Conclusion

04/28/2026 · Tue/Thu 12:00-1:15 PM · Brad Bannon · Boston College

📄 Synopsis

In this session, instructor Brad Bannon admitted to having 'nothing planned' and spent the majority of the time sharing personal stories, including his 30th anniversary of his 21st birthday, his experiences raising cows like Buttercup and Dandy, and a lengthy anecdote about his cousin Sean's legal troubles involving a stolen airplane. The class also discussed favorite movies such as The Matrix, The Big Lebowski, and Black Panther, as well as the instructor's interest in the game Age of Empires II. The final portion of the class transitioned into an informal, team-based trivia game for bonus points. This quiz touched upon various concepts previously covered in the course, including the four purusharthas, the four stages of life, and the four levels of awareness from the Mandukya Upanishad. The session concluded with students attempting to answer questions regarding the Katha Upanishad and the Gospel of Mark as the instructor awarded points for their participation.

⚡ Key Takeaways

The instructor emphasized the value of travel and thinking outside the box during one's 20s as a way to avoid a midlife crisis.
The four purusharthas (aims of life) are Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha.
The four states of consciousness mentioned in the Mandukya Upanishad include waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and turiya.
The four divisions of the Veda are the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is anointed by an unnamed woman with expensive ointment.
In the Katha Upanishad, the boy Naciketas receives three boons from Yama, the god of death, the third of which concerns the nature of existence after death.
The bed sheets metaphor in yoga is used to represent the relationship between Purusha and Prakriti.
The instructor shared his long-term plan to live on a boat in Australia and teach philosophy while scuba diving.

🎤 Transcript Tap any timestamp to jump the audio player

Opening Transition and Breathing Exercise

Brad

Alright, let's take a moment and transition, reset, all that kind of stuff.

Brad

Let's take a breath together. Go ahead and breathe in and out. Word?

Student

Word.

1:05

Instructor Introduction and 30th Anniversary Celebration

Brad

So I have really nothing planned for today. Kinda, yeah.

Brad

I kept thinking, you know, like all these things that I wanted to do today.

Brad

But they all involved advanced planning, which I did not really do.

Brad

So, you know, I shaved.

Brad

I don't really do birthdays, but today I am celebrating an anniversary.

Brad

Yeah, today is the 30th anniversary of my 21st birthday. So, um, It's kind of fun. It's the day that my fake ID became an artifact, useless thing. ⚠

Student

Huh? Huh?

Brad

Never mind. Yeah. I did— yeah, I don't know.

Brad

I really just thought maybe we could— oh, it did work.

Brad

I thought we could just like play games or whatever and, and yeah, maybe do like some sort of review thing. We could— I don't know. I don't really have anything planned. ⚠

Brad

So there's Play-Doh, obviously playing with Play-Doh.

Brad

I could do— I was thinking I've got a prize. I just don't have any games planned.

Brad

So the prize, I was thinking, you know, like some, some bonus points on like the quiz. Score, you know, like team-based, team-based game where, you know, win some bonus points for your team. ⚠

Brad

I don't know, we don't have to do that.

Brad

You could do whatever you want.

Brad

Um, there's Tumbling Tower, um, so there's that.

Brad

I don't know, we could do, um, review games.

Brad

There's also, uh, Black Panther, um, down to talk about Black Panther. A lot there. We could do like AMA or storytelling.

Brad

Last class wanted to see pictures of my cows and all that kind of stuff. And okay, seeing some nods there. You want to see pictures of the cow? We can start with that. ⚠

Brad

I was just trying to create this little classroom buzzer game.

Brad

I might try that out.

Brad

I finished vibe coding at about—

Brad

30 seconds ago, so I don't know if it works. You want to see pictures of the cow? It also winds up being a lot of pictures of my ex, but cow. This is— it's lowkey honestly hard to tell. This is Buttercup. Yeah, that's Buttercup. She's moved on. She's just at another farm now. That's the horse. ⚠

4:07

Storytelling: Farming and Raising Cows

Brad

This is Dandy.

Student

Dandy's—

Brad

I don't know why there isn't sound.

Brad

Oh, there is sound.

Brad

Yeah, so that's Dandy. Dandy is Should be pregnant now, I think. Yeah, pretty sure.

Brad

I got to get a farmer come out and have a look and check, see. But that's Dandy. That's the old cow. That's a long time ago. That's My old Dexter, my first cow, my first real cow. Clara.

Brad

Oh man, oh snap. This was like the first day she got there actually. So the first day she got there, she was pregnant. Yeah, I still had, I got this little guy. ⚠

Brad

His name was Gerald the Snowy Bobby. Jerry for short. Such a Jerry. Sorry, Rick and Morty.

Brad

Jerry, I brought home in the back of my hatchback in a burlap sack.

Brad

He was like 4 days old or something like that. Love that little cow so much. Yeah, until he went off to freezer camp.

Brad

But Clara, so when Clara got there, I never had a cow before.

Brad

I mean, I had Jerry, but, you know, he's super easy to take care of.

Brad

And I had to put— notice she's on a rope inside of a fence because, um, as soon as she got there, like, as soon as the, the actual farmer, the dairy farmer that knew what he was doing, as soon as he dropped her off, um, and, you know, about 15 minutes later, she just went right through that, uh, electric fence.

Brad

And I could see her, like, getting shocked and whatever, and she was like, whatever, I'm going through it.

Brad

Um, it was like 95 degrees that day, no joke. And, um, and she just walked right through that. So I've got this, you know, uh, I don't know, 1,200-pound fully pregnant cow, uh, with, you know, pretty good horns on her. Um, then I— this is my first day having a cow, and all of a sudden she's just running free, running all over the place.

Brad

She ran into the woods, she ran all around the neighbor's house, she ran all over the place.

Brad

And I literally had to chase her for—

Brad

it was about an hour and a half or so.

Brad

And my only thought was, she's gonna get tired before me. And we tested that theory, but I finally got her to run into the round pen down there. Meanwhile, yeah, one time I actually caught her, like I got to her. But she didn't have a halter on, and I didn't have a rope. So it was like, what do we do now? ⚠

Brad

And then I look up and I see my kids who were probably like 7, 9 at the time or something like that. They had gone inside the house and gotten some ice pops, and they sat up on top of their playhouse just eating their ice pops, just watching dad. Chased the cow all over the yard. It was pretty funny. ⚠

Brad

Yeah.

Student

What are their favorite foods?

Brad

Grass and grass and— they do like peppermints.

Student

Yeah.

Brad

Yeah. But Dandy's the only one I have now. Dandy's my heart, my pride and joy.

Brad

She was born 2 years—

Brad

this is Dandy.

Brad

There's Yogi in the background.

Brad

She also went off to freezer camp.

Brad

But yeah, this is about 2 years ago, almost exactly 2 years ago.

Brad

Yeah, Yogi was supposed to be a dairy cow, but she turned out to be an asshole. So I take full blame for that, honestly. I mean, obviously. Oh yeah, this was the first cow that I trained to milk. This was Clara and her first cow born on the farm. It's half Dexter and half Scottish Highland. Named him Mocha. Also the first bull that I castrated. Remember my nephew and I were trying to castrate it, castrate him in the had him in the stanchion and, um, yeah, he was like standing there holding, you know, everything out of the way so that I could— anyway, it took a while. Then he's like, you know, I'm there like trying to, um, trying to fit the cow's, you know, balls through the, um, this little rubber band, tiny little rubber band like that, and you got to get these— anyway, um, and Forrest just said Well, this is weird. ⚠

Brad

And we both just started laughing.

Brad

We laughed for like 20 minutes. And anyway, other questions? Do you want to play a game? Do something? You want to try the app? You want to build something? You want to play games?

Brad

I have nothing planned.

Brad

Yeah?

Student

Can I request a story time?

Brad

Sure. I mean, I just told a story.

Brad

But what other story to tell?

Brad

Yeah.

9:43

Storytelling: The Saga of Cousin Sean and Bitcoin

Brad

Can you tell the story of Sean?

Brad

Sure. You want to see it? Sure. Sure. Sure. Crowd favorite, right? So my cousin Sean and I—

Brad

technically second cousins, but we're the same age.

Brad

Sean—

Brad

One day, so he's in Louisville, Kentucky, and this was about 15 years ago now-ish. And one day he and a buddy rented a van, they drove from Louisville, Kentucky down to Arizona, and they bought a pair of bolt cutters, and they used the bolt cutters to break into a small municipal air airport and hotwire an airplane and flew the airplane to Mexico where they proceeded to load it up with approximately 400 pounds of fresh marijuana bud. So if you know anything about marijuana, which I assume you do not, you know, like garbage bag full is like 4 or 5 pounds. So that's like 100 garbage bags full, you know, of marijuana bud. ⚠

Brad

And then they proceeded to take off and fly from Mexico that apparently they were trying, foreshadowing, see, but they were trying to make it to New Orleans where apparently they had a buyer lined up. And they did not make it. So one thing, like, you know, it's useful for you to know, I think. If you ever want to fly from the United States to Mexico, like, literally nobody cares. But if you fly from Mexico to the United States, like, people for sure notice immediately and will follow you and track you down. And like, because you could be I don't know, smuggling drugs, you know, for example. So anyway, so they flew, they crossed the border, and before they got caught, they started running out of gas because they also don't know anything about flying a plane. ⚠

Brad

So they, you know, if you load a plane up with 400-ish, I don't know, 420 pounds or so of marijuana, then, you know, it's gonna require more gasoline. So anyway, so they started running out of gas. They landed at another small municipal airport intending to fill up the tank with gasoline, but as they were like approaching the gas filling station, I don't know how to fill up an airplane with gas, but as they were approaching it, then they saw, you know, like blue lights coming towards them. Which like, I don't know, if you're going to be a police officer, like maybe don't announce, hey, we're coming. I don't know. ⚠

Brad

But so they saw the blue lights and they're like, oh shit, you know, FAA is coming.

Brad

We should get out of here. So they took off again without refueling and then proceeded to run out of gas.

Brad

So they landed in a like a farmer's field, like a field. And the farmer noticed that they were there and came out and was like, you know, can I help you or whatever? And Śunaḥśepa being all like silver-tongued, he's like talking his way out of it. ⚠

Brad

He's like, nothing to see here, it's all good, you know, we just ran out of gas, we had to crash-land our airplane in your field and we'll take care of all of this stuff, but also we're kind of tired, it's been a long day, you know, can you give us a drive to town so that we can get a hotel room? And the farmer was like, yeah, sure, I can do that. And so he drove them to town and so they get a hotel room and he was like, you know, I'll come back. Sean was like, I'll come back in the morning, take care of this whole airplane thing. ⚠

Brad

Don't look inside, you know, or whatever.

Brad

It's all good.

Brad

And so the farmer drove him to town, dropped him off at a hotel.

Brad

And Sean being, you know, He's my cousin, so he's pretty smart. And so he, so Sean being really smart, he's like, I'm not gonna go to the hotel, right, where the farmer dropped me off. Because what if he goes like immediately to the police and says these people crash-landed a plane that seems to be, you know, filled with marijuana based on my nose, because they smell like weed, right? And just bring them right back to the hotel room. So Sean being really smart was like, let's not go to this hotel. But Sean, being like really not very smart, went to the hotel directly across the street and did it before the farmer was even like out of rearview mirror range. And he went directly to the police, and the police came straight back. ⚠

Brad

And by the way, if you're gonna go into police or law enforcement, maybe don't approach with the lights on, which is what they did.

Brad

And you know, so one of the guys He'd gone out for like, I think they had the munchies or something, so he went out for some food. And anyway, Sean got arrested and spent 7 years in federal prison for, yeah, possession with intent to distribute and some other things. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, but worked okay for him. So he did spend 7 years in federal prison, but while he was there, he got to be really close-knit with this This guy who founded UPS, Big Brown, they bonded over horse racing, 'cause the guy was into horse racing, and Louisville, right, so like Kentucky Derby stuff. ⚠

Brad

Anyway, when Sean did get out after 7 years in prison, he got hardcore into Bitcoin and made millions and now has a, like a 40-acre farm in Kentucky, which I— who knows what he grows there. Any other requests? ⚠

Brad

I haven't talked to him in a while. Yeah, he, he also used some of his Bitcoin because he's like highly leveraged in Bitcoin, actually.

Brad

So I haven't talked to him since last time I talked to him, Bitcoin was right around $110, and you know, this morning it was like $76.

Brad

So, um, but he, uh, yeah, he bought a, um, like a, like a semi truck, one of those. Yeah.

Brad

And so he, he, he hauls, he drives a truck, his own truck for a living. And so he drives a truck, um, and, uh, he, my parents live in South Carolina, so he drives back and forth So every week he's in South Carolina, visits my parents, so I've talked to him while he was visiting down there. ⚠

Brad

But I thought it'd be fun if he came up sometime.

Brad

Pretty sure we'd have a good time.

Student

AMA: Black Panther, The Matrix, and Career Paths

Brad

Did I mention I don't have anything planned today?

Brad

Yeah, of course.

Student

Who's your favorite Black character in the Black Panther movie?

Brad

I mean, I think probably Okoye.

Brad

Okoye. Yeah.

Brad

Yeah.

Student

Did you watch the second movie?

Brad

Huh?

Student

Did you watch the second movie?

Brad

Yeah. Yeah.

Student

What did you think?

Brad

Yeah, I thought it was really good. It's really entertaining. Yeah.

Student

I was like, make sure you sub people. Yeah.

Brad

It didn't have maybe the depth that the first one did. Yeah.

Brad

But yeah.

Student

Yeah.

Student

What's your favorite movie?

Brad

I mean, it's hard not to say The Matrix. For fun, I'll say The Big Lebowski.

Brad

It's pretty far up there.

Student

Too.

Brad

Yeah, pretty much anything Coen Brothers.

Brad

Yeah, but yeah.

Brad

Have you watched all the Matrixes? Oh yeah, I thought it gets a little bad towards the third one.

Brad

The third one, I mean, I don't love the like movie so much, like the movie part of the movie, if that makes any sense, but I like the philosophy and theology. So much theology, especially Yeah, I don't know if you— the movie was released on Good Friday, right? ⚠

Brad

And of course, you've got the death and resurrection and all that kind of stuff.

Brad

The theology gets even more— I mean, like in the final one, right?

Brad

So, like, it's actually crucified, all that kind of stuff. I mean, they're like super— yeah, and the Nebuchadnezzar and I like them on like a philosophical rate. I like the first movie on all of the levels, but I get, yeah, second and third. Some of the fight scenes like in the second and third movie, they're so freaking long. It's like, come on, man, get an editor. I watched the first one to play, but they had like the other ones, so I just figured watch them throughout. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, I think the fourth one, and there's a fifth one, right?

Brad

I haven't seen the fifth one. I don't even know if the fifth one's out yet, but the fourth one, I don't know, I was one of the few that thought it was pretty interesting.

Student

Do you play any video games?

Brad

Yeah, I actually spend a massive amount of time watching this one one streamer on Twitch.

Brad

Yeah.

Brad

When I say massive amount of time, I would say probably an average of like 2, 3 hours a day. Like a lot of time watching, yeah, Twitch streamers. So the game is called Age of Empires II. Yeah, so I started playing Age of Empires when it came out in like '96 or '97. And yeah, pretty, actually for many, many years my pattern was every spring, as soon as the spring semester ended, especially when I was a student, as soon as all the grades were in, as soon as all my assignments were in, whatever, I just basically lock myself and just play that game. Just, you know, like not sleep, just like play that game for days. ⚠

Brad

Yeah?

Student

What made you decide to become a professor?

Brad

Um.

Brad

Bless you. I mean, you decided to come. ⚠

Brad

I don't know.

Brad

I mean, I think I was just searching for some way to have some sort of impact on the world.

Brad

And I just felt like, I mean, for a while I was ordination track, so I was going to become a pastor.

Brad

And my One of my mentors, he said, you know, being a pastor— he was a pastor for many years before he became a professor. And he's like, you know, being a pastor is great because you've got 300 people-ish, you know, usually on average every Sunday morning that are just like locked in listening to you for, you know, 30, 40 minutes. And I was like, Yeah, but as a professor, you got like 30, 40, you know, plus. I mean, it's not as many people, but you're talking about like, you know, 2.5 hours every week. So it felt like a chance to make a difference, make an impact. So that was my desire. Yeah, try and make some sort of meaningful difference in the world. That's why I teach ethics and, you know, theology, philosophy, that kind of stuff. Yeah, Angel? ⚠

Student

Why is tortoise written on the board?

Brad

Because in the previous class, I guess one day when we were going around reading from the Bhagavad Gita, there was a student in the previous class that came to the word tortoise and pronounced it in a weird way, like Tortoise, turtoise, turtoise. ⚠

Brad

And the other people in the podcast group, their team just like really lambasted them and it turned into like an inside joke and it went on and on and on. And then I was listening to their final podcast today and they went on a whole long story about it and I thought it was super funny. So when we were playing the game earlier, I just was like, I'll give a point to anybody who can pronounce this word. And they just all fell out laughing. So it was just an inside joke. How do you say it? How do I say it? ⚠

Student

Tortas. Nailed it. Yeah.

Student

Did you grow up in South Carolina?

Brad

I did, yeah.

Student

Do you like Cookout, like the fast food chain? I don't know if you— if they had it when you were growing up.

Brad

I don't think they had it when I was growing up, and I haven't been there. Yeah, I like Hardee's if I go down there. I go to Hardee's, but it's not as good as it used to be.

Brad

Why do you?

Student

Yeah, oh yeah, I went to school in Tennessee, so I was just wondering because like, you know, it's not a thing in the Northeast. It's like the perfect cheap food in my opinion because you kind of get what you pay for. Just a $5 burger and it tastes and goes to your body like a $5 burger.

Brad

Yeah, Boris, by the way, first time we—

Brad

when we had our initial meeting, I was like, where are you from? It was like 15-minute conversation because you've like lived like everywhere.

Student

I moved around a bit. I'm like a boarding school also adds some stuff. Yeah, I moved around a lot, my dad's job. ⚠

Brad

But where are all the places when you were growing up? Where are the places?

Student

I was born in Russia, but I only lived there for a year. Then a year in Nebraska, 9 in Louisiana, and then I went to school in Ohio for 3 years, and then Tennessee for 4, and now Boston for 4.

Brad

For some reason I thought there were some more foreign countries in there.

Student

I mean, I've like visited, like we went to Georgia a few years ago because that was the only where we could like see my grandparents. And I visited like El Salvador and, you know, Canada, Mexico. ⚠

Brad

Okay.

Student

Like I've seen some countries. I went to Japan, which has been great. That was tight.

Brad

Okay.

Student

Saw a lot of shrines.

Brad

Right on.

Brad

It's pretty cool.

Student

Cool.

Brad

Alice?

Student

If you could do anything right now, what's on the top of your bucket list?

Student

Uh-huh. Whoa.

Brad

If I could do anything right now, what's on the top of my bucket list? Um, I mean, I miss traveling a lot. Yeah, it's been a minute since I traveled.

Brad

Um, so yeah, I don't know, I'm missing India a lot lately, so probably, probably go. And, um, yeah, if I could do anything, you mean like I don't have kids anymore and that kind of thing, then, uh, then yeah, I definitely get the hell out of this country and go somewhere else, but probably India. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, so my, I don't know if I mentioned this, but my long-term plans, so my son is a freshman in high school now. ⚠

Brad

And so in a few years when he graduates high school, my plan is to sell the farm and buy a boat, live on the boat, move to Australia, start by, you know, just like sailing around Australia and teach at a different university every year. You know, like just find some university and just teach philosophy. Philosophy is more, you know, philosophy or theology. And yeah, just like scuba dive all day. Yeah, become a divemaster, get my divemaster's license. Advanced open water, like around 150 dives or so. I'd love to just get my divemaster license and just, or even instructor, and just like dive all day. Yeah, that's my answer. ⚠

Brad

Yeah.

Student

Spirit animal?

Brad

I don't even know, man.

Brad

I mean, eagle? I don't know.

Student

Tornis.

Brad

Tornis. Yeah.

Student

What's your single favorite verse or piece of philosophy or theology?

Brad

Like a concept. I mean, um, I mean, the easy answer is Gita 247. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, I feel like it's the most, most profound, most— yeah, I dig it a lot. Yeah, I mean, my favorite philosopher by far is Plato, but yeah, who's that not true for?

Student

Yeah.

Student

What's something you recommend our age that we should do?

Brad

Travel, travel. Yeah. I mean, I think you already know that, right?

Student

Yeah.

Brad

Travel, see the world.

Brad

I mean, yeah, 20s is the best time of your life, I feel like. Yeah. I mean, college is the best time of your life, but second best is your 20s. And yeah, just travel. Yeah, see the world, think outside of the box, don't get too caught in a rut.

Brad

That's—

Brad

I mean, I feel like if you fast-track your career, that's a fast-track to midlife crisis. So yeah, Cooper? Who's your favorite band or artist? I mean, the first thing came to mind when you said the question was Dave Matthews. Dave Matthews would be way up there. Yeah, but I mean, I don't know, it depends on like the vibe, depends on the, yeah, it's on the vibe. I was listening to The Atwood last night, but that's not even like, definitely not my favorite. ⚠

Brad

I don't know, probably Dave Matthews, have to go with Dave Matthews, 'cause you got the philosophy there, philosophy and ethics and just really, Really good music. ⚠

Student

What's the coolest thing you've ever done?

Brad

Teach at Boston College.

Brad

Coolest thing I ever did? I mean, driving around, you know, a motorcycle all over India is pretty, pretty fire. Yeah. One time I got pulled over. ⚠

Brad

There's another quick story.

Brad

Yeah, I got pulled over. So in India, I don't know, red lights are just sort of like a mild suggestion, you know. And so, so yeah, it was on MG Road in Bangalore and the light turned red and after the light turned red there were like, I don't know, 60, 70 you know, motorcycles that went by and went through after the light turned red. ⚠

Brad

And I was like, you know, number 70. I was at the back of the pack. And so, you know, I mean, police officer pulled me over and then I pulled off my helmet and bro was like, whoa, you know, white guy wasn't prepared for this situation.

Brad

And I did not have a legal driver's license at all.

Brad

I don't even— I'm not even licensed to drive a motorcycle in the United States, much less, you know, in India.

Brad

And, but, and, you know, in India, it's just really, really—

Brad

I mean, like, de rigueur to offer a bribe. So, so, so I was like, he's like, can I have your license? I was like, I just handed him, like, I don't know, I don't even remember how much, but I handed him, you know, like 500 rupees or something, and he was like, whoa, oh, wait a minute, and he went and he got change and he brought me change. So I don't know, not exactly the coolest thing I did, but that came to mind. ⚠

Student

Yeah, Allison?

Student

What's your favorite place you've—

Brad

like, where's your favorite place that you've visited if India wasn't I mean, so I'd have to say a place in India. Yeah, Kerala, state of Kerala is like, yeah. You've been to Kerala? Yeah, it is the most beautiful place ever. Yeah, at least that I've been to. Yeah, the backwaters in Kerala are crazy. ⚠

Brad

And also like the culture and everything in Kerala.

Brad

I would be, yeah, I would love to live there. For sure. It's like a third Christian, a third Hindu, and a third Muslim. And it's just, it's like, it's a really, really cool, beautiful place. Like everything about it.

Brad

Yeah. Yeah.

Brad

Beyond that, it's probably say, I mean, my favorite place to scuba dive, or my, the best place that I've been scuba diving was in the South China Sea. Spent a few weeks on a liveaboard there, just like, yeah, so like off the coast of Thailand. Very nice. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, yeah.

Student

What is the biggest asset in your investment portfolio? What do you call that?

Brad

Well, so I took a very significant position last week.

Brad

In a company called NuScale Energy. Yeah, it's a nuclear power company. Yeah. At the moment, that's by far my biggest position.

Student

Yeah. Yeah.

Student

What are your stock plans?

Brad

Other than just like hoping and praying that NuScale Energy goes up. Yeah, I don't know.

Brad

Oh, so I guess the big thing is my daughter Lila has graduation party on June 13th. So, and that's party is going to be at my house. So kind of like, you know, like nervously getting the house ready and like the grounds ready and all that kind of stuff. ⚠

Brad

So that's big.

Brad

Oh, building a fence. That's a big one. Building a fence is pretty high up there. On the list. Yeah, mostly farming-related things. Yeah, I mean, we'll see if new scale goes up and yeah. ⚠

Student

Kind of like somewhat been asked, but what is something that you did or you just think that like no one should ever do? Like what's something you fully regret that you think we should avoid?

Brad

I mean, it's a toss-up between marriage and divorce, I guess.

Brad

I mean, if you avoid marriage, then you avoid the latter.

Student

But yeah.

Brad

That's not what you wanted to hear, is it? I don't know.

Brad

I've never been like a fan of working for other people.

Brad

That's never been my vibe. So that's another reason I became a professor, because I didn't want to work for other people.

Brad

So, you know, no one tells me how to teach this course. No one tells me what to teach.

Brad

No one tells me how to teach it. You know, I mean, obviously if I could get fired, you know, it's not like anything goes, but I like being my own boss. I don't like having people tell me what to do. That's not really an answer to your question.

Brad

I don't know. Yeah?

34:24

Testing the Classroom Buzzer Web App

Student

What is the app you coded to do? The one you had on screen earlier?

Brad

Oh, should we try it?

Brad

Can we try it? Can we try it? Just see if it works.

Brad

Just see if it works.

Brad

So I don't know. So can you scan it?

Brad

And then I guess choose I am a student.

Student

And I don't think it works.

Brad

Damn it.

Student

It asks us to sign in.

Brad

That's what it says.

Brad

You should sign in. You can sign in.

Brad

I think you can just sign in.

Student

I signed in.

Student

I signed in, and that's why.

Student

I passed it on the first class.

Brad

Did it work on the first class?

Student

Yeah. Weird, I was able to join my team and I have the locked buzzer.

Student

Oh, okay.

Student

Wait, could you scroll down to the QR code?

Brad

So does it work? Oh yeah, there's a QR code there.

Brad

Okay, so lucky number 13, did you just buzz in? Yeah.

Student

Yeah?

Brad

It works?

Student

Yeah. Okay.

Student

This is probably a trivia game.

Brad

It could be anything. Yeah, just like a buzzer.

Brad

So wait, does it actually work?

Student

Yeah. Try to reset it again.

Student

Bro. What am I doing wrong?

Brad

OK.

Brad

So what do I do? Do I refresh it?

Student

I think you just click the blue button.

Brad

So maybe it does not work.

Student

It does, it does.

Brad

Oh, okay. We got it. Okay, wait. Okay, nobody touch anything.

Brad

Are you buzzing in? I don't know if I believe you. All right.

Brad

So it seems like maybe it works.

Student

No?

Student

What's it supposed to do?

Brad

I think it's like—

Brad

It's just supposed to be like— I don't like calling who raised their hand first.

Brad

So this is a way to like, I can ask quiz questions and then you could like buzz in. So then it's like, oh, that team buzzed in first. But anybody watch Jeopardy? Did you watch last night?

Student

Yeah? No? Yeah.

Brad

Guy, he was on a 25th all-time. Yeah, and we lost last night. Spoiler alert. ⚠

Brad

What else? You want to talk about Black Panther or play the game?

Brad

Brian is just playing the game by himself.

Brad

Or do you want to do the quiz game for—

Brad

Quiz for—

Student

Bonus points.

Brad

You want the bonus points?

Brad

Should we?

Brad

Huh? I mean, yeah, you gotta have a winner, right?

Brad

Do you want to try this thing?

Brad

I don't know if this is working.

Student

I think it is.

Brad

Just keeps coming up with the same people over and over again.

Student

I really can't join.

Brad

No, it's not working.

Brad

Wait.

Student

I just got it to work.

Brad

You just did that one?

Brad

OK, nobody hit anything.

Student

That was my fault.

Student

I didn't—

Brad

OK, so nobody hit anything.

Student

All right.

Brad

Did you hit something? OK, I don't think it's working.

Brad

I don't trust it. I don't trust it. Do you want to do that for—

Brad

you want to do that?

Student

Huh?

Brad

Yeah? All right, so we won't do this thing.

39:12

Theology Review Game: Hindu and Christian Traditions

Brad

Sure. All right, let's go. Can anybody tell me the 4 purusharthas? In Sanskrit or in English? Yeah.

Student

Aim of life?

Brad

Yeah, but what are the 4? Yeah.

Student

Moksha, dharma, artha, and karma.

Brad

Nice, good.

Student

Is this like a group, like everyone in the group?

Brad

It's a team, it's a team effort. Yep, team effort. I'll just go down. So what about the four stages of life in Sanskrit or in English? ⚠

Student

Dylan?

Brad

No. Stage, forest dwelling, parent stage, and then like pronunciation. ⚠

Brad

Okay, I'll give you that, yeah.

Brad

Okay, how about the 4 levels of awareness? Like the four states of conscious awareness in, uh, Mandukya upanishads.

Student

Yeah, is it like waking, uh, like light sleeping, deep sleeping, and then there's like the unconsciousness, uh, or something like that? It was like the— it's like the fourth one was like the weird one. It's like encompassing all or something like that, if I remember. ⚠

Brad

I mean, it's a team effort.

Student

Huh?

Student

It's like called turiya.

Brad

Turiya, yeah.

Student

I thought it was like—

Brad

I forgot the— I guess I'll give you light sleeping. Yeah, dreaming would be a better—

Student

yeah.

Student

Isn't one like a dream sleep and dreamless sleep?

Brad

Yes.

Brad

OK. All right, cool. How about the 4 kinds of texts within the veda? Yeah, Olivia? I don't know about using notes here. Delaney? Oh, you're using notes too.

Student

It's the arjay, the yama, the svadharma, and the samaveda. ⚠

Brad

Yeah, Dylan?

Brad

Smriti, itihasa, purana.

Brad

Not what I was looking for, but I'll give you points for that.

Student

Arjuna, Yajurveda, Samaveda.

Brad

The four divisions of the Veda.

Student

You want the divisions or you want the types of text?

Brad

The four—

Student

Are you talking about like the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, or— ⚠

Brad

Okay, I'll give you a point for that. Yeah.

Student

Upanishad.

Student

Brahman.

Student

Brahman.

Student

Brahman.

Brad

Brahman.

Brad

Pretty close. What about the other two? Brahmanas.

Student

Brahmanas. Brahmanas. Brahmanas. Then the first one, the samsara. ⚠

Student

Samhita.

Student

Samhita.

Brad

Yes.

Student

And one more.

Student

One more.

Student

Do we allow two A's?

Brad

Yes.

Brad

It is art.

Student

No, art.

Student

Aranha. Aranha. Aranha.

Brad

Hey, good.

Student

Aranha is a spider in Portuguese. Okay.

Brad

All right. Right on. So another point for Devin and another point for— Crazy nuts. Good. How about a 3-point question? 3-point question. I think I have to have the Sanskrit here though. ⚠

Brad

I don't even know how you would do it.

Brad

But the— so can anybody list all 6 of the shat darshana? ⚠

Student

Yeah, mimamsa, vedanta, samkhya, yoga, and nyaya vaisheshika.

Brad

Wow, nice. Oh wait, I said 3, didn't I?

Brad

Oh, this is super easy, super easy. The three margas, the three paths. Yeah, Lucas?

Brad

Good, nice. Okay, a little bit harder, but still think one point. So in yoga, right, give the bed sheets analogy, bed sheets metaphor. ⚠

Brad

What do the two bed sheets represent? Yeah, Eduardo?

Student

Purusha and prakriti, right?

Brad

Yeah, prakriti, but yeah, exactly. Good.

Brad

Can anybody— yeah, somebody in the previous class got this right.

Brad

Anybody explain the Satkariyavada?

Student

Devin? I might be wrong.

Student

Is it like the effect pre-exists within the cause now?

Brad

It is exactly that.

Student

Oh, okay.

Brad

How about— what about Abhava Pramana? Anybody? If you were like trying to teach somebody, explain somebody, Bhava pramana? ⚠

Brad

What it's not, I mean, without it. ⚠

Brad

So just explain, like, what is a bhava pramana?

Brad

Because somebody who doesn't know anything about— It teaches it like everything that's not. ⚠

Student

So like, what?

Brad

I don't know how to describe that any better, to be honest.

Brad

Okay, all right.

Brad

Yeah, Wilkes?

Student

So like, I know that there's not like a cow in here because like there's not a cow in here. Is that kind of what it is? Like, by not Something's not there, you know it's not there.

Brad

Not quite. Olivia?

Student

Is that the idea where like the result exists like in the cause?

Brad

It's related, yeah. I'm sorry, Yaroslava. I'm sorry. Okay, Yaroslava, she's right.

Student

I mean, like, I was actually the first one raised with him. ⚠

Brad

My bad. Okay, go. Say it. This is why I have the buzzer game so I don't have to make these Let's switch it on. It works. ⚠

Student

It's about the absence. If you watch something, it's about knowledge and absence of something, like not existing. If you watch the board and you see no chalk. ⚠

Student

Is that the Walter Milkurd analogy?

Brad

That's how I—

Student

Yeah, or it's like the curd doesn't become the curd until the milk is completely gone. Kind of like creation doesn't become creation until the creator is completely gone, like he's gone. ⚠

Brad

This is definitely the closest answer here.

Brad

Yeah?

Student

Is it like the existence of the current thing implies that there was the existence of the past? Like, you know that the milk existed because the curd is there.

Brad

So what is a pramana?

Brad

I'll give a point for that. What's a pramana?

Student

Valid source of knowledge.

Brad

Okay, valid source of knowledge. And so, and even more specifically, it's a valid source of knowledge that reveals something that can't be known by any other valid source of knowledge, right?

Brad

So if it reveals something that can be known from another source, it's not a pramana, right?

Brad

It's just maybe confirmation at most, but it's So then that means that Abhava pramana has to reveal something that can't be known by any other means. So what is it that's known by Abhava pramana that can't be known by logic or perception or anything else? ⚠

Brad

So like the Milt Kourt thing.

Student

There was a creator for us to be here? Like something had to have created us?

Brad

Kinda.

Student

I know like when we talked about it, it was like the different problems. Like one is like direct perception, one is like inference, and then the other one is like more like omniscient than that. Is this like the direct perception one?

Brad

So direct perception is, you know, you see something, right? So like in the case of the milk and curd, you see the curd. Yeah, you want to try it again, Yarsala? ⚠

Student

My guess, maybe it's about the nowhere can be known. ⚠

Brad

No, so what can be known through the Abhava pramana that can't be known from any other— ⚠

Brad

yeah?

Student

In order to become something else, it has to stop being the previous thing, so like in order for for the the milk to turn into a curd, it must no longer be milk. ⚠

Brad

That is true. That is the metaphor. But what it enables us to know is the relationship between material cause and material effect. So we can deduce on some level the relationship between cause and effect. But Abhava pramana reveals that in a unique way because we see the effect and we see the non-existence of the cause. ⚠

Brad

So it tells us that the cause only becomes the cause of the effect at the very moment that the cause ceases to exist. So that's something that can't be known by any other means of knowledge.

Brad

So in the case of creator and creation, then, right, so then the creator can't create because matter and energy can either be created or destroyed. Right?

Brad

Nothing can come from— it's one of the things that Uddalaka teaches his son is you can't create something out of nothing. Nothing can come from, you know, something can't come from nothing, right? ⚠

Brad

Therefore, if there is a creator, then the creator has created creation out of itself, right? So the creator no longer exists because the creation exists.

Brad

Exist, right, which is basically another version of the satkari avada, that the effect pre-exists in the cause. ⚠

Student

So, sort of, yeah.

Brad

Administrative: Final Essay Prompt and Submission Guidelines

Brad

You have to bring in printed.

Brad

You have to bring in printed. And so what would be nice, it's not necessary, but you know, you could print double-sided, which would give you an extra blank page, which you could use as a cover page. ⚠

Brad

You know, I don't mind that so much. I like aesthetics.

Brad

But that's, yeah.

Student

Yeah.

Brad

Can you talk more about like the prompt for the essay? Like what would you write?

Brad

So yeah, I mean, I think basically what's in the syllabus, which is just a paragraph just basically saying your journey, like reflection on your journey through the course, that sort of thing. But what I added last Thursday is that I really kind of want something about your understanding and the value of theology and comparative theology. ⚠

Brad

So theology and comparative theology.

Brad

So reflection on, you know, you gotta use those words, I think, you know? So like, what is the, so yeah, I'm not looking for like basic facts. ⚠

Brad

It's not what it is.

Brad

So, you know, your personal reflection and your journey through the course. And, you know, but really kind of, I'm looking for, I am very much looking for Theology is a—

Brad

and I don't mean when I say I'm looking for it, I mean, don't mean just like repeat it, right?

Brad

But the theology should be anchored in a text, right?

Brad

And so the importance of that, that theology must speak to the present moment and some sort of something about the value of comparison, right?

Brad

But I don't want to like say, okay, answer these questions, right?

Brad

That's not—

Brad

I am looking for very well-crafted essays.

Brad

You know, if I'm going to be reading 62 essays, you know, they better be really— I mean, they better be worth my while, sort of thing.

Brad

So I want them to be really well-written, really well-crafted, jam-packed with stuff, you know.

Brad

I would say max, you know, max out on stuff.

Brad

You don't— if you're quoting, Scripture, you don't need to quote the scripture. You can say like BG 2.4.7.

Brad

I know what that is, right?

Brad

You can say MK 10.45.

Brad

I know what that is, right? You can say, you know what I'm saying? So you don't have to print, you don't have to repeat the scripture.

Brad

If you're referring to, um, to my text, um, you know, um, which isn't a bad idea, but if you're referring to it, then you could be like, you know, 6.2 or something like that, right? So you don't have to like quote— you know, don't waste space telling me things I already know, you know what I'm saying?

Brad

So like, if you're gonna cite my paper, then just cite like the chapter section, right? Like 8.4 or whatever. If you're gonna quote from the scripture, then Just put the chapter in first kind of thing.

Brad

You know what I mean? Be brief.

Brad

Yep.

Brad

Cool. I don't know. I'll try and come up with something more fun for Thursday. Try and plan a little bit better. Yeah.

Student

See you.