Hubris from Revelation: the Social Engineering of Ultimate Truths [Monday, Period 2]

[atreideslioness]

It was another Monday, the start of another semester, and Ghanima was sitting on her desk as the students filed in, feet kicking lightly against its front.

The moment the bell rang, her eyes snapped from the door to the children seated around the room. "Good afternoon and welcome," she said in a clear voice that carried effortlessly. "This is Hubris from Revelation, and I am Lady Ghanima Atreides. Those of you have not taken one of my classes before may address me as Miss Atreides, Lady Ghanima, Miss Ghanima, or some variation thereof. Preferably not Lady Atreides as that is technically my grandmother, but I will answer to it if you are not comfortable with another title."

"If you are in the wrong class, please feel free to leave at this time. For those of you whom I have had in class before," she smiled suddenly, looking far less severe. "Welcome back."

"First, we will start by defining religion, or at least attempting to," Ghanima said, hopping off her desk and grabbing the stack of syllabi and passing them out as she walked up and down the rows. "A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, God or gods, or ultimate truth. It may be expressed through prayer, ritual, meditation, music and art, among other things. It may focus on specific supernatural, metaphysical, and moral claims about reality, the cosmos and/or human nature, which may yield a set of religious laws, ethics, and a particular lifestyle. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience."

"For this class, will be be looking at some of the religions of this planet and time period, since trying to incorporate every religion of every universe is a bit daunting, even for me."

"Now, since most religions do believe in some sort of divine being, today we're putting your fate, and faith, in whatever god or gods you may worship," she said, returning to her desk and holding up a bronze bowl. "Those of you who would like to be a TA please put your name in here by the end of class today. But first, I see new faces."

"So why don't we do the usual first-day introductions? Thrilling, I know, but necessary for our new students. I would like your name, class, and what, if any, religion you follow and why. We don't need a theological lecture, even something as simple as 'I like it' would suffice just fine."


[OCD UP! TA positions are already filled via the Gods of the RNG and will be announced IC next week, but feel free to toss your name in the bowl anyway. Please be sure to check the syllabus for all IC/OOC information regarding the class. Offer void where prohibited, see store for details.]

Comments

During the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Take notes, pass notes, wonder what you've gotten yourself into...

Re: During the Lecture

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

What was he thinking when he signed up for a Monday morning class? He must've been high. Oh well, at least the subject was interesting to him.

Re: During the Lecture

[solo_sword]

Jaina actually was wondering what she'd gotten herself into, in fact. This sort of thing was definitely more Jacen's thing than hers, but it'd be interesting, and she was sure somewhere down the line she could end up needing it...

Re: During the Lecture

[furnaceface]

Jonothon grabbed himself a seat somewhere near the back of the classroom, as far from the attention of other students as he could possibly get. For as much as he was coming to realize that people could handle certain differences, he wasn't a big fan of being within easy view, either.

Re: During the Lecture

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Religion. Jonas knew the word, he even knew the dictionary given meaning but he didn't know what it really meant. There hadn't been a predefined word for what he'd practiced in the Community besides Sameness. Comparing what he knew of Sameness to what the professor had just said showed him that they didn't really match up.

He wrote quickly though, scrawling words here and there, circling the ones that made no sense (and were probably spelled wrong) and underlining the ones that did. He'd have to deal with those later.

Re: During the Lecture

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah was taking notes as she listened to the lecture.

Re: During the Lecture

[likethegun]

Summer workshops were nice, but oh, how Sam had missed taking deep classes.

Re: During the Lecture

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri had her chin propped on one hand as she listened intently. This wasn't going to be all that useful to her in terms of being a Jedi, but it could prove to be useful as far as getting more insight on the Yuuzhan Vong religion that she really, really wished she didn't know as well as she did.

Re: During the Lecture

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Fiona hadn't known much about the class when she'd looked it up, but now she was starting to wonder if this was a good idea.

Re: During the Lecture

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Another class with Lady Ghanima, another chance for Zayne to get used to getting notes into his datapad as quickly as possible. This week was relatively light, but that just meant it was a good warmup.