“Western Creed” Exercise

CRTW 201—Dr. Fike

Reference: Nosich, in "Critical Thinking and Emotions" (13-16), points out that critical thinking and emotions, as well as logic and feelings, are not mutually exclusive. In fact, "emotion-laden states actually help with critical thinking" (14). In addition, he mentions how the way your body feels can lead you to pay conscious attention to thinking you did not know you were doing. See his imagined scenario about "walking through a neighborhood at dusk" (15).

Purpose: Today's "'Western Creed' Exercise" is designed 1) to get you to pay attention to your emotions and your physical sensations as aids to critical thinking and 2) to help you learn something about how your psyche, your body, and your emotions may collaborate to further your thinking. It is designed to make you mildly uncomfortable.

Step One (10 minutes): Write your personal creed in your notebook (write only on one side of each page). In other words, write a statement of your spiritual beliefs or about what you consider to be the truth about reality. If you finish in two minutes, try to go deeper. For example, use some SEE-Is. Use some of the elements. Put some serious, careful thought into this. Write for 10 minutes.

Step Two (25 minutes): Watch the video, do the activity it prescribes. Follow the speaker's directions.

Note to professor: Hand out the “Creed” at this point.

Step Three (the rest of the period): Write answers to ALL of the following questions. Number your answers and skip a line between answers. Don't give one-sentence answers. Wherever possible, write a paragraph in response to each question.

• Q1: What bodily sensations did you experience when you were reciting the "Western Creed"? So what?
• Q2: What emotions did you experience when you were reciting the "Western Creed"? So what?
• Q3: Did you recite the whole creed? If you shut down at some point, explain why you did so.
• Q4: If the "Western Creed" made you uncomfortable, explain why it did so.
• Q5: What parts of the "Western Creed" do you agree with? Did this fact come as a revelation to you? Are there contradictions in your belief system?
• Q6: Did this exercise help you identify any type of thinking that you did not know you had? In other words, did anything that had been unconscious become conscious as a result of your participation in this exercise?
• Q7: See the statement about Transpersonal Psychology below. What kinds of bodily sensations and emotions did you have in response to reading that statement? (FYI Transpersonal Psychology and the Western Creed are a binary: transpersonal psychologists do not believe what the creed says.)
• Q8: Does it surprise you that Tart's "Western Creed" is designed for "advanced spiritual seekers"? To what extent, in your opinion, can spiritual development take place apart from things like church, religion, and Christianity? Why do you believe whatever your answer to the previous question may be?
• Q9: Do you view your own personal creed differently as a result of working with the "Western Creed"? Are there statements in your own creed that you would now like to adjust?
• Q10: In the final analysis, why do you believe what you believe? To what extent have you pushed against the "Western Creed" today because of beliefs that are themselves rooted in a Western context and point of view?

Here is a statement from the Association for Transpersonal Psychology: "ATP was originally founded to investigate and promote ultimate states--also described as peak experiences, being-states, or mystical states of consciousness--and how these experiences could be encouraged and enhanced for changing both personal and cultural perspectives. Evidence of ATP's success over the past 40 years includes [the following]: the wide-spread acceptance of the use of meditation in health care; an increased dialog between science and spiritual traditions; scientific recognition of the importance of religious beliefs in maintaining personal health; and an increasing recognition of the importance of spiritual values in conducting sustainable commerce." Source: https://www.atpweb.org/about.aspx

Hand in your responses at the end of the period. If you are not using a blue book, be sure to staple your pages together.