A graduate of the Middlesex School in Massachusetts, Matthew “Matt” Kafker studies literature, linguistics, physics, and other subjects as a university student. An avid reader during his free time, Matt Kafker is currently reading Voltaire’s Candide, among other works.Widely considered to be one of the most important writers of the Enlightenment period in Europe, Voltaire was born in the late 17th century to a prominent family in Paris. A gifted student, he soon began to develop a reputation for his writing skill and his iconoclastic ideas that challenged the political and religious authorities of the day. Throughout his life, he explored the philosophical ideas of the Enlightenment in many essays, stories, and plays, but the short satirical novel Candide has proved to be the most enduring of his works.The novel traces the adventures of the eponymous character, Candide, as he moves from a place of privileged optimism into the harsh reality of the world, encountering war, disease, and natural disasters along the way. One real-life event that found its way into Candide’s pages was the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755. The earthquake, which registered 9.0 on the Richter scale, killed more than a third of Lisbon’s population and destroyed much of the city.The event had a major impact on the philosophers and religious thinkers of the day, many of whom saw the earthquake as an argument against a beneficent God. Voltaire was also greatly impacted by the disaster and used it as an episode in Candide’s journey away from boundless optimism.
A university student and community volunteer, Matthew “Matt” Kafker has participated in two international volunteer missions through the Global Works organization. During his free time, Matt Kafker pursues a healthy lifestyle that includes practicing mindfulness meditation.A discipline that dates back thousands of years to Eastern religions and spiritual practices, mindfulness meditation involves the practitioner paying attention to the present moment through mantras, conscious breathing exercises, or other methods. The practice has made its way into mainstream Western culture over the past few decades through the efforts of yoga practitioners, religious gurus, and scientists such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, a Harvard-based researcher and doctor who popularized the connection between mindful meditation and improved health.In recent years, a growing body of evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation has beneficial effects for insomnia, anxiety, chronic pain, and a host of other medical issues. Additionally, researchers are finding that mindfulness meditation, along with a mindfulness meditation-based treatment called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), can help with depression as well.For example, recent studies have shown that mindfulness meditation and MBCT can be effective in preventing patients with controlled depression from sliding back into depressive symptoms. Meanwhile, in 2014, a meta-study published in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at nearly 50 studies on the link between mindfulness and depression and found that mindfulness meditation offers the same level of benefit for individuals with depression as medication does.
