Wrapping up the Success Podcast and Transitioning to Science/Religion

Starter
Step 1:  Listen to Episode #2: Angela Duckworth: Is Having Grit The Key To Success?

Step 2: Respond to these three questions
1. What were Duckworth's main points about success?
2. How does this relate to Tennessee Williams' "Catastrophe of Success"?
3.  Which of the podcasts most connected with you? (see below)
4. If you had to distill your own definition of success into a "question- title" for this podcast series (like these examples) what would it be? WHY?  Explain your title.

For your reference- brief summaries of main points of each podcast:

• Tony Robbins - don't let your story define you, follow your passion as drive is the key to success
• Angela Duckworth- grit is the key to success, growth mindset helps one have grit
• Ron Gutman- Smiling makes one appear more successful and there is a correlation between one's smile and one's success in life
• Mike Rowe- Don't follow your passion if it makes you unhappy; ideal is to blend what makes you happy with what makes money; people with dirty jobs are perhaps the most successful
• Alain de Bottom-  (We didn't listen to this one! But it's good and worth listening to on  your own!) Our current definition of successful sets people up as winners or losers so we should redefine success in a way that is kinder and more compassionate.  You can't be successful in all realms of our lives.  You have to make  a choice between being successful in work or life.  We must make a choice as to in which realm of our life we want to be successful. It is a personal choice-- must decide for yourself.  There shouldn't be a one-size fits all definition of success.  ​

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Transitioning to Science v. Religion mini-study!
Driving Question:  How do science and religion provide meaning to human existence? To YOUR existence?

1. In Groups- Discuss your collective thoughts on Religion and Science :

• Are religion and science compatible?  Can they work together to illuminate meaning in our lives?  Or do they contradict each other? How/Why does religion help people answer the questions of our existence?  How does science?
• Make a T-chart:

Label the left column: "Commonalities between Religion and Science"
Label the column on the right: "Areas where you see tension between them"

2 Share out!

3 Stephen Jay Gould's "NOMA" Non-overlapping Magisteria
Feel free to read Gould's original article (linked above) for more depth of information!

Non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA) is the view advocated by Stephen Jay Gould that science and religion each represent different areas of inquiry, fact vs. values, so there is a difference between the "nets" over which they have "a legitimate magisterium, or domain of teaching authority," and the two domains do not overlap. He suggests, with examples, that "NOMA enjoys strong and fully explicit support, even from the primary cultural stereotypes of hard-line traditionalism" and that it is "a sound position of general consensus, established by long struggle among people of goodwill in both magisteria."  Still, there continues to be disagreement over where the boundaries between the two magisteria should be.

Quote from Gould:  "Our failure to discern a universal good does not record any lack of insight or ingenuity, but merely demonstrates that nature contains no moral messages framed in human terms. Morality is a subject for philosophers, theologians, students of the humanities, indeed for all thinking people. The answers will not be read passively from nature; they do not, and cannot, arise from the data of science. The factual state of the world does not teach us how we, with our powers for good and evil, should alter or preserve it in the most ethical manner"
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4. READ The Meaning of Life in a Formula and jot down some notes on your article to help you contribute to our discussion on the following questions:

• How does the author answer our the question: Are religion and science compatible?
• To what extent do you AGREE OR DISAGREE with the author?

LIT CIRCLE READING AND MEETING #5 PREP TIME
T4TB:  Ashley will meet with the T4TB students to provide more context for various thematic topics in the novel including Einstein's Space-Time Theory!​ ("time flies" in the novel....does this concept relate to Ruth and Nao's personal experiences and perception of time? How does it relate to "time being"? )

Into the Wild Group
*Note: Nick Jans is the author in Chapter 8 (p.71-72) who criticized Chris and Krakauer’s coverage of him.

1. REVIEW TRANSCENDENTALISM! (Remember Thoreau?) Transcendentalism powerpoint
2.  Have someone read aloud while you all follow along:  Keiran Eagen’s intertextual email exchange with Nick Jans  
3. JOURNAL:  Set a timer. For 10 minutes and each of you, in your starter google doc, respond to the following prompts:Do you agree with Keiran or with Nick Jans?  Was Chris McCandless less competent than a boy scout?  Or was he on a transcendental path that is worthy of our study
4. Discuss your thoughts as a group!