Classes
Please click on the following links for the handouts from the first day of classes
Slides and notes from class sessions will be posted on class webpages by date.
Dates will be added as material is posted.
Dates will be added as material is posted.
What is this class really about?
It's really about what it means to be human.
But let me contextualize this with several observations that frame the class:
In this class, I am bringing to your attention information, data and theories from many different fields in order to present a picture of the universe in which we live that has a meaning of its own. The patterns are the meaning. What I hope to show is that whether we look at the evolution of the universe, or the evolution of human culture, we will see the same patterns.
But the class is more than this! Humans are not just walking brains! We are part of all of these evolving patterns. And our whole bodies know much more than our conscious brains divulge. For this reason, we need to learn to listen with our hearts. This is the hardest part of the class. I am giving you so much information for your head, but the real learning of the class is for each person to find if all of these patterns are true to your own experience!
The new way of seeing I am suggesting is the one in which we are safe, and we strive to make the world safe for others - including in our classroom. From this place of safety, we can then explore. We can imagine how we want ourselves and our communities to become, and then we can go about living into it.
Contemporary science, history and the human heart are in accord.
But let me contextualize this with several observations that frame the class:
- Every human needs to discover what it means to be human her or himself. The class is pointing out some patterns and some methods that may be helpful in this on-going exploration.
- We live in an extraordinary time. Never have there been so many humans on the earth. Never have we had the ability to be as inter-connected as we now are. These achievements have been reached at various costs. The costs are a result of the so-called "Law of Unintended Consequences." That is, I don't think that anyone really wants the polar ice caps to melt, storms to gain in destructive force, or coastlands and islands to be flooded. I don't think that anyone wants our waters to be poisoned, our coral reefs to die, or wild shell fish to become extinct. We see around the world individuals and communities rising up to overcome these and other challenges. The fact that not everyone sees the possibility to find win-win solutions doesn't mean that we can't find them!
- Humans have survived and flourished because we are learning animals! Our brains are built for life-long learning, and for collective learning. That is, our great capacity for and pleasure in practicing empathy has led to the development of cultures and civilizations. We design our environments. The process of learning is itself the process of adaptation. The method of learning and creating through communication and dialogue with others is humankind's strategy to increase our intelligence.
- We have an extraordinary amount of collective intelligence in the 21st century! Yet it seems fragmented and separated, and we know that the whole is most often greater than the sum of its parts. Bridging and bringing together the knowledge from many disparate fields is a challenge because the language of each field is specific to that field.
- Contemporary science and social science are yielding results that give us the opportunity to return to a more holistic view of ourselves as creatures that are hungry for meaning and for purpose. I call this our restless desire to explore and make things "better."
- I suggest that some of us have become overly saturated with materialistic ideas that are not in alignment with the way the universe operates. A particularly salient one is our obsession with statistics as a guide to what is "right" and "real." Another is our high prioritization of physical comfort and certainty. These each have a place. It is the lack of balance contemporary Western-Educated-Industrialized-Rich- Democratic (WEIRD) civilizations invest in these concepts that undermines our imaginations.
In this class, I am bringing to your attention information, data and theories from many different fields in order to present a picture of the universe in which we live that has a meaning of its own. The patterns are the meaning. What I hope to show is that whether we look at the evolution of the universe, or the evolution of human culture, we will see the same patterns.
But the class is more than this! Humans are not just walking brains! We are part of all of these evolving patterns. And our whole bodies know much more than our conscious brains divulge. For this reason, we need to learn to listen with our hearts. This is the hardest part of the class. I am giving you so much information for your head, but the real learning of the class is for each person to find if all of these patterns are true to your own experience!
The new way of seeing I am suggesting is the one in which we are safe, and we strive to make the world safe for others - including in our classroom. From this place of safety, we can then explore. We can imagine how we want ourselves and our communities to become, and then we can go about living into it.
Contemporary science, history and the human heart are in accord.
