I expect this will be somewhere between 3-5 pages. Please bring this with you to class on the 30th.
One of the academic goals of this a liberal arts education is to lead students to realize that they are heirs of social, cultural and spiritual traditions that have a significant effect on the definitions they hold about their personal power. Common in Western thinking about “the self” is the idea that the body and the mind are separate entities—that the body is steered around and controlled by the brain. The goal of this writing is to analyze the nature of mind/body dualism in contemporary Western culture.
An excellent outcome will
1. What is the nature of Mind/body dualism in contemporary Western culture? It’s likely that examples will easily occur to you but that you will be harder pressed to actually describe the nature of this dualism. What do “we” believe about the Self—our will, our self-control, our body, our metabolism, our identity—and the relationship of the Self to Nature—that which is outside ourselves-- including Gravity, Time, the Elements?
2. What do you know about the nature of mind/body dualism in non-Western culture? Elaborate on what you already know or, if you are unfamiliar with a non-Western perspective, discuss what you surmise from reading Thich Nhat Hanh.