In Search of Vocation: Course Description

September 27th, 2005 | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tom here. In a fit of a caffeine high and total inspiration from Sigur Rós, the journey’s course description came to be. This is what we will present to the advisors. They will love it. They will get out of their seats and cheer, screaming with joy at the two incredible specimens seated before them. So here it is, our life-changing experience:

In Search of Vocation: An American Journey of Self-Discovery

Our vocational experience for J-Term will be both an informative endeavor of interacting with others about discerning vocation and a journey of self-discovery to find our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical strengths. From Decorah to the open road of America we will set out to make this realization a true physical journey. Interactions and self-discovery experiences will be intermeshed throughout the term to keep the two aspects of vocation together in a synthesized manner. Our experience will be accompanied by a number of readings to provide concrete philosophical and spiritual guidance that lay the path for our search and that hopefully illuminate what we should be looking for in coming closer to this incredible realization. The course will culminate in formal journal of the experience as well as a template for future students to engage in vocational discovery. Following the term, we will present our experience and hopefully inspire others to begin thinking critically about their call in life.

Below are the 3 criteria laid out in an organized manner:

Self-Discovery Experiences:

Spiritual: We will visit institutions or conferences to decide how faith functions in our lives and to what extent we can apply that to our future call. (Ex: Passion Conference, Quaker Retreat Center, Sweat Lodge, Zen Monastery, and Worship Leadership)

Mental: We will inventory our mental abilities and intellectual interests and decide what of these can apply to our future calls. (Experiences can include visiting museums, cultural centers, attending community or area college lectures.)

Emotional: We will create experiences that may be both emotionally enriching and emotionally taxing. This can help us decide what kind of emotional beings we are. (Experiences could include working at a soup kitchen, volunteering at a care facility, volunteering at the Walter Reed Military Hospital, even speaking with a psychologist to figure out our E.Q. or Emotional Quotient.)

Physical: Calls will not always be easy and may be physically taxing. We will experience intense physical strain to discover our limits as well as how to overcome some limits we thought were permanent blocks. (Example, 3-day hike in the snowy Appalachians, Fasting, Getting a body piercing or tattoo)

Artistic: Create a work of art, be it music or a physical object. (Performing music or creating sculpture, snow sculpture, painting, drawing, collage, etc.)

Interactions for Vocational Discernment:

This will most likely be part of interacting with the individuals we come in contact with while living out the self-discovery experiences. When those experiences won’t suffice, we will seek out counsel from professionals in the respective fields of service or ministry in which we are looking.

Reading List (tentative):

Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer

Soul of a Citizen by Paul Loeb

The Call of Service by Robert Coles

Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life by Douglas J. Schuurman

*A note on the necessity of travel: Where the actual trip and act of moving across the country creates a subliminal metaphor of discovery and journey, a metaphor isn’t the only way this physical trip will be beneficial. It is impossible to discuss vocation without including location. This country offers a wide variety of cultures and landscapes. The location aspect of the call embodies the physical need to be somewhere and do something. This experience cannot be realized by sitting stationary in a classroom.

You know, Jake… I think this might just happen.