3/30 The Money Problem and the CO-VID19-related Financial Crisis

Dear Philosophers,

We are going to continue our discussion of money and the background context of the new Federal stimulus package on Monday. We will focus our discussion on the two links below. I've also posted an article about the stimulus bail-out, read as much as you have time for. 

The Zoom Meeting link for this class is zoom.us/j/528542085 or by phone 1 (646) 558-8656. Our Meeting ID: 528 542 085. 

The Money Question and Financial Crisis

1. Ellen Brown's piece on why the Federal Reserve should be "de-privatized" in order to better serve the democracy.
"The Banker's Power Revolution: How the Government Got Shackled with Debt"

2. Why and How the Federal Reserve can be de-privatized (i.e. "nationalized")
The historic HR2990 Monetary Reform Bill drafted by Stephen Zarlenga

3. An overview of the ethics and political economy of the bailout
David Dayen, "Unsanitized: Bailouts, A Tradition Unlike Any Other"

A Deeper and More Interesting way to think about Immunity

On a different topic, I've also posted an extended conversation between the wonderful Regina Meredith and the microbiologist Compton Rom about COVID-19 which offers a really interesting holistic way to look at immunity, viruses and the whole vaccination issue. If you take the time to listen to the whole thing, and I hope you do! because it's both super interesting and super helpful, here's a time: take notes on, and try make sense of the differences between, the what Rom calls the SEVEN LEVELS OF IMMUNITY. This is quite eye-opening. We can talk about any of this stuff on Monday too. Enjoy!

Hey guys, you may not have realized that you need to login with a different zoom number for each class. 

Today’s number is:  https://zoom.us/j/838840117  or by phone: 646 558 8656

Meeting ID: 838 840 117

Key Questions for the Philosophy (media ecology) of Money

Money as a Technology with Design Flaws 

Is money a thing(commodity) or is it an agreement(IOU)?

How does the use of different kinds of money affect the moral relationships between people?

Can morality be defined economically in terms of debt, what we owe each other?

Are we ethically-obligated to pay back our debts?

Is there an essential systemic connection between monetary systems and violence?

What is usury, and is it a sin?

Is global debt peonage a justifiable result of monetary systems or an ethical abomination?

Should commercial banks have the power to issue new money?

Should the FED be nationalized?

Should there be a global debt jubilee?

Presentation on the Philosophy of Money and HR6550 Monetary Reform Bill

3/25 Economic Dimensions of COVID-19

Dear class, we're gonna look at start our discussion about the philosophy of money, banking and wealth. We'll begin by looking at some of the economic stimulus proposals being discussed to mitigate COVID-19 (see links below).

Here's the link to our Zoom meeting or via cellphone  +1 646 558 8656

and Meeting ID: 340 754 0334.

I've also set up a discussion forum on our Blackboard for this class. Make sure you check in with that discussion and participate by posting at least one comment and at least one response to someone else's comments. Try to do this before our next class on Monday.

We have two primary documents for this class, an article and a video by Ellen Brown

1. Ellen Brown, "The Banking Model that's Bankrupting America"

2. Ellen Brown, "A Deep Dive into Money and Banking" (video below)

Other related articles

3. Matt Stoller, "The coronavirus relief bill could turn into a corporate coup if we aren't careful"
4. Jon Queally, "Bernie Sanders Proposal for $2 Trillion Coronavirus Emergency Plan"
5. Ellen Brown, "Socialism at Its Finest after Fed's Bazooka Fails"

Some documents related to the Philosophical Analysis of COVID-19

Hi Philosophers, I'm going to start posting different articles and resources related to COVID-19 and our new social-economic-political possibilities, we'll draw from these next class so find something here that speaks to you and bring try bringing it to our discussion, during our virtual ZOOM meetings and well as on the Blackboard discussion boards. Stay Healthy! :)

1. This first one is the one I'm sharing during our first virtual class, relating to a spiritual-ecological-transpersonal interpretation of the virus.
Jeff Vander Clute, "A Message from the Coronavirus"

2. Good overall discussion of the science behind COVID-19.
Gregg Braden, "Coronavirus Truth and Fiction"

3. Dr. Neal Barnard on where viruses originate.

4. 5G be a factor in the creation and spread of the virus. (and other health concerns about 5G).

5. Mehdi Hasan interviews Jeffrey Sachs on Trump's response to the outbreak.

6. Naomi Klein on COVID-19 and Disaster Capitalism.

7. Richard Wolff on the Economics of COVID-19, capitalism and privatized healthcare.

8. Interview with Joseph Farrell on the Geopolitical Implications of the pandemic.

9. Pepe Escobar on China's suspicions that the virus is an American bioweapon.

10. Charles Eisenstein and Sayer Ji on the science and philosophy of health and immunology.

11. Evidence that high dosages of Vitamin C can cure COVID-19.

12. Dr. Joe Dispensa on the immunological benefits of high vibrational emotions.

13. How the pandemic will change our society (from Politico 3/19)

Our First Virtual Meeting on Monday, March 23rd

Dear Philosophers,

In our first virtual class together on Monday, we will meditate and then debrief about this new reality we are facing. I'll post some articles on this blog and also on Blackboard for you to check out.

To Join our Zoom Virtual class on Monday, March 23rd at 11 AM for section one or 1:30 PM for section two, you can use either a computer (easier if you have access) or by smart phone. See instructions below.

By computer

Goto: https://zoom.us/j/829907796

And type in our Meeting ID: 829 907 796

By phone

Call 16465588656 

And type in our Meeting ID: 829 907 796

When you have a chance, let me know that you are okay and have understood our new game, and that you have successfully logged into Blackboard.

Be Well :)

   Justin

Our New Post-COVID19 Virtual Philosophy Classroom

Dear Mighty Companions,

How are you? I am sure you are experiencing a similar mix of bafflement and unease about our new Condition. I applaud your effort to manage your mind and time enough to check in to our class and reconnect!

We are going to continue our study of philosophy together in this online format for the duration of the semester. I am going to be using Blackboard to post content and assignments, and also to run some discussion boards, which will be a way for us to continue our discussions during non-class time. In addition, I'll be running our classes themselves at their usual scheduled times using Zoom.us for live video. I've never done this before so we'll just have to try and see how it works out, and you guys will have to figure out how to access these live feeds on your side.

I'm also going to be having virtual office hours for anyone who wants to chat about class or anything else.

I'll be sending and posting more information soon. When you have a chance, let me know that you are okay and have understood our new game.

Stay healthy and Mindful!

Best to You, 

         Justin

3/9 • Introduction to Social Philosophy: Origins

Texts for Mon. March 9th

1. Helena Norberg-Hodge, "Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh"
2. Clare Brant, "Native Ethics & Principles"

Other recommended sources

3. Recommended: Howard Zinn's masterful recounting of Christopher Columbus's psychopathology in the classic "People's History of the United States"
4. Four Arrows, "The Continuing Saga of Anti-Indianism in America"
5. Chief Seattle's speech to Chief Washington
5. Justin Vood Good, "Walking in Beauty: Why Higher Education should be Indigenized"
6. J. Good "Indigenized Education teaches Democracy" 
7. Peaceful Societies database
8. Iroquois Confederacy: Oldest participatory democracy in the world.

Ask of Me and I shall Give to thee the Heathen as Thine Inheritance and the Uttermost parts of the Earth for Thy Possession. -Psalms 2:8

Presentation on Perennial Wisdom & Transpersonal Psychology

Link to my presentation on Perennial Wisdom & Transpersonal Psychology

Stan Grof, founder of Transpersonal Psychology: 

"The leading philosophy of Western science has been monistic materialism. Various scientific disciplines have described the history of the universe as the history of developing matter and accept as real only what can be measured and weighed. Life, consciousness, and intelligence are seen as more or less accidental side-products of material processes. Physicists, biologists, and chemists recognize the existence of dimensions of reality that are not accessible to our senses, but only those that are physical in nature and can be revealed and explored with the use of various extensions of our senses, such as microscopes or telescopes, specially designed recording devices, and laboratory experiments.

In a universe understood this way, there is no place for spirituality of any kind. The existence of God, the idea that there are invisible dimensions of reality inhabited by nonmaterial beings, the possibility of survival of consciousness after death, and the concept of reincarnation and karma have been relegated to fairy tales and handbooks of psychiatry. From a psychiatric perspective, to take such things seriously means to be ignorant, unfamiliar with the discoveries of science, superstitious, and subject to primitive magical thinking. If the belief in God or Goddess occurs in intelligent persons, it is seen as an indication that they have not come to terms with the infantile images of their parents as omnipotent beings that they had created in their infancy and childhood. And direct experiences of spiritual realities are considered manifestations of serious mental diseases -- psychoses.

The study of holotropic states has thrown new light on the problem of spirituality and religion. The key to this new understanding is the discovery that in these states it is possible to encounter a rich array of experiences which are very similar to those that inspired the great religions of the world -- visions of God and various divine and demonic beings, encounters with discarnate entities, episodes of psychospiritual death and rebirth, visits to Heaven and Hell, past life experiences, and many others. Modern research has shown beyond any doubt that these experiences are not products of pathological processes afflicting the brain, but manifestations of archetypal material from the collective unconscious, and thus normal and essential constituents of the human psyche. Although these mythic elements are accessed intrapsychically in a process of experiential self-exploration and introspection, they are ontologically real and have objective existence. The matrices for them exist in deep recesses of the unconscious psyche of every human being.

In view of these observations, the fierce battle that religion and science had fought over the last few centuries appears ludicrous and completely unnecessary. Genuine science and authentic religion do not compete for the same territory; they represent two approaches to existence, which are complementary, not competitive. Science studies phenomena in the material world, the realm of the measurable and weighable, while spirituality and true religion draw their inspiration from experiential knowledge of the aspect of the world that Jungians refer to as "imaginal," to distinguish it from imaginary products of individual fantasy or psychopathology. This imaginal world manifests in what I call "holotropic states of consciousness" -- the altered states in which experiences surface that, as stated above, are very similar to those that inspired the great religions of the world."