Lecture in the course of
“Liberal Arts during the Pandemic”
at Washington College
2020 Summer

Hallo, This is Dr. Bin Song at Washington College.

Thanks for Ben and Sara to invite me to share my teaching experience to such a vibrant learning community which is formed during this very special summer, the summer of 2020, when, most of time, students and teachers do not know how we will teach and continue our life in the fall.

This uncertainty intruded very abruptly into our life in this past spring, and ever since, every human on the earth needs to learn how to adapt to it, and in particular, how to manifest the resilience of life in this particular time.

I have made several major adjustments to my previous teaching during this pandemic, and the theme of self-care and resilience stands prominently.

In the course of “Ru and Confucianism,” which is a 300-level course of philosophy and religion, I started to systematically teach meditation. I am personally a long-time practitioner of meditation, and have learned it from multiple traditions. However, it is only until recent years that I started to develop a curriculum to instruct students to practice meditation and contemplation in the classrooms of a college or university.

There are many pedagogical concerns to teach contemplation in a college setting. For instance, how not to proselytize a specific religion or ideology? After all, we are a secular liberal arts college, and do not prioritize any religion or tradition-based belief system. A related question is how to respect and harmonize students’ preestablished worldviews, and make them feel safe and inspired to practice meditation, the technique and philosophy of which may derive from cultures other than their own? In my classrooms, students may be Catholic, Muslims, Methodists, Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, etc. Then, the question for the instructor is: how can we organize discussions and conversations on topics of meditation that can make everyone feel included and benefited?

My general strategy to deal with these concerns is

• 1) to contextualize, viz., to trace the origin of the history of any meditation practice so that I can present an authentic body of historical experience of meditation, rather than focusing upon my personal view, although I do express my personal views when they are needed.
• 2) to diversify and compare, viz., to show the rich diversity within a taught tradition, such as Confucianism, regarding how Confucian practitioners may debate their different views and conceptualizations of meditation; and to compare one tradition with other traditions, such as Daoism or Buddhism. In this way, students will still utilize their ability of critical thinking to decide which approach makes the best sense, and thus, have a conversation with their peers to exchange their views.
• and 3) to try to apply those traditional meditative skills in a modern context, which may mean bringing modern sciences such as brain science and evolutionary biology to account for the significance of meditation, or it may imply each individual student would be expected to create their own meditative method for the benefits of their own life.

In general, I embed the instruction of meditation and contemplation within the general pedagogy of liberal arts, try to use it as a major tool to regain the wholeness of students’ personal growth, and thus, manifest the holistic spirit of liberal arts education.

Once we have a pedagogical foundation to teach meditation, the benefits of teaching it will be very visible. And this is particularly so during the pandemic.

In the course of Ru and Confucianism, the final assignment is “Body Discipline and Video Production.” Students need to practice their favorite way of meditation inspired by philosophical concepts learned in the class, and make a video or powerpoint to demonstrate it. The examples of this assignment can be seen from my website (https://binsonglive.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/confucian-teaching/)

For instance, Theo explains one key concept of Qi (vital-energy) in Confucianism, and how he practiced meditation close to the ocean near his Californian home during the quarantine time.

Jason used his new knowledge of “harmony” or “harmonization” to re-describe his experience as a roller, and advocated the significance of this historically rooted, yet personalized practice of meditation for the contemporary world.

Christopher demonstrated superbly how he practiced archery to enhance focus and mental health during the quarantine. He was a senior to have written a joint thesis of philosophy and anthropology, and taken several courses in the final semester of his college; with the habit of meditative practice of archery deep in his heart, he seemed to navigate the busy, uncertain semester quite well. His thesis was actually awarded as an honor in the department of philosophy and religion.

In the following one, April used another philosophy we discussed in the class, Daoism, to reflect upon the seemingly over-development of human civilization. She believed Daoist ideas sincerely, and made a very nice video about it.

Finally, myself also made a series of videos to teach the breathing skills and varying postures of meditation such as cross-legged quiet-sitting, sitting on a chair, sleeping, walking, standing, martial arts, etc. Now, this is an established series in my youtube channel, and I can continue to use it for my future teaching. Let me remind the friends and students here that I continue to offer the course of Ru and Confucianism in the fall, and if you are interested in it, just give it a try.

Good, you now get a sense of how I teach meditation in a college class for the sake of self-care and personal development during the time of pandemic.

In the coming Fall, another adjustment I will make to my teaching is that, after being encouraged by students’ performance and evaluation of my spring online teaching, I decide to make my teaching of ethics in an even more timely and practical manner. I will teach the skill of philosophical practice and how to apply traditional philosophical and ethical wisdom to coping with self-defeating emotions such as anger, distress, anxiety etc.

The course is called “foundations of morality,” and it is a two hundred level of ethics course. I design the course according to the procedure of philosophical practice, which is a very new and promising development in the area of mental health and good human living. In general, the philosophical practice comprises six steps:

First, identity the emotional reasoning. Since most human emotions are accompanied by beliefs and a cognitive process of reasoning, the first step is to use logic, a crucial aspect of philosophical training, to uncover the hidden process of emotional reasoning. So, you need to know what you believe or what you think when you emote.

Second, if you think it wrongly when your emotions are inappropriate and self-defeating, find those fallacies of thinking.

Third, refute these fallacies.

Fourth, find a corresponding virtue to correct each fallacy. For instance, you may demand perfection about either yourself or the outside world. In this case, you commit a fallacy of thinking when you indicate a strong, disturbing emotion towards a certain life event. Then, we need to point out a virtue, a habit of thought and behavior, for you to correct your fallacy. In the case of demanding perfection, the corrective virtue is called “metaphysical security,” which is to feel safe and secure even in an uncertain and imperfect world. This is also a very timely virtue for the pandemic.

Fifth, find an uplifting philosophy to promote the virtue. For instance, you can use the knowledge of Aristotle’s ethics, Stoicism or Confucianism to promote the virtue of metaphysical security. In this case, the prescription for philosophical counseling may be a movie, a novel, a philosophical treatise, a book, or a piece of music. In the area of mental health counseling, this is called biblio-therapy.

Sixth, to design a plan of action and implement it.

The wonderful thing is that since I decide to focus upon self-care and good human living for my teaching during the pandemic, all the readings, skills, and techniques I discuss with my students can actually be connected to each other. For instance, in the sixth step of philosophical practice, students can visualize the plan of action during meditation, and thus, enhance the transformability of their emotions and behaviors during this uncertain time.

Good, I hope my lecture helps you understand how I work with my students to adapt our college teaching and learning of liberal arts into this very unique situation of pandemic. To conclude my lecture, I will re-emphasize the joy of teaching I get during the process: it is really among the most wonderful things in human life. As Confucius said in the first verse of the Analects: to learn, and to timely practice what you learn, isn’t this a joy?