One Paragraph Summary

       The main topic that was covered during this chapter was the human condition.  We are born into a 
world that many people believe to be naturally evil and search throughout our life to understand what 
true happiness is and how to attain it.  In the majority of this section, we talked about attaining true 
happiness through truth and right speech. Many philosophers, such as Buddha, believed that truth 
leads us away from evil and closer to a more pure and holy life.  If we understand the truth, we will be 
able to make the perfect map to navigate the obstacles of society.  the main reason that we don't strive 
for this pure and true happiness is because often the truth is difficult to handle.  We value self-
protection more than we value truth.  We end up telling lies to escape trouble even though it ends up 
doing more harm than good in the end.

Three Important Ideas

       1) M Scott Peck article - In this article Peck uses the makes an analogy between our views of reality 
and maps.  He talks about how we much constantly revise our maps and even sometimes get a 
completely new one.  The reason we need this constant revision is because the world around us is 
constantly changing.  Many times we don't want to make these revisions because we don't like the pain 
or confusion that will come along with it.  We hold onto our old and outdated beliefs and never grow 
closer to the truth.  Also, our maps can be subtly changed by the people around us and our underlying 
beliefs.  We sometimes follow our parents' or older siblings' examples even though they may be wrong, 
because that was what we grew up with and that was all we knew.  We could also end up making false 
generalizations about the world around us because of the way our family acts because we never had the 
chance to see anything different when we were small.
       2) Right Speech Experiment - his experiment gave us the chance to notice some of the faults in our 
life by examining our speech and noticing when we move away from truth and charity.  Many students, 
including me, noticed that the lies they told weren't even very important.  They got so far into the rut of 
lying that it just came naturally even when it wasn't necessary.  It helped students to notice how much 
of a problem that have with lying, and hopefully lead them to noticing that they need to change.  I don't 
know how many other students did the last part of the experiment, but when I tried to only tell the 
truth later that week, I noticed that it is a very difficult thing to do.  I noticed that I had a lot of trouble 
telling the truth because it forced me to open up to others, and it made me feel unsafe.
       3) Problem of evil - The main problem that we find with evil is how it seems to contradict the 
existence of God.  No one can fully understand why evil is in this world.  They wonder how an all-
powerful and all-good God can allow evil to be in the world.  The text tells us that the reason that evil 
exists is because every person has their own free will.  Even though God intended for us to make the 
right decisions and seek truth and goodness, we have the ability to choose what is evil.  We are drawn 
to this evil and openly choose it because we value convenience, security, and "fun" over truth and 
charity.

Question

Has anyone ever found true happiness?
       My Answer: I think people have been able to find true happiness, but it never lasts for a 
long period of time.  I have experienced time where everything just seems good.  When I'm with the 
ones that you love and I get a chance to forget about all the stress and problems of life, I think I've 
reached what I imagine to be true happiness. But, then again, how would I be able to tell what true 
happiness is? What if there's something even more pure and happy than what I've personally 
experienced?