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Course Outline

Mr. Mac’s Approach to Teaching Comparative Religion:
  • “It’s a class, not a church. I’m here to teach, not to preach. My job is to make you think.”
  • A class is a social learning experience. You can learn as much from other students - especially people you don’t agree with - as you can from the text, my lectures, guest speakers, or videos.
  • Importance of good Karma. What is it?
    1. The cosmic law of cause and effect
    2. “What goes around comes around.”
  • Towards a definition of religion. Can you define it? Why do people believe in religions? What is faith?
  • GOD - Discussing the Ultimate, Infinite Abstraction
    1. Did God Create man or vice-versa? What are the differences between
    2. Theism, Atheism, and Agnosticism?
  • Eastern Non-Dualism vs. Western Dualism
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Religious Autobiography
Pre-Write Questions - Write personalized answers to as many of the questions below as you can. Just write what comes into your head. Then look over your answers and organize them into an essay. Please hand in an essay, not a list of answers.
We will discuss the meaning of all these questions in class before you write.
  1. Do you attend any particular church, synagogue, or temple regularly? If so, what? Why do you attend?
  2. If not, do you believe in the existence of some form of God or higher power? Why?
  3. Are you an atheist or an agnostic? Why?
  4. Are you an exclusivist, inclusivist, or pluralist? Explain your position.
  5. If possible, describe What or Who you do believe in.
  6. What (if any) religious doctrines are most important to you? Explain.
  7. Do you believe in concepts such as eternal life, the existence of the soul, the universal spirit, and beings such as Angels, Ghosts, or Satan? Explain.
  8. Have you gone through phases in which your religious convictions have changed? How long have you believed what you believe now?
  9. Scan your memories to find incidents, experiences, and conversations which have contributed to your spiritual position. Do a free-write on these memories. Write without stopping or judging, just putting down all the details which come into your mind.
  10. Reread your free-write and underline those incidents which you believe have had the deepest impact on your development.
  11. Explain as fully as possible, the effects of this impact, and why these particular experiences affected you so strongly.
  12. Do you think your religious position has affected your behavior? How?
  13. Have you ever had what you consider to be a religious or spiritual experience? If so, describe it in detail.
  14. Do you feel that your present religious position is strong or weak?
  15. Have you found your religion to be a help or hindrance in your life?
  16. What important religious or spiritual questions have not yet been answered for you? Explain.
  17. Why are you taking this class? What are you hoping to learn?
Hinduism
  • 'We are all Hindus.'
  • Historical Origins
  • Sacred Texts: Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, the Bhagavad-Gita
  • 330 Million gods or One - The Polytheistic-Monotheistic Paradox:
  • BRAHMAN and the concept of ATMAN-BRAHMAN
  • Brahma(creator), Shiva(destroyer), Vishnu(preserver), Durga(warrior goddess), Kali(death), Saraswati(mother's knowledge), and so many more.
  • The Concept of Maya (Illusion)
  • Reincarnation or the Transmigration of Souls
Are shed by the body:
Are shed by the dweller. (Bhagavad-Gita, 11:22)
  • Path of Desire
  • What people Want:
    1. Physical pleasure
    2. Worldly success: Wealth, Fame, Power
    3. 'Is that all there is?'
    4. Path of Renunciation - a sanyasin
  • What people really want:
    1. Infinite Being, Infinite Knowledge, Infinite joy
  • The Yogas (union) Ways to God through...
    1. Physical Exercise (Hatha yoga)
    2. Knowledge (jnana yoga)
    3. Love (Bhakti yoga)
    4. Work (Karma yoga)
    5. Psychological Exercises or Meditation (Raja yoga)
  • Non-Dualism and Self-Realization
  • Avatars and Cults
  • The Stages of Life and The Stations of Life(Caste System)
  • Do you know the differences between Brahman, Brahma, & Brahmin?
  • Jainism - Ahimsa - non-injury to any living beings
  • Siddhartha Gautama, (circa) 500 B.C.
  • Are there similarities with Jesus?
  • The Four Passing Sights
    1. *Sickness
    2. *Old Age
    3. *Death
    4. *Asceticism
  • Middle Path - the line between extremes
  • The Bodhi Tree meditation - Why is there suffering?
  • Buddha means “I am awake.”
  • The Four Noble Truths - Buddha was a “physician” treating suffering:
    1. Life is Dukka (the suffering of dislocation) “The pitiful confusion of life”
    2. Suffering is caused by Tanha -ego craving, attachment, or “The desire for private fulfillment”
    3. If the cause of suffering is selfish craving, the cure lies in “the overcoming of narrow self-limitations and release into the vast expanse of universal life.”
    4. How? Follow the Eightfold Path.
  • Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Mindfulness, Right Effort, Right Livelihood, Right Concentration
  • “We move in the direction of our dominant thoughts.”
  • GOAL- Nirvana (Etymologically means “to blow out” or “to extinguish” as a fire ceases to draw when deprived of fuel.)
  • The Problem of Pride and Ego
  • Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism
  • Tibetan Buddhism- The Story of the Dali Llama
  • Zen - The Secret of the Flower
  • Koans: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
  • Zazen - “seated meditation”; Satori - sudden flash of enlightenment
  • Why is Buddhism inconspicuously absent in India?
  • Yin and Yang - the identity of inner-penetrating polar opposites
  • Lao-Tsu, the Old Fellow, the Grand Old Master
  • The Tao: The way of ultimate reality, the way of the universe, the way of life
  • Naturalism: 'Blend with nature'; 'Let nature take it's course'; 'Go with the flow'; attunement with nature, not dominance - to be noticed in art, architecture, medicine, food, martial arts, etc.
  • Wu-wei, The Chi, and Taoist Mysticism
  • Confucius, Kung Fu-tzu, Kung Master, The First Teacher
  • His Background, Problem, and Approach
  • The Analects of Confucius - Harmony in Society (jen)
  • The Middle Way; the Silver Rule
  • The Mandate of Heaven
  • The Five Relationships
    1. *ruler/subject
    2. *husband/wife
    3. *parent/child
    4. *sibling/sibling
    5. *friend/friend
  • Ancestor Worship/Respect for elders
  • Judaism as a 'Religious Civilization'
  • The Religion of the Jewish people?
  • How do we know who is actually Jewish?
  • Meaning in God: 'In the beginning God....
  • Transcending -Nature Anthropomorphic
  • Meaning in Creation: 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ... and pronounced it to be good.' (Genesis 1: 1)
  • Meaning in Human Existence and History *God's direct intervention in history at critical points
  • A chosen people as recipients of God's unique challenges
  • Meaning in Morality and justice - The Importance of Behavior Ethical Monotheism - The 613 Commandments
  • Prophets: Those who speak for God
  • Meaning in Suffering
  • Historical Anti-Semitism
  • The Holocaust
  • The Messiah or a Messianic Age?
'They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4)
  • Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed
  • The Authority of the Scripture and Revelation
  • Torah (Same as the first five books of the Old Testament)
  • Talmud('the Oral Torah'; 66 volumes of commentary)
  • Fact or Fiction? Considering Scripture as Myth
  • “Faith is not fact.” - Rabbi Ron Schulman
  • Christianity as a World Religion
  • The Search for the Historical Jesus
  • Scholarly controversy
  • Qumran - The Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Miracles of Jesus
  • The Four Evangelists
  • The Message of Jesus: The 'Good News'
  • The Two Great Commandments:
    1. Love God above all else
    2. Love your neighbor as yourself. (karma?)
  • The Incarnation, Redemption, and Resurrection
  • Why was Jesus Christ crucified? Impact on the history of Judaism?
  • Pentecost and the Holy Spirit:
“..... suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:1-4)
  • The Early Church/Heresy/ Roman Emperors/Church Councils and Politics
  • The Medieval Church and the Popes
  • Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and the Protestant Reformation
  • Catholic Good Works vs. Luther's 'justification by Faith Alone'
  • Kierkegaard's 'Leap of Faith'
  • The Problem with Fundamentalism
  • Islam as a 'misunderstood religion' in the West
  • Muslim(Arabic for 'one who submits to Allah)
  • Muhammad's Background: Influence of Judaism and Christianity
  • Ishmael (Issac's half-brother) went to Mecca
  • Muhammad's Epiphany on the Mountain
  • The Hegira and the Islamic Calendar
  • The Quran
  • The Five Pillars of Islam
    1. Shahada 'There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet'
    2. Pray five times a day facing Mecca
    3. Fast during the month of Ramadan
    4. Give alms to the poor
    5. Pilgrimage to Mecca once in your life
Testify that there is no god but God.
Arise and pray;
God is most great.
  • Concept of Progressive Revelation
  • Jihad; the expansion and divisions within Islam; status of women Modern
  • Islam as a Political Force
  • Theosophy
  • Esotericism
  • Occult Mysticism, Channeling, Psychic-Paranormal Experience
  • Revelations: Edgar Cayce, Jane Roberts, The Urantia Book, A Course In Miracles; Benjamin Crème
  • Religion and Ethical Issues
  • Abortion, Euthanasia, Genetics, Cloning
  • Religion and Gender Issues: Historical and Contemporary
  • An early Christian Church writer, Tertullian(in the era of St. Augustine and St. Jerome) castigated women as evil temptresses, an eternal danger to mankind:
Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil's gateway; you are the un-sealer of that forbidden tree; you are the first deserter of the divine law; you are she who persuaded him who the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You so carelessly destroyed man, God's image. On account of your desert, even the Son of God had to die.
Karen Armstrong, A History of God, p. 124.

Homemr. Mac's Virtual Existence Key

IB Biology‎ > ‎Topic 1: Cell Biology‎ > ‎

1.5 Origin of Cells

1.1 Introduction to Cells1.2 Ultrastructure1.3 Membrane Structure1.4 Membrane Transport1.5 Origin of Cells1.6 Cell Division
  • There is an unbroken chain of life from the first cells on Earth to all cells in organisms alive today.
Understandings
  1. Cells can only be formed by division of pre-existing cells.
  2. The first cells must have arisen from non-living material.
  3. The origin of eukaryotic cells can be explained by the endosymbiotic theory.
Applications
  1. Evidence from Pasteur's experiments that spontaneous generation of cells/organisms does not now occur on Earth.
  1. None
  • Evidence for the endosymbiotic theory is expected. The origin of eukaryote cilia and flagella does not need to be included.
  • Students should be aware that the 64 codons in the genetic code have the same meanings in nearly all organisms, but that there are some minor variations that are likely to have accrued since the common origin of life on Earth.
Key Vocabulary
  • Endosymbiotic thoery
    • Endosymbiosis
    • Eukaryotic cells
  • Spontaneous generation

Click HERE for a pdf of chapter 1.
  • Pages 39-41
    • Nature of Science (p.XY)
    • Worked Example (p.YZ)

1.5 Origin of Cells
A detailed set of notes, prepared by Bob Smullen, examining all of the IB learning expectations.
Essentially an online textbook outlining the entire subtopic in specific detail. Please use this resource.
i-Biology Notes (Not available)
A detailed set of notes, prepared by Stephen Taylor, examining U1 - U8 and A2 - A3.
A series of questions, prepared by Stephen Taylor, to help check your understanding of the IB learning expectations. This is VERY GOOD practice.
Bioknowledgy Notes
A detailed set of notes, prepared by Chris Paine, examining all of the IB learning expectations.
Bioknowledgy Study Questions
A series of questions, prepared by Chris Paine, to help check your understanding of the IB learning expectations. This is VERY GOOD practice.
1.5 Notes
A detailed set of notes, prepared by Jacob Cedarbaum, examining all of the IB learning expectations.
1.5 Study Questions
A series of questions, prepared by Jacob Cedarbaum, to help check your understanding of the IB learning expectations. This is VERY GOOD practice. Answers.
Learning Activities
The University of Utah has prepared this short read (about 5-7 minutes) describing the process by which most scientists think eukaryotic cells evolved.
The University of California, Berkeley has prepared this read (about 5-7 minutes) outlining the evidence supporting the endosymbiotic theory.
From the Huffington Post (2012), this read (about 20 minutes) examines endosymbiosis (symbiogenesis); how it happened (producing eukaryotic cells) and how it continues to happen (the discovery of photosynthetic 'animals').
This animated tutorial describes the procedures carried out to test spontaneous generation.
Supplemental Reading
Title
Description
Must Watch Videos

'Life Begins' by Crash Course (13:28)

This video introduces the issues related to the origin of life on Earth, including a definition of life, spontaneous generation, Pasteur's swan-neck flask experiment, different cell types, possible origins of organic material and eventually evolution.

'Can Science Explain the Origin of Life' by Stated Clearly (7:10)

This video outlines the process by which organic compounds
likely came into existence through random chemical reactions,
which later led the formation of simple cell-like structures.

'How we think complex cells evolved' by TED-Ed (5:41)

This video outlines the process by which scientists think that
eukaryotic cells came into existence. It also examines the

'Endosymbiosis' by Biology / Medicine Animations HD ‎(2:02)‎

This video outlines the process and evidence for which most
scientists believe is the origin of eukaryotic cells.
Should Watch Videos

'Evolution: Origins of Cellular Life' by NASA via Skeptical Chris (6:52)

This video describes how primitive cells could have self-assembeled from simple organic compounds present on the ancient Earth.Video Questions

'The Most Important Moment in the History of Life' by It's Okay To Be Smart (6:39)

This video describes the evolutionary event of endosymbiosis and its impact on life afterward.

'Origins: How Life Began' by NOVA ‎(52:51)‎

This video describes a variety of competing ideas about how
life may have began on Earth. It's a little long but worth a
watch if you can make time.

'3 World-Changing Biology Experiments' by Sci Show (4:34)

This video describes Louis Pasteur's Swan Neck Flask
Experiment, which disproved the idea of spontaneous
generation, as well as Miller and Urey's Experiment, which
wanted to find out if simple organic molecules could form in

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