Additional Perspectives on the Individual

Dear All,

Please write about anything else here that is relevant for our course topic!

I hope you have learned more about yourself - as well as about the world - by thinking about the individual from different perspectives.

Have a wonderful summer!

Gudrun

Creative Perspectives on the Individual - Part 3: Mirrors

Please look into a mirror. Don't just look at your outward you but try to see deeper. What can you see? Feel free to answer this question in either a personal or creative way.

Enjoy!

g

Creative Perspectives on the Individual - Part 2: Masks

Find the image of a mask you find fascinating (e.g. by typing into google: "mask cultural images"). Look at it carefully and try to absorb all the details.

Option 1)

Try to get a sense/feel of the spirit that the mask embodies. Then imagine you are wearing the mask and you are becoming the personality of the mask. Tell us about your new you in any genre you wish (e.g. story, journal entry, email message, poem, dialogue, description etc).

Option 2)

Do some research about the mask: culture, meaning, symbolism, cultural and/or historical and/or social and/or religious and/or mythological background and tell us about it.

This, too, is meant to be fun! Enjoy to be someone else!

gudrun

Creative Perspectives on the Individual - Part 1: Archetypes

Archetypes play a role in many myths and epics throughout the world. They are also used in contemporary poetry and fiction - as well as in movies.

Option 1)

Please look at the list of Archetypes that Caroline Myss put together: http://www.myss.com/library/contracts/determine.asp

Pick two or three archetypes from the list that you find particularly interesting. Think about them - and try to imagine they are real people.

Write a story or a poem - or anything else you wish - in which your chosen archetypes interact with each other and see what happens :)

Option 2)

Read the quotations from Carl Jung's work about archetypes and think about the topic of archetypes in connection with our course topic.
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/psychology/jung_abstracts.shtml

Feel free to do this in a creative way.

Option 3)

Read Northrop Frye's Essay "Archetypal Criticism - Theory of Myths" and discuss its relevance of the self.
http://northropfrye-theanatomyofcriticism.blogspot.ca/2009/02/third-essay-archetypal-criticism-theory.html

Again, you are welcome to use a creative approach!

Option 4)

Find a poem or story or movie or other creative work (art, music, dance, etc) that is based on one (or more than one) particular archetype and tell us more about it!


This is meant to be fun! Please enjoy!
Gudrun

Philosophical Perspectives on the Individual - Part 4: Eastern Philosophy

Please read your selected passages in the texts below [feel free to choose alternative texts!]

a) Eihei Dogen Zenji,  Shobogenzo Zuimonki

Please read around in all 6 books. Here the link to the first passage in book 1:
http://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/common_html/zuimonki/01-01.html(scroll down on the left for more)

b) Takuan Soho, The Unfettered Mind 

-> choose your favourite passages
http://info.stiltij.nl/publiek/meditatie/leraren/_historisch/takuan-unfetteredmind.pdf

c) Thich Nhat Hanh, The 14 Mindfulness Trainings

http://www.plumvillage.org/mindfulness-trainings/340-14mt-revised.html or:
http://www.deepriversangha.org/14_mindfulness_trainings.htm

d) The Hyms of the Rig Veda 

-> choose your favourite passages
http://www.sanskritweb.net/rigveda/griffith.pdf

or watch the youtube version of the Vedas:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io50RICsFAg

e) Patanjali, Yoga Sutras 

-> choose your favourite passages
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yogasutr.htm

f) The Bhagavad Gita

http://www.gita4free.com/english_completegita.htmlor listen to the youtube version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yk6MOc28pk

Please use these selections to develop your own philosophy of the self further!

Gudrun

Multicultural Perspectives on the Individual

Please read M.G. Vassanji's novel No New Land and discuss any aspect of the book that you find interesting for our course topic (i.e. Perspectives on the Individual).

Feel also free to compare No New Land with other novels, stories, poems, or movies that address similar topics and/or compare the experiences of Vassanji's main characters with similar experiences you or one of your friends or family members may have had.

You are most welcome to comment in the form of stories or poems or other forms of creative expression :)

gudrun

Thematic Perspectives on the Individual

Hi All,

The following texts (essay, talks, and stories) focus on selected thematic perspectives on the individual. Please choose one PAIR of texts and comment on what the two texts have in common and what makes them different.

Here the selection:

1.1. Pico della Mirandola, "Oration on the Dignity of Man": http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Mirandola/1.2. Jesus - transcribed by author of Gospel of Matthew, "The Sermon on the Mount": http://www.loveallpeople.org/sermononthemount.html

2.1 Tillie Olsen, "Tell Me a Riddle" (short story OR movie) - NOT available for free -> see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081611/2.2. Deepak Chopra, "Life after Death" (youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgnb-JI9glM

3.1. Anne Fausto-Sterling, "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough": http://capone.mtsu.edu/phollowa/5sexes.html3.2. Helen Fisher, "Why We Love, Why We Cheat" (TED talk): http://www.ted.com/talks/helen_fisher_tells_us_why_we_love_cheat.html

4.1. Franz Kafka, "Before the Law" (youtube-movie in German - but you can click on the English text in the comment section): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak6uO9k7zyUEnglish text also at: http://myweb.wvnet.edu/~jelkins/lawyerslit/exercises/kafka.htm4.2. Yukio Mishima, "Swaddeling Clothes" (short story): 

http://www.101bananas.com/library2/swaddling.html

5.1. Arcadii Averchenko, "The Young Man Who Flew Past":http://www.101bananas.com/library2/youngman.html5.2. Hermann Hesse, "The Poet": http://www.101bananas.com/library2/poet.html

Feel free to add other pairs (complete with links) if you wish!

gudrun