M.A. in Philosophy and Religion
Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion
Integral Ecology Track
Featured Courses
Spring 2008-2009 Courses and Syllabi
Syllabi are subject to change; please see final syllabus at first class meeting.
PARP 6016 - Ecology and Spirituality in Costa Rica: Embodiment, Healing, and Transformation (2 or 3 units) with Mariana Caplan - OFF-SITE Course, May 19-May 26
Set against the backdrop of culturally and ecologically diverse Costa Rica, this course will employ an integral approach to embodied education and transformation in order to explore topics of deep ecology, spirituality, and transformational practices. Highlights will include instruction on Rudolph Steiner's biodynamic approach to farming during a visit to Luna Nueva Biodynamic Farm; cultural immersion with the Bribri people, an indigenous group who will share with students their oral history and ecological wisdom; two days of local culture in Puerto Viejo; and daily transformative practices including yoga, meditation, writing, and more.
PARP 7001 - Psyche and Cosmos (3 units) with Richard Tarnas and Stan Grof - May 28- June 4, 9:30am - 4:30pm, weekdays only
This course examines evidence for an emerging vision of a more profoundly interconnected relationship between the human psyche and the cosmos, based on observed correlations of the timing and archetypal character of psychological conditions and transformations-both individual and collective-with specific planetary alignments. Lectures will set forth both the practical applications of this research and its larger philosophical implications. The course begins with a presentation of the cartography of the human psyche suggested by modern consciousness research and experiential therapies, followed by a summary of the astrological research.
Topics will include precise descriptions of the archetypal patterns and correlations observed, case histories and analysis of birth charts and planetary transits, specific transit correlations with various biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal experiences and the stages of psychospiritual transformation, and the relevance of this work to the larger depth psychology tradition begun by Freud and Jung. We will also address its possible significance for the cultural emergence of a new, cosmically integrated world view.
This course is a six-day intensive, Wednesday through Friday one week followed by Monday through Wednesday the next week, with the same number of teaching hours (45) as a full semester-length course.
PARP 7012 - Gnosticism (3 units) with David Ulansey - Weekends July 12-27, 10 am to 6:30 pm
Gnosticism was a mystical, esoteric form of early Christianity, with links to the Mystery cults, ancient Near Eastern mythology, Neoplatonic speculation, and astrological and alchemical traditions. Orthodox Christians in the first few centuries violently suppressed the Gnostic schools, and systematically destroyed Gnostic texts. As a result, the Gnostic teachings were all but lost for nearly two thousand years. However, in 1945 a chance discovery brought to light a complete library of Gnostic writings. In this course we will use these writings and other sources to reconstruct the teachings, practices, and history of the Gnostic religion. In doing so, we will be undertaking an intellectual descent into the deeper layers of the Western psyche, where the suppressed Gnostic vision lies dormant, but-if it can be brought back into consciousness-holds out the potential for restoring a vital missing element in the symbolic life of Western civilization.
This course meets Saturday/Sunday over three weekends in July, from July 17 to July 27.
PARP 7014 - The Planetary Crisis & Birth of the Diamond Soul (2 units) with Chris Bache - June 9-13, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
The objective in this course is to explore the impact the planetary crisis may be having on the human soul. We will examine the hypothesis that the size and scale of the transformation taking place globally mirrors an equally profound shift taking place within the soul. If our planet is coming to a tipping point in its history, it seems likely that the soul may also be coming to a tipping point in its evolutionary journey, one that may permanently change the fundamental structures of human experience - such as the balance between what is remembered and what is forgotten when one incarnates, the nature of the integrated identity that "holds the seat" of awareness, and the transparency of our minds to the deeper intelligence of the cosmos. In short, if the planetary crisis is the cocoon, what is emerging in history may be the Diamond-Soul.
This course will bring into dialogue two lines of inquiry that often appear separately in the literature: (1) the dynamics of the soul's growth through reincarnation and (2) the dynamics of humanity's evolutionary collective transformation. In this respect it will be integrating themes from Bache's two earlier books - Lifecycles and Dark Night, Early Dawn. Integrating these two perspectives takes us into the nuts and bolts of the evolutionary pivot the soul may be undergoing at this critical moment in history.
Students should have completed assigned readings from the syllabus before first class.
