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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:

Our textbooks to be used for Spring are:

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:


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.

  1. Assessing the Growth of the Neophytes (three exams - 50%)

  2. Personal Quest (individual participatory paper - 30%)

  3. 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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