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Discussion

Discussion Topics, Dates, Times, Places

Spring 2003 Semester

02/10/2003	"Paradise Lost" by John Milton
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: Read books 1-5 and 7 or 8, depending upon which has Satan in it. See Penguin Classic Edition for good overview in the introduction. Discussion questions will include: Who seems to be the most life-like character(s)? Why? Are God's actions just or unjust to you? Why? What is the problem with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Of the Tree of Immortality? How does Chaos play a role in the cosmic struggle? With Lucifer? With God? As an outside power before, during, and after?
02/17/2003	'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' & other poetry by William Blake
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: The following poems and extracts will be used (page numbers from The Essential Blake, edited by Stanley Kunitz): 'The Poet's Motto' (p.91) 'The Holiness of Minute Particulars' (p.91) 'A Memorable Fancy' (pp.75-79) 'Proverbs of Hell' (p.69) 'The Voice of the Devil' (p.68) 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' (p.?) 'Auguries of Innocence' (pp.62-66) 'To the Accuser Who is God of the World' (p.62) In addition to the above excerpts, here are some outside resources and extra material: http://rishi.serc.iisc.ernet.in/books/Poetry/Blake/Collected/ http://www.blakearchive.org/ http://www.ibiblio.org/louvre/paint/auth/blake/ http://www.english.uga.edu/nhilton/Blake/blaketxt1/ http://www.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/
02/24/2003	An excerpt from 'Eroticism: Death and Sensuality' by George Batailles
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: Source material will be available from OE officers. For secondary sources, here are a few links: Books and Writers Info Popsubculture.com Info A User's Guide to Trendy French Intellectuals More on Batailles
03/03/2003	Zorba the Greek (movie)
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details:
03/10/2003	"The Call of the Wild" by Jack London
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: Primary text: "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London
03/24/2003	Critical Thinking About Religion/Reason/Faith
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: Excerpts will be taken from the book Atheism: The Case Against God, by George H. Smith.
03/31/2003	American Patriotism, Imperialism and Current Events (Sacred Cow 1)
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details:
04/07/2003	The Roman Mystery Cults
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: We suggest you do a little research, on the internet or otherwise, on the Mithras, Isis, Osiris, or Dionysus cults, or others if you know any of interest. This will mostly be a presentation but, as always, input is more than welcome.
04/14/2003	Student Government: Considering the Worth and Effectiveness of UWO Campus Governments (Sacred Cow 2)
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details:
04/21/2003	Diversity, Egalitarianism, and Democracy (Sacred Cow 3)
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details:
04/28/2003	"The Truth" by Robert Green Ingersoll
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: In the words of our scholarly Office of Mephistopheles: "This is concise, straight to the point, and well reasoned. A must read for any critic of religion." Follow this link for an online, printable version of this book.
05/05/2003	The Use of Power: Machiavelli and Sun Tzu: The Philosophies of War and their ties to American Military Aggression
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details:
05/12/2003	The Pudding Fest of Asmodokk the Destroyer
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Details: Party involving coffee, food, and classical music.

Fall 2002 Semester

09/12/2002	"Why I am Not a Christian" by Bertrand Russel
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Links: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/russell0.htm
09/19/2002	"Philosophy, Who Needs It?" by Ayn Rand
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Links: http://gos.sbc.edu/r/rand.html http://www.aynrand.org/ http://www.aynrandsociety.org/
09/26/2002	History of Religions (Early Religions)
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 Links: The Teachings of Don Juan - Carlos Cataneda Liber Null and Psychonaut - Peter J. Carroll The Digital Abyss (see reference to De Sade and Psybermagick Myths from Mesopotamia - Stephanie Dalley (Amazon.com) The Treasures of Darkness - Thorkild Jacobsen (Yale Press) The Eridu Genesis (another) The Eridu Genesis History of the Necronomicon - H.P. Lovecraft The Official Cthulhu Mythos FAQ The Necronomicon - Abdul Alhazred Necronomicon.com Ancient Egyption Religion - Henri Frankfort The Egyptian Book of the Dead Christian Death (The Scriptures) (Xtian Death Metal album) Harper Collins Study Bible Middle-Eatern Mythology/Religion Stories from Ancient Canaan - Michael David Coogan The Koran The Lives - Plutarch" The Twelve Caesars - Suetonius (Amazon.com) The Twelve Caesars - Suetonius (bits and pieces) Full Text References (compiled by sadevlad): The Teachings of Don Juan- Carlos Cataneda shamanism and a really dumb narrator The Runes- Horik Svensson rune divination, short history, some strange metaphysics Liber Null and Psychonaut -Peter J. Carroll an excellent intro to new (and intelligent) kinds of 'paganism' Psybermagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magick an eyeopener Myths from Mesopotamia -ed Stephanie Daley texts in full translation The Treasures of Darkness -Thorkild Jacobsen alternate translations, key thematic ideas, descriptive history of the gods Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Mesopotamia -Black and Green dictionary of the above, very insightful Necronomicon Necronomicon Spellbook -Avon publishers modern take on the old mythology through Lovercraft filter and pseudo-Crowleyan interpretation Ancient Egyptian Religion -Henri Frankfort good intro to the subject, major themes, and art Hymns, Prayers, and Songs pf Egypt insightful intro, rather boring read otherwise -to me Book of the Dead -Sir E. A. Wallis Budge O.G.D. member and egyptologist gives you his translation of many important Egyptian docs., dated translation though, nice pictures and original text in some parts "The Scriptures" Christian Death album good comparative religions sturff in an unlikely source Harper Collins Study Bible the book of lies, and key words in translation only makes it easier to determine Stories from Ancient Canaan -Stephen Michael Coogan el, Baal, Mot and the rest of the gang that got ripped off in Jewish mythology The Encylcopedia of the Old Testament see Frank Moore Cross 'el entry under names of god for the full story of 'el to YHWH The Koran see 'el change to y'el-lah (Allah) "Jeff's Questionaire" @ jeffblair@hotmail.com for those who want to proselytize the proselytizers with their own ignorance email him The Lives -Plutarch read about the many dirty things that Constantine and others did during the Roman empire The West in Late Antiquity -Peter Brown read about the rise of Christianity, its cultural interactions and the adaptations (read assimilation and demonizing of the old) that it performed in various climates The Twelve Caesars -Suetonius more dirt on the high and mighty, and an excellent entry on Caligula
10/03/2002	No Meeting.

10/10/2002	James Lewis on Satanism
Time: 8:00pm Place: Reeve 207 (or see Reeve Bulletins) Details: Hear James Lewis, professor of UW Oshkosh's "Satanism and Witchcraft" class, talk about his research findings on contemporary Satanism today, and other things. Links: "Who Serves Satan?" -- James Lewis "Diabolical Authority" -- James Lewis
10/17/2002	Dialogue about Satanism by Paul Rezendes
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 (or see Reeve Bulletins) Links: Dialogue about Satanism -- Paul Rezendes
10/24/2002	Nietzsche's "The Antichrist"
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 (or see Reeve Bulletins) Links: "The Antichrist" (full text) -- Friedrich Nietzsche Other Sources: Full text is available at Polk Library
10/31/2002	No Meeting. (IT'S SATAN WEEK!!1#@#^2)

11/07/2002	Nietzsche's "The Antichrist" Revisited
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 (or see Reeve Bulletins) Links: "The Antichrist" (full text) -- Friedrich Nietzsche Other Sources: Full text is available at Polk Library
11/14/2002	Film: Waking Life
Time: 9:00pm Place: Reeve 207 (or see Reeve Bulletins) Links: Official Movie Site
11/21/2002	"Might Makes Right" by Ragnar Redbeard
Time: ? Place: ? Links: http://www.plausiblefutures.com/text/might.pdf
11/28/2002	Thanksgiving break. Go home. Gluttonize thyself.

12/05/2002	Ideal Man discussion
Time: 9:30pm Place: Reeve 207 (or see Reeve bulletin) Links: "The Strength of the Strong" -- Jack London (OCR scan, sorry for all the typos!)
12/12/2002	Satanic Utopia

12/19/2002	Marat/Sade (Susan Sontag article supplement)

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