Report: Thinkers' Club Session 32

Date: 26^th April, 2015

Session # 32

Attended by: 9 participants

Report written by: Fatima Salman

In this session, we discussed what our needs and wants are. Our needs are the things that are essential for us. Our needs include food, water, oxygen, clothes, etc. Our wants are things that are not essential for us. Examples of wants are cars, gadgets, accessories, etc. We talked about our wants. First, we had to think of what our wants were a year ago. Everyone had to think and note them down, and then share them with others. Most of those wants had been fulfilled, while some had not. Then we had to think and note down our current wants. Then we shared our wants with everyone. Our wants were written down on the board. We were told that our wants are in our hearts. We use our minds to check our wants.

After recalling all our current wants, we classified them in three categories: Good wants, Unclear wants, and Not so good (or bad) wants. Good wants are the wants that have a meaningful purpose in them. Unclear wants are wants that we are not clear about, or the wants that don’t make much sense. Not-good or bad wants are the wants that have no real meaning or purpose. We classified our wants according to their purposes. For example, if a child wants to go abroad to visit his\her relatives, this is a good want. However, there is always a cost of the want. Like going abroad may cost a lot of money. It will also require a passport, and visa of that country. It will also take time. The cost of the want is divided into three aspects: Time, money, and energy. In this way, we classified all the wants. A common want some people shared was to have their own room. We talked about the cost of the want. Like if there’s a house with three rooms, and six people living there, one person wanting his\her own room is unfair for the rest.

This way, we sorted the wants into good, unclear, and not good wants. We also figured out the cost of the want. The cost was not just about money, but also about time and energy, 

which were equally (or even more) important.

There are three things everyone must consider about their wants:

1. Know your wants
2. Check – are they good or not
3. Calculate the costs of your wants

We should pursue our good wants, if we are able to afford them. We shouldn’t go after our bad wants, even if they are cheap and do not take much time and energy. We are governed by our wants. We must follow our good wants, only if are able to do so. If we have a good want, and are able to pay the cost for it, we should definitely pursue it.

After this discussion, talked briefly about our needs. We have Primary needs and Secondary needs. Our Primary needs include Basic needs and Functional needs.

As there wasn’t any time left, we will continue the discussion in the next session. In the meantime, we can do the home task: we have to make a presentation or write an article about our wants. In it, we can tell about the types of wants, their costs, and more. It can include the examples shared, and things we learned about our wants in this session. These 

things will be shared in the next session.

Everyone enjoyed this session, and we all learnt a lot in it. We will continue the topic in the next session, Insha Allah.

Thank you.

Philosophical Questions and their Answers, by Kenza (online member)

What is Time (and do you think of Time the same way I do)?
If you looked for an ordinary definition of time, you’d be given something like, the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. But what exactly IS Time? And how can we think of it? Can we even go forwards/backwards in time? 
I think Time is of course our experiences in life, what’s happening to us now in the present, and what will happen in future (assuming we will still be there). We count Time as it goes by, just as we count numbers. But the mind-numbing thing is that if you go further and further than a millisecond, it’s infinite, and it’s hard to believe how this still goes on as we go by in the present today. Many believe that you can go forwards in Time if you go faster than the speed of Light. But many wonder how this beyond-the-mind thing works. I’ve come up with a theory, but it still doesn’t quite explain how Time works. 
If you look at the stars in the night sky today, you may have heard from someone or from an information book, that the stars that are out there today may have already died millions and millions of years ago. But there’s a reason for this of course; Light is slower than the speed of time, just as Sound is slower than the speed of Light (you’d notice this when there’s lightning). And that’s also the reason why light from the sun takes eight minutes to reach us, since the sun is so far away. So, from this theory, you can tell that Time is faster; the reason is because the stars that you see in the night sky may have already died… with Time! 


What are Colours?
If you were trying to explain to someone who’d been blind all their life, what colours are, you’d have a bit of difficulty. Only a person who’d not been blind at first would understand this matter properly. If you look up an ordinary definition, you’d be given something like, the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light. But this wouldn’t be useful for a blind person, because they don’t understand light, either. 

Instead, you could say that colours can also be expressed as heat or emotions. Like, red for hot, angry or dangerous and blue for cold, calm or sad. And then, of course, yellow for happy, which is also quite common.

Can you step in the same River twice? 
Yes; if I were stepping in the Thames once, stepped out, and stepped in again, I’d still be stepping in the Thames. 
No; the water of the river I’d stepped in the first time would have flowed past, by the time I’d stepped in the second time. Thus, it would be impossibly difficult to step in in exactly the same position as I’d last done, with the water in exactly the same place too. 

Does society need Greed?
Yes; If no-one had a greedy ambition, we’d probably never get anywhere. No-one would want to be leaders. Capitalism wouldn’t exist at all, and there would be no in between. 
No; If we didn’t have greed, we’d have more love and kindness for each other. There would be a lot more friendly people on the planet, and we’d be sharing things a lot more. The rainforests wouldn’t be cut down, and we wouldn’t use others. 
Personally, I believe some need a bit of greed for the world to work, but not too much. I mean, cutting down all the rainforests is over the top, but if we didn’t have greed at all, we probably wouldn’t even have ambitions, a competitive spirit, and we would be weak. 

Why does the same thing make one person Happy and the other Sad?
Different people may see different things in different ways. For example, say one child took a toy from another. In one perspective, the child would be really annoyed and demand it back. But in another, the child would be really happy that the other wanted to use their toy. 
It really depends which personality you have. If you’re a greedy or selfish character, you might be really annoyed if someone took one of your belongings from you. But if you’re a kind and sharing type of character, you’d be quite happy for someone to use one of your belongings. In some ways, you may be classified as an optimist, realist, or pessimist; like in the half-full, half-empty cup example. 

Report: Thinkers' Club Session 31

Date: 5th April, 2014
Session # 31
Report Written by: Zainab Salman

Today was the 31^st Session of the Thinker’s Club. Our topic today was: “What is a good life?”

First, everyone wrote their answers to the question. We came up with the following points, and listed them on the board:

• A good life should have an aim and a meaning.
•  A good life is when your parents are pleased and satisfied with you.
• A good life is, when you are self aware and God conscious.
•  A good life is, when you work for a good education.
•  A good life should lead to a better life in the hereafter.
•  A good life should be focused on to achieve its goals.

We discussed each of the points, briefly, to understand their meaning. Then, we wrote on the topic: “Why is my life a good life and what do I need to make my life good?

We came up with lots of points and shared them with each other. Then we picked the point “Make your parents happy with you” and we all listed ways to make our parents happy.

Here are some of the points:

• Do as they say and follow them.
• Help them in their work and chores.
• Make a card or write a letter for them when they are sad or angry with you.
• Give them water when they ask for it.
•  Help them tidy the house.

We ended the session by discussing the points we had listed. This session was meaningful, as we uncovered our perceptions of a good life.