REL 399 Religion, Love, and Death: East &West CRN 36177 MW 2:00-3:50 p.m.
Instructor: Mark T. Unno, PLC 812, Ph. 541 343 5135, Office hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 1:00-1:45 p.m. by Zoom
Mon Office Hours: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/452249596
Mon Classes: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/341808677
Wed Office Hours: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/326329307
Wed Classes: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/566900452
Email: munno@uoregon.edu Home Page:
http://pages.uoregon.edu/munno/
Religion, Love, and Death are overarching themes of human existence. This course explores the interplay of these themes in selected strands of Asian and Western sources, paying special attention to the larger framework of ideas, beliefs, practices, on the one hand, and stories or narratives of how they are lived out, on the other. Within this narrative framework, the course examines the diverse dimensions of love and death: love in relation to family, sexuality, society, nature, and the religious dimensions of the divine, dharma, and dao; social, psychological, physical, and religious significations of death. These are set against the background of a range of themes including gender, race, class, and sexuality. One of the key ways to explore themes will be in terms of constructing a life narrative. Oftentimes, a person’s life, based on their background and experiences, may not blend easily with the expectations and narratives available in the existing society or dominant order. In that case, a person may need to form a “Counter-Story” to the “Dominant Story” of their local circumstances and predominant worldview. How does one find the hope, strength, and courage to develop one’s own Counter-Story? This and other questions will be explored employing multiple genres and media: Assigned readings, films, video lectures, video discussion via the Zoom platform, and posted Powerpoint presentations.
Requirements
I. Two Pathways to Completing this Course:
Both involve 1 exam, 1 presentation, 1 ungraded essay, 3 graded essays: 6 TOTAL assignments
II. First 2 assignments are the same:
A. One short exam, multiple choice (15-20 minutes), 1 ungraded brief essay (1-2 pages)
B. One short
presentation (~5 minutes with 1 handout; guidelines on Course Web
Site)
C. Final 3 assignments are the SAME IN NUMBER but DIFFER IN CONTENT:
III. Three more essays (Submit all essays as wordprocessing docs [Word, Google doc, Apple Pages], NOT as PDFs):
1)
Path 1: 2 brief essays (2-3 pages each), 1 final medium length essay
(5-7 pages).
Select from standard online topics from course web site.
2) Path 2: 2 brief essays (2-3 pages each), 1 final medium length essay (5-7 pages).
2 brief essays and use them as drafts for your final medium length essay.
IV. Late policy on written assignments: Three grace days total will be allotted excluding the medium-length paper for which no extensions will be given. For all other assignments, a cumulative total of three late days will be allowed without penalty. Thereafter, each late day will result in a two-point deduction from the course grade. Weekends are not counted against the grace days.
Grades
Exam 10% Presentation
10% Essay I 12% Essay II 15% Essay III
18% Medium-length paper 35%
Required Texts (Information listed here is given in footnote/endnote format.)
Weekly Schedule: REL 399 Religion, Love, and Death: East &West [(CR1) = Course Reader, article 1; (RT) = Required Text]
Week 1 - Introduction-Syllabus; the Storied Self: Self as Narrative
3/30 Mon. Introduction: Syllabus; the Storied
Self: Self as Narrative I
Reading: Paul Brockelman, Time
and Self: Phenomenological Explorations, 7-17, 71-83 (CR1);
Jerome Bruner, “The “Remembered Self”, 41-51
(CR2).
4/01 Wed. The Storied Self: Self as Narrative
2: Story and Counter-Story
Ungraded Essay 1 due
Reading: Hilde L. Nelson, Damaged
Identities, Narrative Repair, 1-35, 176-188 (CR3).
Week 2 - The Storied Self: Self as Narrative & Non-Narrative
4/06 Mon. Zen Buddhism-Self of
No-Self/Emptiness; Daoism-Dao beyond Words & Death of Zhuangzi’s
Wife
Reading: Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi, Basic Writings,
40-41, 44, 38, 129, 61-62, 115-117 (CR4).
Henry Shukman, “Light and Dark: Koans and Dreams,”
15-23 (CR5).
4/08 Wed. Unity with the Divine:
Reading: Michael Morton, Getting Life, 142-170 (CR6);
Michael Morton, from Interfaith Peacemakers (click
here); M. Morton, “Forgiveness & Three Powerful Truths (click
here)
https://readthespirit.com/interfaith-peacemakers/michael-morton/
https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/articles/forgiveness-and-three-powerful-truths.aspx
Week 3 - Cheryl Strayed: The Wild Self finds Herself in the Wild
4/13 Mon. Reading: Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail, 1-176 (RT).
Wild by Cheryl Strayed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks_QnNQ__OM Short Exam4/15 Wed.
Reading: Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the
Pacific Coast Trail, 177-312 (RT).
Cheryl
Strayed, "How to Become a Writer."
Recommended film viewing: Wild (2014), based on book
Week 4 - Ram Dass: Fierce Grace: Hindu Inspiration and Expanded Consciousness
4/20 Mon. Ram Dass, the Real Person, Not the
New Age Guru.
Film for Discussion: Ram Dass, Fierce Grace (available through
Vimeo, see link below).
4/22 Wed. Ram Dass and His Hindu Guru Neem Karoli Baba Brief Essay II due
Reading: Ram Dass & Mirabai Bush, “Going Home,” Parabola,
July 28, 2018 (click
here)
https://parabola.org/2018/07/28/going-home-by-ram-dass-mirabai-bush/
Reading: Neem Karoli Baba (Ram Dass’s Hindu Teacher), “Lessons
and Wisdom.” (click
here)
https://www.ramdass.org/neem-karoli-baba-maharaji-stories-lessons-wisdom/
Week 5 - Mary Crow Dog: Lakota Woman, Spiritual Warrior
4/27 Mon. Reading: Mary Crow Dog, Lakota Woman, 1-143 (RT).
4/29 Wed. Reading: Mary Crow Dog, Lakota Woman, 144-263 (RT).
Week 6 - Maura ‘Soshin’ O’Halloran: Irish-American Zen Enlightenment
5/04 Mon. Reading: Maura ‘Soshin’ O’Halloran, Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, 1-132 (RT).
5/06 Wed. Reading: Maura ‘Soshin’ O’Halloran, Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, 133-232 (RT).
Mark Unno, “Oneness and Narrativity,” 1-18 (CR7).Week 7 - Rubin “Hurricane” Carter: Awakening to Life versus Sleepwalking through Life
5/11 Mon. Reading: Rubin Carter, Eye of the Hurricane, 1-196 (RT).
5/13 Wed. Reading: Rubin Carter, Eye of the Hurricane, 197-320 (RT). Brief Essay III due
Week 8 - Marsha Linehan: Psychiatrist, Zen, Catholic
5/18 Mon. Reading: Marsha Linehan, Building a Life Worth Living, 1-166 (RT).
5/20 Wed. Reading : Marsha Linehan, Building a Life Worth Living, 167-335 (RT).
Week 9 - Wild and Unpredictable - Beatrice
Wood: Mama of Dada
5/25 Mon. Memorial Day: No Class
5/27 Wed. Film for Discussion: Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada (1994) (see below for link).
Week 10 - Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada, continued.
6/01 Mon. Reading: Beatrice Wood, 102 yrs old, “An Artist Seeking Her Own Way, 94-95 (CR8);
Beatrice Wood, “Biography,” (click
here) https://www.beatricewood.com/biography.html
Artsy Editors, “The Forgotten Legacy of Cult California Artist Beatrice
Wood,”
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-the-forgotten-legacy-of-cult-artist-beatrice-wood
6/03 Wed. Wrap-up Lecture & Discussion. Final Paper due
Course Reader, REL 399 Religion, Love, and Death: East & West
1. Paul Brockelman, Time and Self: Phenomenological Explorations, AAR Studies in Religion (NY: Crossroad), 1985, 7-17, 71-83.
2. Jerome Bruner, “The “Remembered Self’,” in Ulric Neisser & Robyn Fivush, eds., The Remembering Self: Construction and Accuracy in the Self-Narrative (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 41-51.
3. Hilde L. Nelson, Damaged Identities, Narrative Repair (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001), 1-35, 176-188.
4. Burton Watson, trans., Zhuangzi: Basic Writings (NY: Columbia Univ. Press, 1993), 40-41, 44, 38, 129, 61-62, 115-117.
5. Henry Shukman, "Light and Dark: Koans and Dreams," Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture, vol. 89, 15-23.
6. Michael Morton, Getting Life: An Innocent Man’s 25-year Journey from Prison to Peace (NY: Simon and Schuster, 2015), 142-170.
7. Mark Unno, “Oneness and Narrativity,” in The Oneness Hypothesis: Beyond the Boundary of Self, ed. P.J. Ivanhoe et al (NY: Columbia Univ. Press, 2018), 1-18.
8. Beatrice Wood, “An Artist Seeking Her Own Way,” U.S. News & World Report, Special Issue, Our Century, Aug. 26-Sept 1, 1995, 94-95
Films and
Links (click on titles)
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/ramdassfiercegrace
The links below for Marsha Linehan are dynamic. You may have
to do a Youtube search for the titles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCJ0R6vAUnw
Marsha Linehan: How She Came to Develop Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bULL3sSc_-I
Marsha Linehan: How She Learned Radical Acceptance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTG7YEWkJFI
Marsha Linehan: Borderline, The Film
https://www.beatricewood.com/biography.html
Beatrice Wood, Mama of Dada (1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmhCFPg7qms
Additional film recommended: