For teacher’s reference:
In the chapters so far we have understood that:
We can divide our needs into two categories. First – material needs like food, clothing, pen, book, cycle, house, water, road, electricity, trees etc. Second – relationships or feelings like respect, trust, affection, gratitude etc. which we experience in relation with our parents, teachers or friends. When both these kinds of needs are not fulfilled, we feel incomplete. By understanding this, we can understand ourselves and what we want, more clearly. If we develop this understanding then we can think about how to fulfil our needs. In this chapter, we will understand these needs.
Section 1: Understanding of needs
Activity 1.1: Our needs
Activity 1.2: Difference in our needs – on the basis of quantity
Activity 1.3: Difference in our needs – on the basis of time duration
Section 2: Are our needs unlimited and resources limited?
Activity 2.1: Are needs unlimited and resources limited?
Story 2.2: How much land?
Section 1: Understanding of needs
For teacher’s reference:
Activity 1.1: Our needs
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: Students gain clarity that all of us have two kinds of needs – those of our body and those of our mind/self.
Start the class with mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Steps of the activity:
1. Begin this activity with children with a discussion on needs. You may begin like: “We all have many needs. Each one of us has different needs. What do you think, why are these requirements there?”
2. Have this discussion for 2-4 minutes. Then speak out the well-known saying , "a person’s needs are unlimited, they can’t be fulfilled". Ask the students if they have heard this saying. You can spend 1-2 minutes on this, if they have heard this, who have they heard it from?
3. Discuss with the children whether they agree with this or not. If they agree, then why do they agree? And if they disagree then why do they disagree? At least get 3-4 children to share their views on both aspects,
4. Come to the main point of this chapter and ask if anyone has counted his/her needs or listed them out? If not, then they should now count their needs and list them too.
5. Ask all the students to take their notebooks out and try to make a list of their needs according to their understanding. Give them 5-7 minutes and ask them what they wrote and make a list of these needs on black board. Ensure there are no repetitions in the list.
Proposed questions for discussion
The needs of the body and mind are based on quantity and duration, we will make it clear with the help of an activity.
Activity 1.2: Difference in our needs – on the basis of quantity
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning Objective: The purpose of this activity is to help the students understand that the needs based on physical facilities are quantitative, which means they can be counted, measured or weighed. While the needs related to the mind are not quantitative but qualitative which means they cannot be counted, measured or weighed.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
In the previous activity, we understood that our needs can be divided into two categories. Needs relating to physical facilities and needs relating to mind. Here, we will try to understand the difference between two kinds of needs with the help of an activity.
Steps of the activity:
1. The class can be divided into small groups with 5-6 students in each group.
2. The teacher may write the following questions on the board and ask the students to discuss them in their groups for 5 minutes after that answer:
a. How many school uniforms do you require?
b. How much water do you need to drink in a day?
c. How many fans are required at home?
d. How many chairs are needed in the class?
e. How many buses should be there in Delhi?
f. How many guards are needed in the school?
3. The teacher can then write the following questions for the groups and give 5 minutes for discussion.
5. The teacher should ask the students about the difference in both kinds of questions and to get the students’ attention to the right direction, teacher may hold a discussion on the following questions –
Proposed questions for discussion
1. Which amongst these can be measured?
2. Which amongst these cannot be measured?
3. Which amongst these can be recognised through our senses – by smelling, touching, looking, hearing or tasting them?
4. Which things cannot be recognised with our senses? How may they be recognised?
(Expected answer: They can be felt – through our feelings)
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
Day 2
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
1. After the discussion on the questions above, the teacher may make two columns on the board.
Those which can be measured
Those which can be identified through senses
Those which cannot be measured
Those which cannot be recognised through senses but can be felt
2. Ask the students the name that can be given to the column on the left and to the one on the right.
Proposed questions for discussion:
1. Are physical needs (needs of material), needs of the body or of the mind? (Answer: Of the body)
2. Are non-material needs, needs of the body or of the mind? (Answer: Of the mind)
3. Material needs can be measured but is the quantity required of such needs same for everyone or varies person to person? For example, does everyone require to eat the same number of chapattis or different?
4. Is there any non-material need which can be quantified? (Answer: No)
Now the table would look like this –
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
When the students complete the activity above, it would be appropriate to bring to their minds that we are always busy fulfilling our needs, and the time taken to fulfil them varies. Are we able to recognise this? Now we will try to identify it with the following activity.
Activity 1.3: Difference in our needs – on the basis of time duration
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: The purpose of this activity too is to bring a deeper understanding among students of two kinds of needs – needs of our body and the needs of our mind, that is, material (physical facilities) and values (feelings). Through this activity, we will try to create this understanding among students that the need for physical facilities, that is material needs, are recurrent from time to time while the needs of the mind are constant.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Steps of the activity:
1. The teacher should make chits to give to the students. Ensure that the number of chits is not less than the number of students.
2. The teacher should write one need on each chit. This need can be material or it can be feeling (value based) but write just one on each chit. Some examples of needs are – food, water, air, car, money, travel, safety, intelligence, fame, love, helping others, bigger car, bigger house, burger, pizza, happiness, peace, computer, bike, smartphone, laptop, earrings, watching films, AC, wrist watch, new bag etc.
3. Put all these chits on the table and ask each child to pick up any one chit.
4. Tell all the students that they should read the need mentioned there and decide whether the need is related to a feeling or a material. Now, assign two corners of the classroom – one for the students who have the chits relating to physical facilities (material) and the other for students who have chits relating to feelings – and ask them to go to one corner as per the chit.
5. For 10 minutes, they may share their chits in their groups and tell each other what they think. Is the need on their chit one that is required constantly or only from time to time (periodically)? For example, food is needed from time to time because it isn’t possible to eat food all the time. If we eat all the time, we will fall sick. Respect is needed always. We do not need insults at any time.
6. After the discussion, if anyone in the group feels they are in the wrong group, give them the chance to change their group.
7. Then, both groups may tell what their needs are – what they feel they need constantly and what they need from time to time.
8. After the presentation, let the groups pose questions to each other.
9. The teacher may clarify if required. For instance, whenever there is a problem with classification, the teacher may intervene and help the students.
Proposed questions for discussion
1. The needs which are required intermittently or from time to time - are needs of the body or of the mind? For example, food, clothing, water, phone etc. (answer: Body)
2. The needs which are required always or continuously - are needs of the body or of the mind? For example, happiness, affection, respect, trust etc. (Answer: Mind)
3. In which corner of the class were there more students – in the ‘physical needs’ corner or the ‘feelings’ corner? (Answer: The answer will depend on the chits.)
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
Note for the teacher:
1. Students often say that clothes are required constantly. So, we can have a discussion with the students that clothes change with time, they change according to seasons, but respect is needed constantly even though ways to get respect might vary. The students may ask about breathing. On this too, they can be told, we breathe in and then breathe out. We don’t constantly breathe in.
This also changes. While swimming, we can hold our breath for a while.
2. Some examples that may come up in class:
For teacher reference
Activity 2.1: Are our needs unlimited and resources limited?
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: To develop this understanding among students that the belief, our needs are unlimited and our resources limited " ,is a myth, which we all consider to be true because we haven’t recognised our needs properly.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Steps of the activity:
1. Write this sentence on the board – ‘Our needs are unlimited while resources are limited’.
2. Ask the students – how many of you agree with this sentence and how many disagree? Hold this discussion for a while and then ask students to spell out all their needs one by one, and write the examples of their (supposedly unlimited) needs on the board. Write only the distinct needs on the board. Do not repeat, which is already mentioned by another student, and written on the board.
3. Suggest to the students that our needs are of two types : material needs and non-material needs. Categorise the needs on board in these two types.
a. Material needs examples – food, clothing, house, car, mobile, laptop, TV etc.
b. Non-material needs examples – respect, security, peace, affection etc.
4. Now, focus on the material needs (needs of the body) with the students.
5. Explore with students if their actual need (in their own life) for material things is unlimited or finite / countable.
a. For example, if a person eats even 10 chapattis in a day and lives for 100 years, then, in his entire life, he needs 10x365x100 chapattis. This quantity is not unlimited.
b. Similarly, how many clothes will a person wear in his entire life? Even if he buys new ones every month, they can be counted. The quantity is not unlimited.
c. How many houses does one require to live? This also can be counted, it is not unlimited. How many cars, mobiles etc. are needed, can be counted as well. No material need is infinite.
6. Now, focus on the non-material needs with the students.
7. Explore with students if their actual need (in their own life) for non-material things is also finite / countable, or not ?
a. For example, how much respect do we need ? Can it be quantified ?
b. If we get only a few moments of disrespect /insult in a day, is it acceptable to us ?
c. In other words, can we say that respect is a continuous need ?
Proposed questions for discussion:
1. Are all kinds of our needs limited, can they be counted?
2. When do our needs appear to be limited and why?
3. Then why do we believe that our needs are infinite? (Answer : Because we were not clear that we have two types of needs - Material needs, and non-material needs.)
4. Our non-material needs are continuous needs, and thus appear to be infinite. (Agree/disagree/Not sure).
5. Can we say that our material needs are definite (and thus, finite) and there are enough resources on this earth to fulfil the material needs of all human beings ? (Agree/disagree/Not sure).
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
Note for the teachers:
Our physical needs are definite (and thus, finite) while our non-physical needs (needs of the mind /Self) are continuous (without any gaps, and thus appear to be infinite). We assume that our needs are unlimited and resources limited because we are unable to distinguish between the needs of our body and the needs of our mind. Because of this, we try to fulfil our non-physical(emotional) needs also with physical things, and this mixing-up leads to confusion that all our needs are infinite.
Story 2.1: How much land?
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: To take the student’s attention towards their needs and to help them understand that the material needs are limited. Also, to make them aware of the consequences of hoarding more than what one needs.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Direction of Discussion (For Teachers): Many people are not able to correctly assess their needs because of which they appear to be collecting a lot of material things. They believe that there is no end to their needs and the resources to achieve these are limited and so there is no option other than material things. Hence, throughout life they work hard for collection of material things. Because of living in this myth, our health and our relationships are ignored. And the need of our mind that we sought out to meet (like respect, trust) remains unfulfilled.
The objective of this story is to make the students aware of their needs so that they can evaluate physical facilities correctly and also clearly recognise their needs of the Self(feelings).
Story
Once, a traveller was visiting a man’s house. At night, amid conversation, the traveller said, “A little far from here there is a village where the land is so reasonable that it is almost available for free. Thousands of acres can be bought for almost no price.” The man hosting him got tempted and the second day itself, he started travelling to that village. When he reached there, he said to the villagers, “I want to buy land here.” The villagers said, “Give us whatever money you have got. The process of buying land here is that you start walking before sunrise tomorrow morning and the length of land you can walk before sunset would be yours.”
The man couldn’t sleep all night. He kept planning on how much land he would acquire. As soon as it was sunrise, he started running. He also packed food and water thinking he will eat or drink when he would feel hungry or thirsty but he wouldn’t stop running.
He thought he would begin to return by 12 so that he would reach back before sunset. He covered miles and miles by afternoon. He knew when it was afternoon and thought about returning but then he saw even more productive land in front of him and so he thought, “Let me cover some more land.” The man knew he would have to run faster on the way back. He didn’t eat, nor did he drink water, because that would have required him to stop. He threw away the food and water on the way because he was finding it difficult to carry their weight. He took off his coat and hat as well.
Afternoon passed by, but he didn’t feel like returning. Now even the afternoon was gradually giving way to evening. The man began to return but started feeling uneasy. He had spent all his energy and was now feeling tired. The sun began to set. He was getting closer to the village and was able to spot the villagers. They were calling out to him, “Come on, come on.” He put his last bit of energy in running. As the sun was setting, he was running towards the village. And then the man fell off. Now, the last ray of the sun was visible on the horizon. He was somehow trying to drag himself towards the village but the sun had set and he fainted and fell over there. The people of the village began to laugh and talk among themselves saying, “Till now, not even a single person has arrived who could own land here.”
Day 1
Proposed questions for Discussion
1. Have you ever suffered a loss when you have wished to acquire more than you need? How?
2. What are the things that people acquire more than they need? Make a list.
3. What are the things that you acquire more than you need? Share in class.
At home – Observe, Enquire, Understand (for students)
Day 2
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
1. Why do we collect some things more than our need? Do they solve the purpose for which we do this? Discuss.
2. How can we decide upon our needs based on how much of what do we require? Discuss in class.
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
-----------------------------
In the chapters so far we have understood that:
- We all seek happiness.
- Our mind is in a state of happiness when our requirements are being met.
We can divide our needs into two categories. First – material needs like food, clothing, pen, book, cycle, house, water, road, electricity, trees etc. Second – relationships or feelings like respect, trust, affection, gratitude etc. which we experience in relation with our parents, teachers or friends. When both these kinds of needs are not fulfilled, we feel incomplete. By understanding this, we can understand ourselves and what we want, more clearly. If we develop this understanding then we can think about how to fulfil our needs. In this chapter, we will understand these needs.
Section 1: Understanding of needs
Activity 1.1: Our needs
Activity 1.2: Difference in our needs – on the basis of quantity
Activity 1.3: Difference in our needs – on the basis of time duration
Section 2: Are our needs unlimited and resources limited?
Activity 2.1: Are needs unlimited and resources limited?
Story 2.2: How much land?
Section 1: Understanding of needs
For teacher’s reference:
- We essentially don’t want to make mistakes. Whatever we do, we do for happiness.
- We will be happy only when our needs will be fulfilled.
- If needs are fulfilled, no one would want to make mistakes.
- Our needs are of two kinds.
- 1 – material (tangible) needs, meant for our body.
- 2 – non tangible needs such as, feelings and clarity, which are for our mind/self.
Activity 1.1: Our needs
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: Students gain clarity that all of us have two kinds of needs – those of our body and those of our mind/self.
Start the class with mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Steps of the activity:
1. Begin this activity with children with a discussion on needs. You may begin like: “We all have many needs. Each one of us has different needs. What do you think, why are these requirements there?”
2. Have this discussion for 2-4 minutes. Then speak out the well-known saying , "a person’s needs are unlimited, they can’t be fulfilled". Ask the students if they have heard this saying. You can spend 1-2 minutes on this, if they have heard this, who have they heard it from?
3. Discuss with the children whether they agree with this or not. If they agree, then why do they agree? And if they disagree then why do they disagree? At least get 3-4 children to share their views on both aspects,
4. Come to the main point of this chapter and ask if anyone has counted his/her needs or listed them out? If not, then they should now count their needs and list them too.
5. Ask all the students to take their notebooks out and try to make a list of their needs according to their understanding. Give them 5-7 minutes and ask them what they wrote and make a list of these needs on black board. Ensure there are no repetitions in the list.
- If the students have only written material needs, then bring their attention to the feelings associated with needs such as trust, respect, affection, recognition, fame, love, security etc. and add those to the list.
- Now, you may circle the needs associated with material things, telling them that these are the needs of our body.
- It would be good to ask the students what the other requirements are for. (Probable answer: These are the needs of the mind. If the students do not come up with this answer, the teacher may share it.)
Proposed questions for discussion
- Are all of you able to recognise that all your needs fall under these two categories (body and mind)? Can there be another category too? Discuss.
- In our everyday life, do we give more time to the requirements of our body, or of our mind?
- What is the difference you see in these needs?
- Based on quantity?
- Based on time?
The needs of the body and mind are based on quantity and duration, we will make it clear with the help of an activity.
Activity 1.2: Difference in our needs – on the basis of quantity
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning Objective: The purpose of this activity is to help the students understand that the needs based on physical facilities are quantitative, which means they can be counted, measured or weighed. While the needs related to the mind are not quantitative but qualitative which means they cannot be counted, measured or weighed.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
In the previous activity, we understood that our needs can be divided into two categories. Needs relating to physical facilities and needs relating to mind. Here, we will try to understand the difference between two kinds of needs with the help of an activity.
Steps of the activity:
1. The class can be divided into small groups with 5-6 students in each group.
2. The teacher may write the following questions on the board and ask the students to discuss them in their groups for 5 minutes after that answer:
a. How many school uniforms do you require?
b. How much water do you need to drink in a day?
c. How many fans are required at home?
d. How many chairs are needed in the class?
e. How many buses should be there in Delhi?
f. How many guards are needed in the school?
3. The teacher can then write the following questions for the groups and give 5 minutes for discussion.
- How much love do you need from your mother?
- How much should you enjoy with your friends?
- How much respect do you need?
- How much trust should others have in you?
- How much affection should be there among siblings?
- How much care do you take of your grandparents?
5. The teacher should ask the students about the difference in both kinds of questions and to get the students’ attention to the right direction, teacher may hold a discussion on the following questions –
Proposed questions for discussion
1. Which amongst these can be measured?
2. Which amongst these cannot be measured?
3. Which amongst these can be recognised through our senses – by smelling, touching, looking, hearing or tasting them?
4. Which things cannot be recognised with our senses? How may they be recognised?
(Expected answer: They can be felt – through our feelings)
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
Day 2
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
1. After the discussion on the questions above, the teacher may make two columns on the board.
Those which can be measured
Those which can be identified through senses
Those which cannot be measured
Those which cannot be recognised through senses but can be felt
2. Ask the students the name that can be given to the column on the left and to the one on the right.
Those
which can be measured
Those
which can be identified through senses
|
Those
which cannot be measured
Those
which cannot be recognised through senses but can be felt
|
Proposed questions for discussion:
1. Are physical needs (needs of material), needs of the body or of the mind? (Answer: Of the body)
2. Are non-material needs, needs of the body or of the mind? (Answer: Of the mind)
3. Material needs can be measured but is the quantity required of such needs same for everyone or varies person to person? For example, does everyone require to eat the same number of chapattis or different?
4. Is there any non-material need which can be quantified? (Answer: No)
Now the table would look like this –
Physical
needs
Those
which can be measured.
Those
which can be recognised through our senses.
|
Non-physical
needs
Those
which cannot be measured.
Those
which cannot be recognised/ those that can be felt.
|
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
When the students complete the activity above, it would be appropriate to bring to their minds that we are always busy fulfilling our needs, and the time taken to fulfil them varies. Are we able to recognise this? Now we will try to identify it with the following activity.
Activity 1.3: Difference in our needs – on the basis of time duration
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: The purpose of this activity too is to bring a deeper understanding among students of two kinds of needs – needs of our body and the needs of our mind, that is, material (physical facilities) and values (feelings). Through this activity, we will try to create this understanding among students that the need for physical facilities, that is material needs, are recurrent from time to time while the needs of the mind are constant.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Steps of the activity:
1. The teacher should make chits to give to the students. Ensure that the number of chits is not less than the number of students.
2. The teacher should write one need on each chit. This need can be material or it can be feeling (value based) but write just one on each chit. Some examples of needs are – food, water, air, car, money, travel, safety, intelligence, fame, love, helping others, bigger car, bigger house, burger, pizza, happiness, peace, computer, bike, smartphone, laptop, earrings, watching films, AC, wrist watch, new bag etc.
3. Put all these chits on the table and ask each child to pick up any one chit.
4. Tell all the students that they should read the need mentioned there and decide whether the need is related to a feeling or a material. Now, assign two corners of the classroom – one for the students who have the chits relating to physical facilities (material) and the other for students who have chits relating to feelings – and ask them to go to one corner as per the chit.
5. For 10 minutes, they may share their chits in their groups and tell each other what they think. Is the need on their chit one that is required constantly or only from time to time (periodically)? For example, food is needed from time to time because it isn’t possible to eat food all the time. If we eat all the time, we will fall sick. Respect is needed always. We do not need insults at any time.
6. After the discussion, if anyone in the group feels they are in the wrong group, give them the chance to change their group.
7. Then, both groups may tell what their needs are – what they feel they need constantly and what they need from time to time.
8. After the presentation, let the groups pose questions to each other.
9. The teacher may clarify if required. For instance, whenever there is a problem with classification, the teacher may intervene and help the students.
Proposed questions for discussion
1. The needs which are required intermittently or from time to time - are needs of the body or of the mind? For example, food, clothing, water, phone etc. (answer: Body)
2. The needs which are required always or continuously - are needs of the body or of the mind? For example, happiness, affection, respect, trust etc. (Answer: Mind)
3. In which corner of the class were there more students – in the ‘physical needs’ corner or the ‘feelings’ corner? (Answer: The answer will depend on the chits.)
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
Note for the teacher:
1. Students often say that clothes are required constantly. So, we can have a discussion with the students that clothes change with time, they change according to seasons, but respect is needed constantly even though ways to get respect might vary. The students may ask about breathing. On this too, they can be told, we breathe in and then breathe out. We don’t constantly breathe in.
This also changes. While swimming, we can hold our breath for a while.
2. Some examples that may come up in class:
- Food is a requirement of the body. But who needs tasty food? I/my mind needs tasty food.
- Who needs money – the mind or the body? What can money buy? Eatables, clothes, house, car. These things are useful for the body, that’s why money is a requirement of the body.
- Technology (like phone, TV, car etc.) aids in our access to information and to speed up social communication. Technology works faster than the speed of our body. Like a car helps us reach from one place to the other. If we walk to each place, our body will have to work very hard and get exhausted.
For teacher reference
- Most of us believe that our needs are unlimited.
- We also understand that the resources to achieve them are limited on earth.
- Have we examined if this belief is right?
- Is it possible that our needs are not unlimited but definite and there are enough resources to meet them?
- We find our needs unlimited because we have not recognised them properly.
Activity 2.1: Are our needs unlimited and resources limited?
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: To develop this understanding among students that the belief, our needs are unlimited and our resources limited " ,is a myth, which we all consider to be true because we haven’t recognised our needs properly.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Steps of the activity:
1. Write this sentence on the board – ‘Our needs are unlimited while resources are limited’.
2. Ask the students – how many of you agree with this sentence and how many disagree? Hold this discussion for a while and then ask students to spell out all their needs one by one, and write the examples of their (supposedly unlimited) needs on the board. Write only the distinct needs on the board. Do not repeat, which is already mentioned by another student, and written on the board.
3. Suggest to the students that our needs are of two types : material needs and non-material needs. Categorise the needs on board in these two types.
a. Material needs examples – food, clothing, house, car, mobile, laptop, TV etc.
b. Non-material needs examples – respect, security, peace, affection etc.
4. Now, focus on the material needs (needs of the body) with the students.
5. Explore with students if their actual need (in their own life) for material things is unlimited or finite / countable.
a. For example, if a person eats even 10 chapattis in a day and lives for 100 years, then, in his entire life, he needs 10x365x100 chapattis. This quantity is not unlimited.
b. Similarly, how many clothes will a person wear in his entire life? Even if he buys new ones every month, they can be counted. The quantity is not unlimited.
c. How many houses does one require to live? This also can be counted, it is not unlimited. How many cars, mobiles etc. are needed, can be counted as well. No material need is infinite.
6. Now, focus on the non-material needs with the students.
7. Explore with students if their actual need (in their own life) for non-material things is also finite / countable, or not ?
a. For example, how much respect do we need ? Can it be quantified ?
b. If we get only a few moments of disrespect /insult in a day, is it acceptable to us ?
c. In other words, can we say that respect is a continuous need ?
Proposed questions for discussion:
1. Are all kinds of our needs limited, can they be counted?
2. When do our needs appear to be limited and why?
3. Then why do we believe that our needs are infinite? (Answer : Because we were not clear that we have two types of needs - Material needs, and non-material needs.)
4. Our non-material needs are continuous needs, and thus appear to be infinite. (Agree/disagree/Not sure).
5. Can we say that our material needs are definite (and thus, finite) and there are enough resources on this earth to fulfil the material needs of all human beings ? (Agree/disagree/Not sure).
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
Note for the teachers:
Our physical needs are definite (and thus, finite) while our non-physical needs (needs of the mind /Self) are continuous (without any gaps, and thus appear to be infinite). We assume that our needs are unlimited and resources limited because we are unable to distinguish between the needs of our body and the needs of our mind. Because of this, we try to fulfil our non-physical(emotional) needs also with physical things, and this mixing-up leads to confusion that all our needs are infinite.
Story 2.1: How much land?
Time: At least two periods or till the teacher is satisfied.
Learning objective: To take the student’s attention towards their needs and to help them understand that the material needs are limited. Also, to make them aware of the consequences of hoarding more than what one needs.
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
Direction of Discussion (For Teachers): Many people are not able to correctly assess their needs because of which they appear to be collecting a lot of material things. They believe that there is no end to their needs and the resources to achieve these are limited and so there is no option other than material things. Hence, throughout life they work hard for collection of material things. Because of living in this myth, our health and our relationships are ignored. And the need of our mind that we sought out to meet (like respect, trust) remains unfulfilled.
The objective of this story is to make the students aware of their needs so that they can evaluate physical facilities correctly and also clearly recognise their needs of the Self(feelings).
Story
Once, a traveller was visiting a man’s house. At night, amid conversation, the traveller said, “A little far from here there is a village where the land is so reasonable that it is almost available for free. Thousands of acres can be bought for almost no price.” The man hosting him got tempted and the second day itself, he started travelling to that village. When he reached there, he said to the villagers, “I want to buy land here.” The villagers said, “Give us whatever money you have got. The process of buying land here is that you start walking before sunrise tomorrow morning and the length of land you can walk before sunset would be yours.”
The man couldn’t sleep all night. He kept planning on how much land he would acquire. As soon as it was sunrise, he started running. He also packed food and water thinking he will eat or drink when he would feel hungry or thirsty but he wouldn’t stop running.
He thought he would begin to return by 12 so that he would reach back before sunset. He covered miles and miles by afternoon. He knew when it was afternoon and thought about returning but then he saw even more productive land in front of him and so he thought, “Let me cover some more land.” The man knew he would have to run faster on the way back. He didn’t eat, nor did he drink water, because that would have required him to stop. He threw away the food and water on the way because he was finding it difficult to carry their weight. He took off his coat and hat as well.
Afternoon passed by, but he didn’t feel like returning. Now even the afternoon was gradually giving way to evening. The man began to return but started feeling uneasy. He had spent all his energy and was now feeling tired. The sun began to set. He was getting closer to the village and was able to spot the villagers. They were calling out to him, “Come on, come on.” He put his last bit of energy in running. As the sun was setting, he was running towards the village. And then the man fell off. Now, the last ray of the sun was visible on the horizon. He was somehow trying to drag himself towards the village but the sun had set and he fainted and fell over there. The people of the village began to laugh and talk among themselves saying, “Till now, not even a single person has arrived who could own land here.”
Day 1
Proposed questions for Discussion
1. Have you ever suffered a loss when you have wished to acquire more than you need? How?
2. What are the things that people acquire more than they need? Make a list.
3. What are the things that you acquire more than you need? Share in class.
At home – Observe, Enquire, Understand (for students)
- Students should discuss the story at home and understand the thoughts and views of their family members.
- Students should look around and explore how people are absorbed in acquiring more than their needs.
Day 2
Start the class by mindfulness – ask the students to focus on their breath for 2-3 minutes.
- Have some students repeat the story.
- Some other students can share their storytelling experiences at home in smaller groups. Some may share with the whole class.
- The first day’s discussion questions can be used again for the remaining students.
1. Why do we collect some things more than our need? Do they solve the purpose for which we do this? Discuss.
2. How can we decide upon our needs based on how much of what do we require? Discuss in class.
Ask the students to sit quietly for 1-2 minutes and reflect on the essence drawn from the day’s discussion.
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- Chapter 1: Understanding Happiness
- Chapter 2: Need
- Chapter 3: Needs of the Self
- Chapter 4: Trust and Confidence
- Chapter 5: Identifying Commonness
- Chapter 6: Sensible person = happy person
- Chapter 7: Happy Family
- Chapter 8: A Happy Society
- Chapter 9: Nature and Space
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