The Quest Begins: Anchors, North Stars, and the Phenomenological Method

01/13/2026 · Tue/Thu 10:30-11:45 AM · Brad Bannon · Boston College

📄 Synopsis

In the introductory session, Instructor Brad Bannon establishes the course's framework for comparing Hindu and Christian theological traditions. The class begins with a communal recitation of a mantra from the Taittiriya Upanishad, which emphasizes the shared journey of teacher and student toward protection, nourishment, and heroic transformation for the benefit of others. Bannon introduces the existential metaphors of the 'anchor' and the 'North Star,' arguing that theology must speak to the present moment by providing a grounding canon and a sense of purpose in a rapidly changing world. A significant portion of the lecture is dedicated to the methodology of postmodern phenomenology, primarily the work of Edmund Husserl. Using a playing die as a concrete example, the session explores the distinction between 'noumena' (the things themselves) and 'phenomena' (the mind's construction of those things). Bannon explains the transition from analog sense data to digital neural signals and the role of the brain's intentions in constructing perception. The session concludes by defining theology as a philosophical investigation of first principles anchored in a canon, proposing that the class will use this method to reorient oneself through sacred texts.

⚡ Key Takeaways

Theology is stipulatively defined as a philosophical investigation of first principles anchored in a particular canon of texts.
The mantra from the Taittiriya Upanishad emphasizes 'Saha' (togetherness), suggesting that wisdom should be pursued communally to protect and nourish both teacher and student.
An 'anchor' functions as a grounding mechanism, often a canon of texts, that helps individuals find their place in the present moment during times of uncertainty.
A 'North Star' serves as an existential reference point that helps individuals find meaning and purpose to navigate their life's path.
Postmodern phenomenology is a scientific method used to distinguish between 'noumena' (the thing itself) and 'phenomena' (the mental image created by the brain).
The brain constructs phenomena with deficient information by filling in gaps with invented info and ignoring irrelevant visual data.
The 'cut' refers to the epistemological moment when analog light waves collide with the retina and are converted into digital signals/neurotransmitters.
Intentionality describes how the brain's pre-existing expectations influence the construction of a phenomenon based on what it intends to perceive.
Theology must be relevant to the present moment; if it does not speak to the present, it is not considered good theology.
The functional ontology of an anchor is defined by what it does: helping one find their place here and now so they can figure out where they are going.

🎤 Transcript Tap any timestamp to jump the audio player

Opening Meditation and Sanskrit Mantra

Student

How do you all.

Brad

Let's take a moment.

Student

I like to start with a little meditation.

Brad

Just a little quiet.

Brad

No. No devices or screens, please. Let's

Student

just take a moment and transfer.

Brad

I don't have vibrato.

Student

I'm just nervous.

Brad

I'll try that again.

Student

Sahanava vatu sahanam bhunaktu Sahaviryam karavahai. shanti shanti

Brad

How do y'?

Student

All.

Brad

Welcome to calculus 2.

Student

Just kidding.

Brad

Hindu Christian Traditions and dialogue. Hi.

Brad

We're missing a chair. Here's a chair. Yep.

Brad

So my name's Brad. You can call me Brad.

Brad

If you're not comfortable with that, that's fine. You can call me Dr. Bannon or professor or whatever, but my name's Brad.

Brad

That's cool. And if you're not comfortable with calling

Brad

your professor by their first name, it's all good. Brad is my middle name. So, you know.

Student

Fine.

Brad

I have been teaching this course for more or less.

Brad

Are we out of chairs? There's a chair right here. Sit right here. I'm just kidding. You can have the chair. Though.

Student

Been teaching this course in various forms

Brad

for the last decade.

Brad

And I've begun every time, every instance of it, with this mantra. This mantra comes from the Taittiriya Upanishads. The Taittiriya Upanishads is, let's say, around 25, 2600 years old.

Brad

This mantra is more ancient than that.

Brad

Sort of part of an oral tradition that was passed down and written down in the Taittiriya Upanishads And it's a

Brad

mantra that is traditionally recited together by

Brad

teacher and student at the beginning of philosophy or theology lesson.

Brad

It's not the only one.

Brad

There's quite a few other options, particularly in the Taittiriya Upanishads It's low key, filled with them.

Student

But

4:03

Exegesis of the Taittiriya Upanishad Mantra

Brad

this is a good one. I want to go through it for you.

Brad

And then for those of you that

Brad

are brave enough, we'll recite it together.

Brad

So om is a sacred syllable.

Brad

Can't really translate it. It's sort of all of the vowels. So the idea is that you can't pronounce any word without pronouncing part of om. So all words are sort of the unfolding of the sacred syllable om and then saha.

Brad

So saha, you see up there, three

Brad

times, Saha is very important word for this mantra. Saha means together. So together, teacher and student. Together, student and student. But primarily here, together, teacher and student.

Brad

So together.

Student

Na.

Brad

Na.

Brad

No, means us in the dual form.

Brad

So let us together, teacher and student.

Brad

Let Us vavatu vavatu means be protected. So let us be protected by the things that we're learning. Knowledge is power, right? If people have more knowledge than you, then they have some power over you. The more knowledge you have, the more wisdom you have, the better able you are to protect yourself and your loved ones and those that you care about, right? So the idea is that we shouldn't just embark on this learning endeavor together because we care about some bullshit grade or we're trying to accomplish this or that, but instead we're gaining this wisdom because we want to protect ourselves and

Brad

those that we care about, right?

Brad

So first off, so let us together be protected by these things that we're learning. Sahano bhunaktu pu means to eat. Bhunaktu here means to be nourished, the same way that eating nourishes your body here.

Brad

The idea is that let this wisdom

Brad

that we're learning together, let it be

Brad

nourishing, you know, not so much to

Brad

our bodies, but to our hearts and our minds, right?

Brad

So intellectually, spiritually, nourishment for the soul,

Brad

nourishment for the mind, right?

Brad

So let us be nourished by these things that we're learning together. Sahaviram karavahe. So virya. Virya is a hero. I don't know. I always think, whenever I hear this, I always think this pose, right? There was a student at Harvard, she did her doctoral degree the same time I did, and she did her dissertation on this pose, actually.

Brad

And how, like this physical pose and

Brad

a few other, what you call power poses. If you do this for, you know, according to her experiment, like two minutes,

Brad

then it gives you.

Brad

It releases all these endorphins, releases all

Brad

these, like chemicals and, you know, hormones in your body that makes you feel more confident, makes you feel more powerful and relaxed. So I think her dissertation was something like fake it till you make it

Student

or something like that.

Brad

But the idea is that that sort of power pose actually gives you power.

Brad

It does work.

Brad

Honestly, I do that before. Actually, I did it at my office before I came down here because it gives me little endorphins or whatever. But here virya is used as an adverb. So it's modifying karavavahai. So kara is from the word for hand. And karavavahai means like, it's actually where we get the English word carve, right? So it's like making something out of your hand using, transforming something with your hands. It's sort of very hands on, tangible thing. And in this grammatical form, karavavahai. Hey, it's the dative plural, which is, you know, dative meaning for the benefit of someone else. It's something you're giving away. It's not for your own benefit, but for the benefit of others. So, Sahaviryam karavavahai. ⚠

Brad

Let the wisdom.

Brad

Let the things that we're learning in this course, in this class, let's use it together. Saha to viriam, heroically, karavavahai, transform the world around us for the benefit of others. It's nice, huh? So together, let us use this wisdom to heroically transform the world around us. Tejasvina vadhitamastu. So let the things that we're accomplishing together, the two of us, our teacher and student, let the things that we're

Brad

accomplishing together

Brad

be tejas. Tejas means light, like lux in Latin. Just like, filled with light. Not just light, like the bright light in my eyes right now, but lights like, you know, goodness, positivity, the light side, not the dark side. That kind of stuff, right? So goodness, positivity, good vibes, that sort of thing.

Brad

Ma.

Brad

Ma means never at all in any way. And vidvishavahai, vid means like bad words, like hateful words, like mean words, like, you know, I don't know.

Brad

I think the.

Brad

I like to translate this line. No smoke, right?

Brad

So, like, if we're studying the things that we're studying in this class, questions

Brad

of, like, the meaning of life, the purpose of life, questions of ultimacy, questions of why am I here? Who am I? You know, all these sort of, you know, really fundamental,

Student

fundamental questions of existence.

Brad

We're going to have differences in perspectives, right?

Brad

And we're studying comparatively.

Brad

So it's kind of built into the course that there's going to be a lot of differences, a lot of differing

Brad

perspectives, a lot of disagreement.

Brad

That's good.

Brad

That's.

Brad

In fact, that's why we're studying comparatively. That's why we're here studying, you know, it's why we want a diverse student population. That's why we want. We want those differences. We can learn from those differences. That's part of what my lecture today is about.

Brad

But don't let that translate into, you

Brad

know, hostility, tensions, right?

Brad

We live in a world right now where there's a lot of animosity, where there's a lot of tension between people

Student

who disagree with one another.

Brad

Disagreements are not bad. Disagreements are good, right?

Brad

But don't let those disagreements turn into hateful. You get the point, right?

Brad

Om already talked about and then shanti

Brad

shanti shanti So shanti just simply means peace. And this kid that I wrote my dissertation about, Shankaracharya, who we'll be studying a bit later in the semester and has a commentary on this. This is called the shanti Mantra.

Student

So I mean technically the Taittiriya mantra is above fear.

Brad

And then the shanti mantra is kind of like tacked on to the end. You just kind of add that to

Student

a lot of mantras when you're chanting it.

Brad

But in his commentary on the shanti

Brad

Mantra, Shankara says that no word, no words in the scripture are superfluous.

Brad

Every word means something.

Brad

There's nothing extra, there's nothing pointless.

Student

So therefore, he argues, each word of

Brad

the shanti Mantra has to mean something slightly different, right? So the word shanti means peace, as I already said.

Brad

But he says each one of them

Brad

implies something a little bit different.

Brad

And he says, you know, a human person, we're complex, right? We've got bodies. Glad to see all of you brought

Brad

your bodies with you today.

Brad

But you've also got heart, soul, mind, spirit. And so his point is that human person has at least these three elements, right? Mind, body and spirit.

Brad

So he says the first shanti is

Student

for our bodies, right?

Brad

We have to. In order to engage in intellectual learning like we're doing for this course, you've got to have. You got to be in a safe space, right?

Brad

So you can't really study these kind

Brad

of things if bombs are dropping around you or if people around you are

Brad

being mean or hateful or something like that, right?

Brad

So you've got to be in a safe space physically.

Brad

You got to have your, you know, full belly. If you're like really hungry, you can't focus, right? If you're really thirsty, you can't focus. If you're really thirsty, you can't focus

Brad

if you're really stoned or something like that.

Brad

I know it's Boston College. I teach at Fitchburg State too, so it's more of an issue.

Brad

But you know, depending on the state

Brad

of mind, your body or the state

Brad

your body is in, it's going to

Brad

affect how you're able to learn and engage with these deep materials, right?

Brad

So let there be a peace in

Brad

our bodies, but also peace in our minds, right?

Brad

And Shankara uses this beautiful, I think, really important metaphor that I want to share with you now to explain this. So imagine, if you will, in your mind picture you're like up in the

Brad

mountains, you know, up in the mountains

Brad

and woods in the forest or whatever, you're hiking or something, right? You're in this beautiful, you know, mountainous

Student

setting or something like that.

Brad

You come across a big pond, right? And it's like just as the sun

Student

has gone down, the sun has set,

Brad

you know, early evening, the moon is out and bright and you're looking at this pond, right? And there's no wind or anything like that. So the waters are going to be cool, calm, you know, peaceful, right?

Brad

Completely still. Now you got this image in your mind. So if you look into the pond, what are you going to see?

Brad

Yeah, so you could see yourself, right? You look down and you see yourself.

Brad

And if the waters are calm, still

Student

and peaceful then you're going to see

Brad

a good clear reflection of yourself, right? Like looking in a mirror.

Brad

So you'll see yourself clearly, right?

Brad

What else might you see in the pond? Moonlight, moon. So the heavenly bodies, right? The light from above, the light from the stars, the light from these heavenly, right? So those sort of represent those more transcendental ideals, right?

Brad

The idea of God, the idea of good, the idea of justice, the idea

Brad

of beauty, the sort of transcendental, right? Heavenly sort of abstract ideas.

Brad

But again, right, just like looking at

Brad

yourself in the pond, if some asshole

Brad

goes and throws a rock in there, right? Then you're going to get all these ripples and distortions.

Brad

You're still going to be able to see yourself, still going to see your

Brad

reflection but it's going to be distorted. Likewise with those transcendental ideas of God and goodness and justice and those kind of things. If your mind is turbulent, if you're thinking about something else like why'd she leave me unopened or something like that

Brad

then you're not going to receive those transcendental ideas clearly, right?

Brad

It's going to be a little bit distorted.

Brad

So let our minds be peaceful, that

Brad

kind of peaceful like the, like the

Student

still waters of mountain pond and then

Brad

the last shanti for our hearts, right? So we have to be open hearted.

Brad

We have to be open. We usually say open minded, but open minded in our sense really kind of means open hearted in the way that Shankara means the trimurti?

Brad

So let's be open to

Brad

learning new

Brad

things and that sort of stuff.

Brad

Word. Can we? I don't want to pressure anybody.

Brad

If you want to opt out, it's all good. But I'd like to chant it together, Saha, with anybody who's open to that. So I will look up here just so I'm not like looking at you

Student

or watching you or whatever but I'll be listening, right?

Brad

So let's try and chant it together. I'll do it one more time and

Brad

then we'll do it together, Right? All right. Just so you can hear it in your mind.

Brad

Student

sahana vavatu Sahano punatu Sahaviryam karavahe tejaswina aditam astu.

Brad

Student

shanti shantih.

Brad

sahanavatu sahano punatu Sahaviryam karavahe tejas. Perfect.

Student

O shanti shanti shanti

Brad

Nice.

Student

Good.

Brad

All right.

17:21

Course Objectives: Anchors and North Stars

Brad

I have a lecture here. I'm going to depart from the norm quite seriously and read my lecture.

Brad

But it's way too hot in here for this. Tweed jackets and tie and all my hair. So I take it off.

Student

And now would be a good time,

Brad

if you don't already have pencil and

Brad

paper to get ready for this.

Brad

And no devices, though. So I've been teaching this course in

Student

various forms for nearly a decade, as I already said.

Brad

And every time, I always begin with that mantra from the Taittiriya Upanishads. And I always hope that students take it far more seriously than most of them usually do. A handful of students do, but most

Brad

kind of sleep on it.

Brad

So I'm going to try something different.

Student

Normally, I start with that particular mantra

Brad

to try and set the tone, highlight what I think your motivation should be, namely, to protect yourself and those you care about, to nourish your soul and to heroically transform the world around you

Student

for the benefit of others.

Brad

And after that, I normally tell my life story, which some of you have heard before.

Brad

How I became a self made millionaire by age 24. Why I left a career in finance to become a professor of theology, philosophy, theology and ethics.

Brad

Today, however, I want us to try something different. Actually, a few things different, like giving a quiz at the end of the class on the first day. So I want to spend some time answering the following questions. Why take this course? What do I hope you take away from it? Why did I select the text that I chose?

Brad

How do the pieces fit together?

Brad

And most importantly, why should you take

Student

this course, like, legit?

Brad

What should you personally take away from this theological quest through Hindu and Christian sacred texts?

Brad

Right, so those are the questions.

Brad

So as I answer these questions, I'm simultaneously going to teach you some of the most important themes and methods and ideas that I want you to take away from the course. That way, even if you drop the course after today because Brad's an asshole, then you still will take away some

Brad

of the key ideas, like the idea

Brad

of an anchor to periodically ground yourself. The idea of a North Star to guide you through the tides of life. The beautiful scientific method of epistemology called postmodern phenomenology.

Brad

So many big words there.

Brad

The theological method of anchoring. Our phenomenological discourse in a canon of sacred texts. And then we'll have a quiz to see how sharply you're learning and taking notes.

Brad

And if there's time after the quiz, which, based on the time so far,

Brad

it will not be.

Brad

Then I'll talk about my cow and stuff.

Student

Anchor. So, as a reminder, the question I'm trying to answer for you. Why should you take this course?

Brad

How are the things that Brad specifically selected to teach me this semester. How are they going to be useful and important to me after this class is finished?

Student

So my first answer is, I will help you identify, use, and for some

Brad

of you, construct your anchor. So what the hell does that mean, Brad?

Brad

I even curse when I'm writing. It's crazy, man.

Student

I even.

Brad

I ain't even got a boat, right? An anchor will just weigh me down, bro. Fair enough.

Student

So let me explain what I mean by anchor. So I have always thought of this

Brad

course as an intellectual journey. Actually, I think of all of my classes like that. Like the hero's journey or maybe like a quest. So I ask you to indulge me a little bit here. Use your imagination again. Imagine yourself alone in your own little boat.

Student

I just think of, like, you know, Moana.

Brad

Like the beginning of Moana. Before Maui gets in the boat.

Brad

When Moana's trying to get off of the island, right? She's in that little boat with the. You know, with the chicken, right? And keeps getting blown back or whatever.

Student

So you get this little boat, right?

Brad

Journeying through life.

Student

So you're alone in your little boat here. In a little corner of the safe harbor of life. That we call Boston College. You're surrounded by other little solo boats bumping around in Stokes Hall.

Brad

And outside of the gates, there's an entire world, right?

Student

Your boat is eventually going to be pushed out of the harbor.

Brad

When that happens, trust me, you'll be glad to have an anchor that can ground you when you're feeling adrift. Feel me as I will remind you any day in any class that I teach. Which means, listen up and get your pencils ready. Because here's a key point, right?

Student

Bold italics on its own line.

Brad

All that kind of stuff with all that dramatic setup.

Brad

Theology must speak to the present moment.

Brad

If it's not speaking to the present moment.

Student

It's not theology.

Brad

It's not.

Student

At least.

Brad

At least it's not good.

Brad

Theology has to be relevant today. So our present moment today, January 13, 2026, is extraordinary. There has never been a moment like this one. At least not in my entire 50 years. The amount of change, the scope of change, the rapidity of change, the potentials and the dangers, it is all very disorienting for us. It's becoming increasingly difficult to discern the difference between fact and fiction.

Student

Epistemology, key term for today and for the semester. Am I right about all that? You feel a rapid amount of change in the world. I mean, it's accelerating too, right? The rate of change is accelerating.

Brad

We had.

Brad

What is the

Student

Erdos equations, Math people. Two of them were solved this week by AI Just low key.

Brad

Crazy

Brad

things are changing fast.

Student

So I don't know about you, but personally I feel unmoored. I feel like the chain that was holding my little boat to the stable shore has been untethered from the dock in the firm land.

Brad

Kind of riffing on some Nietzsche here.

Brad

Some days when I hear the latest crazy news about this mad, mad world.

Student

So much Nietzsche here, you know, the Parable of the Madman by Nietzsche. Some days when I hear the latest crazy news about this mad, mad world, it feels like someone unchained the earth from the sun.

Brad

Everything that samhita uncertain a few years

Student

ago, like getting a job after college, seems less certain now.

Brad

And even the images that we see

Student

in the videos that we watch are now sus thanks to AI. It's difficult to say what's true and what's not true. That's what epistemology is, even about myself. That's what anthropology is.

Brad

Am I?

Student

All these questions are anthropological.

Brad

Am I? You know, how do we define I? What is I?

Brad

What does the I mean, what is I?

Student

Am I the person that I am

Brad

when I'm with my family at home? Am I the person that I am when I'm in my dorm with my satya mates? Am I the person that I am when I'm locked in sync with my teammates on the volleyball court or the rowing team or the whatever sport you do

Student

or activity you do with the orchestra or something like that? Am I the person that I am when I'm sitting in the classroom? Or am I the person when I'm standing in front of students like you? Am I the person that you think that I am? Or am I the person that I tell myself that I am? Right.

Brad

All these are questions we call philosophical

Student

anthropology or questions of the Meaning of self or I. So in a world where everything seems uncertain, imagine that in a deep movie trailer voice. In a world where everything seems uncertain, even your own identity. We long for something stable. We long for something reliable. We long for something that does not change. We long for some thing that we can always count on, right? Home base, home, feeling of home. For most of us, that's exactly what our family is, right? So, sure, right now you're in the safe harbor that is Boston College, but it's still not home. You may be missing home, particularly when things seem out of joint. Shakespeare you call home to make you. To help you make sense out of the new reality. But when an adult like you moves out of the house and leaves mom and dad and leaves brother and sister and dog and cat and horse and cow, etc. Behind, then that too is like becoming unmoored. And for some more than others. Personally, I low key love that feeling.

Brad

I love feeling like I'm a little

Student

bit out on an edge.

Brad

You can't have an adventure without being adventurous. And that requires courage to venture forth

Student

into the great blue sea, away from

Brad

the safe shores of home. And I dig it.

Student

I dig it hard, actually. But here's the thing, right? Sometimes the world is way, way harsher than you expected it to be. Sometimes unfair things happen. Sometimes you just come up short. And if you don't come up short, then you're probably playing it too safe. BT dub, sometimes everything just gets too. Too effing much. And it gets hard to drag yourself out of bed. It gets hard to know yourself, to know who you are and why you are here. You feel that some of you do. In times like those, nothing can replace family. However, when we're adventuring our way through life, sometimes we need some kind of ang. Anchor, right? Something that can carry. Something we can carry with us. That's the idea of an anchor, is it's something you can carry with us, right?

Brad

Something you can.

Student

It's not like home. Home is home. Home is wherever home is, right? But there's like. It's like carrying a little piece of home with you, maybe. Could be one way to look at it. So an anchor does. Here we're talking about functional ontology. So the functional ontology of an anchor is what it does, right? How does it function? What is the function? The ontology of the anchor, the being of the anchor is what it does. So in a sea of change, an anchor can give us something to grasp onto. It's something that helps to ground us even when we're feeling lost at sea. The anchor can give us respite and help us figure out where the storm has blown our boat in this ocean of life. The anchor definitely does not take us to our destination. That's not its function. This function is to help us find our place here and now so that we know where we've been and can figure out where we're going.

Brad

Right.

Student

So with that in mind, let's roll back to the question that I'm trying to answer. Why should you take this course? I feel like that's going to be

Brad

a quiz answer, quiz question.

Student

My answer is because this course will help you figure out what your anchor is and learn how to use it. So, quick side quest, brain break. Helpful example, my son and I. Have any of you seen this TV show called Khipo and the Age of the Wonder Beasts?

Brad

It's not a super relevant metaphor then. So, similar to the Hindu goddess named Kali, Khipo was able to turn into

Student

a powerfully fierce giant beast. But like Kali, Kipo sometimes lost track of her gentle, satya side. She needs an anchor to bring her back to her default self.

Brad

At first, her anchor was a photo album of her family, pictures of her

Student

when she was a child living in the safe harbor of home.

Brad

But as she matures, her friends become her anchor and she becomes theirs. Bonus vocabulary lesson. Theology is a philosophical investigation of first principles anchored in a canon. Sometimes I'll say canon of texts, because most often, and in this course, we'll be focused on a canon of texts. But not all religious traditions, not all humans are sort of centered around texts. A lot of oral traditions and indigenous traditions. So. But regardless, theology is a philosophical investigation of first principles anchored in a canon. Come back to that notion of first principles in a moment. So theology is not the anchor.

Student

The canon is the anchor.

Brad

The theology is a method that enables that anchor to speak to the present moment so that you can reorient yourself.

Student

Right?

Brad

Orient means pointing.

Brad

So reorient means like, oh, I want to make sure I'm going the right way.

Student

Right?

Brad

Maybe. Maybe I've gotten off track. So let me reorient myself towards your

Student

North Star and remind yourself, like Kipo,

Brad

who you are and where you're going

Student

when this cruel world becomes overwhelming.

Brad

Does that make sense?

Student

Everybody still with me? Looks like most people are still awake. So, second, the North Star.

Brad

So let's take this.

Student

Let's go back to the image of

Brad

you and your little boats, right? You're out there, far from Chestnut Hill, far from wherever you call home. You've hit a setback and you're feeling

Student

lost in the world. An anchor will help you find your

Brad

bearings, catch your breath, that sort of stuff. But it's not all you need. You also need a reference point.

Student

You know, as you know, while the

Brad

Earth spins on its axis around the sun, it looks to us like the stars are moving, right?

Student

The Moon is moving, but nothing else up there is moving, right? The stars.

Brad

Stars are the stars.

Student

The Earth is turning on its axis, right? So it looks like all these stars

Brad

are moving except for that one small

Student

patch of stars near the North Pole, right?

Brad

That's Polaris.

Student

That's why they're called Poles or Polaris, at least.

Brad

So that one small patch near the North Pole. And that patch doesn't move because you know geometry. Now, for most of human existence, the North Star, Polaris, was actually the North Star. And we'll talk about that more in chapter seven. But I mean it more existentially, right? When life stops making sense, we need to stop and return to something that does make sense. So in those times, we need a metaphorical or a psychological or an existential North Star, right?

Student

Something that can help us figure out

Brad

where we want to go so that we can be sure that we're on

Brad

the right path in life. It might seem pretty abstract.

Brad

What is metaphorical North Star?

Brad

What the hell are you talking about, Brad?

Brad

It's probably the most frequently asked question in my classes. It could be different for different things for different people. And it can even be different things

Student

for you at different moments in your life, right?

Brad

So something, especially if you understand it

Brad

and how it functions, something you can

Brad

take control over and decide for yourself

Brad

what this North Star is going to be.

Brad

When it's functioning poorly, it can be

Brad

hard to get out of bed in the morning.

Brad

But when it's functioning well, you make decisions decisively and with purpose. So to recap, why should you take this course? What should you expect to get out

Student

of your time and effort this semester? And the answer that we've come up with so far helps you to identify

Brad

or even create, if you don't have one, something that will function as an anchor in a sea of uncertainty. And second, to help you identify something that can function as a North Star

Student

so that you can live your life with meaning, purpose and direction.

Brad

Word. Word. Okay. When I say word as a question, the answer is word.

Student

Word.

Brad

Okay.

Student

Word.

Brad

Nice.

Brad

Getting it.

34:19

Postmodern Phenomenology and Epistemology

Brad

phenomenology and epistemology, the most important thing that I will ever teach in any of my classes ever. So let's answer the question again, why take this course?

Student

What should you take away from it?

Brad

My next answer to the question is phenomenology and epistemology.

Brad

I mean, phenomenology is kind of like a type of epistemology. So what does that mean, brah?

Brad

So postmodern phenomenology,

Brad

I usually just kind of ignore that postmodern word, but it's in there.

Brad

Postmodern phenomenology is a scientific method of inquiry that helps us to distinguish between phenomena, vocab words, which are things that are created by your mind, and the noumena or the things themselves

Student

which are

Brad

not created by your mind. phenomenology is a branch of philosophy called epistemology which asks these questions like, how

Brad

do we know what we think we know?

Brad

So just to explain, in the early 20th century, human scientists made enormous leaps in understanding about how the brain works. As a result, this brilliant philosopher named Edmund Husserl basically satya, the way that we've been doing philosophy is whack. Shit's gotta change. We've got to be way more scientific and logical. We've got to start from scratch based on what we know about the human mind and how we know what we know, how we experience, how we perceive,

Brad

how we know, right, Psychologically and physiologically.

Brad

So we've got to think from scratch and think very carefully and scientifically about how our brain constructs what we see,

Brad

what we think and what we believe, etc.

Brad

To illustrate what he meant, Husserl used an example that's become very famous. And if I've learned anything over the last decade as a professor, it's that

Brad

this is an example that most students find incredibly useful.

Brad

In my mind, I actually dvaita this

Brad

class in this classroom last spring. But in my mind, I was picturing us more like, I don't know,

Student

Brad

was in a big amphitheater, you know,

Brad

like Taylor Swift or something.

Student

yajna so here's this playing die.

Brad

I'll just put it right there.

Student

Hopefully you can kind of see it.

Brad

I was going to put it up here, but.

Brad

Oh, you know what?

Student

I'll put it up there.

Brad

So here's that example of a playing die. So Husserl used this example. It's become very famous. So I figured, why not teach you on day one. So Husserl used the example of a six sided playing die.

Student

I've got two kind of like that

Brad

purple one that I usually, I mean, actually almost always carry in my bhakti

Brad

Some people quiz me, do you have the die in your bhakti Yeah.

Brad

So Husserl used The example of this six sided playing die. And I'm just going to put it there in the lectern, hope everybody can see it. And I want you to clear your mind and try to follow me closely here. I'm going to do some things that seem really simple, but the details matter. So I'm going to walk you through the process whereby that thing itself or this thing itself becomes a phenomenon in your head, right? So here's the thing itself.

37:37

The Playing Die: Husserl and the Phenomenological Method

Brad

There's the phenomenon, okay? Critical to get those two, the distinction between those two.

Brad

So let's start with light, right? So we've got electrons that are going through copper wires.

Student

They get to the light bulbs which

Brad

act as a resistor, which causes, you know, radiation event.

Brad

So photons, light waves emanate irradiate from the filaments and fill light.

Brad

Right? There's light between us Right. Right now, but we can't see the light between us, right?

Brad

So white light is invisible, Right?

Brad

So the light between you and me right now is invisible. That light only becomes visible when it bounces off of something, right. Which absorbs a Prashna of the visible spectrum.

Student

If it were.

Brad

If it absorbed everything, then we'd call

Brad

that like a black hole, right? Black hole is.

Student

Absorbs all light that goes into it.

Brad

But anything else, some light bounces off of it, right? So some of the light is absorbed by the thing itself. And some of it bounces off whatever

Student

light isn't absorbed by the thing itself

Brad

bounces off of it. And when you direct your pupil at it, then those light waves.

Brad

Light waves.

Brad

Light waves go into your pupil and then they don't go into your brain, right? They stop this important moment right here, right.

Brad

In epistemology, we call this the cut,

Student

right.

Brad

When you look at.

Student

I'm just going to hold it.

Brad

When you look at you, you look at this particular playing die, right? Then you see the color purple, right? That's because this entity.

Student

Any of you study optics?

Brad

Optics, Science, people?

Brad

Well, no, right.

Brad

There's a distinct.

Brad

When you're talking about color, you have

Brad

to be careful with your language because

Brad

there's a distinction between color as light versus color as pigment. So

Brad

what Prashna of the visible light

Brad

spectrum is absorbed by the thing itself?

Brad

The problem with giving you my lecture notes is the answer's already up there, right?

Brad

So the correct answer is.

Student

Really good job.

Brad

Yeah, thank you.

Brad

Every color except purple.

Student

Right?

Brad

And how do you know? Because purple goes into your brain, right? So it absorbs all the light except for purple, and then purple bounces off of it, right? So if I were to ask an optics professor, for example, what color is this?

Brad

Then they would probably say, what's every color except purple, Right?

Student

Because it's rejecting purple.

Brad

It's absorbing all light. Except it's all absorbing all light frequencies except for purple. Right? So what happens next is even more important.

Brad

Visual images and stuff.

Brad

So the light waves do not go into your eyeball. They don't go to your brain. They don't go through your head either. All the light waves enter your pupil, and then they collide with the rods

Student

and cones right here in the back of the retina.

Brad

And as you can see, the rods and cones are. The rods detect luminosity, the volume of

Brad

the light, how bright it is, that sort of thing.

Brad

Then you've got, well, some of you. Most of you have red, green and

Brad

blue, RGB red, green and blue cones,

Brad

right, that receive those. Receive and detect those frequencies of light. But we all have them in differing

Brad

quantities of, you know, genetics.

Brad

So some of the cones couldn't care less. They'd be like, ain't green, right? But some of them, meaning the red cones and the blue cones, get way excited, and they're like red, right, or blue. And then they send those signals, they release neurotransmitters that basically send a signal

Student

through the optic nerve.

Student

I didn't do it through the optic nerve.

Brad

Right. Back to the visual cortex, which is at the back of your skull. So this is actually a really, really huge deal, Right? As I already said, in epistemology, this is the moment that is called the cut. It's the moment when analog becomes digital, Right? Because the cones are basically binary.

Brad

They're like red or not red or

Brad

blue or not blue. Finally, this brings us to the phenomenon. So when you say, I see the purple playing die, what you're seeing is the phenomenon. This is where a lot of students get confused. Right? Listen carefully. Your eye is receiving the light waves that are bouncing off the playing die, which is the thing itself. And your visual cortex is converting the signal received through your optic nerve to create the phenomenon, which in this case

Brad

is the visual mental image of the playing die.

Student

Right?

Brad

So if you've understood what I'm saying, then you should be able to understand the problem that Husserl was trying to address. Right? When you say, I see a playing die, what you are actually seeing is a visual image that is creating. Created by your brain, right? In most cases, practically speaking, it may not really matter. But as Husserl pointed out, your brain doesn't have all of the information that it needs to properly create the phenomenon in your head and it never will. So your brain creates the phenomenon with deficient information. It does this in a couple of ways. First by filling in the gaps, right? There's missing information, so it's got to fill in those gaps. And it does that. And it also ignores things that are irrelevant.

Student

Right?

Brad

So in the case of, you know,

Brad

if I hold this up, then like

Brad

your eye is ignoring my fingers, it's ignoring, ignoring all the color that's not

Student

the purple dye, right?

Brad

Kant called that the regulative idea. So that means your brain is making a lot of decisions, right?

Student

Even before.

Brad

That's why I'm not sure if decisions.

Brad

I mean, decision means to make a cut.

Brad

So it literally is the right word,

Brad

but it's not decision in the way we normally think of it. Right? So the brain is deciding, making a cut, right, between this or what to ignore and what to pay attention to and how to construct that phenomenon in your head, right in your visual cortex. So your brain is deciding to fill in the missing info with the info that it invents. And your brain is deciding to ignore some of the visual data coming in from the retina, like the color of

Brad

the podium or the background behind the dye, etc.

Brad

So the problem is.

Student

So the problem is.

Brad

What's the problem? The problem is that you, the perceiver, do not know which information is coming from your physical sense organ, the I in this case, and which info is being added or ignored by your brain. So Husserl wants us to think about how the brain makes these decisions about what to add and what to ignore. And as he points out, your brain makes these decisions based on what it intends to perceive.

Brad

So intentionality is kind of a key

Brad

word for thesaurulean phenomenology. So basically it takes a little bit of data and decides, oh, that's a purple six sided playing die. I've seen that before. Right. And then it fills in any missing info based on your previous knowledge of a playing die, and it just ignores the rest. Right. Which brings us to another important vocabulary term, intentionality. So basically, if you intend to see something, your intention is going to significantly

Student

impact how your brain makes decisions about

Brad

what it does or does not see. Hopefully if you didn't understand why I'm talking about this in this course prior to right now, you do now. No phones in my class, please. Bennett Phonological method. So you might be thinking, right? So Uddalaka, what does any of this have to do with this course on Hindu theologies and Christian Theologies and dialogue. Why are you spending so much of your opening lecture for this course talking about light waves and neuroscience and playing dye? And why did I spend three days writing this freaking lecture? So those are all fair questions and I've got some wicked good answers to them.

Brad

In fact, I'm going to use that

Brad

particular playing die

Student

to drive some of those answers home.

Brad

For example, some of you probably know

Brad

that opposite sides of a regular six side plane die always total seven, right? One plus six, two plus five, three plus four. Therefore, if you use logic, then you don't actually have to see all the sides, right?

Brad

If you see a side with two

Brad

dots, then you can infer logically, or you can logically deduce there's five dots

Brad

on the other side, right?

Brad

Or likewise with three or four or one.

Brad

So if you use logic, you don't actually have to see all the sides, right?

Brad

If you use a side with. If you see a side with two

Brad

dots, then you can logically deduce, right,

Brad

that on the other side there's five dots.

Brad

Obviously this is very similar to the idea of intentionality that I just dvaita you, but it's actually a step beyond it. Because if you are consciously aware, because you're consciously aware that you're making a

Brad

logical deduction, at least hopefully.

Brad

This brings us to the phenomenological method of investigation. This will be the method that I expect you to use all semester, right?

Student

Particularly in your podcast episodes.

Brad

But this is the method that we will be using all semester in your leadership days and pretty much everything that you're graded on. So you begin by vaguely identifying the

Brad

thing itself, this particular example, that's the playing die, right? This one or that one doesn't really matter.

Brad

The next step is to do what Husserl calls bracketing, right? Which means taking all of your assumptions about this thing and setting them aside for a while. In other words, check your biases and your expectations. Try to see without intention to the

Brad

extent that that's possible, right?

Brad

As much as possible. Try not to fill in the gaps in your information. Pay attention.

Brad

Another interesting term.

Brad

Pay attention to what you actually perceive while bracketing your intentions, right? So the next step in the phenomenological method is to acknowledge, at least to yourself, that you are perceiving the thing itself from a particular vantage point. You're either sitting on this side of the classroom, perceiving the dye in my

Brad

head, you know, imagine the die like in the middle of the room, right?

Brad

You're either sitting on this side of the classroom, perceiving the dye from that vantage. Although the problem here is almost everybody

Brad

in the classroom, we have pretty similar perspectives on the.

Brad

The die on the thing itself at the moment. Acknowledge that there's other humans in the room that are sitting on different side of the playing die.

Brad

Right here.

Brad

Let's just.

Brad

Let's just do it.

Brad

I can do it here, right?

Brad

At least get

Brad

a little bit of trigonometry in here.

Brad

Right.

Student

Sorry, what's your name?

Student

Dylan. Sorry? Dylan.

Brad

Dylan.

Student

So, Dylan and.

Brad

Yep. Manny. Manny.

Brad

All right, so, Dylan, what do you see?

Brad

A one.

Brad

Okay, so you see a six?

Brad

Yeah, you see a one and you see a six. Okay, you see a problem here, right? Ben, what do you see?

Brad

Okay, so now already we're off track, right? We're all looking at the same thing, but they're all giving different reports, right? Dylan seeing one, Manny seeing six. Bennett's seeing four.

Brad

And actually, I know the truth, which is there's three dots, right?

Brad

So then what do we do when

Brad

we've got this conflicting information, right? We've got conflicting phenomena, conflicting descriptions of the phenomena, right?

Brad

So who's.

Brad

Right, who's.

Brad

Right?

Brad

Manny or Dylan? Obviously Manny, because one is odd.

Brad

That was actually funny.

Brad

So you get the point, right? So the point is there's a big

Brad

distinction between the thing itself and the phenomenon, right?

Brad

I want you to. I know you're like, at Boston College,

Brad

you're like wicked smart people. And, you know, bro comes in here and tells you to do stupid shit like this, which is. I want you to point with your finger. I want you to point to the thing itself. Now I want you to point to the phenomenon.

Brad

You got it?

Brad

You got it.

Brad

So all this postmodern phenomenological method of

Brad

investigation, it's really that simple, right?

Brad

So then. So we understand that the reason Dylan sees something different than Manny is because they're approaching the thing itself from different vantage points and therefore are seeing the same thing itself. But they have differing phenomena of the thing itself. Right? Their minds are constructing the thing itself differently, right? So you can logically deduce that the other person on the side C's aside with five dots, right? So Husserl wants you to bracket that assumption,

Brad

right?

Brad

So if we want to. Right? I mean, so

Brad

I could.

Brad

Let's get somebody else in here.

Student

What's your name?

Brad

Logan.

Brad

All right, so, Logan, what Do you see?

Student

A2.

Brad

All right, so what do you think?

Student

I see B. A4.

Brad

So check your math.

Student

Brad

There you go.

Brad

So now how do you know? So logically, you're deducing that there's a

Brad

five on the other side. Right? So you could just say I got my eyes and I've got my logic.

Student

That's all I need. Right?

Brad

So just go it alone. I don't need to ask Brad what's

Brad

on the other side.

Brad

Right, but what if you did just

Brad

hypothetically ask Brad what's on the other side. So.

Student

Yeah, what is on the other side?

Brad

There's a two. I see a two. Right.

Brad

What do you think? What are the options here?

Student

Do you believe them or you don't?

Brad

So you could. That's great.

Brad

That's the right answer.

Brad

Right?

Brad

Either believe them or you don't.

Brad

Right. So if you. If you don't, it's because, you know, opposite sides of a six sided playing die have.

Brad

May have total seven. Right.

Brad

So therefore, you know, I can see the two on this side.

Brad

Therefore Brad's full of shit.

Brad

Right? Right. Or Brad is delusional.

Brad

Or Brad is, you know, smoking something

Brad

that I'd like to sample or something.

Student

Right, Whatever.

Brad

Or you could believe them. Right? So if you believe me, then all of a sudden it means that something

Brad

might be like a little bit fishy about the die.

Brad

Right? So in this case, this is six sided playing die, but it's not a

Brad

regular six sided playing die. Right. It has threes on opposite sides and two's on opposite side and one on opposite side. So if you need to roll a D3, you can't really roll a D3.

Brad

Right.

Brad

But you can roll a D6 with 1, 2, 3.

Brad

1, 2, 3. Right, good. Basically, can I get there? So, but doing that requires that you bracket your assumptions and really listen to the other side. Right? So, yo, homie, I see two dots. Tell me what you see. So what I'm describing is the phenomenological discourse, the method of your podcasts. So you're carefully describing the phenomenon that you see to your neighbor, who perceives the thing itself from a different vantage, and then you listen attentively to. To your neighbor as they describe the phenomenon that their brain has created in their visual cortex based on the data that is entering their eyes from a different position in the room. So as you can hopefully already understand, the phenomenology of discourse will be most fruitful if you're engaging in discourse with people who perceive the thing itself from a different vantage than you. Right. If Dylan and Logan were chatting with each other, then they might not have very different perspectives. Right. But if they chat with Manny or with Bennett, who are sitting in very different places, Then they get a lot more information, right? ⚠

Brad

So there's differing advantage, the differing perspectives, the different vantage points are super beneficial. I got to skip here because I'm

Brad

like, way not on time.

Brad

So the more points that you have on the circle, then the more epistemic confidence. Epistemic confidence that you have, right? Confidence that there's a strong correlation. Correlation is kind of a key term in phenomenology. Correlation, right. That the phenomenon correlates to the thing itself, but you don't know that the phenomenon correlates to the thing itself. Right? But you can get more confident that the phenomenon in your head correlates to the thing itself if you ask lots of people, why.

Student

Understand the question.

Brad

So, like, You understand what I'm trying to say, right? So if you want to understand the thing itself, right. Then you could just look at it

Brad

and use your logic, right?

Brad

But it could be that something's off with you, right? It could be that you're having a delusional episode. It could be that somebody's playing a trick on you. It could be a lot of things, right, that would cause you to perceive

Brad

something that's not accurate, right?

Brad

But if you ask everybody in the

Brad

room, if you ask all the people

Brad

around you, and they all kind of

Brad

confirm what you're saying, tell a story

Brad

that is consistent with your understanding of the. Your perception, it gives you more confidence

Brad

that, hey, I'm not delusional.

Brad

Right. Because that would require everybody in the

Brad

room being delusional, which is super unlikely.

Brad

So the more points on the circle, the more differing vantages you have, then the more epistemic confidence that you have that there's a strong correlation between the thing itself. Sorry, the thing itself and the playing die and the phenomena that you see in your head.

Student

Okay, let's skip down.

Brad

Not a regular playing die. You already know that.

Brad

Yeah.

Brad

Surprise. For the last 25 minutes, bro. It's been way too long. What's the point?

58:26

Theological Method: Anchoring in the Canon

Brad

Questions, theological method.

Brad

I'm running short on time.

Brad

That's true.

Brad

And I wanted to leave time for the quiz. So I'll try to make my final points more quickly.

Student

I told you that Husserl wanted to

Brad

be very, very careful, scientific and meticulous, thinking concretely about how we know what we know. And I put this purple playing die on the lectern or wherever I put it, and started talking about light waves in your retina. Then I asked if we replace this dye. Oh, I didn't ask that. But what if we replace this die

Brad

with the idea of God, right?

Brad

Now, obviously, unlike this die, I can't

Brad

put the idea of God up here on the lectern, right?

Brad

So the point of the phonological method is to give you a method of discourse.

Brad

And the point of the die is

Brad

to show you how that method, what that method is and how to practice that method. Right? But the point isn't to talk about playing die. The point is to talk about, you know, things that are more transcendent. Right? So advaita you this very concrete scientific method of discussing a physical object, and now we're going to shift to applying

Brad

that method to a more abstract idea.

Student

Right?

Brad

That was a good joke, but I fumbled it there.

Brad

So way back, like 45 minutes ago, actually, I gave you this definition of theology, right? Theology is a philosophical investigation of first

Student

principles anchored in the canon.

Brad

Now, let me talk about. I talked about anchor and that kind of stuff. Now let me give you some specifics. Right? So Hindu theology is a philosophical investigation of first principles anchored in a canon of texts of ancient texts written in Sanskrit called the Veda. Christian theology is a philosophical investigation of first principles anchored in the canon of ancient texts written in Hebrew and Greek,

Brad

usually called the Bible.

Brad

Now, while it's obviously true that I cannot put the idea of God up there on the lectern for everyone to

Brad

see, it's also obviously true that I

Brad

could put a canon of ancient texts up there, right? So I can't put the idea of God up there, but I can put the canon of ancient text for everyone to see. And even better, I could create copies of those texts like the like over here in this document that I'm reading from. And I could create copies to give every one of you a copy so that you can read it, study it, and attempt to interpret it while bracketing your intentions and your biases and your assumptions, right? So hope you're getting the point. But since the first day, I'll spell it out. The theological method that we are trying, that we're going to be using all semester in this course is basically just like the phenomenological method that I dvaita you today. But instead of anchoring our discourse around a purple playing die, we're going to anchor our discourse around particular texts from the Veda and from the Bible. My hope and expectation is that you will attempt. I mean, none of us are going to be able to do this fully, Right?

Brad

That's why I say attempt, because that's the best you can do is attempt to bracket your assumptions, set aside your biases, set aside your intentions and Set aside your preconceived notions or ideas about God, self and personhood, about the meaning of life and the purpose of existence and all that stuff.

Student

Right?

Brad

Just leave it at the door.

Student

So, part of why I start every

Brad

class with a silent meditation, let's just bracket as much as we can. Focus attentively on the thing itself, namely, whatever text that I've signed for us to read that day and discuss it. So over the last decade that I've been teaching this course, I've always had

Student

a bunch of students who come up and ask me.

Brad

I'm worried about this course because I'm not religious at all, and I don't know anything about the Bible or anything about Hindu text. And I feel like I'm going to be behind. I get that every semester. But in my experience, those students often

Student

do extremely well in the course.

Brad

Why? I think it's because they don't have as much to bracket. If you have no previous experiences with these texts, then you're kind of reading them, just as they say, right? If you have tons of previous experience with these texts and you come and you read the Gospel of Mark, you're like, I already know it's in there. And then you're more likely to see what you intend to see rather than seeing the thing itself follow. So, yeah, don't get me wrong. Many religious students do extremely well, too.

Student

So I've got a lot more to teach you about theological method.

Brad

We'll cover that in the next few reading assignments and classes, but that should suffice for now. One goal in this class which meets your core sacred texts requirement, I think I'm supposed to say that today is to anchor our discussions in the Hindu and Christian sacred texts that I've selected. So allow the text to speak on their own terms. Try not to make assumptions about them. Simply read the text carefully, thoughtfully, contemplatively, and I will do my best to give you some historical and broader context for each of the texts. But the goal is to keep the text themselves at the center, just like we did with this purple playing die,

Student

and to listen attentively to your neighbors,

Brad

because your neighbors are approaching the text from a different vantage point. So it's inevitable that. That they're going to see something that you cannot see from your vantage, right, like the other side of the playing guy. Hence, the methods of this course are as important as the content. It's not just the text that matters. Definitely not just the text that matters. But more important is the phenomenological discourse that you have with each other and with me in class and in your podcast.

Brad

That matters at least as much.

Brad

Word.

Brad

There we go.

1:04:31

In-Class Quiz on Lecture Concepts

Brad

I almost broke everything.

Student

All right, let's just try and.

Brad

Let's just try and knock out those real fast.

Student

It'll be fun, I think.

Brad

So you're welcome to use your. You have 10 minutes.

Brad

Don't stress over the only part that's

Brad

really graded this one is your name.

Student

There's. It.

1:10:54

Syllabus Review and Administrative Closing

Brad

So we have about three minutes left.

Student

Please feel free to keep working. No worries. Not trying to rush anybody, but I'm going to spend the three minutes telling you a little bit about the syllabus, very briefly.

Brad

So please read the syllabus.

Student

I know some of you already have. Some of you already signed up for meeting with me, which is cool, but

Brad

please read the syllabus for Monday.

Brad

So sorry, Thursday.

Student

And in the syllabus, you'll notice

Brad

under

Student

class agenda, Class agenda assignments.

Brad

I've also put a link directly to

Student

this section on Canvas. If you click here, then some of them have links. And so if you.

Brad

So there's the link to the opening lecture from today. Actually, all these links are to the

Student

same document but to different parts of the document. So if you click on this, then you'll get a link to chapter one. It'll take you right to chapter one, which I'm also asking you to read for Thursday. So spend a little time on the syllabus and we'll take any questions for the syllabus on Thursday or, you know, also after that. But spend most of your time on chapter one and we'll have a reading quiz at the beginning of class, most classes, and that'll just be on chapter one, by the way, if you kind

Student

of slow tap, like double click on these tabs over here, then it'll unfold and give you outline of the chapter. That way you can, I mean, you've got an outline, but then you can also jump to different parts of the text and whatnot. And this document, those of you have had me before know my way of doing these things, which is I'm going

Student

to keep working on this.

Brad

I've got a lot more work to do in this document. But I'm just going to put all the course materials, 100%, everything you need

Student

is going to be in these two documents, right?

Brad

The syllabus and this document, which is all the course readings, right?

Student

So as I continue writing these missing chapters and adding text, everything will go

Student

into this, in this thing. If you don't see these document tabs, you might have to click over here to see them. If you're looking on a phone or other device, sometimes you have to, like, do a little weird swipe.

Brad

It's not perfect, but the links.

Brad

The links will work. And yeah, office hours today.

Student

So if you want to get that first meeting out of the way, if you know what I'm talking about, feel free to come to my office hours. My office is one floor up and then just down the hall.

Brad

And

Student

quick note to Bennett and Claire

Student

and Tim and Anna, if you are

Student

taking my class for the second time, just those folks, then you have a third option for completing that initial meeting. You can come to my office hours like normal, or you can schedule an online meeting with me on Fridays like normal. Or for those of you that are for taking a second semester with me,

Brad

the third option is to play Fortnite.

Brad

So if you want to run some

Student

squads or something like that, then we can accomplish that. That's 5% of your grade, even if we don't get a dub.

Student

Cool.

Brad

Peace.

Student

See you on Thursday.

Brad

I will not typically be lecturing like this.

Brad

Don't worry.