Asking serious questions about the nature of our existence is one of life’s most rewarding experiences. In this forum, you will work on your own and with others to develop a personal understanding of the question of meaning in life. Improving your understanding of meaning allows you to better direct your life to experience meaning, and helps you to make commitments you will find satisfying for your entire life.
Before each weekly meeting, you will spend time thinking and writing about a question you choose related to meaning, life, or the questioning process. At each meeting, you will be challenged to communicate your ideas to others, to refine your ideas, and to understand the perspectives of others.
Each meeting begins with the discussion of your ideas in small groups of just one or two other people. This is followed by an informal presentation period in which you share what you have been working on with the larger group. We will conclude with a whole group discussion about the ideas presented and then begin to consider what to think about for next week. The remaining meeting time is used for informal small group discussions.
For the first three weeks of the forum, you will work on your questions primarily from your own experiences, without consulting the works of philosophers, psychologists, and religious leaders. For the next four weeks, you will begin to consult the work of others who have been exploring the questions which interest you. By the eighth meeting of the forum, you will develop and present a paper—written to your specifications—detailing your current understanding of the question of meaning in life.