The Art of Living: The Roles of Self and Community

Who shall I be? How do I become? What highest value(s) ought I aspire toward? What is the end and aim of life? The Art of Living refers to the project and the problem of our lives as characterized by these fundamental questions.

This discussion will explore implications for our Art of Living gleaned from the novel "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. What does Morrison's novel say about the roles of self and community in our lives? To what highest value(s) does Morrison urge us to aspire? What does she think the end and aim of our lives ought to be? What can we learn from Morrison about addressing the problem and the project of our lives? What can Morrison teach us about who to be and how to become? For you personally, what are the roles of ownership, the whole truth, names, self and community in your life? How do these values fit into your art of living?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1e/SongOfSolomon.jpg/175px-SongOfSolomon.jpg

The plan for the discussion is to follow the Stanford "Art of Living" lectures. I recommend reading Toni Morrison's novel "Song of Solomon" before watching the video lectures. The lectures will be much clearer if you have a basic understanding of the plot and its characters. The book is still in copyright, but is widely available at your local library or for purchase from your favorite bookseller. You can learn more about the novel from the Wikipedia page on "Song of Solomon" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_Solomon_(novel)). Here are the three 50 minute video lectures which will guide our discussion:

• The Narrative Construction of the Self by Kenneth Taylor (http://vimeo.com/22352839)

http://vimeo.com/22352839

• The Flight of Self by R. Lanier Anderson (http://vimeo.com/22358387)

http://vimeo.com/22358387

• It's not about you Living Longer. It's About how you Live and Why by Joshua Landy (http://vimeo.com/22362723)

http://vimeo.com/22362723

This is the fifth discussion in a series inspired by an accessible, exquisite, free on-line course The Art of Living ( http://humanexperience.stanford.edu/artofliving ), three Stanford professors discuss five great works to explore how philosophy and literature can help us practice the art of living. The lecturers are Kenneth Taylor, Joshua Landy, and R. Lanier Anderson and the works are Plato's "Symposium", Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Kierkegaard's "Fear and Trembling", Nietzsche's "The Gay Science", and Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon". The course video lectures will guide our exploration of "The Art of Living" in a multidimensional way. For an overview of our topic, please watch the 50 minute video Introduction to The Art of Living (http://vimeo.com/20383042).

These are links to the other meetups in The Art of Living series:

1. The Art of Living: Love and Reason in Plato's Symposium (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/131748342/)

2. The Art of Living: What Can We Learn From Shakespeare's Hamlet? (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/131748462/)

3. The Art of Living: The Paradoxes of Faith and Existence (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/131748542/)

4. The Art of Living: The Roles of Art and Science (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/131748622/)

5. The Art of Living: The Roles of Self and Community

6. The Art of Living: Engaging the Project of our Lives (https://www.meetup.com/thinkingsociety/events/131748772/)