MUN Reflection

In the conference on friday, I was representing Pakistan in the UNICEF
committee. In our preparation weeks, I was stressing about finishing
my speeches and resolutions and sharing them correctly during
committee. It turns out that it was unnecessary stress because I felt
very prepared during the conference and received an outstanding
delegate award. I anticipated the conference to be intimidating and
very strict. Although there were rules that needed to be followed, I
was more relaxed then I could have imagined. One thing I enjoyed
during the conference was the caucuses, I liked these because I was
able to persuade my idea onto my fellow delegates instead of reading a
scripted solution which wasn't as forceful. Overall I liked the MUN
conference and feel as though it was a good learning experience about
the United Nations, Pakistan and UNICEF.

Siddhartha Part 2

Quote: "He had died; a new Siddhartha had awakened from his sleep."

Response: This is a metaphor for Siddhartha, realizing, and wanting to
stop "sining." He realized that while working for Kamaswami, he became
needy of wealth, power, good food, possessions and property. These
things contradicted all of his goals and desires for Nirvana. When he
awoke, he was like a child again. He learned from his mistakes and
realized that through failure came success. He was like a child again
because he ha to relearn his ways and come to new conclusions about
himself and the world. I can apply this to my life by remembering to
learn by my mistakes, so not to repeat them again.

Quote: " Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to
impart always sounds like foolishness."

Response: When Siddhartha said "wisdom cannot be imparted" he means
that you cannot learn through words, or someone teaching you. He
believes that you learn through physical things. For example Vasudeva,
the ferryman learned only by the river and obtained great knowledge.
He believes that if you try to teach someone something you end up
sounding foolish. Although I don't believe this entirely, I do believe
you can learn from physical things and your environment. For example
by watching the stars and the planets, scientist learned all about
space and its cycle. I will apply this to my life by taking more time
to observe my surroundings and hopefully learn from what I see and
expiernece.


Quote: " And, if time is not real, the span that seems to exist
between world and eternity, between sorrow and bliss, between evil and
good, is also an illusion."

Response: I think that Siddhartha is referring to yin and yang. He is
saying that the difference between the two is an illusion, or it's not
real. He is also saying that time is not real, he realized that when
he woke up from his sleep that seemed to have lasted a very long time,
when in reality it wasn't. I think that what he is saying is that you
can't have true bliss without feeling true sorrow. And you can't be
good until you have been evil or experienced evil. I believe that in
the sense that until you have experienced evil for example, you don't
know how to be good, or vise versa.

Quote: "…what the goal of his long quest was. It was nothing but a
preparedness of the soul, a capability, a secret art of conceiving the
idea of oneness at every moment, in the midst of life's activities:
the ability to feel and absorb oneness. "

Response: Siddhartha realized the goal of his lifelong quest was to
find oneness. This means to be one with yourself and your thoughts. It
means that you don't desire anything more then your necessities. It
was the river who taught Siddhartha this, which ties into my fourth
quote of learning through physical things and experiences. I think
that oneness means you are aware of every part of your body and soul
at all times. It is hard for me to apply this to my life because I
have not acquired the idea of oneness. I can connect the idea of
deciding what path I want to take in life and following it by learning
through my mistakes and surroundings.