The Art of Peace; Thursday, Third Period [09/15].

[sake_shinigami]

"Welcome back, ducklings ♥!"

The class would, once again, find their circle of cushions and some tea waiting, for another edition of listening to Shunsui ramble on about some concepts of peace.

"Today," he told them, with a grin, once they all seemed quite settled, "we're going to discuss a little bit the idea of 'Do No Harm' and what it might mean in the context of the Art of Peace ♥.

"More specifically, I should like to have a look at Mahavira ♥, the ancient reformer of the Jainism religion, which prescribes its followers to take the path of nonviolence toward all living beings ♥. He was born as Prince Vardhaman in a place called Kundgraam ♥. It is said that, even in the womb, he brought wealth and prosperity to his kingdom, like the abundant bloom of beautiful flowers in the springtime ♥. He did not let his status as a prince allow him to fall into the spoils of royalty and privilege, though, adopting practices of meditation and self-contemplation even at a young age ♥. Still, it took him until the age of thirty to renounce his kingdom, release himself of worldly possessions and went into life as an ascetic ♥. That was twelve years spent mostly in meditation and dedicating himself to not harming a single person, animal, or plant ♥. He gave up all possessions, including..." Please, forgive Shunsui the eyebrow waggle, " his clothing ♥. He earned his name of Mahavira and spent the rest of his life preaching the things he'd learned on his spiritual journey ♥. He attained the state of Nirvana at the age of 72 and 4 months."

Which was a blink of an eye to Shunsui, really, but he didn't have any intention of giving up worldy possessions anytime soon.

( Except maybe clothing... )

"Which is rather a lot," Shunsui passed around an apologetic, somewhat exhausted look around at the students, neh ♥? Who knew peace could be so involved? But it all comes down to one thing, as far as this philosophy is concerned: Intention ♥. Even if one does not succeed in killing, if his intention was to kill, he is still a killer. If one pursues something in good faith, and there is still a death as a result, that person is absolved from being a killer as there was no true intent.

"One may claim, then, that a pacifism of the Jaina vein is a pacifist through the utmost awareness of his or her surroundings and actions ♥. They are constantly vigilant on what actions might cause violence in even the slightest ways, and strive to avoid them. But enough talk from me ♥. It is now your turn, ducklings ♥, what do you think? Is the Jaina concept of Ahimsa a realistic or reachable goal? In which ways would you say it succeeds or fails? Is this a realistic path to obtaining peace?

"No wrong answer, of course, no strict order of discourse, just a discussion to consider all the variety of opinions that are sure to exist with such an eclectic group ♥. Who wants to start ♥?"

Library, Thursday 9/15

[noonedecidesmyfate]

When Belle arrived at the library for her shift there were 2 gremlins and a squirrel sitting at a table engaged in what seemed to be a very important conversation.

Belle, not being stupid, chose to avoid that section of the library. It was a large space and she didn't need to go near those shelves. Of course, half of the books that needed to be shelved today belonged over there, but it still seemed unwise to approach the trio.

"I do hope they aren't plotting anything," Belle murmured to herself before settling in at the desk. She could check in returns instead of shelving, for now.

Sexy Crimes, Thursday - 2nd Period

[ohvalleyofpenis]

"Crime! Can you get away with it?" Jaskier asked, gesturing broadly in a way that definitely got in Cara's way. "That is what today's class will be covering."

Cara had the long-suffering air of someone who wanted to bat away Jaskier's hands but didn't want to react in front of the class . "The simple fact of hte matter is that people are stupid and will let a person they find attractive get away with far more than they should."

"Usually minor crimes," Jaskier added. "Theft. Vandalism. The occasional spot of treason."

"Not that we're advocating any of those," Cara added dryly.

"Oh, of course not," he agreed. "But hypothetically... what crimes do you think you could get away with by being as terribly attractive as you are?"

Intro to Palaeontology - Thursday, 1st Period

[itsananomaly]

“This week we’re going to be picking up where the Triassic period left off and move into the Jurassic Period,” Cutter told them, “which I am aware is what most people are more familiar with when they think of dinosaurs, I am aware of there being a a fairly popular movie franchise about a dinosaur theme park,”

Maybe one of these days he could show the movie as a lecture instead of actually teach, he filed that away as a possible class.

“So before we get into today’s lecture, we’ll begin with the reports I asked you to prepare for this week on an animal from the Triassic period and then we’ll start our lecture,”

Once the presentations were over Cutter handed out the notes that he had prepared for this week’s topic.

“The Jurassic Period lasts from 201.3 million years to 145 million years ago,” Cutter started his lecture, “it is also the second period in the Mesozoic Era, it is in this time that Pangea began to break apart and the climate in this period was characterised by being humid and wet. it was also in this period that allowed for many new species to thrive after the near total extinction event at the end of the Triassic and it is when dinosaurs truly began to become the dominant species on the planet,”

“In addition to this, marine life also flourished, after the extinction event there were very few species left and at the start of the Jurassic saw a resurgence in activity that it hadn’t seen in nearly four million years,”

He paused, “the Jurassic Period is also noteworthy since there are many species that can trace back their evolution to this time period, there have been bird fossils found in rocks from the Jurassic Period, have been traced back to the Archaeopteryx, which is considered to be the earliest bird,”

“Particular types of dinosaurs that lived in this period are the Stegosaurus and the Mamenchisaurus

“For next week I’d like you to prepare a report on an animal that lived in the Jurassic Period,”