Written for my 1976 B.A. Portfolio for Antioch.
In the original Portfolio, the Degree Plan starts with a page that just has a pencil drawing of three concentric circles, labeled from largest outside to smallest inside:
Traditional College Education
Alternate Life Styles
Buddhism & Psychotherapy
The process can be seen as a series of concentric circles, starting with the largest, the general education, focusing down in the process of searching for an appropriate life style, and culminating at the center in the primary concern of the major field.
DEGREE COMMITTEE’S
CONCEPT OF BACCALAUREATE
We feel that an undergraduate education has three primary functions. First is to give the student a broad understanding of the range of human knowledge. This is the traditional “liberal education,” whose purpose is to provide a broad enough overview to prevent any limited or specialist’s point of view from being seen as the whole truth. It is to nourish whatever focus is decided upon later.
Secondly, after this basic academic foundation, the student should be allowed to explore, on a practical level, the direction he may wish to go with his life. This could include a period of time in diverse learning situations, from which a selection could be made as to the most promising area of major concentration.
Finally, the student chooses an area of primary concern, a field of study that seems to most adequately integrate his innate abilities, his past learning, and his future hopes. The process can be seen as a series of concentric circles, starting with the largest, the general education, focusing down in the process of searching for an appropriate life style, and culminating at the center in this primary concern of major field.
The task now becomes understanding the major field on as many levels as possible, making a thorough study, and developing the focus. The function of the college becomes that of providing a setting in which the student can pursue a range of approaches to his central concern, and work out an integration. He needs to be able to understand the relationship between this focus and the experiences which have brought him to it. He may also need to become qualified for more advanced study or practice in his chosen field.
In this way, the student, on receiving his BA, has breadth and depth, experience in life as well as the classroom, a certain degree of expertise, and the ability to further this expertise on the graduate level and in the actual practice of his work.
DEGREE GOALS
AND
SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
The concept of my degree plan grew organically from fourteen years of seeking and learning which have taken place since I started at Stanford in 1962. The three main periods fall naturally into a “major,” “minor,” and “general education” pattern.
The historical development is as follows: First is the general education background, a broad survey of languages, literature, philosophy, natural, and social sciences. This is the outer circle described in the Concept statement.
Second, from l965-1972 I made a rather thorough search through “alternate life styles.” I played in rock bands in San Francisco, learned first-hand about the effects of psychedelics, lived in Tennessee on the largest communal farm in the United States, where I began to learn carpentry, and ended up as a stage carpenter in the TV studios in Hollywood. The searching included personal interviews with dozens of gurus, and extensive reading in books on psychology and eastern religions. This led, thirdly, to a serious involvement with these disciplines, which from 1972 to 1976 have been my primary concerns.
My “dual major” is Buddhism and Psychotherapy. The original goals were personal growth and insight. After a year or so it became clear that I was also developing a dual career, with a possible future as a Zen teacher and/or a psychotherapist. To progress as a therapist I would need accreditation, and so the motivation for studying in this area also became furthering of skills that would allow me to be a really good, and licensed, therapist. Also, I needed some kind of context in which to thoroughly explore the relationships between these two possible careers.
My goals in Zen practice are: 1) to learn the rituals, practices, and ideas of the orthodox Zen Buddhist lineage. 2) To learn the zazen meditation, achieve the stronger mental-emotional-physical focus it brings, and to use this in daily life.
The skills and knowledge needed to achieve these goals include: knowledge of the rituals of Soto Zen to the level of revising the Zen Center Procedures Manual. Knowledge of literature and theory to the level of typing and critiquing translations of important texts into English, and rewriting lectures by Zen Masters to improve their English. Skill at zazen meditation and at applying training to daily life to a level which can only be legitimately evaluated by a qualified master.
I will attain these skills and knowledge through three and three quarters years of study and training at Zen Center of Los Angeles.
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My goals in shakuhachi study include: to learn to play the instrument as an aid to meditative states, and to understand the history and religious significance of the instrument.
Skills and knowledge needed include: the ability to play at least a dozen pieces of the traditional repertoire. Knowledge of the history of the instrument to the level of familiarity with the literature available in English.
This will be achieved through two years of study under Baido Wakita and independent research.
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My goals in individual and group psychotherapy include: to raise my level of self-understanding so as to be in a better position to change myself and to help others.
Skills and knowledge needed include: to be less hostile; more poised and graceful; more optimistic about the possibility of communicating; more lovable and trusting; not so facile about intimacy; more capable of touching and being touched; more objective about self so as to see others more accurately; improved ability to conceptualize; ability to flow without being hung up in dichotomies. As evidenced by comparisons of my levels when entering therapy with my levels as of date of evaluation.
This will be achieved through two and one quarter years as a client of Pat Sutton, MSW, the first nine months in individual therapy, the last year and a half in group therapy. Nine months as a client of Meri Lehtinen PhD in Reichian oriented therapy. Shorter exposures to Bioenergetics (with Dick Westfall) and Gestalt (with Fritz Perls).
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My goals as a Psychiatric Nursing Assistant include: to take the first step into the mental health profession by learning how to care for disturbed adolescents in a mental hospital.
Skills and knowledge needed include: Ability to write reports on patients’ progress, run meetings involving patients and staff, co-lead group therapy sessions, interview new patients, restrain patients when necessary, give oral reports on patients in staff meetings. Knowledge of: general theory of psychiatric nursing care including history, staff roles, admissions, charting, care plan, communication techniques, developmental theory, therapeutic milieu, psychopharmacology, and financial considerations.
This will be achieved through six months as a Psychiatric Nursing Assistant at Ingleside Community Mental Health Center, including a two week inservice education course (25 sessions).
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My goal as a Child Care Worker in a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children is to become a competent professional in the field of institutional care of these children.
Skills and knowledge needed include: how to wake up a group of children, feed them, provide recreational activities and a clean safe environment, and put them to bed. How to discipline the rule breakers and how to provide alternatives to confrontation. Level of responsibility: fully responsible, with two partners, for a group of twelve children, round the clock, three days a week.
This will be achieved through one year and seven months as a Child Care Worker at Hathaway Children’s Village, in a supervised training program.
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My goals as assistant editor of “Zen Writings” include: to learn the skills necessary to produce a magazine, and to publish a special issue on Zen and Psychotherapy.
Skills and knowledge needed include: the ability to rewrite articles and proofread copy on my own, and to design and layout a book under supervision by an experienced editor.
This will be achieved through two years as assistant editor of “Zen Writings,” formerly ZCLA JOURNAL.
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My goals in independent study of Buddhism and psychotherapy are to read a broad range of books on both subjects and to concentrate on the dialog between the two.
Skills and knowledge needed: Knowledge of the literature dealing with both fields and knowledge of the interface between oriental religions and western psychology to the level of being able to adequately describe the history and current state of this dialog.
This will be achieved through eleven years of reading books on western psychology and oriental religions.
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My goals in seeking out alternate life styles are to develop the skills necessary to live in experimental communities and to experience the psychological effects of this way of life.
Skills and knowledge needed include: Knowledge of how a large commune is run, to the level of being a founding member. Knowledge of states of consciousness produced by the major psychedelics, to the level of being familiar with these on a first-hand basis. Carpentry skills to the level of an apprentice who can use all the tools and read plans to build furniture and buildings. Rock drumming to the level of professional proficiency.
This will be achieved through: three years as a student of Steve Gaskin, including four months on caravan and seven months on The Farm. Thirty-one psychedelic sessions over a seven year period. One and a half years as a stage carpenter at ABC, CBS, and NBC in Hollywood. Five years playing drums in rock bands in San Francisco.
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My goals in a traditional liberal arts education include: to study to the level of intermediate college level courses: history, languages, literature, philosophy, natural and social sciences, and mathematics.
Skills and knowledge needed include: the knowledge obtained from college level courses in these subjects.
This will be achieved through two and one third years at Stanford and UCLA in the following courses:
Languages: Spanish, French, Latin;
Literature in translation: German, Russian;
Philosophy: Introductory, Greek, Late 19th–Early 20th Century, Chinese;
Social Sciences: Economics, Anthropology, Political Theory;
Natural Sciences: Biology, Ecology, Physical Geography;
Mathematics: Calculus and Analytic Geometry;
Freshman Honors Courses in English Composition and History of Western Civilization.
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