Postsecondary Course Descriptions

<body>  <div class=Section1> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center"><b><font size="1"><span style="font-family: Arial"><a name="_Toc81803603" target="main"><span style='font-family: Arial; mso-bookmark: _Toc74797074'>Postsecondary </span></a>Subject Areas<br> <a name="_Toc81803603" target="main"><span style='font-family:Arial'>Descriptions</span></a></span></font></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc1 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804085" target="main">Core Areas of Study</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804086" target="main">Ultimate Reality and the Individual</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804087" target="main">Meaning and Purpose</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804088" target="main">Contemplation Methods</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804089" target="main">Spiritual Ethics</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc1 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804090" target="main">Supporting Subjects</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804091" target="main">Spiritual Leaders and Literature</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804092" target="main">Philosophy and Psychology</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804093" target="main">Theology and Mythology</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoToc2 style='tab-stops:right dotted 431.5pt'><span class=MsoHyperlink><a href="Article%20-%20Postsecondary%20Curriculum.htm#_Toc81804094" target="main">Natural & Life Sciences</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></p> </div>   <div class=Section1> <p class=MsoTitle><a name="_Toc74797074" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081922" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445455" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611769" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803603" target="_blank"><span style='font-family:Arial'> Postsecondary </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial">Subject Areas<br> </span><a name="_Toc81803603" target="_blank"><span style='font-family:Arial'>Descriptions</span></a></p> <h1><a name="_Toc74797082" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081930" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445463" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611777" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803604" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804085" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803604'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611777'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445463'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081930'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797082'>Core </span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc81803604">Study Areas</span></a></h1> <p class=MsoBodyText><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:Arial">The <a href="../Philosophy%20Educational%20Program/Inclusive%20Identities%20Frame.htm" target="_blank"> scope of education in the spiritual heritage of humanity</a> envisaged by SHEN leads to four core areas of study in the curriculum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The first study area explores the different religious, philosophic and scientific perceptions of the ultimate reality, human essence and the relationship between the two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Internalizing and contemplating on one’s personal perception of ultimate reality and one’s relationship with it leads to a worldview defining the meaning and purpose of life, which is the subject of the next core area of study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Contemplation is experiential and it is the source of conative knowledge, which is very personal and it cannot be attained any other way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Contemplation can deepen and refine your insight and requires a certain discipline to be effective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>One can choose a method of contemplation depending upon one’s tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Contemplation methods used in various traditions form another core area of study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Finally, the meaning and purpose discerned by an individual has to be fulfilled living in a society according to some spiritually ethical principles which form another core area of study.</span></p> <p class=MsoBodyText><span style='mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'>It must be remembered that all learnt material, whether from courses or books, is cognitive in nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Reflection and meditation is needed to clarify learnt knowledge and to carry it deep in human consciousness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Yet, cognitive knowledge of ultimate reality is considered incomplete without conative knowledge, best acquired in deep contemplation under the direction of an experienced spiritual director, in the cloud of unknowing transcending all prior learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797083" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081931" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445464" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611778" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803605" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804086" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803605'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611778'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445464'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081931'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797083'>Ultimate Reality and the Individual</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoBodyText>This subject area is related with direct and indirect knowledge of ultimate reality and its relationship with the essence of a human being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There is a general agreement about uniqueness and oneness of ultimate reality and its self-sufficiency in explaining the totality of universal phenomena, although different religions, different disciplines, different cultures and different individuals have differing views about it, how the universe comes about from it and how an individual being relates to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The universe is infinite and its cause has to be infinite in potential as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The differences in various viewpoints about Ultimate reality can be explained by the impossibility of describing infinity in finite words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The goal of this study area is to explore major schools of thought on ultimate reality emphasizing its infinity, its oneness and that all schools of thought seem plausible to their respective proponents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Such an exploration, it is hoped, will lead to intelligibility of the universe, a feeling of tolerance of different points of view and a feeling of kinship with others in the universe.</p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797084" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081932" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445465" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611779" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803606" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804087" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803606'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611779'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445465'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081932'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797084'>Meaning and Purpose</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoBodyText>The universe exists for a purpose and human life in the universe has meaning only in the context of individual reflection and understanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All meaning and purpose flows from a reflective understanding of the Universal Principle and its relationship with beings in the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This subject area will guide the student in his/her quest for meaning and purpose of life by encouraging an exploration of the individual concept of intelligibility.</p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797085" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081933" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445466" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611780" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803607" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804088" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803607'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611780'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445466'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081933'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797085'>Contemplation Methods</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoBodyText>This study area deals with conative knowledge of ultimate reality and one’s relation with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Spiritual life implies living according to one’s concepts of what is vital and of essence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Reflection and contemplation of the ultimate reality and its oneness and one’s supreme identity is thought to be necessary to attenuate one’s feelings, to sort out the trivial from the vital and to understand our relationship with others in the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This area study will explore the methods of contemplation and meditation systems in general, including Patanjali’s system of yoga and the approach according to the Anonymous Author of The Cloud of Unknowing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This study area will also explore the lives and thoughts of the great contemplatives and mystics of the world.</p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797086" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081934" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445467" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611781" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803608" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804089" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803608'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611781'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445467'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081934'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797086'>Spiritual Ethics</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoBodyText>Spiritual ethics flow from the oneness of ultimate reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If I am an expression of this one reality and so are you, then how do we relate with each other?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Irrespective of our understanding of the one ultimate reality, whatever underlies me underlies you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Whatever the individual understanding may be of the underlying substratum and the individual’s relationship with it, he/she must behave with others and the environment as if all are similarly related with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Spiritual ethic lies in the unity of the underlying essence of beings and not in the individual understanding of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Good lies in the recognition of this essential unity in living one’s life and, on the contrary, evil in the non-recognition of this unity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Good is what makes for unity or oneness and evil is what makes for separateness or division.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Spiritual ethic emphasizes this essential unity with due regard to the practicality of differences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This subject will explore ways of how life can be lived, emphasizing this underlying unity irrespective of our concept of this unity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This is an ethic that is all-inclusive and is ideally suited for the global village that the world is fast becoming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It, by its very nature, is simultaneously satisfactory in all of the religious, spiritual and practical domains.</p> <h1><a name="_Toc74797087" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081935" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445468" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611782" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803609" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804090" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797087'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081935'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445468'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611782'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803609'>Support</span></span></span></span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Toc81803609">ing Subjects</span></a></h1> <p class=MsoBodyText>In addition to the above mentioned core, the proposed curriculum includes supporting subject areas in humanities, social sciences, natural and life sciences in order to understand their perspectives on ultimate reality and the position of mankind in the universe:</p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797088" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081936" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445469" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611783" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803610" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804091" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803610'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611783'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445469'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081936'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797088'>Spiritual Leaders and Literature</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoBodyText>This subject studies how ultimate reality and its oneness are reflected in the great scriptures of the world and in the thought of various religious leaders and mystics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We intend to offer various courses to study spiritual thought in diverse spiritual works and of spiritual leaders such as, but not limited to, the Upanishads, the Bhagvad Gita, the Ramayana, the Bible, the Talmud, Theologica Germanica, the Quran, the Hadith, the Lankavatara Sutra, the Heart Sutra, the Dhammapada, the Tibetan Book of Dead, the Lotus Sutra, Spiritual thought of the Aboriginal Americans, Shankara, Ramanauja, Saint. Teresa, William Law, Meister Eckhart, Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, Yung-chia Ta-shih, Sen T'sen, Kabir, St Catharine of Genoa, St Bernard, Bayazid of Bistun, Ruysbroeck, Hans Denk, George Fox, William Penn, Abraham, Moses, Philo of Alexandria, Maimonides, the Kabalists, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Jalal-uddin Rumi, Evelyn Underhill, Patanjali, Anonymous Author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Buddha, Nagarjuna, Chinul, Hui Neng, Padmasambhava, Dalai Lama, Bodhidharma, Shinran, Atisha, Mahavira, Guru Nanak, Mohammed, Jesus, St. Augustine, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>St. Thomas, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Darwin, Einstein, Schrödinger, Baha'u'llah, Thomas Merton, Ramana Maharishi, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John Shelby Spong, etc.</p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797089" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081937" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445470" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611784" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803611" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804092" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803611'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611784'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445470'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081937'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797089'>Philosophy and Psychology</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoBodyText>Spirituality studies human ideas related with ultimate reality and the individual combined with the methods of gaining experiential knowledge of ultimate reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Understanding of philosophical and psychological ground related with first principles such as the human ego, human instincts, beginning of human thought, sense <span style='mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt'>perception</span>, nature of sense perception, subjectivity, validation of understanding, world views, metaphysics, different bases of ethical behavior, etc. are considered essential to <span style='mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt'>the</span> understanding of the spiritual heritage with which humanity is endowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This subject area covers thoughts of such philosophers as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Shankara, Kapila, Patanjali, and others as are considered relevant to the understanding of the spiritual heritage of humanity.</p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797090" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081938" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445471" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611785" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803612" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804093" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803612'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611785'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445471'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081938'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797090'>Theology and Mythology</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoBodyText>Theological topics such as different exegeses of the book of Genesis, John, Samkhya and Yoga schools of thought, etc.; heaven and earth; consciousness and material nature; grace and human <span style='mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt'>effort</span>; contemplative and active lives; salvation according to different religions and cultures; importance of mythology and its shortcomings in communicating spiritual principles, examples of important parables and mythological stories and other topics related with the cognitive and conative knowledge of ultimate reality and the transformational effects of this knowledge.</p> <h2><a name="_Toc74797091" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc75081939" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80445472" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc80611786" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81803613" target="_blank"></a><a name="_Toc81804094" target="_blank"><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc81803613'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80611786'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc80445472'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc75081939'><span style='mso-bookmark:_Toc74797091'>Natural & Life Sciences</span></span></span></span></span></a></h2> <p class=MsoNormal>This <span style='mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt'>area of study </span>is related to ideas from Physics, Chemistry, Cosmology, Neuroscience, Biotechnology, Life Sciences and Computer Science, etc. that add to the <span style='mso-bidi-font-size:16.0pt'>understanding</span> of unity of all beings through ultimate reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sciences as well as spirituality are in the realm of human experience in one continuum of understanding of ultimate reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They must complement each other without contradictions.</p> </div>  <p> </p> </body>