The SKS House Course 2004

Click here for an overview of the SKS House Course program.

Click here for student reactions to a previous SKS House Course.

For more information, contact Ed Cheely: Ed@SelfKnowledge.org or 919/846-1812.
Agony and Ecstasy
Spirituality Through Film and Literature

Note: The Agony and Ecstasy course described on this Web page took place during the Spring semester of 2004. We are leaving this Web page here as a description of a past event.
Lost in thought

"The unexamined life is not worth living."
—Socrates

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
—Oscar Wilde

Socrates and Oscar Wilde point to something we all sense deep-down: That to stumble through life just "getting by," doing what everyone else is doing, and leaving life "unexamined," is the most tragic and most common story there is. Fortunately, a few brave souls have taken up the challenge to wrestle with life's fundamental questions and some of the best of their passion, struggle, and insight have come to us through the medium of film and literature.

Through movies like American Beauty, Apocalypse Now, Groundhog Day, Fearless, Memento, and many more, combined with literature, discussion, and personal exploration, this course will challenge you to evolve your own answer to the question "What is spirituality?" Even more, the course will ask you to explore these questions of meaning and truth in the context of your own life. For as Marcel Proust said,

"We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness, which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us."

If you're ready to throw caution to the wind and dive head-first into a journey both difficult and rewarding, demanding and exhilarating, agony and ecstasy, we invite you to sign on for this intellectual, personal, and spiritual adventure.

Course Syllabus
(abbreviated, tentative, and subject to revision)

January 20^th—Introduction

Introduction to course and instructors
Defining "Spirituality"

View film: 13 Conversations About One Thing
Begin The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

January 27^th—Overture

Film and literature as insights into different human strategies for fulfillment
Analysis of 13 Conversations About One Thing and its characters

View film: Memento
Continue reading The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

February 3^rd—Identity, Clarity, Self-Deception, and Epistemology

View "2-minute man" documentary clip
Memento discussion
Spirituality as "cleansing the doors of perception" or "self-knowledge"
The importance of "remembering"

View film: Groundhog Day
Continue reading The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

February 10^th—Ego, Habits, Selflessness, and Service

Groundhog Day discussion
Living "in the moment", repetition as metaphor

View film: Fearless
Continue reading The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

February 17^th—Overture

Fearless discussion
Liberation from Fear and Desire (Buddhism: sankara, dukkha), Charmed Living, "Between-ness," the Paradox of Unconflictedness, the Paradox of Selflessness and Selfishness

View film: My Dinner with André
Continue reading The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

February 24^th—The Spiritual Seeker

My Dinner with André discussion
The "spiritual seeker" and "the spiritual path"

View film: The Matrix
Complete The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham

March 2^nd—Reality, Illusion, Community, and the "Spiritual Path"

The Matrix discussion
The Matrix as metaphor for the spiritual path

View Hearts of Darkness documentary
Begin Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

March 9^th—Inspiration, Desperation, Commitment, and Passion

Hearts of Darkness documentary discussion
Complacency, Waking up, "Shocks" and Confrontation, "Push" vs. "Pull" motivations, Commitment, Passion and Pathos

View film: TBD
Personal Exercise during Spring Break: TBD
Continue reading Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

March 16^th—Spring Break—No Class

March 23^rd—Humility, Brokenness, Vulnerability, and Grace

Film TBD discussion
Diminishment, Humility and Vulnerability, "the dark night of the soul," serving the transcendent

View film: American Beauty
Complete Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

March 30^th—Alienation, Transcendence, and Gratitude

American Beauty discussion
Alienation, Regression, Transcendence, Gratitude and Acceptance

View film: Jacob's Ladder
Reading Assignment: TBD

April 6^th—Attachment, Suffering, Acceptance and Surrender

Jacob's Ladder discussion
The relationship between attachment (sankara) and suffering (dukkha) in Buddhism, the difficulty and paradox of surrender on the spiritual path

View film: Our Town
Reading Assignment: TBD
Personal Reflection paper

April 13^th—Nostalgia, Perfection, Impermanence, and the Eternal

Our Town discussion
Nostalgia, Finding the Infinite, Eternal, and Transcendent in "the fleeting moment," Sensitivity and Seeing
Summarize all concepts touched on
Our Town discussion

Final paper assigned (5-7 pages)

April 20^th—Finale

Discuss final definitions of spirituality
Conclusion of course

Course Requirements

Attendance of at least 11 of the 13 house course meetings
Weekly film viewing (out of class)
Weekly reading assignments
Periodic reaction and reflection papers (as assigned)
Active engagement with the material and class participation
Final analytical paper (5-7 pgs)

Course Grading
Grading will be based on class attendance and participation, completion of assigned weekly reading and/or writing assignments, and quality of final paper. Students must demonstrate both an understanding of the topics explored and a personal engagement with the material.

Course Instructors

August Turak: Turak is a retired CEO and spiritual director who, in addition to helping launch the fledgling MTV in the 80s and founding two multi-million dollar software companies in the 90s, has worked extensively with American Zen Master Richard Rose, and with Father Francis Kline, the Abbot of Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, SC. He is the founder of the Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting spiritual inquiry and personal transformation, and has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Success Magazine, and The New York Times. Considered by William Willimon, Dean of the Duke Chapel, as a "modern-day Socrates," Turak now lives in Raleigh having recently retired from his businesses, and is pursuing a graduate degree in theology.

August Turak previously taught the house courses, "What is Zen?" in the Spring of '97 , "An American Nekyia" in the Spring of '00, and "Authenticity 101" in the Fall of '03.

Doug Friedlander: Friedlander is a Trinity '98 graduate and long-time volunteer with the Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation. He has worked extensively both during and after his time at the university with student groups at Duke, UNC, and NC State. He currently works part-time as a consultant for a multi-national software company based in Raleigh and part-time for Orange County as an Emergency Medical Technician. Doug Friedlander has previously taught the house courses, "Project WILD—Experiential Education and Leadership" in the spring of '97 and '98 and "Great Faith, Great Doubt: The Search for Truth in Modern Times" in the spring of '99.

"Action without study is fatal; study without action is futile."
--Mary Beard