The Rebirth
“...He began again, lifting one arm from the elbow, the palm of his hands outward, so that, with his legs folded before him, he had the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes without a lotus flower...”
This reference to Eastern philosophy early in the pages of Heart of Darkness, a novel set in the African jungle, a novel about the depravity of man, written in Victorian England and by an author from Poland shocked me. It seemed so out of context to what the rest of the story was about. There is no peace in the story, no zen, only... suffering.
Now I see that it fits perfectly. Buddhism, specifically personal enlightenment and the quest for understanding are prevalent ideas in Heart of Darkness. Marlow’s journey up the river and into his own soul is his journey to awakening. His quest is much like that of Buddhas journey to seek the meaning and source of suffering in the world. He will see much of it in the jungle.
Life as suffering is the first and most prevalent truth of Buddhism. Darkness touches everyone in the jungle, it permeates into their souls. Those that let it stay there are doomed. Those that use the knowledge of suffering to further their own understanding and are successful at keeping their souls pure will be stronger from the experience.
Kurtz is on a path toward enlightenment but his path has faults. Marlow looks to Kurtz for inspiration on how to survive in the jungle. Marlow absorbs Kurtz’s life knowledge but Marlow knows that Kurtz has been corrupted by the ways of man and the evil of the jungle and will never move past these flaws. Kurtz does maintain a zen-like understanding of the world but he still fights against it and tries to conquer the jungle. “‘Oh, but I will wring your neck yet!’ he cried at the invisible wilderness” (97). According to Marlow, Kurtz’s soul is as “...translucently pure as a cliff of crystal” (100). He is on the path but is perhaps a few wrong turns away. That his soul is a cliff and not a lotus flower is the problem and there are far too many heads on poles at the bottom anyways.
The “bepatched youth,” better known as the Russian, is an interesting character, halfway to enlightenment but also halfway to doom. He is a lost soul and is looking for guidance. As a student of Kurtz, “He surely wanted nothing from the wilderness but space to breathe in...” This is a pure motivation but unfortunately his mentor can only get him so far towards accomplishing this.
The one person that does effectively use the Dharma of Kurtz and the jungle is Marlow. The most important lesson for Marlow comes from Kurtz on Kurtz’s death bed and may be the moment that Marlow obtains enlightenment. Kurtz’s last words, “The Horror! The Horror!” are the foundation of the Buddhist outlook on the world. Life is suffering.
What makes Marlow different from everyone else in the novel is that he maintains the middle way. There is nothing extreme in his actions. He almost doesn’t change at all throughout the story and it is only his enlightenment that makes him different in the end of his trip up the river than he was at the beginning. He only observes. He gathers knowledge for his own understanding. He sees the hedonistic ways of the cannibals and is tempted but does not join them. He sees the colonists materialism and refrains from their extremes but still wants to make a buck for himself. His soul remains pure and he comes away with a greater understanding of life. There is light in his heart.
After Kurtz dies Marlow returns to the sepulchral city. Here his new Buddhist understanding makes the people in the city stand out and gives him the feeling that he stands out from them as well. “I felt sure they could not possibly know the things I knew” (101), although he “...had no particular desire to enlighten them...” (101). Unfortunately, and true to Conrad’s style, a wrench is thrown in the clarity of these passages when Marlow adds, “...I was not very well at that time” (101). This may mean that because he wasn’t well he couldn’t spread his knowledge or it could mean that the thought of having a greater knowledge than those around him was crazy. The later may be disproved in the next paragraph.
The novel ends with Marlow again seated in the position of a Buddha. His storytelling demonstrating that he has found the origin of suffering and gained an understanding of how to be free from it. Like the Buddha, Marlow spends his time after enlightenment traveling and teaching others what he has come to understand.
There are most definitely many more examples of Buddhist philosophy throughout, but my knowledge of Buddhism is limited and I am thinking that this may be my last post on Heart of Darkness so I am going to be lazy and let other people continue this specific journey to enlightenment. Post themes if you find them and I will do the same if I come upon them in further readings.
This reference to Eastern philosophy early in the pages of Heart of Darkness, a novel set in the African jungle, a novel about the depravity of man, written in Victorian England and by an author from Poland shocked me. It seemed so out of context to what the rest of the story was about. There is no peace in the story, no zen, only... suffering.
Now I see that it fits perfectly. Buddhism, specifically personal enlightenment and the quest for understanding are prevalent ideas in Heart of Darkness. Marlow’s journey up the river and into his own soul is his journey to awakening. His quest is much like that of Buddhas journey to seek the meaning and source of suffering in the world. He will see much of it in the jungle.
Life as suffering is the first and most prevalent truth of Buddhism. Darkness touches everyone in the jungle, it permeates into their souls. Those that let it stay there are doomed. Those that use the knowledge of suffering to further their own understanding and are successful at keeping their souls pure will be stronger from the experience.
Kurtz is on a path toward enlightenment but his path has faults. Marlow looks to Kurtz for inspiration on how to survive in the jungle. Marlow absorbs Kurtz’s life knowledge but Marlow knows that Kurtz has been corrupted by the ways of man and the evil of the jungle and will never move past these flaws. Kurtz does maintain a zen-like understanding of the world but he still fights against it and tries to conquer the jungle. “‘Oh, but I will wring your neck yet!’ he cried at the invisible wilderness” (97). According to Marlow, Kurtz’s soul is as “...translucently pure as a cliff of crystal” (100). He is on the path but is perhaps a few wrong turns away. That his soul is a cliff and not a lotus flower is the problem and there are far too many heads on poles at the bottom anyways.
The “bepatched youth,” better known as the Russian, is an interesting character, halfway to enlightenment but also halfway to doom. He is a lost soul and is looking for guidance. As a student of Kurtz, “He surely wanted nothing from the wilderness but space to breathe in...” This is a pure motivation but unfortunately his mentor can only get him so far towards accomplishing this.
The one person that does effectively use the Dharma of Kurtz and the jungle is Marlow. The most important lesson for Marlow comes from Kurtz on Kurtz’s death bed and may be the moment that Marlow obtains enlightenment. Kurtz’s last words, “The Horror! The Horror!” are the foundation of the Buddhist outlook on the world. Life is suffering.
What makes Marlow different from everyone else in the novel is that he maintains the middle way. There is nothing extreme in his actions. He almost doesn’t change at all throughout the story and it is only his enlightenment that makes him different in the end of his trip up the river than he was at the beginning. He only observes. He gathers knowledge for his own understanding. He sees the hedonistic ways of the cannibals and is tempted but does not join them. He sees the colonists materialism and refrains from their extremes but still wants to make a buck for himself. His soul remains pure and he comes away with a greater understanding of life. There is light in his heart.
After Kurtz dies Marlow returns to the sepulchral city. Here his new Buddhist understanding makes the people in the city stand out and gives him the feeling that he stands out from them as well. “I felt sure they could not possibly know the things I knew” (101), although he “...had no particular desire to enlighten them...” (101). Unfortunately, and true to Conrad’s style, a wrench is thrown in the clarity of these passages when Marlow adds, “...I was not very well at that time” (101). This may mean that because he wasn’t well he couldn’t spread his knowledge or it could mean that the thought of having a greater knowledge than those around him was crazy. The later may be disproved in the next paragraph.
The novel ends with Marlow again seated in the position of a Buddha. His storytelling demonstrating that he has found the origin of suffering and gained an understanding of how to be free from it. Like the Buddha, Marlow spends his time after enlightenment traveling and teaching others what he has come to understand.
There are most definitely many more examples of Buddhist philosophy throughout, but my knowledge of Buddhism is limited and I am thinking that this may be my last post on Heart of Darkness so I am going to be lazy and let other people continue this specific journey to enlightenment. Post themes if you find them and I will do the same if I come upon them in further readings.
posted by Matthew at
10:28 PM
4 Comments:
I think Kurtz may be the second unsuccessful coming of Jesus, or the antichrist. Many instances in part III are connectable to this idea.
I think your post explains the references to the Buddha quite well. I completely overlooked the fact that the last paragraph of the story once again describes Marlow as a silent, meditating Buddha. From what we have learned about Conrad and this story, it’s safe to say that this is no accident.
There are two additional details in the Heart of Darkness that support the idea of the journey up river as a metaphor for Marlow’s search for spiritual enlightenment. First, early in the story he says to his companions on the Nellie,
“I don’t want to bother you much with what happened to me personally… yet to understand the effect of it on me you ought to know how I went up that river to the place where I first met the poop chap. It was the farthest point of navigation and the culminating point of my experience. It seemed somehow to throw a kind of light on everything about me – and into my thoughts.”
As the unidentified narrator points out, the story is very much about Marlow. In fact, it might be argued that all the events in the story are simply steps in Marlow’s path to enlightenment. Secondly, in the following paragraph Marlow explains that he has recently returned to Europe after an extended voyage to Asia. “I had then, as you remember, just returned to London after a lot of Indian Ocean, Pacific, Chinas Seas – a regular dose of the East- six years or so…” This undoubtedly had an impact on Conrad/Marlow’s thinking and his view of the world.
All this suggests that the Heart of Darkness exists on four levels, and not three as I suggested in an earlier post, the factual level which describes the journey up the Congo River, the political level which is an indictment of Leopold II and his hypocritical, exploitation of the Congo, the psychological level which describes an individual’s exploration of his primitive subconscious, and lastly, the spiritual level which describes an individual’s journey to enlightenment. Given this, it’s easy to see now why this story is so difficult to understand.
Hmmm,not sure about the "second unsuccessful coming of Jesus." I'd have to go back and reread the story with an eye for that. Oh man, "The horror! The horror!"
Wow, love it. We should revisit a third time. I kid, I kid.
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