Entry Six, Semester Two, Journal Six - Monday, March 28, 2011

Select any one of the characters in Ushpizin and illustrate the character's movements through – Chosen, Blessed, Broken, Given.

Characters of note are Moshe Bellange, Malli, Scorpio, and Yussef.

Entry Five, Semester Two, Journal Five - Monday, March 14, 2011

"A happy life is a life lived for others. That truth, however, is usually discovered when we are confronted with our brokenness"(Beloved, 106).

When in your life have you discovered that your own experience of brokenness brought you closer, in relationship, to another person? Tell the story.

Entry Four, Semester Two, Journal Four - Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Please read through the section on "Broken" and journal on the following:

In your memory, recall a time when you first discovered that life would not be perfect. Tell this story. How does this recalling move you? Do you find that you are strengthened or challenged in any way with this recalling? How?

Entry Two and Three, Semester Two, Journal Two and Three - Monday, February 14, 2011

1. Recall, briefly, the friendship that begins this story. Describe the two individuals. How are they similar? Different? What brings the two gentlemen together as friends?

2. As different as Nouwen and Bratman are from one another,

Nouwen illustrates another vision on p. 19:

“In the midst of the many changes in our lives, both of us came into closer touch with our deeper desires. Different though our circumstances were, we both had to deal with the pains of rejection and separation, and both of us realized increasingly our desire for intimacy and friendship. To avoid being drowned in bitterness and resentment, we both had to draw on our deepest spiritual resources. Differences became less important, similarities more obvious. As our friendship grew deeper and stronger, our desire for a common spiritual foundation became more explicit.”

How does this description change the way we are able to see humanity?

3. Not wanting him to give up his dreams, Nouwen says to Bratman, “You are young, full of energy, well trained . . . Everything is possible for you . . . . Why let the world squeeze you in? . . . Why become the victim? You are free to do what you want -- if, that is, you really want it!”

What are the risks that Nouwen and Bratman demand of one another? Why would a person choose this kind of risk? Have you in your life ever taken a risk stretching you as Henri and Fred are stretched?

Reflection:

In your own life, tell the story of a friend whose presence in your life changed you, seemingly for good or ill. What characteristics do you assign both yourself and this friend as you look back and reflect on this relationship?

Entry One, Semester Two, Journal One B- Wednesday, February 2 and Thursday, February 3

The Dalai Lama articulates "In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher." As we have watched the holy Lama's story in Martin Scorcese's Kundun, we certainly see this as true. Describe how the Dalai Lama practiced this truth in his own life. Also, consider your own life, imagine an "enemy" in your life. How might this person's life better teach you the practice of tolerance?

Entry One, Semester Two, Journal - Wednesday, January 19 and Thursday, January 20

Everyone’s life story is sacred – yours is a sacred biography. The Buddha believes nirvana is in all things and at all times. Consider the Buddha’s reflections on nirvana. Consider this day and, if necessary, another day – tell a story of nirvana happening.

Entries Six, Seven, and Eight - Wednesday, December 8th and Thursday, December 9th

6. David Foster Williams in This is Water writes “And the so called ‘real world’ will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called ‘real world’ of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of the self.”

Buddha informed his fellow practitioners that desire for power, pleasure, and immortality would sustain a state of suffering in one’s life. In what way(s) has the desire for power, pleasure, or immortality fed your own existence. Share a story when you found yourself consumed by one of these ends. How did this pursuit open up the reality of suffering in your life?

7. In This is Water, David Foster Williams writes, “The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.”

How have you experienced freedom in light of William’s description? How have you gone out of your own way/ your own comfort zone to “sacrifice for [a person or people], over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways?” Write the story of how you have enlivened freedom in exactly this manner.

8. T.S. Eliot in his poem ‘Little Gidding’ writes,

‘We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.’

The soul made known in The Fountain enlivens exactly this poetic acclamation. How did the soul ‘not cease from exploration’? How did the soul come to ‘the end of’ exploring’? And how did the soul ‘arrive where [he] started and know the place for the first time’?

Share how the soul in The Fountain made manifest Eliot’s poetry.

Entry Five, Journal, Tuesday, November 30

In The Truman Show, a human being comes to discover his life is not what it seems. His true life has been, at least until now, trumped by an illusory one. Deep down, Truman knows this has been the case, on some level, for much of his 'life.'

Reflect on your own life. Do you remember a time when you were in the process of living and you did not feel true, did not feel a sense of your own authenticity? In what way did this revelation offer you a sense of freedom?

Write this memory's story.

Entry Four, Journal, Wednesday - October 27 and Thursday, October 28

Please reflect on the film Born into Brothels and write a journal entry on the following:

The documentary Born into Brothels tells the story of eight Indian children who are offered the opportunity to practice the art of photography. With the class, the teacher, and their own creations, a life unknown is newly revealed to them. Illustrate the story of one or two of the children and how the layers of his/her world were expressed in his/her photographs and through his/her new artistic discipline.

Entry Three, Journal - Tuesday, October 19 and Thursday, October 21

Jonah Blank in his text Arrow of the Blue- Skinned God writes, "You cannot change the world, but you can - and must - change yourself. The Hindu faith places greater emphasis on an individual's actions than any other religion in the world. ... For a Hindu, ...salvation can never come from outside. It is something you must build for yourself. Something you earn. ... Belief in absolute destiny would be depressing only if it came from outside. If Hindus saw some external force dominating all their actions, perhaps they would wallow in despondency, but in their view destiny is a power inside our very souls. Faith is the search for the power each of us carries within."

Mahatma Gandhi declared, "Be the change you want to see in the world." In this, Gandhi tells of the soul's story and the soul's destiny in the Hindu tradition. Consider this very morning, in what way(s) have you become the change, the good, the righteous, the good karma you wish to see in the world. Write freely. Let your thoughts run wild. Share your story.

Entry Two, Journal - Tuesday, October 5

The director of the film Water spoke the following about the message of her film:

"We are very good, as different nations and different cultures, to have a collective amnesia about our own [problems]…[Water] is about three women trying to break that cycle and trying to find dignity, and trying to get rid of the yoke of oppression, and if it inspires people to do something in their own culture, that´s what´s important." (Deepa Mehta, as told to the CBC).

We all have our own sense of amnesia of ourselves (our own life stories) and our own cultures. We tend to forget ourselves to some extent and find ourselves unable to be open to change ... to life, even. Yesterday, we, as a class, practiced some simple breathing and stretching exercises with yoga. Many of us probably felt a little out of our comfort zones. What did yesterday's practice help you to remember about yourself and your story? Tell the story of what you remember or where the practice may have taken you.

Entry One, Journal, Monday - September 20

David Foster Wallace in This is Water writes, "... of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying ...".

Freedom is a state about which we all sense we understand and know much. In the film Water, Chuyia is a young girl who loses, in a manner, her freedom. In 1930s India, many widows found themselves in a similar reality. Considering the idea and sense of freedom, tell of a time/a moment wherein you experienced freedom. Feel free to also freestyle on Wallace's ruminations.