Meditation: Practice and Theory

Philosophy 339 / 339H
Fall 2006

Professor: Marvin Belzer
mbelzer@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Shatzel 325
372-7216

Office hours: M 2.30-4 and W 4-5

Class meetings
Class will begin promptly each Wednesday night at 6 p.m at the UCF center (corner Ridge and Thurstin). Please do not arrive late.

Goal #1
The most important goal of the course will be to learn and develop the practical skills of insight (mindfulness) meditation. We will work to achieve this goal in the following ways:

1. Regular sitting and walking meditation practice in class at UCF (corner Ridge and Thurstin) on Wednesday nights.

2. Daily meditation practice, beginning with 15 minutes a day and working up to 45 minutes per day (not necessarily all during one period). If you do not have a suitable quiet place to do this, you will be able to use the UCF room weekdays during the day.

3. Participation in a silent weekend retreat September 29-October 1, 2006. The retreat will be held at The Lady of the Pines retreat center in Fremont, Ohio. The retreat will begin Friday, September 29, at 6p and continue through Sunday, October 1, at 3p. We will coordinate transportation to Fremont (about 30 miles from Bowling Green) so do not worry now about that now.

4. Participation in at least two of the following 8-hour Saturday retreats, including at least one of the first two: Saturday, Sept. 16; Saturday, Sept. 23; Saturday, Oct. 14. These will begin at 10a and conclude at 6p, to be held at the UCF Center (where we hold the Wednesday class).

I would like to emphasize that the development of your own meditation practice during this semester is the focus of this course. In this respect, the course differs radically from most philosophy courses. What I mean by "developing a practice" is to make meditation a part of your normal day.

Attendance and practice components 1-4 are required parts of the course. They are not optional. This course will be suitable for you only if you are prepared to spend time and effort actually practicing meditation during this semester --in class, on retreats, and DAILY (on your own -- every day).

Goal #2
A secondary goal is to develop competence in communicating about one's experiences in meditation as well as about one's practice itself; and to gain an understanding about (a) how diverse meditation traditions have emphasized the importance of a moral foundation for a meditation practice and the value of altruistic motivation; (b) the goals specified in various traditions; (c) the relationship between meditation and psychotherapy; (d) the variety of meditation techniques and practices that have been developed; and other matters. We will achieve these goals through:

5. Participation in both small-group discussions and full-class discussions in class on Wednesday evenings.

6. At least two individual 10 minute interviews with the teacher (me); over the course of the semester we will schedule these outside of class meetings during the regular school day, at my office in Shatzel Hall.

7. Reading, and being prepared for weekly discussions of, the texts for the course. The texts are: Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English; and Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart.

8. Writing 2 short papers, and preparing for midterm and final exams. (Those taking the course for Honors credit will have one additional writing assignment.)

Grades
Normally meditation is not taught in a context in which grades are assigned, and it is quite absurd even to consider grading the content of meditation experience or the quality of one's practice. I will not grade the quality of your meditation practice. This is an extremely important point, in part because according to a great deal of literature on meditation, development and progress in meditation often are contrary to our expectations. For example, at times we may experience a lot of joy and blissful feelings, but then these disappear -- and there are times when, according to the literature, this is definitely progress! The point is that, from the beginning, there is no need for you to be evaluating or grading your own experiences, just as I will not be.

Because the course is a regular University course, however, I will assign grades at the end of the course. I will base your grade on your effort and work in two main areas:

70% Presence

15% Attendance in class.
25% Daily practice minima, reported weekly on Weekly Report Forms (see below).
20% Attendance at retreats as described above.
10% Attendance at individual conferences with me (two rounds).

30% Performance

10% Writing assignments (to be announced).
10% Mid-term exam (in class, to be announced).
10% Final exam (during final exam week, to be announced).

Weekly Report Forms
You will be asked to report each week whether or not you accomplished the practice minimum every day during the preceding week. For example, in class on August 30 you will be asked to report on your practice for the week beginning August 23. I will distribute these forms in class on August 30. This aspect of the course admittedly is a bit annoying, but it definitely is part of the course. I know from past experience that it can help students develop a consistent daily practice. The requirement is designed to help you pay attention actually to doing your daily practice. The daily practice minima for each week of the semester are as follows.

Daily Practice minimum requirements