{short course description:}
A seminar of 4 weeks
for persons
who no longer believe in any of the traditional gods
but who have not given up the spiritual quest.
Our spirits are not our bodies, 'hearts',
or minds.
Rather we know our spirits through these
6 capacities:
(1) self-transcendence, (2) freedom,
(3) creativity,
(4) love, (5) anxiety, & (6) joy.
The text of the same
name costs $1. The seminar is free.
Led by James Park, author of the text
of the same name.
{one-page course description:}
Spirituality
for Humanists:
Six
Capacities of Our Human Spirits
If we do not
believe in any 'spirits' beyond ourselves,
can we still have a spiritual life?
This seminar may be especially appropriate
for people who have left behind
traditional religions but who have not
giving up the spiritual quest.
Being together with other persons of
spirit may help our spirits to grow.
In the first
meeting we will attempt to define and distinguish
these four dimensions of our selves:
(1) our physical dimension (given by
our genes);
(2) our emotional-psychological dimension
(learned since birth);
(3) our intellectual dimension (characterized
by words, verbal learning); &
(4) our spiritual dimension (beyond body,
heart, and mind;
manifest in the following 6 capacities).
Our human spirits
show themselves in these six phenomena:
(1) self-transcendence, self-criticism,
& altruism;
(2) freedom—our ability to shape our
own lives;
(3) creativity—our ability to bring something
new into being;
(4) love—which opens us to encountering
others as Thou;
(5) anxiety—which puts us in touch with
our underlying Malaise;
(6) joy & fulfillment—openings to
living beyond angst and despair.
Because the life
of our spirits is so fragile,
it is very easy to ignore the budding
of our spirits,
so that our spiritual life dries up and
disappears.
If we want our spirits to grow,
we must prize and nurture whatever inkling
of spirit we have
rather than dismissing and forgetting
these capacities
because they lack immediate practical
value.
Each week we
will explore two spiritual dimensions
discussed in the study-book for this
seminar:
Spirituality
for Humanists: Six Capacities of Our Human Spirits:
[1st week]
Introduction of participants; Overview,
Definitions, & Distinctions.
Ch. 1 Living Deeply in a Superficial
Culture.
[2nd week]
Ch. 2 Self-Transcendence, Self-Criticism,
& Altruism.
Ch. 3 Freedom: Transcending Enculturation
and Choosing for Ourselves.
[3rd week]
Ch. 4 Creativity: Making Something
Genuinely New.
Ch. 5 Love: The I-Thou Encounter,
Discovering Other Persons of Spirit.
[4th week]
Ch. 6 The Disclosure of Existential
Anxiety
and other
Manifestations of Our Existential Predicament.
Ch. 7 Glimpses of Joy and Fulfillment.
The study-book
for this seminar is
Spirituality
for Humanists: Six Capacities of Our Human Spirits.
The complete text of this 24-page book
is available free of charge on the Internet,
by clicking the above title.
You may down-load and/or print-out this
book for your personal use.
If you would like to have a printed and
bound copy,
that will costs you only $1 or $2, plus
postage and handling.
See instructions linked from here:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/SPH.html
Printed copies of Spirituality for Humanists
(two sizes) will be available in class.
We must take
time to let our spirits breathe.
Perhaps in dialogue with other sensitive
persons in spiritual quest,
we can become better attuned to our inward
lives and stimulate our spirits to grow.
Would you like
to meet some kindred spirits?
Would you like to expand your circle
of
friends to include other persons
who are seeking to deepen their lives
and get into better touch with their spirits?
Have you been looking for a group that
will facilitate your spiritual growth?
Ultimately, our
growth in spirit is an individual matter,
but perhaps in sensitive dialog with
other persons on the way,
we can become better attuned to our inner
dimension of spirit.
The seminar leader,
James Park, is an existential philosopher
and author of the text. He spends
his time thinking, reading, writing,
and leading classes like this one, all
of which help him to expand his spirit.
DATE & TIME: (When would be best for you?).
PLACE: (open to suggestions for locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul).
FEE: Free of charge (unless something must be paid for the meeting room).
Watch this space for
details.
If you know of others who would like
to attend this seminar,
send this course description to them.
Perhaps you even know a small group of
people
who would like to attend together.
If you would like to be informed about
this seminar
when it is arranged, send an e-mail to
James
Park.
(If you are reading this course description
as a print-out on paper,
James Park's e-mail address is: PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU.)
Put SPH-List in the subject line.
Then you will receive details by e-mail
explaining the when and where as soon
as this seminar is arranged.
{syllabus for distant learners:}
Spirituality for Humanists:
Six Capacities of Our Human
Spirits
If you cannot attend
the seminar described above,
you can still undertake this spiritual
quest on your own.
The basic resource is Spirituality
for Humanists:
Six
Capacities of Our Human Spirits.
If you click the above title,
you will open the table of contents of
this 24-page book.
This will lead you to the complete text,
which is available online free of charge.
If you prefer to have a printed book,
that is also available for $1 or $2 (two
sizes)
plus postage and handling.
These are wholesale prices.
If you purchase Spirituality for Humanists
from a bookstore or an online bookseller,
you will pay the retail price.
Other books worth reading
will be found in the Existential
Spirituality Bibliography.
You might also get
a bit of inspiration from
the outline
of a presentation on Spirituality for Humanists.
If you would like to
read a very short presentation (3-pages),
which summarizes all the basic points,
go to the cyber-sermon
on Spirituality for Humanists.
{suggestions for offering this seminar in other places}
The above course descriptions
may be adapted
to suit other local situations.
(1) Alternative titles for the seminar:
If you want to offer
this class, choose whichever title
would draw the most people---and alienate
the smallest number.
(We should remember that pop spirituality
has sometimes given "spirituality" a
bad name.)
(1) SPIRITUALITY FOR HUMANISTS:
SIX CAPACITIES OF
OUR HUMAN SPIRITS
(2) SPIRITUALITY WITHOUT GODS:
SIX CAPACITIES OF
OUR HUMAN SPIRITS
(3) EXPLORING THE HUMAN SPIRIT:
RATIONAL SPIRITUALITY
(4) INTRODUCING EXISTENTIAL SPIRITUALITY:
SIX CAPACITIES OF
OUR HUMAN SPIRITS
(5) A RATIONAL EXPLORATION OF THE HUMAN
SPIRIT
________________________________________________________
(2) Facilitator of seminar:
The leader of the discussion
should be someone
who has at least read the whole book
before the class begins.
Some questions that will arise in the
first meeting
are better postponed until that theme
is dealt with
in greater depth later in the seminar.
The facilitator might also read some
of the additonal resources
listed above for distant learners.
There is no separate
study-guide.
The text itself should be sufficient
to stimulate lots of interesting discussion.
And each chapter is only 3 or 4 pages
long,
short enough for anyone to read before
the class.
Participants are simply asked to illustrate
how
freedom, creativity, love, angst, etc.
---the various capacities of our human
spirits---
manifests themselves in our own lives.
And before the class
begins,
the faciltator should clarify any obscure
points
with the author of the text.
If questions arise in the mind of the
facilitator,
they will probably also arise in the
seminar.
_________________________________________
(3) Number of meetings:
This seminar was originally
developed as an 8-session class,
two hours each session, meeting once
a week,
at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis.
The text was actually written as a result
of offering this seminar several times.
If there are only about
10 people in the seminar,
then one hour (half of one session)
is enough to discuss each chapter.
But if there are 10-20 participants,
then more time would be better,
since that allows each person to explain
in depth
how he or she experiences that dimension
of his or her spirit.
More time for more
participants is especially needed
for the meeting in which creativity is
explored.
Participants are invited to demonstrate
examples of their own creativity.
But in recent times,
many people are too busy
to commit themselves to a class of 8
sessions.
Thus, 4 sessions, as outlined in the
full course-description,
is a length more likely to succeed.
Return to the Minnesota Free University home page.
Return to the Spirituality for Humanists page.
Return to the beginning of this home page:
An
Existential Philosopher's Museum