Ideas of Interest from "With the Childlike People"

1. What does Siddhartha mean when he states, "I can think. I can wait. I can fast"? Explain the consequential abilities entailed in each assertion.

2. Why does Siddhartha speak of himself in the third-person? I.e., Siddhartha says, "…Siddhartha can wait calmly, he knows no impatience, he knows no emergency…"

3. When Siddhartha arrived in the village after the rice harvest had already been sold, why was it good business, in spite of Kamaswami's protestation, that Siddhartha remain in the village for a while and become friends with the people?

4. What was the one factor that separated Siddhartha from the childlike people?

5. In Siddhartha's business with Kamaswami and in Siddhartha's love for Kamala, there was "giving and taking." For Siddhartha, there was only meaning and passion for Kamala. Did Siddhartha therefore envy the childlike people for their imposing meaning and passion on the giving and taking in everyday events?

6. What is the nature of inner refuge that Siddhartha and Kamala possess and the childlike people do not possess? Is this the reason that Siddhartha and Kamala cannot love, whereas the childlike people can love? Is the "inner refuge" a kind of authentic self that the childlike people in their superficiality lack?