REL 407/507 FINAL PAPER TOPICS

Final Paper, due on Canvas, Friday, December 4, 2023.

* Double-spaced, 7-9 pages (10-12 for REL507). You may do one of the suggested topics or formulate one of your own. If you wish to do your own topic, then you must submit a one paragraph description by email at least one week prior to the due date. The instructor will review your topic for approval. You may proceed once you have received feedback.
* You are not required to do any outside research for the final paper. However, if you would like to use additional sources, you may do so. I would be happy to recommend some sources if you wish.
* I encourage you to discuss these topics with one another.
* Write your name, the name of the class, and the number and title of your topic ("1. Deep Listening, Deep Hearing," "2. Analytical Psychological and Individuation," etc.) at the top of the page. Be sure include direct quotations and/or page references from the readings relevant to your chosen topic in the body of your paper. Provide a bibliography at the end. For TOPICS B (story form), you can choose to document your ideas by providing an annotated bibliography at the end. This is a bibliography of readings used from the course, with each entry followed by a brief paragraph that shows how you incorporated ideas and insights from the reading into the final installment of your story.
* Please read the essays on my Writing web pages, especially "Four Keys to Writing in the Humanities," "Paper Writing Guidelines," "Checklist for Papers," and "Writing: The Bridge between Consciousness and Unconsciousness."

TOPICS A (Choose one from below):

1. Deep Listening, Deep Hearing
In "The Borderline between Buddhism and Psychotherapy," Mark Unno describes the role of deep listening and deep hearing in the simultaneous realization of human limitation (blind passions) and oneness beyond limitations (boundless compassion) as expressed in Shin Buddhism (pp. 146-148). He follows this with two cases that are very similar in structure (homologous) (pp. 148-152). From the other literature we have read for the class, identify two or three others cases (at lease one each from a Buddhist and psychotherapeutic context) to which this conceptual framework of deep listening/deep hearing, human limitation (blind passion), and oneness beyond limitation (boundless compassion) might be applied. Show how this framework might be applied, and how this leads to a deeper insight about the cases you have selected to examine. For example, what factors not easily accessible to consciousness (subconscious, unconscious) come into play? Or, what factors of cultural diversity, or cross-cultural interaction might be in play? (Note: Although an overview of Shin Buddhism is provided on pp. 146-148, for those wishing a fuller summary, I will be happy to provide a slightly longer version).

2. Analytical Psychology and Individuation
Apply Jung's concept of Individuation (see the readings by Moacanin and/or Ulanov) to two stories we read in the course. In doing so, discuss how the relationship between ego-consciousness, personal unconscious including shadow, and the collective unconscious develop as these stories unfold. You can discuss the collective unconscious in terms of specific, limited archetypes or the all-encompassing archetype of the Self. (Note: Remember, the collective unconscious in Analytical Psychology refers to an unconscious that is ultimately all-encompassing, the "inner" cosmos, as it were.).
Here are the story choices:
Option A: Anne Spencer work with Paige in "The Flowers Scatter" (CR), and Julie Hanada-Lee's own training in Clinical Pastoral Counseling as described in "Shan-dao's Verses on Guiding Others and Healing the Heart," B and P Across Cultures (RT) 
Option B: The cases of Naomi (Chapter 1) and Seth (Chapter 3) in Robert Akeret's Tales from a Travelling Couch (RT).

3. Embodied Practice in Buddhism and Psychotherapy
Discuss the role of embodied practice as an effective vehicle for the realization of Buddhist emptiness/oneness as well as therapeutic process in two to three episodes/case studies taken from Unno, Miyuki, Sugao, Nabeshima and/or Akeret. Discuss how body practices and attention to embodiment is a significant part of these episodes/case studies. Discuss at least one Buddhist story and one case of psychotherapy.

4. Cultural Difference and the Diversity of Human Experience
Discuss two or three cases from the literature that we have read for this course that involve factors of cultural difference, such as gender, hearing able/disabled, and the cross-cultural interaction/appropriation between Buddhism and Psychotherapy. In what ways do these factors become problems in the cases you discuss. Do these problems persist throughout, or are they resolved? Does the presence of cultural difference only inhibit development, or, in skillful hands, can it become helpful in further development psychotherapeutically or deepening realization in Buddhist practice?

5. Application of Diverse Practices
Select one case each of Buddhist practice (such as from Miyuki, Unno, or Nabeshima) and one case from the psychotherapeutic work from Robert Akeret (Tales from a Travelling Couch) and discuss these two cases from the perspective of two authors we read for this course, other than the authors of these cases. We have read multiple authors that give both Buddhist and psychotherapeutic perspectives, so at least some of your analysis should incorporate elements from both. What new insights are gained from applying these perspectives that do not come from the original authors?

6. Select your own topic
Identify one passage from among the readings from Weeks 7 and 8 that relate to a topic concerning Buddhism and psychotherapy that you would like to develop further. Formulate a one paragraph description of the topic that you would like to pursue, in terms of a) a psychological problem that you would like to examine, in a clinical sense; b) a philosophical problem of the similarities and differences between a particular Western psychological view of mind and a Buddhist one; c) a comparison and contrast between Buddhist views of practice and psychotherapeutic views of therapy. Discuss how the passage you have selected helps to address the topic or question that you have selected to work on. If there is another topic you would like to do on your own, then please see me.

TOPICS B

You will CONTINUE from Paper 2 with the character you created. - fiction or non-fiction, one you create or someone you know, or even yourself - and write the third installment to complete the three-part story. You can write about this person in the FIRST PERSON OR THIRD PERSON (your own voice, the character's own voice, or the narrator's third-person description). In general, it is easier to stay with the same voice as in your first paper, but if you need to change voice (e.g. from 1st to 3rd) for a good reason, you can do so. This character faces a turning point - in relationship, work, and/or life situation. Navigating this transitional moment creates an opening for inner transformation that has ramifications for the main character's outer life in society and/or nature. Others' lives may also be affected. Please incorporate 2 or 3 of the ideas below. Some overlap with items for Paper 2, so be sure to pick different ones this time, or different aspects of the ideas you may have referenced before:

• Deep listening, deep hearing as found in Shin Buddhism. In "The Borderline between Buddhism and Psychotherapy" (RT: BandP), Mark Unno describes the role of deep listening and deep hearing in the simultaneous realization of human limitation (blind passions) and oneness beyond limitations (boundless compassion) as expressed in Shin Buddhism (pp. 146-148). He follows this with two cases that are very similar in structure (homologous) including the case of the young violinist who receives the diagnosis of her inevitably deafness (pp. 148-152).
• In "The Original Buddhist Rebel - Shinran" (CR9) Mark Unno describes the practice of chanting/saying the Name of Amida Buddha, "Namu Amida Butsu," as Shinran spread this teaching among all people, especially the laity. The meaning of this practice is, "I, this foolish being, entrust myself to the awakening of infinite light." The "foolish being," filled with blind passions/attachments, is simultaneously a critical term and a term of endearment, since our foolish attachments are both the causes of our suffering and the portal through which we realize awakening and great compassion.
• Henry Shukman, "Light and Dark: Koans and Dreams" (CR10). In this essay, Shukman combines the ideas and practices of Jung's Analytical Psychology and Zen Buddhism, including the koan practice of the Zen master giving the student a puzzle to solve. In koan practice, the student must embody the answer as an expression of the two-fold truth of form and emptiness. Shukman describes a journey in which he must confront, be receptive to, and transform the trauma he holds in his psyche and in his body into that of awakening, healing, and liberation. He focuses on the difficult experiences he had with his father. He describes the relationship between the stories that lead one to realize one's life in a fuller sense including the descent into darkness as well as the brilliant light of awakening that requires letting go of stories. Use any of the elements that constitute the story of the self, its descent into darkness, the awakening to oneness, and how letting go of story-making relates to creating a new story.
• Marsha Linehan, Building a Life Worth Living (RT). In this memoir, Marsha Linehan includes a number of elements that are key to the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) she develops, including radical acceptance (accepting that the thing/people you want the most you will not be able to obtain and still be all right with it)(248-250), Zen koans and oneness (259-263), and the Five Categories of DBT skills including: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation (encapsulated on 169 and then explained beyond this point), and developing interpersonal skills.
• Robert Akeret, "Naomi: Dancer from the Dance," Tales from a Traveling Couch (RT). In this story, in which Naomi appears have something like Dissociative Identity Disorder, the author and therapist Akeret takes an unconventional approach and letting Naomi explore her newly adopted identity, changing from a Jewish woman from the Bronx to a Spanish flamenco dancer, to her present work as a poodle groomer. Can we really live many very different lives - through time as our life unfolds over the years, or even at the same time? This is the theme of identity - singular versus multiple - and the question of the underlying reality of the self - Is it singular, multiple, or more like a flow, a fluid whole?
• The courage to face difficult truths about oneself, life, and death, which is found in many of these works.