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updated: 9/15/15
Relate
to the practice of meditation:
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) Mathematical
Circles
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Pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars: love, fellowship, the mystical oneness of all things deep down.
David Foster Wallace, Commencement Speech
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Love
alone can unite living beings so as to complete and fulfill
them... for it alone joins them by what is deepest in
themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing
until it embraces the totality of men and the earth."
~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
"LOVE
AND DO WHAT YOU WILL" St. Augustine
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9-15
GAWAIN and perfectionism
Gawain and the Green Knight: The
Challenge of the Gothic North
TODAY'S
GOALS [2I1]
“to know thyself.” To know one’s strengths and weaknesses .
Self-awareness is essential not only for leadership and
ethics, but for good writing for it enables self-management of
time and emotional as well as intellectual resources.
Goals for Best and Worst: see list
TODAY'S
TOPICS:perfectionism; Gawain;
TODAY'S
ACTIVITIES: two-minute meditation;
sharing: feelings about best and worst events of the previous
week, preferably based on blog entry (for points); QUIZ; acting
session, recorded for our secret Facebook group, discussion of
perfectionism and Gawain etc., exploration of website, +
Acting; From Blogs.html: Points For Performances. Students can earn up to twenty-seven points each for performing the readings alone or with others, either live during class or in a video presented in class. However, simply reading from a printout does not constitute a performance. Points will be determined partly on the basis of how much work each individual put into the performance and partly on the basis of how effective the result is. Students must have advance permission from the instructor for performances as subtitutes for blogs."
REQUIRED
READING: 476-524; AND 70-2 Perfectionism AND DFW on Perfectionism
Recommended Reading:
UP TO 10 PTS. C.P. EXTRA CREDIT FOR ANY STUDENT
COMING IN ARTHURIAN COSTUME BOTH DAYS
Green
Knight: Ellie ; Gawain: Armadillo; Arthur: Juliana; Narrator*: Audrey;
*In the case of the Gawain performances, the narrator is allowed to "simply read from a printout"; all that is required for this role is to have practice reading it aloud, from the script. However, this role is only worth up to ten additional points and does not take the place of doing a weekly blog.
Items supplied by instructor: paper crowns, toy axe, green
giant mask, plastic ivy, king's robes (white)
SCRIPT FOR CLASS PERFORMANCE 10-15
Narrator: [wait for end of music] As the sound
of the music ceased, and the first course had been fitly served,
there came in at the hall door one terrible to behold, of
stature greater than any on earth; from neck to loin so strong
and thickly made, and with limbs so long and so great that he
seemed even as a giant. And yet he was but a man, only the
mightiest that might mount a steed; broad of chest and shoulders
and slender of waist, and all his features of like fashion; but
men marvelled much at his colour, for he rode even as a knight,
yet was green all over…….
The knight rideth through the entrance of the hall, driving
straight to the high daïs, and greeted no man, but looked ever
upwards; and the first words he spake were,
GK: "Where is the ruler of this folk? I would gladly
look upon that hero, and have speech with him."
Narrator: He cast his eyes on the knights, and
mustered them up and down, striving ever to see who of them was
of most renown……Then Arthur beheld this adventurer before his
high daïs, and knightly he greeted him, for fearful was he
never.
A: "Sir," "thou art welcome to this place--lord of this
hall am I, and men call me Arthur. Light thee down, and tarry
awhile, and what thy will is, that shall we learn after."
GK: "Nay," quoth the stranger, "so help me He that
sitteth on high, 'twas not mine errand to tarry any while in
this dwelling; but the praise of this thy folk and thy city is
lifted up on high, and thy warriors are holden for the best
and the most valiant of those who ride mail-clad to the fight.
The wisest and the worthiest of this world are they,
. . . .
HOLDS UP HOLLY BRANCH
Ye may be sure by the branch that I bear here that I
come in peace, seeking no strife. . . . But
if thou be as bold as all men tell thou wilt freely grant me
the boon I ask."
A: "Sir Knight, if thou cravest battle here thou
shalt not fail for lack of a foe."
GK: "Nay, I ask no fight, in faith
here on the benches are but beardless children, were I clad in
armour on my steed there is no man here might match me.
Therefore I ask in this court but a Christmas jest, for that
it is Yule-tide, and New Year, and there are here many fain
for sport. If any one in this hall holds himself so hardy, 4 so bold both of blood and brain, as to dare strike me
one stroke for another, I will give him as a gift this axe, . . . . and I will abide the first blow, unarmed ….Then shalt thou give me the right to deal him another,
the respite of a year and a day shall he have.
N: Now if the knights had been astounded at the first, yet
stiller were they all, high and low, when they had heard his
words.
GK: "What, is this Arthur's hall, and these the knights
whose renown hath run through many realms? Where are now your
pride and your conquests, your wrath, and anger, and mighty
words? Now are the praise and the renown of the Round Table
overthrown by one man's speech..”
A: “"Now by heaven foolish is thy asking, and thy folly
shall find its fitting answer. I know no man aghast at thy
great words. Give me here thine axe and I shall grant thee the
boon thou hast asked."
N: “ Then Arthur took the axe and gripped the
haft, and swung it round, ready to strike.”
G (GAWAIN): “"I beseech ye, my lord, let this venture be
mine. . . . if I bear myself ungallantly
then let all this court blame me."
N: Then the Green Knight swiftly made him
ready, he bowed down his head, and laid his long locks on the
crown that his bare neck might be seen. Gawain gripped his axe
and raised it on high, . . . The sharp edge of the blade ….
smote through the neck, …. and the fair head fell to the earth
that many struck it with their feet as it rolled forth.
ALL: Kick the football about under the table
(this I the origin of football: kicking the head of the
sacrificial victim, now known as the pigskin).
N: the Green Knight “caught the head, and lifted it up” and said
to Gawain
GK: “such a stroke as thou hast dealt thou hast deserved, and it
shall be promptly paid thee on New Year's morn. Many men know me
as the knight of the Green Chapel, and if thou askest, thou
shalt not fail to find me”
LOOKING AHEAD:
LONG-RANGE PLANNING: FIND YOUR SPIRIT
ANIMAL FOR P1
Gawain and the Green Knight:
The Challenge of the Gothic North to Arthur's
Round Table:
BBC DOCUMENTARY
WARD
DOCUENTARY
AUDIO
VERSION FIRST NINETY LINES
AMATEUR
MOVIE VERSION
ANIMATION PART One
ANIMATION PART TWO
ANIMATION PART THREE
A green man looks down on the Christians at
Christ Church cathedral, Oxford
"Green
Men" sculptures at Winchester, at York, and at Oxford:
Balliol Library, the Bodleian Library, Merton Chapel, and City
Hall
"Green
Women" on the tomb of St. Frideswide, Christ Church
Cathedral, Oxford
Green
Giant in the home of the Vikings
Online Resources
9/14 Intrasemester reports due in the deans' offices.