Back

Man's Search
for Meaning

Philosophizing with Viktor Frankln

Next

Gender And Sexuality Education Philosophy with Children Reflections on Pedagogy

RHEA KUTHOORE

Oct 10, 2021 · 7 min read

We often ponder about the choices we have and do not have in our life, the choices we want to create and struggle to create for ourselves and the choices we want to decide between and those that we do not want to give up on. We all face choices in our life but in what ways are our choices different from one another’s?

During the pandemic, as the world reached a stand-still for all of us, we were all confronted with different choices — Did the migrant worker who walked and cycled 1800km to reach home have a choice? Did the government have a choice when they decided to impose a strict lockdown overnight? Did children have a choice to not attend online class during the pandemic? For many, the obvious response to these questions might be, ‘yes, of course, there is a choice in all these matters as the person/party concerned could have done otherwise.' But, the more important question, in my view, is what makes a choice (an alternate decision) nearly impossible to choose? Moreover, how is each person’s uniqueness revealed through their choices?

When the children returned to Sholai, the pandemic was still going on. It was a very confusing time for me, personally, because while the children were asserting their choices at school, people continued to die because of the lack of better choices. It was during such a time that we decided to read Man’s search for meaning.

Click to open some of the sections of the novel
that provoke inquiry and dialogue

Class Activity

As we read the novel, the children noted down the passages that peaked their curiosity along with the questions that they wondered about.

I have shared the passages, their questions and some of the responses from class below.

Q: Would you call the actions of the SS men as inhumane? Or, are the ways in which the SS men behave also part of what it is to be ‘human’? Why or why not?

1. When we pondered over the humanity of the SS men, one student reflected: I would not call their behavior inhumane because we are in fact capable of doing such acts. We thought about the criteria for “humane” and we made an important distinction — do we determine what is humane based on what we can or cannot do or by what we ought to do or not do? Some of us felt as though the latter should determine the criteria.

We thought about the implications of a category such as “inhumane”. Would such a category be encouraging us to be in denial about choices that humans do indeed make? If we do not recognise the SS men as being humans who made bad choices, how can we hold them accountable?

At this point, one child pointed out that “inhumane” need not only have negative connotations. In fact, “inhumane” may also be used to describe saints who are enlightened. So, why is it that we consider certain actions as being “beyond” human when there are humans who accomplish such acts?

“Then, after minutes of moving silence, one prisoner said to another, “How beautiful the world could be!”

Q: What, according to you, would make the world ‘beautiful’? How could it be achieved? Moreover, what does ‘beauty’ mean to you?

2. We spoke about beauty. For one child, beauty is a feeling or relationship we have with something, a feeling that inspires us to take care of it. We were confused regarding several questions. Is it possible for everything to be beautiful? When we talk of art, music and dance, is beauty linked to the “skills” exhibited by the artist in the process of creation?

“Yet it is possible to practice the art of living even in a concentration camp, although suffering is omnipresent. To draw an analogy: a man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the “size” of human suffering is absolutely relative.”

Q: Do you agree with the above quote? If suffering is relative, then how is there a scale to measure pain (that doctors use)? Have you been able to perceive another person’s pain and how?

3. We spoke about suffering. One child shared: Human suffering is relative but it need not fill your conscious mind entirely. Even if it does, it doesn't have to be the thing that is in control. One can still feel happy. I think there is a difference between pain and suffering. Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. A person can also perceive the pain of others, no matter how trivial. If a person understands another person’s pain, feels the pain as if it is being inflicted on oneself, they can empathize with the person.

The child’s response made us question: why do we distinguish pain and suffering? How is our mind and body linked? In saying that, “suffering is optional”, are we saying that it is always possible to control our suffering? Is this true? If we can choose to not suffer, why would anyone choose to?

“As the inner life of the prisoner tended to become more intense, he also experienced the beauty of art and nature as never before.”

Q: Why do you think the soldiers experienced the beauty of art and nature in the middle of their anguish? Moreover, in general, for us, how is art and nature linked to the intensification of our inner lives? How does love, humor, art and nature play a role in your life?

4. We discussed inner spiritual growth. Many of the children felt that hope, luck and chance, love and care and the feeling of having-a-choice help a person in difficult circumstances.

“There was neither time nor desire to consider moral or ethical issues. Every man was controlled by one thought only: to keep himself alive for the family waiting for him at home, and to save his friends.”

Q: Do you think that the question of morals/ethics does not apply in certain situations (as the author mentions in the quote)? If yes, then what could be such a situation? Using examples and reasons explain your view.

5. We spoke about morals. How does “right” and “wrong” differ amongst people and in different situations? We considered examples from our lives and discussed the role of our intentions and consequences in determining “right” and “wrong”.

Through our conversations we learnt how choice is complicated by ideas of “right” and “wrong”, by our feelings of having-a-choice and by how we experience our suffering. As a result, the choices we face are very different from each other’s (even when people are in similar situations such as the concentration camp). For some people, what seems-like-a choice may be impossible to choose because of how they experience suffering and for some, what-seems-like-a-choice may be impossible to choose as they may consider it “wrong” and for others, what seems-like-a-choice may be impossible to choose because it does not feel-like-a-choice to begin with. As we are influenced by our circumstances/position in society, what we have access to dictates our choices very often.

An important take-away for me was in how many boys in the class believed that a person “always has a choice” whereas many of the girls disagreed. It is definitely important to explore how different social identities come to have and perceive choices. I hope that conversations around choice help us all understand different selves in varying contexts in more depth.

RHEA KUTHOORE is an educator who is passionate about facilitating philosophical and feminist thinking amongst young people.

Thinking Rhizomatically

Heading

Heading

Heading

Heading

Heading

Heading

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content. The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content. The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content. The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content. The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

This is an h2 heading inside rich text

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.