The University	The modern university is based on a rupture, effected a millennium ago, between head and heart. This institution—the one in which we meet as teachers and students—is devoted almost exclusively to the technical and critical disciplines.  Ascetic disciplines were left in the proverbial dust.  Secularization rendered proverb and metaphor, even language itself, disenfleshed and idolatrized.  Our task in this program is to become deeply aware of the devastation caused by this rupture, this loss.  Because of what has been betrayed, we dare not simply imagine an alternative form of education, much less another new institution, devoted to the healing of this rupture or the recovery of any loss.  Instead, we will, through disciplined, mutually supportive inquiry, become mindful of what we scholars participate in, here and now.
Independent Work	Students will begin their work by designing their own learning experiences.  These field studies, which will constitute half the work of each quarter, can be anything (walking, reading, sailing, midwifery, writing, gardening, Aikido, hospice care, welding, cooking, meditation, etc.).  We will begin our work together by having each person answer these questions: What do you want to learn?  How are you going to learn it?  How are you going to know when you have learned it?  How are you going to show others—faculty and colleagues—that you have learned it?  And, what difference will it make?
Learning	Learning happens when you have an experience and then reflect on it.  Our focus will be on the craft of reflection.  Our interest is the relationship between conscious reflection—awareness—and learning.
Mind-Body	As a learning community, we will participate in mind-body practices, as well as bookish study, that facilitate and enhance our ability to reflect on our current situation in historical, cross-cultural and gendered contexts.

Download Word (.doc) syllabus (click here)
but, fair warning, this is current only to the first week of winter quarter

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