Asking the Big Questions

Titled ‘A Life Worth Living’, the course explores some of the most fundamental questions of human existence, and has provoked strong interest and been exceptionally well received by students. As a result, the initiative is being expanded to a Grand Hall course lecture, with a cohort of 480 students – the first time a course of any kind at HKU has reached such high numbers.

Devised by Professor Daniel K L Chua and Dr Jonathan W Johnson – both from the School of Humanities in the Faculty of Arts – the course seeks answers to how we might live a worthy life by exploring various philosophical and religious traditions.

“The aim was to revive the motto which is the mission of HKU ‘Wisdom and Virtue’,” said Professor Chua. “The big questions about how to live have largely been erased from university thinking because academia has lost confidence: we only want to teach facts not values, and certainly not values that need to be lived.

“Today, most students come to university in order to get a job; but, in my view, they should be here to get a life. After all, getting a job can be a bit meaningless if you don’t have a life; and if we are expecting our students at HKU to be future leaders, we’d better be producing good leaders and not just clever ones. And you can’t do that without asking what a life worth living is, both for the individual and for our communities.”

Ultimate concern

Dr Johnson added: “My hope for the course’s achievement or ultimate aim was for the students to both begin thinking about issues of ‘ultimate concern’ in their own lives, and to have the resources to find answers to the questions these raise for all of us.”

The course examines various philosophical and religious traditions – such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Christianity and Secular Humanism – via a mix of engaging lectures and game-centred tutorials to explore how the teachings of important historical figures from these traditions have shaped what constitutes a good life both in the past and in our modern lives.

The game-centred tutorials revolve around role-playing, similar to Dungeons & Dragons, where the class splits into groups of adventurers and monsters, representing curious and critical questions about the tradition and how it relates to real-life experience.

“Since we’re engaging with philosophies, religions, and worldviews which deserve to be treated with respect and an eye towards authentic engagement, we decided that ‘role-playing’ – both literally and figuratively – would be a fun approach,” said Dr Johnson. “And there’s much more, like dice-rolling, critical successes and failures, and as much creativity as we can fit in the 50 minutes. It really helps to normalise full participation and engagement.”

The idea is to unpack how the teachings from various traditions have influenced people over the centuries and to examine how they might apply to students today.

Clear connections

“Partly in the lecture, and explicitly in the tutorials, we try to raise clear connections to concerns in the students’ daily lives, and in our immediate contexts,” said Dr Johnson. “Since these concerns are fairly timeless, in that they speak to our condition in every age, the contextualisation and adoption are often fairly straightforward.

“For example, when the Buddhists talk about ways to cease the suffering that comes from frustration over change, the students can easily see this in their lives; or when the Christians talk about the power of forgiveness to bring peace not only to broken relationships, but also internally, the students find applications in their lives straightaway.”

The course investigates how the different traditions deal with the question of failure, and how they face up to difficult challenges when life does not seem to be going well. Speakers touch on these issues in ways that aim to help the students personally first, and societally second.

“The approach in seeking self-awareness and self-reflection, in conversation with these traditions, is meant to ask each of us to first answer how we ourselves can cope with these negative experiences, before we then find ways to positively impact others experiencing the same.”

Guest speakers have ranged from yoga instructors to Buddhist philosophers to charitable philanthropists.

Asked why they think the course has been met with such enthusiasm, Professor Chua said: “Big questions need big answers, especially at a time when students are so stressed out! I think a course that provides a safe space to ask big questions would draw a crowd. We often bracket the question of meaning from learning, but what attracts us to learning is finding meaning. So, I think a course called ‘A Life Worth Living’ speaks to an underlying desire to learn what really matters.”

“Students report that they enjoy the topic, the guest visitors and the interactive tutorials,” added Dr Johnson. “Many find it eye-opening, and a few have even found it transformative.”