How's the water?

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SOME OF OUR GOALS

To develop the sympathetic imagination, the basis of all ethics [see  below].

 To unify the self: our goal is to maximize our potential by cultivating both sides of our brains, developing all our multiple intelligences.

[2A2a] To return to the traditional college goals of developing character and conscience

 

[2A2b] To practice replacing fear and greed with love, compassion, tolerance, and the sympathetic imagination,which is essential to morality and ethics.

Trying to imagine what it was like to be someone else is a form of experiential learning, the kind that can stick with you later. All of this depends on your willingness to be an actor, to willingly suspend your disbelief long enough to play the part. That willingness also enables you to FREE yourself from the world views that you may have inherited without conscious thought or decision on your part.* Trying out the worldviews of other cultures is the humanities equivalent of a scientific experiment. When you adopt, however briefly, another Weltanshauung, and see and feel as a member of that culture would, you test out whether any part of that philosophy of life is one you want to adopt and/or, by contrast, what part of the worldivew you inherited you may consciously want to embrace as an adult.

*William Blake called them your "mind-forged manacles"

MEDITATION AND GUIDED IMAGERY:

"A Zen-inspired blend of meditation, breathing exercises and focus techniques are in vogue in corporate America—championed by blue-chip employers like Google Inc. and General Mills Inc. as a simple but potent mind-sharpening tool." Gershman, Jacob. "

"Lawyers Go Zen, With Few Objections." WSJ. June 18, 2015.

Accessed September 20, 2015 by Starfish, E603A

Lovingkindness is a form of meditation designed to cultivate feelings of warmth and kindness to all people, including oneself, the researchers said. Practicing the technique may activate a soothing-caring regulation system that is probably deficient in chronic self-critics, they suggest [that] this practice may...... help in breaking down perfectionist tendencies. I know that at least for me, if I choose to allow myself forgiveness, encouragement, and grace, then I will be happier and more peaceful. The harshest of "self-critics" can use this meditation to learn how to better handle their self-judging nature. When we are less demanding of ourselves, we can in turn, be less demanding of others.

Lukits, Ann. "After Meditation, Self-Critical People Ease Up." WSJ. August 13, 2015. Accessed September 20, 2015 by Starfish, E603A.

Dass Guided Imagery  (focused on self, esp. as a child?)

The Mystery

Inner Presence

Ocean Waves

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TODAY'S TOPICS:what is poetry? + our affinities with certain animals: exploring possibleP2 animals for each individual. Basically this is another calisthenic of the sympathetic imagination, trying to imagine what it was like to be the speaker of the poem and what it is like to be the animal addressed in the poem. And, of course, it is experiential learning, the kind that can stick with you later. All of this depends on your willingness to be an actor, to willingly suspend your disbelief long enough to play the part.

Primary example, what did the windhover mean to the speaker of the poem? What difference does it make to hear the poem performed rather than just read it with your eyes only on a page?

 

The Chinese character for poetry, a combination of the characters for "word" and "temple."

 

11-17 Coetzee 3 POETRY "Best and Worst" Quiz in class. LEADER: BLACK PANTHER

 REQUIRED READINGS:

108-109                       Covey on listening +reading, writing, speaking
110                        Listening during Class Discussion
111                       Compassionate Listening
112                              Listening Instructions
113                              Have You Tried Listening?               

640 Hopkins's Defintion of Poetry

1137-1138                 Rilke, “Panther”  GERMANY       
1139-1140                 Hughes Intro
1141                           “Jaguar” BRITAIN
1142                          “Jaguar II” BRITAIN
1143                           Rilke, “Black Cat” GERMANY

 

extra credit:

1219- 1221               Cat Sense
ANCIENT WORSHIP OF CATS
1222-1224                "In Ancient  Egypt, Greece,                     and  Rome," Dorothy Stuart
  1225-1229                "The Cat in Ancient Egypt"
1230                "What Happens to Cats," Herodotus
1232                          Siamese Temple Cats ;
                                 The Origin of the Cat in Islam
1233                           Cat Eye folklore  BELGIUM
CAT COMPANIONS IN ANCIENT ART
1234                          TiYi, Egypt, 1500s B.C.
1235                          Penby, Egypt, 1200s B.C
1236                          Southern Italy, 4th c. B.C
LATER CAT COMPANIONS
1237                          Mahomed + Belgian "Cat's                             Prayer"
1238-1239                "Jeffry," Christopher Smart,                         18th c  BRITAIN
1240                           "Never Again," Doris                                 Lessing  BRITAIN
1241                          "Killing Willie," Mary                                     Hemingway  AMERICA
CAT TEACHERS OF ZEN
1242                          Zen Masters, Ekhart Tolle
1243                           "Miao," Dilys Laing
FROM THE CAT’S POINT OF VIEW
1244                          "Kitten's Recollections," A.                         N. Wilson  BRITAIN
1245                           "From the Laws of Cats,"                     Karel Capek CZECH REPUBLIC
1246                           “Hiddigeigei," J. V. Von                         Scheffel  GERMANY
1247                           “Simon," Frederick Pollock                         BRITAIN
1248                          "Cat of the House," Ford                                     Madox Ford BRITAIN
1249                          “The Ballad of Tough Tom,"                                 Paul Gallico  AMERICA
1250-1253               “Diary of a Cat," Edwina S.                             Babcock  AMERICA
CAT EPITAPHS
1254                          “Duchesse du Maine” Sir                                 Edmind Gosse  BRITAIN
1255                           “Epitaphium Felis”
                                Jortin BRITAIN

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IN THIS CONTEXT CONSIDER

  

words lost in translation    

RATE  THE FOLLOWING PERFORMANCES   FROM 1 TO 5 IN YOUR BLOG: POINTS TO BE AWARDED BASED ON DETAILS AND INSIGHTS

 

Rainer Maria Rilke - Der Panther   1 

 

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Rainer Maria Rilke - Der Panther   2

 

Performed as a Song

Another Interpretation;  Interpretation 2;

A Visual Interpretation from the Panther's Perpective

 

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