Part II, Getting to Where You Want to Be, Chapter 6, Maintaining an Active Involvement in Life Summary and Analysis

The second half of the book turns to the matter of handling your suffering after understanding your place in life. First and foremost, one must maintain an active involvement in life. Morrie encourages the reader to pursue her interest, focusing on things that matter to her or that concern her. Being passionately involved in your favorite activities helps coping a great deal. But figuring out what activities to be involved in requires knowing who you are. Morrie points out that the sociologist Erving Goffman said that when you remove the social roles away from each person there is no one left, no inner core personality. The deconstructionists say the same thing...