JLF 2.0 The Meaning of Life
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ShareChavruta Discussion:
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What led you to deciding the area of study you wanted to pursue?
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Was there a pivotal moment in your life that led you to want to study what you’re studying?
Group Discussion:
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For you, is the pursuit of career at this point in your life purely about vocation or is it about avocation as well?
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Should someone's career be tied to their identity?
The World Was Created for Me
Chassidic Teaching from Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Pershyscha
According to Rabbi Bunim of P'shiskha, everyone should have two pockets, each containing a slip of paper. On one should be written: I am but dust and ashes, and on the other: The world was created for me. From time to time we must reach into one pocket, or the other. The secret of living comes from knowing when to reach into each.
Chassidic Teaching from Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Pershyscha
According to Rabbi Bunim of P'shiskha, everyone should have two pockets, each containing a slip of paper. On one should be written: I am but dust and ashes, and on the other: The world was created for me. From time to time we must reach into one pocket, or the other. The secret of living comes from knowing when to reach into each.
Small Group Discussion:
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What are your initial impressions of this source? Does anything in particular resonate with you? Rub you the wrong way?
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When do you think it’s relevant to reach into each pocket?
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Can you think of times in your life when you’ve acted in either category?
Rabbi Saks - The Pursuit of Meaning
Each of us is unique. Even genetically identical twins are different. There are things only we can do, we who are what we are, in this time, this place and these circumstances. For each of us God has a task: work to perform, a kindness to show, a gift to give, love to share, loneliness to ease, pain to heal, or broken lives to help mend. Discerning that task, hearing Vayikra, God’s call, is one of the great spiritual challenges for each of us.
How do we know what it is?: Where what we want to do meets what needs to be done, that is where God wants us to be.
Each of us is unique. Even genetically identical twins are different. There are things only we can do, we who are what we are, in this time, this place and these circumstances. For each of us God has a task: work to perform, a kindness to show, a gift to give, love to share, loneliness to ease, pain to heal, or broken lives to help mend. Discerning that task, hearing Vayikra, God’s call, is one of the great spiritual challenges for each of us.
How do we know what it is?: Where what we want to do meets what needs to be done, that is where God wants us to be.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?
If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
If you wait until you find the meaning of life, will there be enough life left to live meaningfully?
If you wait until you find the meaning of life, will there be enough life left to live meaningfully?
Pirkei Avot 2
Rabbi [Yehuda haNasi] said: Which is the straight path that a person should choose for himself? Whichever [path] that is [itself] praiseworthy for the person adopting [it], And praiseworthy to him from [other] people.
Rabbi [Yehuda haNasi] said: Which is the straight path that a person should choose for himself? Whichever [path] that is [itself] praiseworthy for the person adopting [it], And praiseworthy to him from [other] people.
Pirkei Avot 4:3
Do not disdain any person and do not disdain any thing; for there is no person that does not have his hour, and there is no thing that does not have its place.
Do not disdain any person and do not disdain any thing; for there is no person that does not have his hour, and there is no thing that does not have its place.
Group Discussion:
- Which of these resonated with you the most? Why?
- Which did you have trouble with connecting to, feel apathetic about, or disagree with?
- What do you think is the meaning of life?
-Leonard Cohen
"This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love. You know, we have the sense that we cannot live without love, that life has very little meaning without it." –The Guardian, 2009
"This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love. You know, we have the sense that we cannot live without love, that life has very little meaning without it." –The Guardian, 2009
Leonard Cohen - Excerpt from "The Future"
"You don't know me from the wind
You never will, you never did
I'm the little Jew who wrote the Bible.
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
But love's the only engine of survival.
Your servant here
He has been told to say it clear
To say it cold:
It is over, it ain't going further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
You feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the Future: It is murder".
"You don't know me from the wind
You never will, you never did
I'm the little Jew who wrote the Bible.
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
But love's the only engine of survival.
Your servant here
He has been told to say it clear
To say it cold:
It is over, it ain't going further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
You feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the Future: It is murder".
John Lennon
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.
Group Discussion:
- What do you think is more important to living a meaningful life?
- What do you think is more important for the world?
- Rabbi Sacks especially seems to disagree with Lennon about the meaning of life. Do you think life should have more meaning than to be happy? Is it perhaps selfish to only think about your own happiness? Or is happiness enough?
Final Question
Where do you see yourself in 20 years?
