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updated: 11/10/15

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[1] Ponder Einstein statement

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space.  He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.  Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) Source: Mathematical Circles

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[2] Dass Guided Imagery focused on sending light and love

TODAY'S ACTIVITIES:

 Best and Worst" for second half of alphabet

 

11-10 Coetzee 2; The Poets and the Animals 

 

 Understand the role of literature and art in ethics generally and advancing animal rights specifically; become aware of the advantages and disadvantages of analogies such as that between the Holocaust and slaughterhouses.

[2A2] ETHICS [ The second goal of the required leadership/ethics flag courses -- learn to make real-life ethical choices -- is closely related to the core purpose of the University of Texas, to transform lives for the benefit of society. It is also one of the basic education requirements of U.T.: "have experience in thinking about moral and ethical problems." Our ethics goals are

 

[2A2a] To experience by analogy a little of ethical dilemma presented by Anti-Semitism, especially the Holocaust.

[2A2b] To experience by analogy a little of ethical dilemma presented by racism, especially slavery.

[2A2c] To experience more directly the ethical dilemmas presented by speciesism, especially cruelty to animals.

[2A2d]  To become aware of real-life ethical choices made daily by all of us involving cruelty to animals.

[2A2e] To return to the traditional college goals of developing character and conscience.

              [2A2f] To practice replacing fear and greed with love, compassion, tolerance, and the sympathetic imagination.

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TODAY'S TOPICS :Use this novel to ONLY CONNECT AND HAMMER INTO UNITY everything we have learned since August about animals and ethics. Special focus: the value and validity of analogies such as those between the Holocaust and slaughterhouses in this novel and elsewhere. In other words, we are testing how well the approach in the course description works for you:

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recall DFW's commencement speech:

one  "truth you shall know" is that you are not just your default settings, you can break free of them:

you have choices, such as your daily ethical choices about food, clothing, entertainment, etc.; because you have choices you are FREE of your default settings, FREE to create your new, more authentic, consistent, ethical self.................

possible topics:

796-808           Coetzee, The Lives of Animals: Poetry

838-841           Peter Singer commentary

842-848           Wendy Doniger commentary

849-856           Barbara Smuts commentary