Maharishi School
of the Age of Enlightenment
EDUCATION FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
Course Syllabus
British Literature
11th grade
2012
THEME
The highest purpose of speech and writing is to express and share truth and beauty in order to enlighten, inspire, and delight the listener or reader. The culmination of this purpose rests in Maharishi’s Vedic Science, in which speech (and writing) are recognized as that which binds the boundless, that which expresses in a lively manner the unbounded field of pure Creative Intelligence, the source of all knowledge and bliss.
“The goal of all expression is the ability to express the unbounded. Speech is fruitful when it is capable of expressing, in a lively manner, the field of the unbounded, the transcendental, infinite value of life.
“On that level speech is speechless, but this situation is not very comfortable for speech. It wishes to rejoice in bringing within its own boundaries the liveliness of the unbounded. Speech finds its goal when the full value of life—infinity, unboundedness, eternity absolute—dances on the level of its impulses.
“Literature and consciousness are as intimately related as a child and mother. Literature is just the expression of the consciousness of the writer. Emerging from the level of pure consciousness, from that unbounded level of intelligence, literature touches the heart of everyone.”—Maharishi
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DESCRIPTION
This course is a survey of major writers and works of British Literature, from the early Anglo-Saxon period to the present. Students write academic papers related to the literature they read. Grammar, usage, mechanics, and vocabulary are studied throughout the course. Academic responses will be presented through a variety of media.
IOWA CORE CURRICULUM
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS INITIATIVE
Instruction in British Literature will, in accordance with the Iowa Core objectives and the Common Core State Standards Initiative, shift from a primary focus on reading and writing to the integration and practical application of all five literacy skills – reading, writing, speaking, viewing, and listening. In addition, instruction will include the areas of employability, financial literacy, health literacy, and especially technology literacy.
From the Iowa Core Curriculum website: “Students in Iowa deserve an education that helps them succeed in today’s technology rich, global economy. The Iowa Core Curriculum (also known as Model Core Curriculum) assists Iowa schools in delivering that education. It does so by helping teachers take learning to a deeper level and by focusing on a well-researched set of essential concepts and skills in literacy, math, science, social studies, and 21st century learning skills (civic literacy, financial literacy, technology literacy, health literacy, and employability skills). The Core Curriculum is not course-based, but rather is a student-based approach that supports high expectations for all students.”
Mission Statement, Common Core State Standards: “The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.”
GOALS
Students will learn to appreciate a wide range of the best of British literature, to understand both personally and academically, emotionally and intellectually, what is most compelling about the writers and works they study. Students will gain a good introductory grasp of the history and development of the British literary tradition and learn to write cogently and clearly about the works they read and the tradition these works have helped form. Students will improve their ability to express themselves in writing and speech. Students will improve their ability to express themselves in writing and speech, published using various technologies.
OBJECTIVES
Students will:
- Read works from the periods of British literature, completing unit projects that express an understanding and appreciation of the broad range of literary works and the wide variety of British authors.
- Recognize, relate, and compare and contrast the traits of the major periods of British literature.
- Value the special qualities of the English language and its literature, qualities that have made it one of the greatest of literary traditions.
- Apply in a personal and authentic manner analytical and evaluation processes when responding to literary works.
- Identify, analyze, and appreciate poetry in terms of style, structure, and theme.
- Analyze narrative prose in terms of theme, plot, point of view, character, setting, archetype, and accompanying social and historical context.
- Apply Maharishi’s Science of Creative Intelligence and Vedic Science in the analysis of literary works.
- Demonstrate proficiency in recognizing and fashioning logical arguments.
- Construct a variety of academic essays, narratives, poems, personal response papers, etc., that analyze or embody the perspective of the British literary tradition.
- Design, organize, and write an academic research paper.
- Formulate and deliver effective oral presentations.
- Recognize and apply correct grammar, usage, and mechanics in writing.
COURSE EVALUATION CRITERIA
- Inclusion and integration of historical, social, and/or philosophical components and background material in
* papers and short essays; debates between representative of different time periods; and quizzes and tests.
* Socratic circle and other discussion formats.
* class presentations, dramatization, creative writing, and performance.
* Research papers on Beowulf and on Victorian novel.
- Inclusion and integration of Science of Creative Intelligence components in papers and projects, formal and informal.
Tests and quizzes (comprehension, vocabulary, in-class response):
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30%
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Essays and papers:
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40%
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Completion of classwork and homework:
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20%
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Individual & group projects & presentations:
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10%
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Total
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100%
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Note: Classwork and homework are primarily formative evaluations to determine if students are ready for the formative assessments of objective and written evaluation.
Honors Program:
To receive an Honors grade, a student must have a 93% or above grade average in British Literature at the end of the quarter. Inclusion in the program is by student self-nomination and teacher acceptance. Continuing participation is determined by the student’s quarter class average percentage, timely submission of class assignments, and attendance.
The Honors program will consist of the student completing three Honors enrichment activities during the quarter, approximately one every three weeks. Individual Honors activities are structured by joint agreement of student and teacher. Projects may be extensions of regular class assignments or supplemental assignments that augment and enrich class activities. Examples of such honors activities might be writing a short essay in lieu of a class paragraph assignment, or of reading an additional literary piece. The activities students engage in will include three of the following areas of academic focus:
- Reading
- Writing
- Research
- Vocabulary/Spelling
- Public Speaking
- Technology
- Grammar
COURSE MATERIALS
Text: Literature: The British Tradition
Text: Warriner’s High School HandbookText: Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It, Henry V, or another Shakespeare play
Text: Pride and Prejudice , Great Expectations, or Tale of Two Cities, or other modern novels
Handouts
PREREQUISITES
Tenth Grade English
COURSE OVERVIEW
BRITISH LITERATURE
11th Grade
Units 1-4
Quarter 1
45 Days
The Anglo-Saxon Period
Seek the Highest First
(Eight Days)
Unit One
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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Topic 4
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Topic 5
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The Anglo-Saxon Period
(8 days)
Introduction: establishing a new culture
Seek the highest first.
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Language: the purpose of speech is to bind the boundless
(1 day)
Communication is “the art and science of creating unity.”
Enlivening the holistic quality of consciousness
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Anglo-Saxon Poetry
(1 days)
The coexistence of opposite values.
Enlivening the synthesizing quality of consciousness
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Vocabulary
(1 day and daily)
Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Enlivening the communication and eloquence quality of consciousness
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Beowulf
(4 days)
The nature of life is to grow.
Enlivening the invincible and progressive quality of consciousness
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Writing
Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics
(1 days and daily)
Wholeness is contained in every part.
Enlivening the balancing, holding together and supporting quality of consciousness
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The Medieval Period
The Quest for Purification
(Ten Days)
Unit Two
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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Topic 4
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Topic 5
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The Medieval Period
(10 days)
Introduction: a change of spiritual values
Purification leads to progress.
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What is a Hero?
Who Is Yours?
Gawain and the Green Knight & Morte D’Arthur
(1 day)
Purification leads to progress.
Enlivening the transforming quality of consciousness
Outer depends on inner.
Enlivening the transforming quality of consciousness
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Vocabulary
(1 day and daily)
Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Enlivening the communication and eloquence quality of consciousness
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Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
(4 days)
Harmony exists in diversity.
Enlivening the communication and eloquence quality of consciousness
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Writing: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics
(1 day and daily)
Wholeness is contained in every part.
Enlivening the balancing, holding together and supporting quality of consciousness
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Creating Presentations
(2 days)
Wholeness moving within itself.
Enlivening the detecting and recognizing quality of consciousness
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Unit Two
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Topic 6
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The Medieval Period
(continued)
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SCI Presentations: Canterbury Tales
(1 day)
Thought leads to action, action leads to achievement, achievement leads to fulfillment.
Enlivening the self-referral quality of consciousness
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The Renaissance
The Field of All Possibilities
(Seventeen Days)
Unit Three
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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Topic 4
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Topic 5
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The Renaissance
(17 days)
Introduction: the Great Awakening
The field of all possibilities is the source of all solutions.
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The English Renaissance
(1 day)
The nature of life is to grow.
Enlivening the expanding quality of consciousness
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The Petrarchan or Italian Sonnet: early Renaissance writers
(1 days)
The whole Is greater than the sum of the parts.
Enlivening the communication and eloquence quality of consciousness
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The English or Shakespearean Sonnet
(1 days)
Knowledge is structured in consciousness.
Enlivening the enlightening quality of consciousness
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Presentation:
choral reading
(1 day)
Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Enlivening the expressing quality of consciousness
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Writing the Sonnet
(in the style of…)
(1 day intro)
Thought leads to action, action leads to achievement, achievement leads to fulfillment.
Enlivening the expressing quality of consciousness
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Unit Three
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Topic 6
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Topic 7
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7 continued
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7 continued
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Topic 8
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The Renaissance
continued
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Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
(7 days)
Life is found in layers.
Enlivening the detecting and recognizing quality of consciousness
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SCI & Writing about Much Ado About Nothing & layers of the self
(3 days)
Knowledge is structured in consciousness.
Enlivening the enlightening quality of consciousness
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SCI & Writing
The Shakespeare Renaissance Paper
The world is as we are.
Enlivening the self-referral quality of consciousness
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SCI & Writing
The Shakespeare Renaissance Paper
A few individuals, contacting the most silent level of their own awareness, can enliven its infinite qualities for everyone.
Enlivening the transforming quality of consciousness
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The King James Bible
(2 days)
Seek the highest first.
Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Enlivening the established in itself quality of consciousness
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The Seventeenth Century
The Coexistence of Opposite Values
(Six Days)
Unit 4
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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The Seventeenth Century
(6 Days)
Introduction: Humanity and Divinity in Conflict
The coexistence of opposite values.
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Poets Metaphysical and Physical: Representing the Times
(2 days)
The coexistence of opposite values.
Enlivening the integrating & harmonizing and decisive & distinguishing qualities of consciousness
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John Milton,
Sonnets and Paradise Lost
(3 days)
Seek the highest first.
Enlivening the all-knowing quality of consciousness
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Writing: Personal Response
(1 day)
Knowledge is structured in consciousness.
Enlivening the enlightening quality of consciousness
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The Modern British Novel: Individualized Reading
The Twentieth Century to the Present
(Four Days)
Unit 5
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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The Modern British Novel: Individualized Reading
(4 days)
Introduction: underlying cultural group consciousness in a diversity of expressions
Harmony exists in diversity.
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Socratic Circle: discussion of novels
(1 day)
Knowledge is gained from inside and outside.
Enlivening the analyzing quality of consciousness
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Creating Presentations
(2 days)
Wholeness moving within itself.
Enlivening the detecting and recognizing quality of consciousness
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Making Presentations
(1 day)
Thought leads to action, action leads to achievement, achievement leads to fulfillment.
Enlivening the self-referral quality of consciousness
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Units 6-10
Quarter 2
45 Days
The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
Order Is Present Everywhere
(Seven Days)
Unit 6
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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Topic 4
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Topic 5
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The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
(7 days)
Introduction: The Age of Reason and the Political Balance of Power
Order is present everywhere.
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The Restoration of the Monarch and the Age of Reason
(1 day intro)
Thought leads to action, action leads to achievement, achievement leads to fulfillment.
Enlivening the all-knowing quality of consciousness
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Vocabulary
(1 day and daily)
Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Enlivening the communication and eloquence quality of consciousness
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The Age of Dryden
(1 day)
Creative intelligence is precise and truthful.
Enlivening the enumerating quality of consciousness
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The Age of Pope and Swift
(1 day)
Creative intelligence is vigilant and resourceful.
Enlivening the Specifyting quality of consciousness
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The Age of Johnson
(1 day)
Creative intelligence is progressive and evolutionary.
Enlivening the invincible and progressive quality of consciousness
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Unit 6
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Topic 6
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Topic 7
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The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
continued
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Preparing to Speak
(1 day)
Growth is the expansion of the territory of influence.
Enlivening the expanding quality of consciousness
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Presentations About the Literary Ages
(1 day)
Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Enlivening the reverberating wholeness quality of consciousness
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The Romantic Period
Outer Depends on Inner
(Thirteen Days)
Unit 7
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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Topic 4
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Topic 5
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The Romantic Period
(13 days)
Introduction:
“Turning the tables,” the heart, not the mind
Outer Depends on Inner.
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Classicism vs. Romanticism: includes vocabulary
(1 day)
Outer depends on inner.
Enlivening the expressing quality of consciousness
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Introducing the Romantics: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats
(5 days)
Knowledge is gained from inside and outside.
Enlivening the transcendental and self-referral quality of consciousness
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PowerPoint projects on the poets: creating and presenting
(4 days)
The unmanifest field of Pure Creative Intelligence expresses itself as thought, which in turn develops into action.
Enlivening the structuring quality of consciousness
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Mary Shelley and Frankenstein
(1 day)
Knowledge is different in different states of consciousness.
Enlivening the separating quality of consciousness
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Writing: supporting an argument
(2 days)
The outer values of life are expressions of inner values.
Enlivening the expressing quality of consciousness
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The Victorian Age
Thought Leads to Action, Action Leads to Achievement, Achievement Leads to Fulfillment
(Seven Days)
Unit 8
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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Topic 4
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Topic 5
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The Victorian Age
(7 days)
Introduction:
Success and social concerns
Thought leads to action, action leads to achievement, achievement leads to fulfillment.
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The turn toward realism
Vocabulary
(1 day)
Enjoy greater efficiency and accomplish more.
Enlivening the specifying quality of consciousness
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Victorian poets
(2 days)
Knowledge can be gained through the senses (outside) and through the mind (inside).
Enlivening the analyzing quality of consciousness
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Victorian novelists
(2 days)
Every action influences the entire universe, like ripples spreading in a pond.
Enlivening the expanding quality of consciousness
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Changing views of women
(1 day)
Purification leads to progress.
Enlivening the invincible and progressive qualites of consciousness
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Writing: news story or obituary regarding a Victorian writer
(1 days)
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Enlivening the synthesizsing quality of consciousness
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The Twentieth Century
Knowledge Is Structured in Consciousness
(Fourteen Days)
Unit 9
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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Topic 4
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Topic 5
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The Twentieth Century
(14 days)
Introduction: hope, innovation, disillusionment, and war
Knowledge is structured in consciousness.
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Innovation at its best and worst
(1 day)
Knowledge is different in different states of consciousness.
Enlivening the separating quality of consciousness
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20th century prose: exploration of styles, including vocabulary
(4 days)
The field of all possibilities is the source of all solutions.
Enlivening the offering and creating qualities of consciousness
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20th century poetry: exploration of visions, including vocabulary
(4 days)
Wholeness is contained in every part.
Enlivening the all-pervading wholeness quality of consciousness
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Prose or prose writing in the style of an author
(2 days)
We see order expressed in cycles, rhythms, patterns, etc.
Enlivening the stirring quality of consciousness
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Writing: personal reaction—journal reactions to the creative writing
(1 day)
Rest and activity are the steps of progress.
Enlivening the equivalency quality of consciousness
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Unit 9
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Topic 6
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The Twentieth Century
continued
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Writing: evaluative paper of a single author or era
(2 days)
The Unified Field is a field of perfect order.
Enlivening the communicating and eloquent qualities of consciousness
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The Modern British Novel: Individualized Reading
The Twentieth Century to the Present
(Four Days)
Unit 10
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Topic 3
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The Modern British Novel: Individualized Reading
(4 days)
Introduction: underlying cultural group consciousness in a diversity of expressions
Harmony Exists in Diversity
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Socratic Circle: discussion of novels
(1 day)
Knowledge Is Gained from Inside and Outside
Enlivening the analyzing quality of consciousness
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Creating Presentations
(2 days)
Wholeness Moving within Itself.
Enlivening the detecting and recognizing quality of consciousness
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Making Presentations
(1 day)
Thought Leads to Action, Action Leads to Achievement, Achievement Leads to Fulfillment.
Enlivening the self-referral quality of consciousness
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MAIN POINT CHARTS
Language
The Purpose of Speech
Wholeness: The highest purpose of speech (and writing) is to express and share truth and beauty in order to enlighten, inspire, and delight the listener or reader. The purpose of speech (and writing) is to bind the boundless, to express the unbounded in a lively manner.
MAIN POINTS
Language
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SCI
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1. The highest purpose of speech (and writing) is to express and share truth and beauty in order to enlighten, inspire, and delight the listener or reader.
2. Language expresses both intellect (denotation) and emotion (connotation) to arrive at meaning.
3. One studies all the various aspects of speech and writing to gain maximum ability to achieve the highest purpose of speech and writing.
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2. Each layer of the self has its own characteristics. Surface layers are more diverse; deeper layers are more integrated (connected) and more powerful.
3. When we contact the pure field of Creative Intelligence, pure consciousness, at the source of thought, we are contacting the source of all speech (and writing).
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The Anglo-Saxon Period
Seek the Highest First
Wholeness: With the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons to Britain, the English language began. The blending of earlier cultures with the Anglo-Saxons, in addition to the introduction of Christianity, created a new culture that included aspects of all the inhabitants. The values established in this new culture became the foundation of the British civilization. Capture the fort to enjoy the entire territory: the only way to handle all the innumerable areas of life is to attend to their source.
Main Points
Anglo-Saxon
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SCI
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1. Early inhabitants of Britain organized into clans. The Romans occupied Britain but did not incorporate it. With the coming of the Anglo-Saxons, the larger units of rule—kingdoms—were established. This Anglo-Saxon expansion resisted further invasions of Danish (Scandinavian) and Norman (French) invasions before finally evolving to a new level.
2. The coming of Christianity had a great influence on Anglo-Saxon culture. Greater peacefulness, kindness, and humility became acceptable modes of behavior.
3. Anglo-Saxon literature arose from an oral tradition. Through the recitation of poetry, sustaining the unifying history and values of the people. The structure of Anglo-Saxon poetry exhibits those characteristics needed to memorize this oral literature.
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1. The Unified Field is the field of perfect order. We see order expressed in creation in cycles, rhythms, patterns, etc.
2. United be your purpose, harmonious be your feelings, collected be your mind, in the same way as all the various aspects of the universe exist in togetherness, wholeness.
3. An assembly is significant in unity.
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Beowulf
Seek the Highest First
Wholeness: The hero of an epic represents the highest ideals of its age, reflecting the group consciousness of the society. Beowulf is representative of a society in transition and represents both long-held and newly-adopted values. Ancient and eternal values reflect the most powerful, transcendental level of life, the source and goal of all existence.
Main Points
Beowulf
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SCI
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1. Beowulf is a hero who possesses great strength, wisdom, courage, loyalty, generosity, and justice.
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1. All life-supporting qualities are contained within the self-referral field of pure consciousness, the home of all the Laws of Nature.
2. By contacting the field of pure consciousness one’s actions spontaneously display life-supporting qualities and are naturally in accordance with the Laws of Nature. One spontaneously fulfills the need of the time.
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The Medieval Period
The Quest for Purification
Wholeness: The medieval era was marked codes of behavior established by both aristocracy and the Roman Catholic Church. The literature of the era represents those codes and beliefs, and also the shifting attitudes that came with change as society evolved. Creative intelligence is simultaneously purifying and progressive.
Main Points
Medieval Literature
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SCI
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1. Medieval literature, especially its romances, focused on the development and expression of higher values: courage, loyalty, chivalry, truth, honor, purity, chastity, and service to one’s lord and lady and to one’s faith.
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1. The key to embodying and expressing higher values is gained through contact with the Unified Field of all the Laws of Nature during the Transcendental Meditation technique. Action performed upon such a foundation leads to the removal of all inner and outer obstacles, bringing greater success and fulfillment.
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The Greatness of the Canterbury Tales
Wholeness Moving Within Itself
Wholeness: Within the context of a pilgrimage to a shrine in Canterbury, Geoffrey Chaucer frames twenty-four individual stories told by the pilgrims. The poem brings together the three main segments of medieval society—the Church, the aristocracy, and the common people—drawing vivid, entertaining, and insightful characterizations that even in modern times are shrewd representations of humanity. Creative intelligence is holistic. The Unified Field is present everywhere, just as the wholeness of a tree is contained within each seed.
Main Points
Canterbury Tales
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SCI
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3. Chaucer’s genius lies in his ability to present a broad range of characters and points of view in both a sympathetic and gently ironic light. With wit and charm, he presents us with an array of possibilities and lets us draw our own conclusions based upon his insight.
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1. The Unified Field of Natural Law is the source, course, and goal of all life and knowledge. Everything, including the evolutionary progress of consciousness, can best be understood and experienced in the light of the Unified Field.
I bow down to him who breathes out the Veda and creates the universe from it, remaining uninvolved; and who is the cherished shrine of pilgrimage for all the streams of knowledge.
2. The surface value of life gains significance when connected to the deeper values of life, the Self.
3. The direct experience of pure consciousness makes all possibilities available, and knowledge gained from this deepest level is always most natural and spontaneous, enlightening, and blissful.
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The English Renaissance
The Field of All Possibilities
Wholeness: The Renaissance (re-birth) was a reawakening of cultural creativity that began in 14th century Italy and spread throughout Europe, reaching England in full force by the 16th century. England was transformed to a great power, its people gaining pride in its capabilities and achievements. The natural tendency f life is for creativity ot expand its territory of influence. As weakness diminishes, the very basis of problems begins to vanish (principle of the second element).
Characteristics of the Renaissance
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SCI
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1. A shift from interest in the religious outlook of the Middle Ages (emphasizing the afterlife) to an interest in the human being’s place here on Earth.
2. A renewed interest in the scientific, literary, and artistic achievements of Greek and Roman culture.
3. A renewed or newly discovered interest in poetry written in the vernacular languages of Europe.
4. A greater dissemination of knowledge via the new invention of the printing press.
5. A reawakened confidence in the ability of human beings to achieve great and laudable goals.
6. A renewed interest in exploration, history, geography, navigation, and astronomy.
7. A gradual evolutionary movement toward what eventually became the Protestant Reformation.
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1. The Unified Field is present everywhere, just as the wholeness of a tree is contained within each seed.
2. Knowledge and experience bring contentment.
3. The purpose of speech (and writing) is to bind the boundless, to express the unbounded in a lively manner.
4. Truly there is in this world nothing so purifying as knowledge; he who is perfected in Yoga, of himself in time finds this within himself.
5. Through the TM and TM Sidhis, we realize our own cosmic nature.
6. Knowledge can be gained through the senses (outside) and through the mind (inside).
Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and ego: These are the eight aspects of my divided nature.
7. Now, from here, the desire to know Brahman.
From here, what you see you become.
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The Shakespearean Sonnet
The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts
Wholeness: The Shakespearean or English sonnet is a 14 line lyric poem written in iambic pentameter, usually with a rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg. The sonnets usually introduce a concept in the first twelve lines (three quatrains), and then end with a resolving couplet. The discrete sounds of the Veda are perfect expressions of truth, and the Veda’s structuring dynamics display an even greater wholeness of perfection. Each sound of the Veda contains the entire knowledge of the Veda, yet the very structure of the Veda displays a wholeness that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.
Main Points
The Shakespearean Sonnet
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SCI
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1. Ideally, each quatrain, each line, each word of the sonnet contributes to its overall beauty and perfection.
2. It is beautifully suited to the eloquent expression of thoughtful reflection conjoined with emotion.
3. This sonnet form is named after William Shakespeare, its greatest master.
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1. Throughout creation, we see parts coming together to form wholes (house analogy).
2. United be your purpose, harmonious be your feelings, collected be your mind, in the same way as all the various aspects of the universe exist in togetherness, wholeness.
3. He sees the Self in all beings, and all beings in the Self.
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Shakespeare and the Renaissance
“All the World’s a Stage”
Creation As the Play and Display of Pure Creative Intelligence
Wholeness: Shakespeare represents the most complete expression of the English Renaissance. Knowledge is structured in consciousness.
MAIN POINTS
Renaissance
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SCI
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1. His global vision was expressed through the plays he wrote (and in which he acted) at his Globe Theater.
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1. Curving back upon my nature, I create again and again.
Having created the Creation, the Creator entered into it.
2. The world is as we are—green glasses see green. Our world and how we perceive it are simple reflections of our own consciousness.
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Much Ado About Nothing
Illusion Masks Reality
Wholeness: Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s best comedies because it is both funny yet also develops more serious themes, such as honor, shame, and court politics. Although it ends with the joyful resolution of conflicts and with multiple marriages, it also accepts death as a part of its vision, and at times is only a character’s choice removed from tragedy. The play develops simultaneously the foolish, individual limitations of the characters along with the need to think, feel, and act in accord with expanded values to avoid strife, grief, and despair. One person’s fulfillment is his own fulfillment, but the fulfillment of two people together is more than the fulfillment of each. Enlightened society is the goal of evolution.
MAIN POINTS
Much Ado About Nothing
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Much Ado About Nothing
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1. Life in Messina operates on the level of deception. People dress in masks, disguise their actions, and veil their thoughts in language with varying degrees of veracity.
2. The aborted wedding demonstrates different levels of awareness: Claudio and Leonato blindly follow a particular code of social behavior, while Beatrice, Benedick, and the friar use their intuition and reasoning abilities.
3. As elsewhere in Shakespeare, the pairs of lovers are meant to be compared. Claudio and Hero are a match according to fashion; Beatrice and Benedick are a marriage of natural love and intelligence.
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1. Operating from the level of change, people are deceived into seeing themselves as small and isolated or fragmented, whereas enlightenment reveals them to be infinite, connected, and whole.
2. In the state of ignorance, truth is masked in individual awareness. As consciousness and unity grow, truth becomes more accessible, more grounded in reality, and less subject to the whims of relativity.
3. Prior to enlightenment love is individual, but once Cosmic Consciousness is attained, “universal love then dominates the heart, which begins to overflow with the love of God.”—Maharishi’s commentary, Bhagavad-Gita, 4.35.
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The Seventeen Century
The Coexistence of Opposite Values
Wholeness: The time of the English Renaissance was a time of great achievements but also a time of doubts that arose because of the great changes to society. The nature of creative intelligence is both unmanifest and manifest. Its unmanifest nature is vast, unbounded unity. Its manifest nature is manifold and diverse.
Main Points
The Seventeenth Century
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1. These problems of wealth, freedom and equality, religious views and scientific discoveries, and political power gave way to violence and revolution.
2. The resulting shifts in society led to greater wealth, equality, and freedom for the population.
3. The literature of the age mirrors the changing conditions of the era: intense belief expressed in the different strata of British society.
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1. The universe reacts to individual action: the effects of our actions come back to us.
2. Every action influences the entire universe, like ripples spreading in a pond.
3. There is no joy in smallness. Joy is in the infinite.
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John Milton and Paradise Lost
Seek the Highest First
Harmony Exists in Diversity
Wholeness: Just as the epic poem Beowulf reflected the values of the Anglo-Saxon warriors, the epic poem Paradise Lost embodies the Puritan values of England in the late seventeenth century. Its values are also so universal that for many the poem is considered the most significant epic poem of the English language and culture. The Unified Field is the most powerful level of life: the is the source and goal of all existence.
MAIN POINTS
Paradise Lost and John Milton
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1. John Milton (1608-1674), is best known for his long epic poem, Paradise Lost (and its companion piece, Paradise Regained). Milton believed that his poetic, linguistic, and scholarly talents should be used to further the work of God on earth in both the religious and political spheres, and he dedicated his life and work to this highest purpose. The content and style of Milton’s poetry reflect a matchless grandeur and dignity commensurate with this goal.
2. Milton’s magnum opus, Paradise Lost, written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), recounts the story of creation, the heavenly battle between the faithful and fallen angels, and the fall of man. It is intended to “justify the ways of God to men,” to delineate the harmony and justice of God’s response to man’s disobedience. It is intentionally patterned upon the epics of Homer and Virgil.
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1. Seek the highest first. If one captures the home of all knowledge, the pure field of creative intelligence, all tasks can be accomplished with least effort.
2. Harmony exists in diversity. The divergent, even contradictory values displayed throughout relative creation are part of a harmonious whole and are appreciated as such when experienced from the level of the Unified Field.
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The Modern British Novel: Individualized Reading
The Twentieth Century to the Present
Wholeness: The novel is a long fictional narrative that, through an extended series of events, develops character, plot, and setting to convey certain themes and ideas. The novel can be analyzed by discipline (a historical, psychological, sociological, environmental, etc.), by structure and element (character, setting, conflicts, theme, point of view, etc.), or by genre (adventure, growing up, western, romance, etc.). Maharishi has created the possibility of consciousness-based analysis: using the Science of Creative Intelligence and Vedic Science to determine the evolutionary and life-supporting qualities of a piece of writing.
Main Points
The Novel
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1. Analysis of a novel by discipline seeks to find significance in a work from the perspective of a particular field of study, for instance, “the need to protect the environment from over-development as seen in Watership Down. This technique seeks to make connections between the novel and a discipline that extends beyond literature.
2. Analysis can be by structure or element (sometimes called structural and/or formal criticism) seeks to determine how the novel is organized and developed to express meaning. An example might be how Charles Dickens uses dialogue as an indicator of social class.
3. An analysis that is consciousness-based seeks to analyze and evaluate writing to inspire, inform, and illustrate the nature of and growth to enlightenment. Analyzing Chaucer’s pilgrimage metaphor—the great diversity of humanity moving in cosmic unity—could be an example of examining a work from the perspective of the development of consciousness.
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1. There is no joy in smallness. Joy is in the infinite.
Smaller than the smallest, larger than the largest.
This analysis is predominantly Chhandas in nature, seeking understanding through different bodies of knowledge.
2. Throughout creation we see parts coming together to form wholes (house analogy).
An assembly is significant in unity.
Because this analysis is processed-based, it is predominantly Devata.
3. Whose action is burnt up in the fire of knowledge, him the knowers of reality call wise.
Established in yoga, perform action.
An analysis from the perspective of Rishi expresses the significance of the Knower.
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The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
Order Is Present Everywhere
Wholeness: The years between 1660 and 1798 were times of great change in Britain. Various terms can be applied to the age: the Restoration, the age of the Scientific Revolution, the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment. Reason, balance, scientific method, and the application of knowledge for progress increased the confidence of the people. The Industrial Age was born. Stability, order, and progress were the ideas of the day, and it was believed that the use of reason could solve humanity’s age-old problems. Order is present everywhere.
Main Points
The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
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1. Stability, order, and progress were the ideas of the day, and it was believed that the use of reason could solve humanity’s age-old problems.
2. The monarchy was restored but was balanced by the increase power of the parliament and prime minister. Democratic power increased.
3. Reason was applied to all areas of life: business, politics, and the arts.
4. The literature of the times reflected prevailing values. With improvements in printing, the essay and magazines became popular. Satire, witty aphorisms, and the “heroic couplet” were popular during this time.
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1. In the Transcendental Meditation and TM Sidhis program, we experience the field of perfect order and unfold its qualities in our lives.
2. Balance of mind is called yoga.
3. Knowledge and experience bring contentment
4. What we put our attention on grows in our life.
Growth is spontaneous.
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The Romantic Period
Outer Depends on Inner
Wholeness: During the Romantic era, the heart rather than the intellect was the focus of attention. In politics, expanded democracy and the welfare of common people became issues that led to beginning reforms. Attention shifted from social standards to inner, individual expression. Literary interest turned to common people, folk traditions, emotions, imaginative and mysterious topics, and nature. The outer depends on the inner. Outer values of life are expressions of inner values.
Main Points
The Romantic Period
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1. Emphasis on intellect was and scientific observation was replaced by inner experience and intuition. Spontaneity was considered a good trait.
2. Literature focused more on individual experience, everyday places and common people. The past was romanticized and given emotional significance.
3. Romanticism affected all the arts. The British poets of the Romantic era articulated new poetic principles for poetry. Poetry was “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” and derives from “emotion recollected in tranquility” (William Wordsworth).
4. Nature was seen as a source of inspiration and truth, as a source of “instinctive spirituality.” Nature was a wild, free force that could not be tamed.
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1. Far in the distance is seen the owner of the house, reverberating.
2. In the world around us, what we learn from the outside of an object is different than what we learn from the inside.
3. Inner silence supports outer activity.
The atman alone, that state of simplest form of awareness alone, is worthy of seeing, hearing, contemplating, and realizing.
4. Under my presidentship, my Nature (intelligence) creates the moving and the unmoving.
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The Victorian Age
Thought Leads to Action, Action Leads to Achievement, Achievement Leads to Fulfillment
Wholeness: With the flowering of the Industrial Age, great expansion and economic success occurred. Along with industrial expansion, Britain also expanded its empire. Along with this expansion arose the realization that changes needed to continue: political and social reforms were implemented. Victorian literature focused on many issues that are still being dealt with today. Thought leads to action, action leads to achievement, achievement leads to fulfillment.
Main Points
The Victorian Age
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1. Education became more universal, and the influence of books increased. Increased literacy extended the influence of the written word.
2. Literature was diverse, but the growth of realism and naturalism fostered an examination of British political and social structures by an increasingly larger body of voters. Reform and advocated and implemented.
3. The immense popularity of the novel was significant during this era. Serialized novels dramatized the need for social reform. Charles Dickens, who balanced criticism with humor, was the most popular novelist of the times.
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1. Growth is an expansion of the territory of influence.
2. Avert the danger that has not yet come.
Truth alone triumphs.
3. Right action is in tune with natural law and finds success without resistance.
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A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
Wholeness: In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens expands the Victorian issues of reform, evolution, and self-knowledge to include the extremes of individual and society. The means and need to change for both individual and nation are explored. “Smaller and the smallest, larger than the largest.”
Main Points
A Tale of Two Cities
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1. With the rise of education, the novel was very popular during this era and was used to promote the ideas and causes of the time.
2. Dickens combines realism and idealism to create a diversity of characters in the novel. Some characterizations became caricatures, the exaggeration emphasizing a particular trait and perhaps adding humor.
3. The use of “foils” or doubling allows Dickens to emphasize his important themes. The optimism of the age drives the choices of many of his characters.
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1. Growth occurs outwardly (visibly) and inwardly (subtly).
2. In all spheres of living, we see that togetherness of differences is the nature of life.
3. Creative intelligene brings together opposite values--un-manifest and manifest, silent and active (colorless sap analogy).
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The Twentieth Century
Knowledge Is Structured in Consciousness
Wholeness: The promising beginning of the twentieth century was marred by the reality of modern warfare (World War I and II and other conflicts), totalitarian governments, the “cold war,” and the threat of global annihilation with nuclear weapons. Great struggles and great innovation characterize this era, disillusionment and dynamic creativity. Britain’s might and empire diminished during the twentieth century, yet its literature and art remained eminent and relevant. Knowledge is different in different states of consciousness, the separating quality of consciousness.
Main Points
The Twentieth Century
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1. Two world wars had a profound impact on Britain. Brutalized by the German bombing attacks of World War II, attention focused on the nation rather than empire. British world political and economic power diminished significantly.
2. Large-scale immigration, greater equality, and new roles for women were among the changes experienced in British society.
3. Four Stages of British Literature:
· 1900-WWI: realism & naturalism
· WWI to the Great Depression: post- war disillusionment & radical and experimental works
· Great Depression to WWII: reactions to economic hard times, fascism, and war
· Modernism:
o Use of images as symbols
o Presentation of human experience in fragments
o Use of previously taboo subjects
o Attention to new psychological insights
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1. Curving back upon my nature, I create again and again.
2. In all spheres of living, we see that togetherness of differences is the nature of life.
3. From here, what you see you become.
· Unfathomable is the course of action.
· No obstacle exists.
· The universe reacts to individual action: the effects of our actions come back to us.
· Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and ego: These are the eight aspects of my divided nature.
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