Please engage in an online discussion around your takeaways from this chapter by responding to the following prompts and to a minimum of 2-3 peers’ responses. You must first respond to questions and then to a peer.
1. A hospice chaplain told us that often people with terminal diseases make peace with their impending death and their lives become more rich and full. In contrast, a famous Dylan Thomas poem urges, “Do not go gently into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Peace or resistance? Rage or acceptance? Where do you find yourself?
2. Governments vary dramatically in the amount of individual freedoms available to citizens. States vary, cities vary, even families and couples vary in this domain. What makes freedom safe or dangerous within human groups? Should human freedom sometimes be limited?
3. Eastern philosophies often stress that our separations are illusions. We are all part of the great web of life. Does this argue against accepting and embracing our isolation? Is one view or the other true, or do they somehow both speak to ultimate reality?
4. What if you inferred the meaning of life from dominant media messages? Watch TV or read a few magazines and think about what messages about the meaning of life are conveyed.
5. Think of a time when you had an annoying physical symptom that seemed beyond your control (e.g., an eye twitch, excessive sweating). Do you think intentionally “trying” to produce the symptoms could give you more control over them?
6. What are your thoughts on the empirical status of existential approaches? If you went to therapy, what outcome measures do you think would be most important? What changes would you be seeking from therapy and, at the end of therapy, what would be the signs that you had achieved your goals?
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