Meaning Of Life In Siddhartha, By Jon Krakauer

There have been many predictions as to what the meaning of life is. Many people wish to know why we live and what makes life meaningful. The answer is simple: the meaning of life is to find the meaning in life. Research regarding meaning in life has been directed by three different measurements: purpose in life, life regard, and the sense of coherence. These measurements determine if an individual has achieved a scientific definition of a meaningful life. However, every individual must learn how to find their own version of a meaningful life. Some people end up taking different perspectives during their search for meaning, such as one of philosophy, one of experience, or one of psychology.

In Siddhartha, Herman Hesse portrays a man that finds

the meaning in his life. During the journey that Siddhartha takes to find meaning, he switches between the life of the ascetics and the life of material possessions and self-indulgence. Throughout his journey, Siddhartha does not worry that he may someday die. He knows that he will because it is part of the ongoing cycle. However, the knowledge that he will die does not deter him from living his life. According to Samuel Scheffler, this is because “What is necessary to underwrite the perceived significance of what we do, it seems, is not a belief in the afterlife but rather a belief that humanity will survive, at least for a good long time.” Since humanity will live on, Siddhartha can continue to search for his own personal meaning in life. Later in the novel, when Siddhartha meets the ferryman Vasudeva, he is able to learn from Vasudeva as well as the river. Both the river and Vasudeva show Siddhartha the unity that lies within the world. It is the unity that creates the perfect Om that Siddhartha hears from the river – all of the voices that speak, laugh, and cry blend together to form one sound and one word. The word that Siddhartha hears is Om ad this is the word that he had meditated on so much when he was an ascetic. It is this word that allows Siddhartha to come to the realization that unity is all around him. As Bertrand Russel states, “The happy man is the man who does not suffer from either of these failures of unity, whose personality is neither divided against itself nor pitted against the world.” From the unity, Siddhartha is able to reach the blissful state of Nirvana. In Siddhartha’s culture and in his religion, the goal of life is to reach this state where he no longer has to suffer from the never-ending, onerous cycle. The meaning that Siddhartha finds in his life comes from the understanding and experience of unity. From a scientific approach, this unity is the sense of coherence that can be measured and can prove that Siddhartha has achieved a meaningful life.
From an experiential perspective, the meaning in life stems from going and experiencing everything there is to experience.

In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer shares the story of a very brave man named Christopher McCandless. McCandless went exploring in a very dangerous mountain range in Alaska. He was found dead in 1992, four months after he left all of his money and material possessions in order to create a new life for himself. Many people believed that he was crazy or that he actually wished to die. However, Krakauer is able to give examples that show that some people are able to find meaning in their lives as they risk their lives. The papar Irish monks, for example, would constantly risk their lives and put themselves in very precarious situations so that they would be able to escape society and find lonely places. These lonely places provided the monks with the peace that they were searching for. Krakauer states that, “reading of these monks, one is moved by their courage, their reckless innocence, and the urgency of their desire” (Krakauer 97). By using a juxtaposition between the papar Irish monks and Chris McCandless, Krakauer is able to show McCandless’s genuine desire for his meaningful, peaceful life. Therefore, though it might not have been his main goal, McCandless found himself to be in this lonely yet peaceful situation. He was very close to civilization, however, “McCandless was cut off from the rest of the world…[and] he didn’t encounter another living soul” (Krakauer 165). Though some may find him crazy, McCandless was able to find meaning in his life by experiencing the world and by experiencing life without all of the distractions that come from living in civilization. He had a responsibility to himself to explore the world around him so that he could discover its meaning. Had McCandless lived through his exploration, he would have been able to have a specific regard for life that only one who has put themselves in danger can understand. It is

this life regard that stems from experience that brings McCandless the meaning in his life.
In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger depicts Holden Caulfield as a confused and lost teenager so that he can be shown as he finds the meaning in his life. Ever since his younger brother Allie died, Holden has been unable to bring himself to complete his schoolwork on time. This causes him to flunk out from his schools or, as with Pencey Prep, to give up and quit. According to the research of psychologist James Marcia, Holden is in the identity status known as diffusion. He has shown little commitment and has done little exploration in his life. In other words, at his current stage in life, he doesn’t know who he really is. That is why the meaning in life for Holden comes from finding an identity. Identity can be defined as “a person’s sense of placement within the world – the meaning that one attaches to oneself in the broader context in life” (Erikson). During the novel, Holden is constantly pretending to be a different person than his normal self (as seen when he goes drinking and attempts to have a prostitute come to his room). The only time his true identity is shown is when he describes how he wants to save the children from jumping off the cliff (or how he wants to be the catcher in the rye). He wishes to be a protector because he was unable to do so for his brother Allie. Additionally, Holden often inquires about the ducks in the pond and where they go. This is a motif that represents an inquiry from Holden about what the meaning of life really is. Since he has not found his identity, he has not found the meaning in his life and since he has not found the meaning in his life, he cannot know what the meaning of life truly is.
Asking “what is the meaning of life?” is pointless. Each person that is asked this question will provide a different response because this questions resonates differently with most people. However, the majority of responses can be traced back to meaning. Everyone searches for the meaning in their own lives whether consciously or unconsciously. They strive to have a “whole” feeling or a satisfactory feeling of completion. Therefore, the want of finding meaning in life is actually the meaning of life.