Comparative Religious Thought I, Summer, 2011; Jeffrey Wattles
Project—Spiritual frontiers and the practice of the golden rule
In every religion that we shall study this semester, we can observe an overarching twofold moment: first, a deepening realization of truth in the inner life, and, second, an expression of goodness in the outer life. That twofold core of religion is sometimes expressed in terms of the worship of God and the service of humankind. For the earliest centuries of Buddhism, we should substitute the word “meditation” for “worship of God.”
The experiential aspect of the course involves the student in practicing these two phases of experience in ways that do not violate your own beliefs. My motto here is, “Every student challenged, every student supported.” In other words, you are not asked to engage in practices that do not feel right to you. At the same time, the project is intended to give you experience on a new frontier, not just repeating what you are already used to. If there is any difficulty working things out, come speak with the instructor!
As the course develops, additional aspects of these two phases of experience will be suggested, but for now, we can simply begin with two proposed practices for the inner life: conscious breathing and centering in the spirit.
To explain these practices in detail, go in the course website to Comparative religion . . . Methods . . . Religious experience and a phenomenological approach to religion. For background on the idea of an indwelling presence of God in various religious, see Methods . . . Problems of comparing religions.
For the practice of the golden rule, have a look here to familiarize yourself with what’s available: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jwattles/goldrule.htm -- and then read the brief excerpts from the chapters gathered here: http://www.personal.kent.edu/~jwattles/GRquotes.htm
For projects in general and English and other pointers on writing the reports, see the documents linked from on the course website homepage.
There will be a five-page, partial version of the paper due on Thursday of week two. This paper will include an experience report of about three pages (750 words) plus a one-page commentary on that report from a Hindu perspective and another one-page commentary from a Buddhist perspective.
The full, ten-page project report is due Tuesday of week 5. In the six-page experience report give some idea of the overall shape of the experience, how the project developed over the unit. In addition, write down particular experiences that were, in some way or other, noteworthy. Be sure to cover both parts of the project, the inner communion or meditation and outer dimensions of action.
The second part of the report (don’t hand in separate documents for each component) are four one-page commentaries from the perspective of each of the religions we’ve studied thus far. Use at least two brief quotations per page, commenting on their meaning and showing how they relate to the experience report. Include parenthetical references to chapter and verse in the text, e.g. (chapter 2, verse 48).
Evaluation: Part I, 40%, Part II, 50%, English, 10% unless the writing is poor, in which case it will count more, as indicated in the syllabus. Evaluation of Parts I and II will be guided by the following rubric.
A. The experience report gives evidence of genuine and sustained involvement in the details of the assignment. The student did not waste time with the wheels spinning in confusion about how to approach the assignment. Note that there is no pressure to produce a dramatic result. Even an instructive “failure” is perfectly acceptable if you learn the lessons. The experience is described in a way that sets up the commentary to follow.
B. The report indicates some sincere effort in the direction of the project, but the report indicates an experience less sustained, less wholehearted, and written with more unnecessary or chatty detail. The observations on the learning show less reflection.
C. The project experience seems to have been brief and half-hearted and shows little discovery. The experience is described with unnecessary details, and does not sustain a focus helpful to the dialogue to be established in the paper.
D. The report indicates a severe misunderstanding of the assignment. The student complains of problems that should have been discussed earlier with the instructor.
F. The report gives little or no evidence of effort along the lines of the assignment.
Part II.
A. A full pages with at least two quotations per page representing the perspectives we have been studying. The quotes you choose do not come only from the instructor’s handouts or web notes, but show a careful study of the Gita. The relevance of each quote to your experience is clearly discussed.
B. Quotations are limited to those discussed in class. There is some attention to showing the relevance of the quotes to the experience report.
C. The commentary is too brief, and it does not draw on text materials except to cite information already given out by the instructor. It gives no evidence that the student read the text. Passages are cited from the text with very little commentary or very little explanation of their relation to the experience report. There are some significant misinterpretations of the text.
D. The paper indicates severe misunderstanding of the project.
F. The paper gives little or no evidence of effort along the lines of the assignment.
The grade may also be affected by poor use of English. Please review the syllabus statement about English, and review the “English” web document for key guidelines about usage.