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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the dessert that the Dalai Lama most enjoys?

2. What did the Dalai Lama say he learned on a flight from Japan to San Francisco?

3. What does the Dalai Lama say happens to people who have no difficulties and are always relaxed?

4. What does Abrams write that he is tempted to see humor as a universal index of?

5. Who does Abrams cite as a powerful example of the principles of gratitude and forgiveness?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Part III, what does the Dalai Lama say happens when he prays to a certain statue in his home every morning?

2. In Part IV, what does Brother David Steindl-Rast say about the relationship between gratitude and happiness?

3. In Part IV, what do Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama emphatically agree that the willingness and ability to forgive are signs of in a person's character?

4. In Part III, what does Abrams's own father say after his terrible experience of traumatic brain injury?

5. In Part III, what does the Dalai Lama advise people to think of suffering as rather than a problem?

6. In Part III, in what way does the Dalai Lama say he considers himself a student at 80 years old?

7. In Part IV, who is the person in Archbishop Tutu's life that has caused him some of the deepest personal pain and why?

8. In Part IV, who does Abrams cite as an inspiration of what real gratitude looks like, and what were this person's circumstances?

9. In Part III, what does the Dalai Lama say about his feelings about his own safety and security in Dharamsala?

10. In Part III, why does the Dalai Lama jokingly say he prefers to go to hell?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think Abrams repeatedly compares animal behaviors to human behaviors when he explains some of the principles and teachings of both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What distinctions does the Dalai Lama emphasize to ensure that those who forgive past traumas are not harmed again by the very act of forgiveness? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

In Part I of the book, how do the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu answer Abrams' question about how they maintain their levity in the face of their rigorous spiritual practices? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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