The New Rock and Roll

I've been shopping classes over the past few days, trying to figure out what I might take. My schedule is beginning to shape up: Advanced Poetry Workshop, Arts in Education (core course), and Moral Adult/Moral Children. But the last class is up in the air. I was dying to take the Buddhist Bodies and Moral Cultivation seminar at the Divinity School, but they had to give precedence to other Divinity School students. Imagine! But I was really bummed I couldn't take it--imagine learning how complex ideas such as phenomenology are situated not just in the mind, but in the body too.

That's right, I said phenomenology. I'm an east coast snob. Or attempting to be.

There's another class at the Divinity School called Issues in Native American Religion which seems pretty interesting, but the teacher isn't all that dynamic, and I've already done my share of reading on the topic.

So I then I sat in on an ethics class at the Law School titled Self, Serenity, and Vulnerability. It's co-taught by two genius professors, one a specialist in Eastern Philosophy and the other in Western Philosophy. They have framed all of human thought into three orientations, and the class will look into each as a lens for guiding the human enterprise. You know, light stuff.

And these two professors blew the roof off the lecture hall. Like they were in a killer rock band.

And they're unlikely rock stars. The Western Philosophy professor is an old guy, who speaks in deliberate gestures, a hoarse voice, and total conviction. He spoke for 20 minutes in complete eloquence and cohesion, without a note card in sight. The Eastern Philosophy professor is a mid 40’s man who looks like a muppet, and his voice cracks 50% of the time. That is not an exaggeration.

These are men who have been immersed in the hardest books, the deepest thoughts, and the most provocative arguments for years. It's a pure pleasure to see minds like theirs laid bare for their students. As I was in the midst of the two-hour lecture, I had an old feeling come over me. It was the feeling of being at a rock concert. There was adrenaline and moxie. The performers fueled me, left me with more energy than when I first walked through the door.

It was wild roller coaster ride with anticipation, dips, turns, surprises, and speed. It was downhill skiing on a slope that's a little too hard for you.

But I still like the rock star metaphor the best. The professors are my new Mick Jaggers.

But not all is well in Self, Serenity, and Vulnerability. To be completely honest, I'm scared to death. It's the Harvard LAW school for goodness’ sakes. It's a different world over there than at the Education School. The folks at the Ed School are smart enough--maybe more good-hearted than they are brilliant. But when you walk into a Law School class like this, you're stepping into the most elite tier of intelligence on the planet. I'm not in that elite tier. At all. I'm worried I might fail the class or something. If I write one of the worst papers in class, which is a real possibility considering the genius cliental, can I still get a "C"? At least?

I pondered not taking the class, mostly out of fear. But I suppose some fear is good--it will keep me on my toes. Maybe fear has to come with the rock-and-roll rush. I mean, this is a class that actually lives up to the Harvard pedigree and mystique. So, I might as well go to the top of the mountain. I'll go to the top of the mountain just to see what things look like from up there, and hope they don't break my shins on the way down.