M.A.in Engaged Humanities with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology
Process & Praxis Courses
Interactive Coursework
Engaged Humanities is characterized by interactive coursework such as Leadership Skills for Social Justice and Spiritual Practices & Healing Arts. Engagement with the Humanities kindles endless passion for the world around us. By channeling the energy of wisdom traditions into an array of creative and practical skills, students learn to embody leadership in service of environmental stewardship, sustainability, biodiversity, and philanthropy. Decision-making and conflict resolution approaches serve personal, professional, community, and global concerns.
Psychology of Cyberspace
HM 532, 2 units
This course will be designed to help students understand the psychological dynamics of virtual experience through their own use of online learning. Students will critically examine psychological theory and research on cyberspace in relation to self, unconscious, psyche and community. Topics to be discussed will include the development of norms in virtual communities, the nature of cybersocial relationships, the dynamics of on-line communication, power and status differentials in computer- mediated communication, the notions of online time and space, and cyberspace as the collective unconscious.
Cultivating Inner Awareness
HM 530........ 2 Units
The re-emerging movement for envisioning the unity of all life calls for a reminder that our internal well-being extends to the rest of the world. John Muir, Rumi, Gandhi, and others provide inspiration in this process course for grasping the inseparability of all life. By considering inner development and meaning, students engage in active compassion for self and other. Myth, symbols, meditation, and other forms of self-reflection provide clues for navigating the inner paths, so as to passionately and meaningfully connect with the outer.
Music and Metaphysics
HM 536, 2 units
Philosophers and mystics have linked music to cosmology, the underlying structure of the cosmos, throughout recorded history. The aesthetics of music – its component parts and effects – have long been held to bear an implicit relationship to metaphysics and universal first principles. This course will examine these themes in depth within both Western metaphysics, tracing back to Pythagoras and the “music of the spheres,” and non-western mystical traditions such as Sufism, Hindu Shaivism, and Taoism. We will also look at how these traditions manifest themselves in contemporary contexts such as ambient music and the exploration of the relationship of music and silence.
Practices of Dialogue, Reconciliation, and Collaboration
HM 553........ 2 Units
Rooted in struggles against prejudice and inequality, dialogical and conflict transformation processes inform contemporary approaches to personal and group reconciliation. This course reviews a variety of group methods that support movement beyond traditional hierarchical power and competition, such as Dialogue, Circle and Council, Appreciative Inquiry, Conflict Transformation, and facilitation functions. Students create settings where participants listen deeply and speak from the heart, draw upon diverse sources of knowing, and deepen their understanding of culture as unique expressions of the human spirit. Attention is given to hearing what has been left unsaid, resting silently in the shadows of one’s perception.
Models for Depth Ecology and Sustainability
HM 612........ 2 Units
This course investigates the psychological, philosophical, and spiritual depths of ecological experience while exploring multiple possibilities for facilitating a transition to a sustainable culture. Students review the critical condition of human and environmental health in the 21st century, particularly in light of the deleterious effects of consumerism and unlimited economic development. Focus is placed on the cultivation of strategies and skill sets for revisioning human-Earth relations and increasing post-capitalist avenues for fulfillment. Along with solutions from technology, policy, and business, a sustainable culture calls for practices of narrative, imagination, and engaged spirituality.
Memoir and Mind
HM 632, 2 units
What is the self? How does a sense of selfhood emerge? What is the relationship between self and consciousness? Why do we read self-narratives? What are the risks and rewards of self-narration? What tools do authors use to turn their lives (or imaginary lives) into narrative? Is the impulse to self-narration universal, or must one be ‘extraordinary’ to feel it? This course will ask students to consider the boundaries of their own selfhood, paying special special attention to the tensions inherent in self-narration: self-invention vs. self-disclosure, design vs. "truth," memory vs. imagination, and so on.
Models of National Transformation
HM 540........ 2 Units
The transformation of nations is a complex and multidimensional process that involves the intersection of psychological, cultural, socioeconomic, political, ecological, and spiritual dimensions. Focusing on transformation taking place in India and the United States of America, this course explores particular cases of national transformation as they are embodied in the various challenges of the current global water crisis, challenges including freshwater scarcity, pollution, inequitable water distribution, the forgetfulness of the archetypal and sacred power of water, and the need for water rights
Spiritual Practices & Healing Arts
HM 613........ 2 Units
This praxis course surveys conventional, complementary, and alternative medical and healing systems, such as: Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Chiropractic, somatic and touch therapies and Native American and folk healing methods. Complex relationships among the spiritual, physical, emotional, political, environmental and cultural aspects of health and wellness are illuminated. Global, multi-cultural, and trans-historic views are contrasted with dominant, Western medical ideology to generate a more fluent understanding of how “alternative” methodologies can begin to inform mainstream science.
