"The Art of Meditation" will be offered Spring Term 2009 (second eight weeks only) CLLC-L 100 Class Number 12263 Credit Hours: 2.0 Mondays and Wednesdays 6:50 - 8:20 p.m.
Collins Living-Learning Center Ed Basement
Instructor: Doug Hanvey (dhanvey@indiana.edu)
In this course you will learn the practice of "mindfully allowing what is," the foundational meditation practice of Buddhism. In addition to meditating, you will read, discuss, and write about several core concerns of Eastern philosophy, including the nature of consciousness, reality, time, self, and the ultimate goal of spiritual enlightenment–all via contemporary, Western texts. We will broadly compare Eastern and Western approaches to psychological and spiritual development, asking how Western traditions that aim to strengthen the ego can be reconciled with Eastern traditions that aspire to transcend it.
This will not be an easy "activity" class (or in this case "non-activity" class). While we will meditate regularly and intensively, the discussion component of this class will be emphasized. You might even discover that meditation is more rigorous than you thought it would be, and the philosophical ideas you will learn about may turn your world upside down and inside out (which is also the fun of it). You will explore yourself at the deepest levels of your being and be challenged intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, perhaps even physically. But as a saying goes, "Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours."
An understanding of the basic principles of psychology is helpful, but not required. Grading will be based on participation, reading quizzes, and 1-2 papers.
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