"Listen, Kamala, when you throw a stone into the water, it finds the quickest way to the bottom of the water. It is the same when Siddhartha has an aim, a goal. Siddhartha does nothing; he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he goes through the affairs of the world like the stone through the water, without doing anything, without bestirring himself; he is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned from the samanas... Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait and fast."
Kamala listened to him. She loved his voice, she loved the look in his eyes.Page fifty
I really like this metaphor of conducting ones self as a stone in water. Siddhartha is very goal driven. When his father first denied him permission to join the samanas he stood still, as night came and went, until his father complied. Doing nothing leads him to his goal because he doesn't even imagine failure could occur. Suddenly his goal is to learn about love from Kamala. She demands he acquires fancy clothes and a purse full of cash before he can be her friend so thats what he is setting out to do next. He will use his iron will to become a successful merchant and I'm scared.
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