Religion

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Course Learning Outcomes for Unit

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Assess the meaning of life in terms of daily living rather than some great accomplishment. 2. Evaluate the “good life” in term of living every moment well, instead of living for one great moment. 3. Assess what one fears about death and why. 4. Distinguish between being a human and being a sinner.

Reading Assignment

When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough: The Search for a Life That Matters

Chapter 8: Go Eat Your Bread in Gladness

Chapter 9: Why I Am Not Afraid to Die

Chapter 10: One Question Left Unanswered

Unit Lesson

Kushner begins Chapter 8 by translating a few verses from Ecclesiastes. These verses, Kushner argues, are the answers to Kohelet’s quest. First, he points out that the answers only makes sense after you have been on the quest. That is why Kohelet, the author of Ecclesiastes, spends so much time on all the dead ends in looking for life’s meaning. This chapter is definitely the high point in Kushner’s book. He argues that if all the logic of life tells you is that in the end, life has no point not to listen to logic. Listen to that little voice in you that insists despite all the evidence to the contrary, every life has to mean something. When logic says, there is no point to it all, do not give up on life; give up on logic.

Kushner asks us to rethink what life is about. He challenges the idea that life is about one great achievement, about finding that one great purpose for being alive, or about gaining one moment of fame. Instead, Kushner suggests that the purpose of life is found in every moment. Each moment is valuable because it is temporary and does not last. Thus the living of life is not about having one great moment; it is about living every moment well. To live for one moment is to miss most of life. To live every moment as an opportunity that will never come again, is to live a good life, a full life. Each of us has a purpose for being alive every moment of our lives, not just one purpose tucked away in one significant moment somewhere. So purpose is found in the little things not the big things. Meaning is found in caring for a sick child, sharing dinner with friends, going out for a walk at noon to enjoy the sunshine, relaxing with your lover in your arms.

Kushner asks us to give up the dream - the dream we all have of what our lives should be, or what we should become. Sometimes we have to become less in order to become more. We have to come to terms with the life we are actually given to live, rather than the one we dreamed for ourselves. In the end, that dream was not really us. The good life is the life in which we get rid of all that is not authentically us, and live true to ourselves—true to what God made us to be and to do what God calls us to do.

UNIT STUDY GUIDE Finding Meaning

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UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

Title Chapter 8 concludes with the idea that in living this life, we should not be motivated solely by the promise of some reward to come in a life beyond this one. If this life is lived well, simply living should be reward enough.

In Chapter 9, Kushner argues, “It is only when you are no longer afraid to die that you can say that you are truly alive.” The fear of death is lost when one finds meaning in the daily affairs of life, in what at times may seem like drudgery, and in what seems ordinary. When one finds meaning is such things, one can die knowing that life has been lived with meaning and purpose even if no great spectacular thing was ever accomplished. Life is not had in such things. Life is in each and every moment of life. When that is found, the fear dying without having lived is gone and one can die in peace.

In Chapter 10, Kushner turns to one last question—what is it to be human. He warns us of a grave mistake often made in the name of being human. We all too often use being human as an excuse. We say, “Well, I’m only human.” It is an excuse for being lazy, for being careless, for being selfish, for doing shady work. Kushner strongly corrects such a view saying the excuse for such things is not in being human; it is in being a sinner. All those things come with being sinner, but God did not create us for such things. God created humans to have high standards, to be careful, to be selfless, and to do great work. He points out that we are the only creatures to whom God has given commands. That gives us a special place in God’s creation, a special responsibility. There is nothing wrong with being human. There is something terribly wrong with being sinner, but being human is the greatest thing in the world. There is nothing wrong with being you. Being you is a great thing.