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"The "Citizen of the World" club "COTW" is designed to promote a
sense of active responsibility and participation in the world in
Children ages 8-18. It does this by providing activities that allows
them to explore their environment, and the legacy of the world's
traditions and apply what they discover to challenges in their own
communities and lives. Students also engage in recreational
activities including camping, creative projects, community activism,
volunteering efforts, and field trips. Usually, COTW meets on a
weeknight and has occasional weekend activities.
COTW provides activities and major events that help develop life
skills in a variety of areas including ethical role playing, wilderness
survival skills, safety. The focus is on integrating knowledge about
the world into a coherent perspective rather than discrete
disciplines.
Camping is an opportunity for astronomy. Astronomy leads into
mathematics, giving COTW members a stronger grasp of where
they are in the universe. Other scientific disciplines like geography
and physics are similarly linked.
Safety leads naturally to an understanding of biology and the
environment, so that students can develop a personal sense of
priorities and responsibilities regarding their health and the health
of others. They also develop and understanding of humanity as a
natural part of the web of life.
Ethical role playing leads naturally to a study of situations and
ideas in history of philosophy, which naturally informs children
about their global intellectual legacy and gives them a broad
context for developing their own identity and setting goals in life.
COTW members are engaged in creative activities of all kinds. Art
is treated as an integral part of life rather than as a separate
activity. Creative activities are designed to move students from
being naive artists to informed artists as they actively learn and
use the motifs, symbols, techniques, and methods of the worlds
artistic traditions. The also develop valuable skills of expression
and communications with art to better relate to others and
understand their own individuality more deeply. Art activities range
from making songs, painting, photography, and crafts to poetry,
and performance. For more information about Conscious Art™
click here.
Using mental techniques for calming the mind and focusing our
attention can provide great rewards and does not need to be a
foray into conjectural metaphysical experiences. Thoughtfully and
skeptically exploring various mental states does not require the
subscription to a particular metaphysic or dogmatic ideology. We
can take advantage of various mental disciplines to more adeptly
take control over our own thoughts and gain a greater sense of
self-awareness about our emotional and mental state. With these
tools, COTW members will be able to better handle life's
challenges. The self-awareness, personal reflection, analytical
thinking, visualization, and self-control techniques presented in
COTW come primarily from martial arts and oriental traditions and
are not a significant focus or requirement of COTW. They are as
reasonable as taking responsibility for one's own mental state
instead of taking it for granted, or waiting for a therapist or
dogmatic authoritarian for intervention.
COTW members enjoy a place to share, grow, and learn; where
inquiry is encouraged. They learn the pleasure of discovery, as
they find things out about the world and each other. They learn to
expand their empathy by sharing in our diversity and the
commonality that we all have as members of humanity. COTW
members share in the comradery and nurturing feeling of being in
a group without needing to develop an exclusionary ideological
boundary for valuing people, practices, or ideas. Instead, they see
humanity itself as their family.
Reason™ is a non-profit corporation of the state of Colorado, U.S.A.
Text and images falls under the copyright of the author when indicated.
