M.A. in Philosophy and Religion
Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion
Integral Ecology Track
Featured Courses
Fall 2008-2009 Courses and Syllabi
Syllabi are subject to change; please see final syllabus at first class meeting.
PARP 6108 - Ecopsychology: Foundations, Applications, Frontiers (3 units) with Renee Soule - Thursdays September 4 - November 13, 11:45am - 2:45pm, and OFFSITE Saturday and Sunday September 21-28 9:00am to 9:00pm. Capped at 20 students.
The roots of the modern environmental crises reach deep into the human soul. The soul, with its whims, fantasies, and susceptibilities, has become a force of nature shaping ecosystems as do wind, fire, rain, and fungi. It is popular to assert that the time has come for "consciousness" to take its place as driving force of evolution. This too, is already happening, but not always in a positive fashion. Ready or not, our souls and minds are shaping and altering the fabric of life on Earth. Our emotional and mental health matters. In this class, we will cover the theoretical and practical bases of ecopsychology. We will explore the role emotions (like shame, terror, awe, and love), myths, and morality play in our relationship with the more-than-human world. The course includes a weekend of inquiry and daylong vision quest in nature (Sept. 27-28). Seeking wisdom and guidance in natural places is an ancient practice adopted by ecopsychology. We will also explore modern applications of this field that involve work in urban centers, therapeutic settings, the arts, and with youth. In the final weeks, we will examine and perhaps expand the scope and frontiers that are emerging in contemporary ecopsychology.
Home (oikos), soul (psyche), and divine wisdom (logos) are joined in the word ecopsychology. This class is designed for all ecologically oriented people who want to bring these elements together in their work. Though we will not avoid the sorrows and challenges connected the state of our home, the main focus of this class is to free the imagination and foster internal sovereignty.
PARP 6270 - Asian Spiritual Masters (3 units) with Robert McDermott - Tuesdays 3:00pm - 6:00pm
This course studies 20th century Hindu and Buddhist engaged spiritual teachers. The first half of the course focuses on Indian teachers: M. K. (Mahatma) Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo (and the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and Haridas Chaudhuri). The second half studies Thich Nhat Han, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Pema Chodron.
PARP 6315 - Epic of the Universe (3 units) with Brian Swimme - Wednesdays 3:00pm - 6:00pm
We will study the central ideas and discoveries of the evolution of the universe. This new empirically-based cosmology represents a radical development of human mentality. Such authorities as the historian Lewis Mumford, the philosopher Stephen Toulmin, and the philosopher-scientist Alfred North Whitehead regard this development, to quote Whitehead, as "the most intimate change in outlook the human race has yet encountered." The paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin went even further, asserting that the discovery of the dynamics of cosmic evolution represented the most radical change in two million years of hominid intelligence, a breakthrough to the depth understanding of the universe's dynamics. The detailed narrative of the evolution of the universe amounts to a new cosmological epic - an account of how things came to be, and of what the role of the human is within the cosmos. Its importance for the next millennium is difficult to overestimate. This new epic is transcultural, a story with relevance for peoples throughout the planet.
PARP 6525 - Perspectives on Integral Ecology (3 units) with Sean Kelly - Tuesdays 11:45am - 2:45 pm
This course is considered foundational for those in the Integral Ecology track in PCC, whose mission is to study "the complex character of the Earth community, the factors that threaten it, and possibilities for a better way forward;" to "explore some of the vital links between ecology and such fields as philosophy, religion, psychology, and cosmology;" and to "learn strategies for a sustainable future". Following a review of the state of the Earth, lectures and dialogue will engage such topics as Gaia Theory, eco-ethics and environmental justice, deep ecology, social ecology and green politics, and the relation of ecology to religion and spirituality, all in the context of integral approaches to theory and inquiry.
PARP 6555 - Cosmology & Consciousness in the Ancient World: The Mysteries (3 units) with David Ulansey - Mondays 6:15pm - 9:15pm
This course will investigate the evolution of cosmology and consciousness in antiquity through an exploration of the ancient "Mystery Religions." Topics will include the earliest cosmologies, the archaic experience of the self and personal identity, rituals and symbols of initiation, the origins of the idea of the human soul, speculations on life after death and immortality, the rise of the spherical universe and the geocentric cosmos, the relationship between cosmos and psyche, images of the realm beyond the universe, the emergence of ancient esoteric traditions, the beginnings of astrology, alchemy, mysticism, and magic, myths of transformation and rebirth, the roots of self-reflective consciousness, the relationship between cultural transition and spiritual metamorphosis, the processes of myth-formation, and the birth and development of new religions and world-views. Among the traditions covered will be the Eleusinian and Orphic mysteries, the Pythagorean and Platonic traditions, the Hellenistic mysteries, the mysteries of Isis, Cybele, and Mithras, and the Gnostic, Hermetic, and Apocalyptic movements. Particular attention will be paid throughout the course to parallels and relationships between the course material and developments in our own time.
PARP 6570 - The Evolution of Consciousness (3 units) with David Ulansey - Thursdays 6:15pm - 9:15pm
This course explores the works of several major theorists who have contributed to our understanding of the evolution of consciousness, including Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and his cosmological vision of the emergence of the "noosphere"; Carl Jung and his students Erich Neumann, Marie-Louise von Franz, and Edward Edinger, who provide archetypal and mythopoeic analyses of the origins and history of consciousness; Walter Ong, who investigates the profound shift of consciousness that was catalyzed by the emergence of writing in human culture; Karl Jaspers, who proposed that a major transformation of consciousness occurred during the "Axial Age" of the first millennium B.C; Jean Gebser, who argues that there have been several "mutations" of consciousness over the course of human history; and others. The course will focus especially on exploring the question of whether a transformation in the nature of human consciousness is taking place at the present time.
PARP 6748 - Nature and Eros (2 units) with Brian Swimme and Kerry Brady - OFFSITE September 18-22. Capped at 12 students.
We live in an extraordinary time. Western industrialized culture has conditioned us into the assumption that we are essentially individual selves living upon the earth. Yet across disciplines we are awakening to the fact that we are living organisms within a living earth, intricately woven into the ever evolving vibrant web of life. To come to understand and, most importantly, to live from this knowing requires a profound shift in our perception of reality and an inherent recognition of our deepest identity as an inextricable part of the larger cosmic unfolding that brought us forth. This course is concerned with this shift in consciousness, a shift that is a necessary gateway in responding to the central planetary challenge of our time - the move from an attitude of "control over" to a deep sensual and erotic engagement with the earth and her inhabitants. In order to do this essential work we come together in community. For five days we will live close to the land at Tunitas Creek Ranch-a hundred acres of forest and brush nestled in California's coastal range an hour and a half south of San Francisco. The primary teacher will be the Tunitas Creek community: the redwoods, the coyotes, the water, the hawks, the firs, the thistles, and the whole vibrant ecosystem. By bringing ourselves into a more intimate and immediate connection with the larger Earth Community around us, we enable the deep magic of the place to evoke our hidden sensitivities and capacities, so that we might re-discover and re-member who we are amidst the great chorus of life. In opening in such a way to all that seeks to awaken us, we can then more consciously explore the mysterious and fertile meeting ground between our own creativity and the larger unfolding and discover the way our own unique expression fits into the deep needs of our time.
PARP 7035 - Love and Grace in Action: Pathways to Peace and Reconciliation (2 units) with Will Keepin and Cynthia Brix - Two weekends, September 27-28 and October 11-12
This course provides a brief introduction to new paradigms and practices in the growing field of reconciliation, and how they are implemented in peacemaking projects. Emphasis is on the spiritual dimensions of peacemaking, and their practical application to gender violence and injustice in India and South Africa. The focus of the course will be three-fold: 1) An experiential introduction to the Power of Recompilation work developed over the past 15 years by the course instructors and their colleagues at the Satyana Institute. This work combines a broad range of contemplative and experiential practices, described in the instructors' book Divine Duality. 2) Lessons and insights from projects focused on healing and reconciliation in the patriarchal societies of Africa and India, drawing upon the intructors' direct experience in these countries. 3) The inspiring role of women spiritual peacemakers, focusing on specific contemporary examples including: Nozizwe Madlala Routledge (former Deputy Minister of Health and Defense in South Africa, Lucy Kurien (founding director of Maher in India), and Karambu Ringera (founder of International Peace Initiatives in Kenya). Course format is two consecutive weekends--students are asked to complete the principal readings before the course begins.
PARP 7036 - Dancing with Duality: An East/West Dialogue (3 units) with Sean Kelly and Steven Goodman - Wednesdays 6:15pm - 9:15pm
Enacted in the spirit of dialogical inquiry, this co-taught course explores the perennial mystery of the relation of duality--whether in the form of dualism, polarity, opposition, difference, or some other form of twoness--to the non-dual (of which, paradoxically, there are at least two forms). Selected readings from Eastern and Western philosophical, religious, and literary texts serve as the starting point for reflection and meditation on such related topics as truth and the nature of the real, God or the divine, good and evil, time and eternity, the nature of nature, consciousness, and the Self.
PARP 7037 - Philosophy & Cosmology of Alfred North Whitehead (3 units) with Eric Weiss - Thursdays 8:30am - 11:30am
This course is an opportunity to develop a deep appreciation for the transformative genius of Alfred North Whitehead. A deep study of his integral philosophy can revolutionize the way in which we experience the world that we inhabit. Whitehead sweeps away centuries of philosophical confusion. He shows us a new way of appreciating the process of thought itself, and a new universe in which mind is intrinsic to matter, and imagination is intrinsic to evolution.
PARP 8901 Advanced Seminar: Nietzsche, Freud, Jung: An Archetypal Perspective - (3 units) with Richard Tarnas - Three weekends (Friday and Sunday), September 12 & 14, October 24 & 26, and November 14 & 16.
This advanced seminar examines the personal and intellectual biographies of three seminal figures in the history of modern thought: Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Gustav Jung. As a lineage of influence runs through these three individuals, each opening up new perspectives about the human condition and the human psyche that have in turn shaped the postmodern milieu, we will explore each of their lives both on their own terms and as participants in a larger collective journey of thought and soul.
We will read one major biography for each individual, and one representative writing by each as well.
Familiarity with the basic principles of archetypal astrological analysis will be assumed. Prerequisite: Psyche and Cosmos I, or the equivalent. While familiarity with the work of Nietzsche, Freud, and Jung will of course be useful, careful study of the required readings will serve as an adequate foundation.
Courses that are cross-listed housed in other departments outside of PCC, but are compatible with the interests of PCC students.
PARP 6017 - Scholar's Toolkit with Lise Dyckman - Online
Please see the CIIS schedule of classes for more information.
PARP 7116 - Embodied, Embedded Philosophy (1 unit) with Charlene Spretnak - October 10, 6:15pm - 8:15pm; October 11, 9:30am - 5:00pm; and October 12, 9:30am - 4:30pm.
The cutting edge of philosophy lies not in postmodern constructivism but in the biological, ecological, and cosmological awakening. This course analyzes both the problem (the West's long "dogmatic slumber" in a trance of disembodied, disembedded assumptions) and the emergent corrections and creative possibilities. Students will participate in the current quest for philosophy that acknowledges our embodiedness and our embeddedness in subtle ecological/cosmological processes.
