discover that one’s ability to

find the truth is being hindered is similar to losing one’s glasses. Because of the specific item

that one has lost one’s ability to find it is diminished as well. So, what is to be done?

There are two ways that one can realize that their ability to acquire truth is being

hindered: by recognizing suffering and by receiving the help of others. Suffering can be difficult

to recognize because to some degree it is always present. At minimum humans always have the

threat of death looming over them. The more that one suffers, however, the more the suffering

becomes recognizable as it consumes more and more of one's reality. This is similar to a safety

release valve or a circuit breaker in that the more one suffers the more recognizable it becomes
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and the better one can realize what is hindering one’s acquiring of truth. The other means of

realizing that one’s ability to find truth is being hindered is through the help of others the best

example of which is Vasudeva bringing the fact of Siddhartha’s unhealthy desire for his son's

happiness to Siddhartha’s attention. Others people are the best way to realize that one's ability to

find the truth is being limited for if others can alert someone of this process it diminishes the

amount of suffering that one has to experience as one does not have to reach the level of

suffering for the safety valve (i.e realizing one's own suffering) to release. The danger in the

safety valve is that the suffering that one is experiencing may reach such a great level that one

cannot bear it and the pipe bursts. Siddhartha very nearly reaches this point and given just a

couple more moments it may have been too late.

Thoughtful observation aids in the acquisition of truth. One of Siddhartha’s primary

teachers on his journey of reaching enlightenment was a river. It is through conscious

observation of this river that he attains one of the two fundamental truths that enabled him to

become enlightened. As he sat, “Siddhartha saw it hastening—the river consisting of him and his

near and dear and all the people he had ever seen; all the waves and the waters hastened,

suffering...He had often heard all these things, these many voices in the river but today it

sounded new. He could no longer distinguish the voices”(Hesse 118). Siddhartha’s listening to

the river directly aids in his acquisition of truth but what distinguishes the sort of observation that

Siddhartha is engaging in from that which one does merely by living? The observation that

Siddhartha is undertaking requires direct focus and exertion. It is the difference between hearing

and listening. Siddhartha is listening to the river with the intent of understanding something

about it and so through this active process he comes to learn something—the existence of

separation.
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Similar to observation, introspection aids in the acquisition of truth. Enlightenment is

often thought of as the process that brings about the death of the ego. In attempting to

accomplish ego death Siddhartha tries to “dismember [his] ego and peel it apart in order to find

the core of all the peels in its unknown innermost essence: to find Atman”. Siddhartha believes

that his essence is very much like what he thought of the world around him, that his essence is

hidden behind a veil, a barrier that he must tear apart. Just as when one peels apart an orange in

order to access the meat, he thinks that his soul meat lies beyond what he sees as the exterior or

peels. Upon realizing his error he resolves to “no longer murder and dismember himself to find a

secret beyond the rubble”(Hesse 36). Siddhartha is murdering himself in the sense that he is

denying his subjective experience. Dismembering this part of himself is destroying the truth of

his subjective experience. He is throwing out the very thing that he seeks in his search for it. It is

only when he stops dismembering himself and turns his reflection inwards does he progress

towards his goal of enlightenment.

Love for the Beauty in others aids in the acquisition of truth. Lucie Manette plays a very

large role in bringing about Sydney Carton's transformation. It is through his love for Lucie that

he begins to try to improve his situation. This hope for possibility—or perhaps just recognition of

possibility—manifests in his initial hatred for Charles Darnay: “A good reason for talking to a

man, that he shows you what you have fallen away from, and what you might have been! Change

places with him, and would you have been looked at by those blue eyes as he was, and

commiserated by that agitated face as he was?”(Dickens 80). Sydney expresses a fundamental

need of his —his need for commiseration. He seeks to be redeemed or at least have his suffering

recognized in the heart of one who represents Beauty as Lucie does. Lucie acts as a means of

offloading some of Sydney’s suffering by taking on some of that suffering in the form of pity or
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commiseration. Thus one way in which others can aid in the attainment of truth: by taking on

someone’s suffering in order to give them the chance to overcome that same suffering because it

may be too heavy a burden to overcome alone.

Another example of others aiding in the acquisition of truth is the admiration and love

that Siddhartha has for Vasudeva. Siddhartha, after his downward spiral, encounters the

ferryman Vasudeva for the second time. He tells the ferryman: “You have chosen a lovely

life...It must be lovely to live by this water every day and to travel upon it...I envy you for yours

(i.e his work)” (Hesse 90). He sees in Vasudeva the inner joy that he seeks. In the same way that

Sydney loathes Darnay for representing what he has fallen away from, Siddhartha admires

Vasudeva for representing what he could be. This admiration and love inspires him to find his

own enlightenment.

Vasudeva and Sydney seem to die shortly after reaching enlightenment. This raises the

question—is enlightenment final? If not, then how is enlightenment a process? Enlightenment is

final. One’s physical body, however, continues living in a state of perfect bliss. This is evident

by what the definition of enlightenment has been shown to be. Enlightenment is a pinnacle of the

self and thus must be final because if there is room to improve then it’s not a pinnacle.

Siddhartha, having found Atman cannot possibly find it again. Sydney may seem to contradict

this point because if he had lived he may have improved more. He may have improved more but

the bliss that he experiences is because of his ultimately selfless action. To ask if it is better that

Sydney die is to miss the point. His enlightenment is brought about by the selfless intent of the

sacrifice. The choice that he makes is more important than the death.Once one has reached

enlightenment all that is left is to live in bliss and die having no fear.
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The truth that is the candid beauty of reality is one of the tools by which Siddhartha

attains enlightenment. Upon looking inside of himself, Siddhartha realizes this truth. As he walks

he gazes upon the world like one who has never seen it before: “Beautiful was the world,

colorful was the world, bizarre and enigmatic was the world!” All that Siddhartha sees is “no

longer the magic of Mara [illusion of reality], [is] no longer senseless and random diversity of

the world, despised by the deep-thinking Brahmin, who disdains the diversity, who seeks the

unity...Meaning and reality were not somewhere beyond things, they were in them, in

everything”(Hesse 37). Mara is the Goddess of deception in Buddhist theology, her veil hinders

humans ability to see true reality. Returning to Siddhartha’s discovery, the utility of this truth

insofar as it relates to enlightenment lies in its ability to bring about the “symptoms”(quotes for

implication of metaphor) of enlightenment. By realizing that meaning lies in things in and of

themselves Siddhartha is able to find more beauty in the world for how could one view anything

that one believes to be deception as beautiful? This realization of beauty is conducive to bliss.

This bliss is the “symptom” that is brought about. Seeing the world as beautiful is necessary for

Siddhartha because his suffering and discontentment originate in the world. He wants to know

where reality is and therefore must realize that it is right in front of him.

Realizing the falsity of separation is one of the truths through which Siddhartha attains

enlightenment. Siddhartha in all of his introspection and observation realizes that “the sinner is

not on the way to becoming a Buddah, he is not involved in a development...No, the sinner now

and today, already contains the future Buddah, his future is fully here...all sin already contains

grace, all youngsters already contain oldsters, all babies contain death”. This knowledge is based

upon the idea that time does not exist. If time is not real, any given sequence of events does not

exist. One does not sin and then be forgiven; one has already sinned and one has already been
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forgiven. Govinda happens upon Siddhartha late in his life in the same encounter where Govinda

encounters Siddhartha late in their lives. Siddhartha explains to him the illusion of separation and

when Govinda looks upon Siddhartha he suddenly notices that “He no longer saw his friend

Siddhartha’s face; instead he saw many other faces, hundreds, thousands, which all came and

faded, and yet seemed to be all there at once, which kept changing and being renewed, and yet

which all were Siddhartha” (Hesse 125). This is the realization that allows Siddhartha to escape

death, suffering and desire. It is best understood like a river which represents time and the

sequence of events: a river has no beginning and no end, it just exists in a constant state of

change. The illusion that the baby is far from death or that it contains no death is to be ignorant

of the rest of the river. No point in a river is the river, it is only the process that is the river.

Siddhartha does not desire because he is aware of the entire river; he does not suffer because he

assents to the flow; he does not fear death because he is already dead.

The truth of Sydney’s purpose is the tool by which he attains enlightenment. Sydney

rarely makes choices for himself, he resigns himself to let the blight of his soul “eat him

anyway”; he lacks purpose (Dickens 87). One of the only actions he does entirely for himself is

to decide to entrust a part of his suffering to Lucie. He tells her “you kindled me, heap of ashes

that I am, into I fire, however, inseparable in its nature from myself, quickening nothing, lighting

nothing, doing no service, idly burning away”( 145). The lighting of the fire is Lucie’s way to

lighten Carton’s burden of suffering. Despite what Sydney believed, however, the fire did not

burn idly. Because of Lucie’s commiseration he is able to achieve ultimate meaning. She lightens

his suffering enough for him to realize some good that can come from his life. His sacrifice is his

purpose but how does one know what truths are necessary for one’s own attainment of

enlightenment.
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The truths that one must recognize are determined by the source of the suffering that one

is experiencing. For Sydney his idleness, his purposelessness is the main cause of his suffering

and thus by discovering something to motivate him (to kindle his heap of ashes) he is able to

reach enlightenment. Siddhartha’s suffering originates in his desire to know Atman and find

Brahmā, therefore, the truths that he must recognize are the candid beauty of reality and that

separation is a fallacy. The identification of the source of one’s suffering is best accomplished by

doing that which aids in the acquiring of truth. Observation, introspection, and receiving help

from others are all helpful in determining the source of one's suffering.

Death and suffering are inescapable realities of life and as a result the transcending of

these realities is imperative to lead a happy existence. This state of transcendence is called

enlightenment. Enlightenment is individual, freeing, final, and blissful. It is individual because it

cannot be reached by means of teaching alone, cannot be forced upon others, and it is relative to

the individual. It frees one from death, suffering, and desire. Truth acts as a means to reaching a

state of enlightenment. The acquisition of truth can be hindered by false enlightenment, desire,

other people, and ephemeral pleasures. The acquisition of truth can be aided by observation and

introspection, love for the beauty in others and other people. The truths that Siddhartha realizes

that act as means to his enlightenment are the candid beauty of reality and that separation is

fallacy. The truth that Sydney realizes is his purpose which is his sacrifice for Lucie.

Suffering is inevitable and every human ever born will die and so the best that one can

do is to mitigate the effect of these realities. While doing so requires one’s own active effort the

help of others can make achieving enlightenment all the more possible. Due to the reality of

death and suffering one not only should strive to alleviate these two burdens but one has the
 Bryant 17

obligation to help others achieve this state as well. How else would one satisfy the primary end

of human endeavour than to alleviate as much suffering as possible?

Works Cited

Hesse. Siddhartha. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel. New York, New York. Penguin Putnam

Inc.. Print.

Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities. New York, New York. Oxford University Press Inc.. Print.