The Sacred Journey:
Indigenous, Hindu, and Buddhist Traditions
ISEM 101 Sections 11
Spring Semester 2020
Entrance Sign Shoshoni Sun Dance, July 2000 source: Frey 2000 |
Welcome to "The Sacred Journey." I'm your instructor, Rodney Frey. I look forward to visiting with you, as you are always welcome in my office.
You can contact me at:
Voice: 1-208-885-6268
E-mail: rfrey@uidaho.edu
My Home Page: www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~rfrey
Our textbooks to be used for Spring are:
Primary Textbooks:
Shri Purohit Swami, translator. Bhagavad-Gita. Skylight Paths, 2001 (ISBN 1893361284)
Max Muller, translator. Dhammapada. Skylight Paths, 2002 (ISBN 189336142X)
Rodney Frey. Carry Forth the Stories: An Ethnographer's Journey into Native Oral Tradition. Washington State University Press, 2017 (ISBN 9780874223484)
Lao Tzu, Derek Lin, translator. Tao Te Ching. Skylight Paths, 2006 (ISBN 9781594732041) (optional - for extra credit)
Tommy Orange. There, There. Alfred Knopf, 2019 (ISBN 9780525520375) See Instructor Before Purchase
Class Session days, times, and locations:
Class Times: Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 to 10:45
Zoom Classroom: Tuesday and Thursday - ID# 714-390-354
Office Hours:
My office is in Phinney Hall, Rm. 116, with office hours are by appointment.
Go to:
Schedule of Topics, Assignments and Session Dates - A Map of Our Journey
Course Description - Nature of our Pilgrimage
Guiding Questions - Upon Starting the Journey
Learning Activities - Skills and Competencies Needed to Reach the Summit
Study Guide for Exams and Pilgrimage Edicts - Assistance Along the Way
Course Resources - More Assistance Along the Way, includes a Bibliography for Projects
Upon Reaching the Summit of Your Pilgrimage - Leaning Outcomes
Course Description: This integrative seminar, ISEM, is an exploration into integrative thinking and doing. It seeks to instill a foundation in your ability to appreciate and engage both the diversity as well as the commonality in the relationships you encounter throughout your life. A key to successful engagement is the capacity for empathy. The platform for this exploration will be an introduction to the sacred journeys embedded in the Indigenous (Coeur d'Alene and Crow Indian), Hindu, and Buddhist traditions.
Sacred journeys are of many different types and serve a variety of essential roles. In this seminar we will consider two distinct, though interrelated, forms of sacred journeys. The first are of a personal nature, called "rites of passage," such as spiritual quests, initiations into religious orders or statuses, states of illness and healing, and the final rite of passage, death. Sacred journeys can also be of a collective nature, illustrated in "pilgrimages" involving travel to a "sacred place," such as to the Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains.
While certainly any one spiritual tradition can be distinguished from the next,
we will discover that all these religious traditions have at their core certain
essential truths that are shared in common. To frame our quest to learn of
these shared truths, we will seek to understand how each religion identifies: 1.
the nature of the ultimate divine, 2. the supreme sacred goal and
realization in life and death, 3. the means to attaining that goal, the
routes to ascendancy, enlightenment, and/or redemption, as well as 4. the
sacred landscape upon which one travels to the goal. How are each of
these religious traditions unique and what do they share in
common?
The sacred journeys of others cannot be divorced from your own personal quest. You will learn
the value of and attempt to integrate, both "head" and "heart" knowledge.
This seminar, as with your entire first-year experiences, are themselves a
special sort of "rite of passage," a journey of your own unique educational
pilgrimage in search of your own "special place," your own "there, there."
Before we begin our journey and to better
equip you for it, we will be introduced to the skill of –
Integrative Learning. Using
the distinct approaches of the
humanities
and
social sciences
methodologies to enhance your skills in
divergent
thinking as well as
convergent
thinking,
integrative learning will help facilitate in
you your capacity to better listen, communicate, collaborate, critically think,
and create and innovate. The
integrative skills introduced in this seminar will serve you in your other
courses and studies, in your future career, and as life-long learners.
Learning Activities and Grade Distribution: This is a course modeled as a rite of passage and a pilgrimage. As such, it is a course that requires your participation. You can not assume a passive observer's role, viewing the sacred journeys from afar. To help you stay on course and reach your destination, you will need to adhere to the "Pilgrimage Edicts" of this course. You will be expected to complete the following learning activities.
Assessing the Growth of the Neophytes (three exams - 50%)
Personal Quest (individual participatory paper - 30%)
Class Pilgrimages (journal, inclusive of responses to reflective writes, and notes from class and assigned readings - 20%)
Assessing your Learning Outcomes as Reflected in your Learning Activities. All five Learning Outcomes embedded in the aggregate of all three types of Learning Activities.
Grade Distribution: Your final grade will be based upon the total points earned from the participatory paper (5 points for proposal, 5 points for outline and 50 points for paper, for total of 60 points), the exams (100 points; 33 points for each of three exams), and journal, in-class discussion and reflective writes (40 points, with 7 journal submissions, each worth 5-6 points). For each unexcused absence, 1 point will be subtracted from your point total. In cases of boarder-line decisions, your class attendance, as well as questions and discussions brought up during class, will be taken into consideration. The following scale will determine your grade: 180-200 (90%-100%) = A, 160-179 (80%-89%) = B, 140-159 (70%-79%) = C, 120-139 (60%-69%) = D
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