Tag Archives: philosophy/religion

Rabindranath Tagore

“Rabindranath Tagore: Bengali poet, writer, composer, and painter. The son of Debendranath Tagore, he published several books of poetry, including Manasi, in his twenties. His later religious poetry was introduced to the West in Gitanjali (1912). Through international travel and lecturing, he introduced aspects of Indian culture to the West and vice versa. He spoke ardently in favor of Indian independence; as a protest against the Massacre of Amritsar, he repudiated the knighthood he had received in 1915. He founded an experimental school in Bengal where he sought to blend Eastern and Western philosophies; it became Vishva-Bharati University (1921). He was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Bhagavad Gita

Moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Bhagavad Gita. This is a half-page document with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. A simple and brief introduction to this Hindu sacred text.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Weekly Text, 5 May 2023, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Mencius

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. For the next four Fridays, Mark’s Text Terminal will feature Weekly Texts, documents posts, and quotes that call attention to the numerous contributions that the part of the world the Ancient Greeks, specifically Herodotus, named Asia.

So, let’s begin the month with this reading on Mencius along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Descartes, Famously, on Ontology and Epistemology

“I think, therefore I am.”

Rene DescartesLe Discours de la Method (1637)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

Cultural Literacy: Troy

OK, moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the ancient city of Troy. You know, the one that excited so much rage in those ancient, mythical, Greek and Roman military commanders. This is a half-page document with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions. Just the basics.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Doubter’s Companion: Amorality

“Amorality: A quality admired and rewarded in modern organizations, where it is referred to through metaphors such as professionalism and efficiency.

Amorality is corporatist wisdom. It is one of the terms which highlights the confusion in society between what is officially taught as a value and what is actually rewarded by the structure.

Immorality is doing wrong of our own volition. Amorality is doing it because a structure or an organization expects us to do it. Amorality is thus worse than immorality because it involves denying our responsibility and therefore our existence as anything more than animal.”

Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

Barbara W. Winder on Knowledge and Wisdom

“As our knowledge is converted to wisdom, the door to opportunity is locked.”

Barbara W. Winder

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

Flagpole Sitting

If not for the one request over the years for this reading on the daredevil stunt of flagpole sitting that was somehow in vogue in the United States in the 1920s, supply would at present exceed demand. The reading, interestingly, makes the connection between this risky and arguable peculiar activity with the unusual form of monasticism of Simeon Stylites, a Christian ascetic who lived in the late-forth and early-fifth centuries CE. Anyway, here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends the reading.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Amazon

“Amazon: In Greek mythology, a member of a race of women warriors. One of the labors of Heracles was to obtain the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyte. In another tale, Theseus attacked the Amazons, and they responded by invading Attica, where they were defeated; Theseus married the Amazon Antiope. In ancient Greek art, Amazons resembled Athena (with weapons and a helmet) and later Artemis (in a thin dress girded high for speed).”

­­­­­­­­­Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Helen Keller on Fulfilling One’s Destiny

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”

Helen Keller

Address to American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, Philadelphia, Pa., 8 July 1896

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.