The following courses are open to Special Students.

Summer 2008

BIS 1503/TLD 7032 The Art of the Essay: Non-Fiction Writing for Head and Heart (3 units)
In her book, At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, Anne Fadiman shares the following about the state of the essay: “Today’s readers encounter plenty of critical essays (more brain than heart) and plenty of personal -- very personal -- essays (more heart than brain), but not many familiar essays (equal measures of both).” In this class, students will get the change to write essays in a wide variety of forms and explore how the essay-creating process requires them to look within their own heads and hearts so that they insightfully engage the heads and hearts of their readers. Students will also read personal, lyrical, historical, critical, familiar, and experimental essays, and will examine the role of research in essay writing. This class will be offered entirely online in an intensive format (and will require students to complete assignments each week). Please touch base with Cindy Shearer (cshearer@ciis.edu) if you have questions about the format.

TSD 7025 Cinema and Social Change (3 units)
Human society has to undergo a transformation, one that brings about democracy, cosmopolitanism, egalitarianism, and harmony with nature. There are various entities that can assist humanity to transform. This course is an inquiry into whether cinema could be a vehicle for such transformation. A transdisciplinary approach is taken to find the connecting elements within cinema and ways in which complexity shapes and evolves cinema. Moreover, we will investigate an alternative pedagogical terrain in teaching cinema for social change. Although anchored in critical theory, in transdisciplinary fashion, the course will engage various other theories (e.g., the works of Morin, Montuori, Williams, Habermas, Hall, Bergson, Gebser, Aurobindo, Giroux), to generate a creative discourse on cinema as a vehicle for social transformation. A number of specific films will be examined as case studies, and many more films will inevitably be discussed in relation to the theories considered. As co-learners we will identify cinema of “good faith,” which can help us gain an understanding and an appreciation of our differences and our similarities. Additionally, we will examine whether a critical pedagogy of cinema can teach against cinema of “bad faith” and help to bring people toward multiculturalism. With its universal language, cinema can help us respect our differences while sharing common values, goals, and aspirations. Ultimately, humanity must move away from using the logic of the marketplace as logic of common sense, embrace planetary thinking, and understand complexity to build a global society with vitality and cultural richness. In this class, with an integral vision, we posit cinema an agent to usher in such transformation.

TSD 7026 Experiencing Jungian Psychology: A Basic Course (3 units)
This course will deal with the psychology developed by Carl Gustav Jung , and its relevance for all of us. Jung was a truly original thinker whose ideas are still largely unknown or misunderstood. His view of reality was so different from the prevailing world view that it has often been difficult for fellow psychologists and scientists to grasp what he actually meant. We’ll study the key central ideas of Jungian psychology: symbol, archetype, complex, psychological types, Shadow, Anima/Animus, Self, individuation, and more. The purpose is not simply to present new information but to help each of you explore how these ideas can expand your own life.

TSD 7027 Working With Your Dreams (3 units)
Richard Grossinger, a seminal writer on dreams, wrote: “In a certain sense, dreams are realer than life. That is, they are closer to the roots of our being than daily waking events. If we exist in some ultimate terms, it is beyond the senses and beyond consciousness.” In this course, we’re going to explore how to work with dreams, sometimes to interpret them, but always to honor them. When we do so, we open a gateway to a source of information and support deeper than consciousness. Everyone taking this course will need to keep a dream journal and be prepared to share some of their dreams with the class.

TSD 7028 Cultural Change in the 21st Century (3 units)
In this course we will examine the major cultural patterns that are in transition today. We will address ideas such as how cultures change and the patterns of resistance to change, the historical origins of the cultural conflicts alive in the U.S., what kinds of values are most resistant to change, and the link between personal and political cultural attitudes.

TSD 7029 A Recent History of Psychedelic Drugs, Their Effects on Individuals and Society (1 unit)
This course surveys the modern rebirth of psychedelic drugs in western society. Looking at the seminal discoveries of Gordon Wasson and Albert Hofmann, the psychological theories of Stanislav Grof to the social-political activism of Timothy Leary, this course explores the impact and future of psychedelic drugs for scholars, scientists, and mystics.

TSD 7030 Buddhist Activism and Social Change (1 unit)
In this course we will explore the relationship between activism, the effort to create positive change in the world, and Buddhist practice; and the cultivation of mindfulness toward wisdom, compassion, and enlightenment. Questions we will explore include: What distinguishes Buddhist activism from secular activism? Is there an inherent conflict between the Buddhist concept of “radical acceptance” and the active pursuit of social, political, or ecological justice? What is the dynamic relationship between the process of inner change and any larger shift in social arrangements?

TSD 7031 Life Balance and Stress Management for Students (1 unit)
This course is a practical introduction to the elements of Life Balance and Stress Management. We will define stress, distress, work-life balance, prioritizing, time-management, and other stress-management concepts. We will use self-assessments and the students’ own experience as an opportunity to explore these issues. This course will give students the effective skills to identify stress-related symptoms and help them to deal effectively with overcoming stress. They will learn specific tools that immediately reduce negative stress, help increase productivity, teach them how to use energy in the right direction and improve life balance. Creative projects, reflection papers, and proven relaxation techniques such as mindfulness and breathing exercises will be integrated into the course to facilitate students’ learning.

TSD 8221 From Certainty to Uncertainty (1 unit)
This course will explore the major paradigms shifts in knowledge that occurred during the 20th century and their implications for society and human culture. While the course will focus on the implications of quantum and chaos theories, it will also set the whole notion of paradigm shifts within the context of changes in human consciousness since the Early Middle Ages, as well as look at changes in other areas of knowledge during the 20th century. In terms of quantum theory, it will look at the implications of a “participatory universe” in which the human observer occupies a central position but must accept a degree of uncertainty. From chaos theory we learn to accept that there will always be missing information and limitations to prediction and control. We will also learn about self-organization, the butterfly effect, strange attractors, and their many applications in modern society.