The Locksmithing Institute of Queen’s Nails Annex, July, 2007
Students were given the opportunity to enter The Locksmithing Institutes mobile isolation chamber (a space in which all light and sound have been removed). Each student that wanted to experience the isolation chamber got to spend 5 timed minutes in the box while students outside discussed their experiences with the instructor. Full Lesson Plan Below:
The Locksmithing Institute of Queen’s Nails Annex
Lesson #9: Nature
In Lesson #9 the faculty and staff of The Locksmithing Institute of the Queen’s Nails Annex would like to expose students to an experience that does not yield any direct visual, sensual, auditory, or olfactory stimulation. If students choose to participate they will enter the Institutes mobile isolation chamber (a space in which all light, sound, and vibration have been removed allowing an individual to have a direct experience without the influence of external stimuli). Individual students will spend 5 timed minutes in the box while students outside discussed their experiences with the instructor.
Upon entering the chamber students will be encouraged to consider that the word “nature” refers to both the physical world that surrounds them as well as their own perceived personal dispositions. Our perception of our particular nature creates the frame through which we view the organisms and geography that comprise natural world. If one views themselves as happy, sad, compulsive, giving…etc, then one will perceive the geography of their environment to display attributes of those perceptions as well.
We at The Locksmithing Institute have noticed that somehow we have separated ourselves from the natural world. More often than not nature is something that we observe instead of feeling part of. In observation, we externalized the natural world by naming it “nature.” This naming then implied that we must have our own particular structure that dictates and explains our actions. We internalized this sense of autonomy and called it “nature.” However the very structure of our language guides us to the fact that both of these usages are the same, as they were both derived from the same subjective root: ourselves. Because of this nothing can exist outside of “nature” (or our”Self”). It encompasses the totality of experiences and objects in the universe whether it is as complex as human consciousness or as subtle as stone. This is not just a modern confusion of English grammar, as a very similar situation arises in Sanskrit as well.
Prakrti(s): Material nature, Prakrtim: Nature, character. (The Bhagavad-Gita, Winthrop Sargeant)
This phenomenon will be available for students to appreciate as they exit the chamber because as one sits quietly and undistracted by external stimuli one becomes more conscious (at least at first) of their own particular nature. This in turn will alter the way that a person views the familiar geography and elements that exist outside the door when they exit the isolation chamber.
The faculty and staff want the students to simply appreciate this connection and the transition from inside to outside of the isolation chamber. It can be subtle and difficult to notice, however it often proves to be an intense experience.
Class begins Friday July 13th and will run each day from 12-7 PM daily through Wednesday July 18th. Lunch will be mud pies followed by dirt naps.
