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Chapter 1 View of life and philosophy

1. Introduction 72. The notion of view of life 83. Ordinary questions and questions pertaining ... 104. View of life: some fundamental notions 125. Values in several domains 166. View of life: individual and shared 177. Some main values 198. View of life and philosophy 209. The concept of philosophy 24What chapter 1 was all about 25

Chapter 2 Who am I?

1. Introduction 272. Who you might be 273. Who am I really? 284. Finding out about yourself 305. What’s of the essence 326. Sexuality 337. Religious belief 338. Outward appearances 349. The Constitution 3610. Human nature 3811. Who do you want to become? 4112. My view on man 43What chapter 2 was all about 43

Chapter 3 Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Introductory

1. Introduction 452. Judaism 463. Christianity 564. Islam 69What chapter 3 was all about 81

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Chapter 4 Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Further remarks

1. God according to Jews, Christians and Muslims 832. Church and state 843. Religion and morality 864. Human rights and Islam 90What chapter 4 was all about 91

Chapter 5 Communication and view of life

1. Introduction 932. Three ways of communicating 943. Communication: some important concepts 964. Communication in the global village 1005. Communication and respect 102What chapter 5 was all about 105

Chapter 6 Living in society

1. Introduction 1072. Equality 1073. Emancipation 1104. Relations 1125. Learning to live in society 1136. Social or antisocial 115What chapter 6 was all about 117

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Chapter 1

View of life and philosophy

1. Introduction 72. The notion of view of life 83. Ordinary questions and questions pertaining ... 104. View of life: some fundamental notions 125. Values in several domains 166. View of life: individual and shared 177. Some main values 198. View of life and philosophy 209. The concept of philosophy 24What chapter 1 was all about 25


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PArAgrAPh 1 Introduction

(1) In 2004 I travelled to Baghdad, Israel and the Palestinian Territories to make the film I know I’m not alone to try and capture, as you might put it: ‘The Human Cost of War.’I had grown tired of listening to generals and politicians talk about the economic and political costs of war without ever mentioning the human costs. I wanted to hear about the war from those directly involved: taxi drivers, doctors, teachers, musicians; that is: ordinary people. I had my guitar with me and every time things got tense, I started to sing. When I made music, the mood changed. Sometimes the soldiers wanted to appear tough and aggressive. In the film you see a soldier asking me to stop playing. So I said: only if you remove your finger from the trigger. And he did.I don’t think we will ever live in a world of love and peace only. I am not an idealist in that sense. I am a practical person. But I do believe in a better world in which we will not kill each other on the scale at which it is happening now. And I devote myself to that purpose. (Michael Franti, filmmaker and singer-songwriter Spearhead)

(2) Did you ever feel the pain that he felt upon the cross?Did you ever feel the knife tearing flesh that’s oh so soft?Did you ever touch the night, did you ever count the cost?Do you hide away the fear, put down paradise as lost?Yeah you’re blinded by rainbows, watching the wind blow, Blinded by rainbows; do you dream at night, do you sleep at night? I doubt it! Did you ever feel the blast as the semtex bomb goes off? Do you ever hear the screams as the limbs are all torn off?

Did you ever kiss the child who just saw his father shot?Do you ever shed a tear as the war drags on and on?Do you ever touch the night or is it just another job? Do you feel the final hours, put down paradise as lost? Yeah you’re blinded by rainbows and faces in windows, Blinded by rainbows; do you dream at night, do you sleep at night? I doubt it! Do you ever fear the night, could it be the war is lost? Do you fear the final hour, do you kneel before the cross?You’re blinded by rainbows and watching the wind blow, Blinded by rainbows; do you dream at night? Do you scream at night? Do you smell of fear? Is your conscience clear? Are you caked in sweat? Are your clothes all wet? Do you see the light? Is the end in sight? See the face of Christ? Enter paradise? I doubt it!(Blinded by Rainbows, Mick Jagger/Keith Richards, from the Rolling Stones album Voodoo Lounge)

(3) The fundamentalist killing on both sides are standing in the path of peace. …And if God is great and God is good, why can’t he change the hearts of men?… Maybe God himself is lost and needs help, maybe God himself needs all of our help and he’s lost upon the road to peace… (Fragment of Road to Peace, Waits/Brennan, from the album Orphans by Tom Waits)


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(4) God is very important to me. Without Him my life has no meaning. I belief He created heaven and earth and that I shall go to heaven after my death. There will be no sorrow and suffering in heaven. The prospect of heaven gives me peace in my life here on earth. (Dutch dj and tv-host)

Assignment 1 through 3, p.3

PArAgrAPh 2 The notion of view of life

2.1 Points of viewAbove you met with different points of view about things that really matter in life. For example: Does God exist and what does it mean to believe? Apart from believing or not-believing in God, there are other similarly important questions on which your point of view counts. These points of view, taken as a whole, make up somebody’s view of life, what he or she takes the meaning of life to be.This book wants to help you to think clearly about these points of view, about what really matters, about those important questions.

2.2 MeaningIn this context view of life means, quite literally: the way you view life; the way you look at life. And as your view of life it means: what you really think of life; what you think life ‘really’ means. And by ‘really’ I mean: more than what seems to be the case at the first glance. More than what appears on the surface of it. So: What it’s really about. What it is meant for.If it is meant for something at all.Put differently: What the purpose or meaning of your existence is. And if it has a purpose or meaning!That’s what you mean by view of life.

On the internet Elisabeth wrote this poem about it, called ‘A Rose’:A lovely rose with petals softA scent so sweet and lightSo beautiful a flowerWith colours shining bright.

But something not so savouryAbout the fragrant rose -The thorns, so sharp upon the stem,That sharpen as it grows.


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