PHILADELPHIA – Looking for a wild-and-crazy time at college? Don’t sign up for Justin McDaniel’s religious studies class.
The associate professor’s course on monastic life and asceticism gives students at the University of Pennsylvania a firsthand experience of what it’s like to be a monk.
At various periods during the semester, students must forego technology, coffee, physical human contact and certain foods. They’ll also have to wake up at 5 a.m. – without an alarm clock.
That’s just a sample of the restrictions McDaniel imposes in an effort to help students become more observant, aware and disciplined.
“I’ve found in the past that students take this extremely seriously,” said McDaniel, who has taught the class twice before.
The discipline starts with a dress code for class: White shirts for the men, black shirts for women, and they must sit on opposite sides of the class. No makeup, jewelry or hair products. Laptops are prohibited, and don’t even think of checking your cellphone.
The course, which focuses primarily on Catholic and Buddhist monastic traditions, stems in part from McDaniel’s own history. An expert on Asian religions, he spent time nearly 20 years ago as a Buddhist monk in Thailand and Laos and says he’s both a practicing Buddhist and a practicing Catholic.
Restrictions outside class are introduced gradually: Students sacrifice caffeine and alcohol during one week, then swear off vegetables that grow underground in another. The latter rule stems from an extremely non-violent sect that eschews such produce because uprooting the food could kill insects, McDaniel said.
The real test is a full month of restrictions that begins in mid-March. Students can only eat food in its natural form; nothing processed. They can’t eat when it’s dark, nor speak to anyone while they eat. They must be celibate, forgoing even hugs, handshakes and extended eye contact. No technology except for electric light. They can read for other classes, but news from the outside world is forbidden.
So why would anyone sign up? Freshman Rachel Eisenberg said she enrolled because it’s important “to figure out yourself before you can really help other people.”
“It would give me a chance to really listen to myself and focus on my needs and feelings,” said Eisenberg, 18, of Miami.
Eisenberg is among 17 students in the class, a group chosen from among nearly 100 applicants.
McDaniel stresses he’s not advocating for a total lifestyle change, but if someone is forced to just listen for a month, he is more aware of how he speaks, he said. If someone can’t talk while she’s eating and has to count each chew, she’ll think more about her food, he said.
“It’s not about individual restrictions,” McDaniel said. “It’s about building hyperawareness of yourself and others.”
