PHILOSOPHY
OF RELIGION -- HOMEWORK
ASSIGNMENTS #1 -- SPRING 2005
Doing homework
faithfully is meant to be a discipline.
Homework questions are also the basis for discussion in the following class.
(A) Homework answers should be brief essays -- no less than 1/2 page single-spaced/ no more than one page for each question. If you double-space, think of each answer to be about a page. [Thus, writing three essays will require more than one page!] ALL HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE TYPED AND THE PAGES STAPLED TOGETHER. Please invest in a small stapler.
You are free to do constructive critique, comparisons, applications to your own experience, creative extensions of the ideas, etc. You may write in 3rd person or 1st person. Extend yourself; write beyond your first stopping point. Use all that you know and more. Be creative and insightful and interesting!
(B) The homework answers will be collected at the end of each class. Each day’s homework is worth 3/4 points; the 2 assignments for a week are worth one and a half points. The final assignment is worth 1 point. Thus, over the course of the semester you can earn 16 points -- a letter grade and a half! -- just by faithfully doing your daily work. ASSIGNMENTS HANDED IN LATE WILL GAIN NO CREDIT, unless you leave a phone message or email me within 24 hours of missing a class to report that you will be or were absent. Please hand in hard copies of the homework. Only in BIG emergencies will I accept homework as email attachments. At the start, the essay questions will be from Seeking the Heart of Wisdom and Yeshua Buddha. Later they will be from Essential Spirituality and The Marriage of Sense and Soul.
(C) Suppose a real life situation arises for you -- one relevant to your study of this material. You may write about this as a “Wild Card” entry in place of ONE only of the three questions asked. Label as such and show how you are using philosophy of religion in relation to the situation. (You still must answer 2 of the 3 assigned questions.)
(D) Please title each set of homework questions as below: Assignment A (for Thurs. Feb. 3rd).
Please TYPE, PROOFREAD AND STAPLE pages of your homework
together!
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Assignment A: Given Tues. Feb. 1st for
Read Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, chapters 1-3, pp. 1-30. Answer the following three questions:
1. Answer
either (1a) or (1b):
(1a) The five training precepts are phrased negatively (Refrain from
this or that.) Phrase each one in a positive manner and then comment on
what these guides for conduct have to do with religion. OR
(1b) In the Buddhist tradition, there is a conduct aspect, a meditation
aspect (concentration of mind) and a wisdom aspect of living large.
Show why, according to this tradition, we need all three -- over
and over again.
2. The authors state: "Meditation has to do with [i] opening what is closed in us, [ii] balancing what is reactive, and [iii] exploring . . . what is hidden." (p. 15) Explain with examples from your life these three features.
3. Chapter three gives instruction for meditation. Practice meditation for five minutes and report what you learn.
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Assignment B: Given
Thurs. Feb. 3rd for
Read Seeking the Heart of Wisdom skipping over to chapters 7-9, pp. 78-108. Answer the following:
1. Discuss the life of the Buddha in these five stages: (a) the Call to Destiny, (b) the Great Renunciation, (c) the Great Struggle, (d) the Great Awakening, and (e) the Life of Teaching. How might there be parallels in your life?
2. Answer either 2a or 2b: (2a) Show how the restrained mind is able to discriminate between skillful and unskillful activities; how it counterbalances addictive tendencies; conserves energy and allows us to see the impermanent nature of reality. What benefits would these skills produce in your life? OR (2b) Practice restraint in some small area in accord with the instructions on p. 98. Become aware of BOTH what is happening and your relationship to it [a WHAT + a WURT]. Then answer: How is restraint as defined in SHW different from repression? How does restraint help us discern what actions are unhelpful and what actions promote more freedom, less suffering?
3. Practice cultivating compassion in accord with the instructions on p. 108. Then answer in the light of your experience and reading: What is the nature of compassion? What do you discover about your resistances to the areas of unpleasantness? How does the poem (pp. 106-107) illuminate compassion?
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Assignment C: Given Tues. 8th for
Thurs.
Read chapter 4, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. Read Preface and Chapters 1 and 2 of Jay Williams, Yeshua Buddha, i.e. pp. 9-35. Answer the following:
1. On SHW. Explain the five hindrances: desire, aversion (or dislike), sleepiness or boredom, restlessness, and doubt. How do the authors suggest you work with these hindrances? What does all this have to do with waking up, being freer and more responsible in your life? Discuss.
2. On YB. Explain the 2 avenues open to the theologian, i.e., the way of "neti, neti" and the way of myth.
3. On YB. Explain the movie screen analogy in chapter 2. In what sense is Yeshua pointing “off screen” to that which can never be seen as “one more thing among other things”? Discuss.
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Assignment D: Given
Thurs. Feb. 10th for
Read Chapter 5, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. Reread chapters 1 & 2 plus add chapter 3, pp. 36-47 in Jay Williams, Yeshua Buddha. Answer the following:
1. On SHW. Explain as if to a high school senior what it means to observe, let go and become more present. Also explain how this process begins to shift from content to process (or in our terms from [What is Occurring] -- to -- How we are Relating to [What is Occurring] -- from noticing content to noticing WURT).
2. On YB. Answer either 2a or 2b: (2a) Explain the difference between ego, ego betterment and ego crucifixion. OR (2b) What is the significance of the baptism given by John? Explain the three points of his message.
3. On YB. Explain Yeshua's threefold testing in the desert. How does this illumine our own ego struggles? Be concrete.
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Assignment E: Given Tues. Feb. 15th for
Read chapter 6, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. Read chapter 4, pp.48-74, in Jay Williams, Yeshua Buddha. Answer the following:
1. On SHW. Discuss briefly each of the 7 factors of enlightenment. How may they help you to live a larger life?
2. On YB. Explain the Beatitudes [Blessed are the . . .]. How is this teaching of Yeshua to be understood? Discuss.
3. On YB. Under the Keys of the Kingdom section, Williams makes 12 points about the teachings of Yeshua. Summarize and comment on six of these.
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Assignment F: Given Thurs. Feb. 17th for
Skip over the chapters you have already read, read Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, chapter 10. Read chapter 5, pp.75-90, in Jay Williams, Yeshua Buddha. Answer the following:
1. On SHW. Practice the equanimity meditation as given on pp. 120-121. Then answer: What arises for you when you do this? Discuss carefully.
2. On YB. Answer either 2a or 2b: (2a) Discuss the meaning of the title "Christos," first as understood by the disciples and then as understood by Yeshua. OR (2b) Discuss (in relation to Peter who is called both King and Satan) how the person is what he/she sees in the mirror.
3. On YB. Discuss the transfiguration. What does this teach about who we are?
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Assignment G: Given Tues. Feb. 22nd for
Read Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, chapter 11. Read Yeshua Buddha, chapter 6, pp.91-109. Answer the following:
1. On SHW. Practice the exercise on observing intention as described on p. 126. Then answer: How does becoming aware of what is happening and how we are relating to it [a WHAT + a WURT] help us cultivate mindfulness in the sense of awareness, openness, and acceptance of whatever arises, without attachment to the pleasant, aversion to the unpleasant, or forgetfulness of neutral feelings?
2. On YB. Explain, from the perspective of the Yeshua Buddha book, the teaching on resurrection. (see esp. pp. 95-96)
3. On YB. Explain how creation and the eschaton (i.e. teaching concerning the Last Things) are about NOW/ HERE.
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Assignment H: Given Thurs. Feb. 24th for
Read chapter 12, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. Read the last 7 pages of Yeshua Buddha (pp. 110-116) and begin thinking of the book as a whole. Answer the following:
1. On SHW. Discuss the 5 spiritual faculties that aid us on our path. [Additional point of reflection: How does cultivating these five help us move beyond ego and beyond ego betterment? -- this was not in the original assignment.]
2. On YB. Answer either (2a) or (2b): (2a) Discuss in what sense death and resurrection are always taking place in the present. Who or what dies? Who or what rises? OR (2b) In Williams’ reading of the Yeshua story, is Yeshua a moral reformer or something more? Is there any place for a provisional ethics? How should we understand the task of ethics in light of spiritual practice?
3. On YB. Look back over the whole book Yeshua Buddha which tells the Yeshua story using the way of neti, neti and the way of myth plus insights from Buddhism. What new learning have you attained which will serve you and others on your path? What do you take to be the strengths of Williams’ approach? What limitations do you see? Discuss.
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Assignment I: Given
on Tues. Mar. 1st for
Read chapters 13 and 14 Seeking the
Heart of Wisdom. Read Essential
Spirituality, chapters 1, 2, 3 & 4, pp. 1-22.
[We shall review for the first
test on Tuesday, Mar. 8th.]
2. On SHW. In chapter 14, the authors state that dharma practice is the practice of intimacy with all of life. Show, with a personal example, how such practice breaks down the oppositions between self and environment.
3. On ES. Answer 3a or 3b: (3a) Pick an area where you would like to change -- for example, reducing certain negative emotions or attitudes and cultivating more positive ones. Make a plan on how to do that using the steps suggested under "The Challenge of Change" (pp. 19-21) OR (3b) Look at the Rumi poem on p. 22. It suggests that we are pre-adult and then adult and finally we are invited to go beyond conventional adulthood to become "hunters of more invisible game." Walsh gives 10 "metaphors for transformation" that can point toward spiritual deepening. (pp. 23-24) Write an essay using four of these themes and how they appear to you to help us think about spiritual growth.
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First
Test -- Philosophy of Religion -- Tuesday, March 8th. No
homework due. Study well.
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Early
Warning: Topic, thesis statement and how you intend
to develop your paper together
with
library sources -- all this is due on THURSDAY MARCH 31ST -- right
after spring break.
Note:
homework is also due that day.
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Assignment J: Given
on Tues. Mar. 8th – the test day --for
Read chapters 15 and 16, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. Read Essential Spirituality, Practice One: Transforming your Motivation, chapters 5, 6 & 7, pp. 31-56. Answer the following:
1. On SHW. Answer either 1a or 1b: (1a) There are four key virtues (called the four abodes). They are love (or loving kindness), compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. For each, discuss the object of the virtue (e.g. compassion is directed toward suffering) and the "near enemy" of the virtue (e.g. compassion's near enemy is pity). OR (1b) After reading SHW chapter 16, list in your own words and discuss four ways that would help you keep deepening your own life in the midst of everyday activities.
2. On ES. Answer either 2a or 2b: (2a) What cravings do you identify in your own life -- especially those you believe you cannot live without? How can reducing the bonds of attachment (= compulsive psuedo-necessity) and its full blown cousin addiction lead you to ways of living larger? OR (2b) Pick one of the exercises in chapter 6; do it for two days; then report on what you discovered.
3. On ES. Answer either 3a or 3b: (3a) In what ways do you believe you need ;your fears and attachments to goad and motivate yourself? How might life show up for you if you kept the desires without adding attachments? Discuss. OR (3b) What are the higher motivations and how can we cultivate them? Discuss creatively.
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Early Warning:
Topic, thesis statement and how you intend to develop your paper
together
with library sources -- all this is due on THURSDAY MARCH 31ST -- right
after Spring Break.
Note: homework is
also due that day.
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Assignment K: Given
on Thurs. Mar. 10th for
Read The Marriage of Sense and Soul, "A Note to the Reader" + chapters 1 and 2, pp. ix - 25.
Read Essential Spirituality, Practice One: Transforming your Motivation (cont.), chapters 8 & 9, pp. 57-68.
1. On Wilber. Answer either 1a or 1b: (1a) Ken Wilber asserts that there is a common core of the world's great wisdom traditions -- the view called the Great Chain of Being or the Great Nest of Being. Explain this view carefully -- including the claim that the senior level "envelops" or "enfolds" the junior level. OR (1b) Explain Wilber's characterization of "modernity."
2. On Wilber. In chapter 2, Wilber presents a number of incompatible positions:
(i) Science denies any validity to religion.
(ii) Religion denies any validity to science.
(iii) Science is but one of several valid modes of knowing and thus can peacefully
co-exist with spiritual modes.
(iv) Science can offer 'plausibility arguments" for the existence of Spirit.
(v) Science itself is not knowledge of the world but merely an interpretation of the
(vi) world, and therefore it has the same validity -- no more, no less -- as poetry
and the arts.
Wilber earlier favored (iii) but now holds that this is also inadequate. However, why he now holds this will not be clear until we see his later formulation. So pick two of the other four (other than iii) and show why Wilber believes that they are inadequate if one is to attempt a true marriage of science and religion.
3. On ES. In the context of chapter nine -- on the Higher Reaches of Desire, those whose last name begins with the letters A-H, answer 3a; those whose last name begins with the letters I-P, answer 3b; and those whose last name begins with the letters Q-Z, answer 3c:
(3a) Do exercise #7 (chapter 8, pp. 57-59) for two days and report on what you discovered.
(3b) Do exercise #8 (chapter 8, pp. 59-61) for two days and report on what you discovered.
(3c) Do exercise #9 (chapter 8, pp. 61-64) for two days and report on what you discovered.
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Early Warning:
Topic, thesis statement and how you intend to develop your paper
together
with library sources -- all this is due on THURSDAY MARCH 31ST -- right
after Spring Break.
Note: homework is
also due that day.
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Assignment L: Given
on Tues. Mar. 15th for
Read Essential Spirituality, Practice Two:
Cultivating Emotional Intelligence, chapters 10, 11 &
12, pp. 99-114.
1. On ES. Explain how our culture has confused love with addiction. Show how the major spiritual traditions point to a greater love, one that goes beyond our culture's deficiency-based, addictive "love." Discuss with relevance to what is happening all around you.
2. On ES. How do we work with challenging emotions such as fear and anger, jealousy and despair? How do we avoid what Walsh calls the three major errors in dealing with emotions? Discuss with reference to your own life.
3. On ES. In chapter 12, Walsh gives eleven exercises to reduce fear and anger.
Those whose last name begins with the letters A-E, pick either exercise 1 or 2, do the exercise for two days and report on what you discovered.
Those whose last name begins with the letters F-J, pick either exercise 3 or 4, do the exercise for two days and report on what you discovered.
Those whose last name begins with the letters K-O, pick either exercise 5 or 6, do the exercise for two days and report on what you discovered.
Those whose last name begins with the letters P-T, pick either exercise 7 or 8, do the exercise for two days and report on what you discovered.
Those whose last name begins with the letters U-Z, pick either
exercise 9 or exercise 10 or exercise 11, do the exercise for two days
and report on what you
discovered.
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Spring
Break begins at
HAPPY
SPRING BREAK
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No
reading due on the Tuesday after Spring Break.
HOWEVER
Topic, thesis statement and how you intend to
develop your paper together with library sources -- all this is due on
Thursday March 31st -- the Thursday after Spring Break! Do
not put this off until after you return from Spring Break!
Note:
homework is also due that day.
For Homework Assignments Second Series, go to http://www.elon.edu/sullivan and scroll down to Ethical Practice. Click on Ethical Practice course and that will bring up the Ethics Menu page. From there go to Assignments and download the Homework Assignments Second Series.
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There
is a polish for everything, and the polish for the heart is remembrance
of God.
A saying of the Prophet Muhammad
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