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Go Deep to Go Far

Great Books

At the heart of the world wisdom traditions are books that distill the essence of the teachings of the masters down through the ages.

Format

Macro-Course

Dates

Live Sessions: Every Second Tuesday of the Month

Location

Live webinars on Zoom; Recordings on our GB YouTube Playlist ​

Faculty

Dr. Jim Garrison and
Dr. Gyorgyi Szabo

Credit

Masters – 3 credits; Doctoral – 3 credits

Available to the public
or for Academic Credit

What makes a Great Book great?

At the heart of the world wisdom traditions are books that distill the essence of the teachings of the masters down through the ages. Many have no authors, some are compilations over long periods of time, others reflect teachings of masters who themselves never wrote a word. 

Socrates and Jesus never wrote any books, for instance, but Plato wrote his Dialogues recalling his memory of what Socrates said and the Gospels recount the life of Jesus many decades after Jesus had gone. Other books have legendary authors but appear to be compilations heavily redacted over many centuries. Some books are considered “God’s word” such as the Bible or the Koran and have endured for millennia inspiring countless millions of believers. 

Others remain obscure and speak deeply symbolic truths hidden within the layers of the language in the text itself. Still others express the essence of a tribal tradition on the brink of extinction and are valued for what is on the verge of being lost. Great books continue to be written by individuals alive today.

Learning Objectives

Academic Credit

Students taking the course for credit should submit a post paper at the end of each year which includes all of the books discussed during that year. Masters level post-papers are 10-15 pages in length, and Doctoral level are 20-25 pages. Papers should be written in APA style, with footnotes and bibliography.

Papers should demonstrate the student’s knowledge of the books for the course and discuss how the content has contributed to the student’s understanding of themselves and to their spiritual growth. Artistic expression is welcomed. Papers can be a comparative analysis of the various books or a thematic approach which looks at the books from a particular theme.

The rules guiding our assignment collection and grading process can be found here: Ubiquity University Grading Policy

Degree Students need to choose a Great Books year for their paper:

  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
  • Renn Butler on The Way of the Psychonaut: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys (2019) By Stanislav Grof, M.D., PhD.
  • Linda White on One Nation Under Blackmail by Whitney Webb
  • Randy Cleveland, RPP on The Age of Resilience: reimagining existence on a rewilding earth (2022) by Jeremy Rifkin
  • Michelle Blair, Ph.D on The Earth Has a Soul: C.G. Jung on Nature, Technology & Modern Life. Edited by Meredith Sabini, Ph.D.
  • Gyorgyi Szabo, PhD on Fairy Tales by Hermann Hesse


    Click here to visit the Great Books 2024 page and take the course!

  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

  • Maryam Sayyad, PhD, on The Golden Ass by Apuleius (translated by E.J. Kenney)

  • Raffaelo Manacorda on The Book of Secrets by Osho

  • Sanna Lamb on Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte

  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on A.D. After Disclosure: When the Government Finally Reveals the Truth about Alien Contact by Richard M. Dolan 

    Visit the Great Books 2023 page to take the course!

  • Kala Perkins, MSc/ PhD(c) on Infinity 1 and 2
  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on Man’s Search for Meaning
  • Thomas Hübl, on Tao de Ching
  • Carolyn Baker, on The Web of Meaning
  • Brenda Crowther on The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga by C G Jung
  • Gyorgyi Szabo, PhD, on Montaigne’s The Essays

Visit the Great Books 2022 page to take the course!

  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on "1984" by George Orwell

  • Peggy Rubin on "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare

  • Carolyn Baker, PhD, on "Devotions" by Mary Oliver

  • Gyorgyi Szabo, PhD on "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir

    Visit the Great Books 2021 page to take the course!

  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on The Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism
  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on Beyond Good and Evil
  • Jim Garrison, PhD, on You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter
  • Kayleen Asbo, PhD, on The Gospel of the Beloved Companion
  • Brenda Crowther, MA, on Women Who Run With The Wolves
  • Gyorgyi Szabo, PhD, on The Little Prince

Visit the Great Books 2020 page to take the course!

  • Jim Garrison, PhD on Naomi Klein’s No is Not Enough
  • Andrew Harvey, PhD (Hons) on his book, Turn Me to Gold: 108 Poems of Kabir
  • Jim Garrison, PhD on Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva
  • Jim Garrison, PhD on Plutarch’s Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans (Romulus and Theseus)
  • Gyorgyi Szabo, PhD on Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet
  • Caroline Myss, PhD on Alice in Wonderland

Visit the Great Books 2019 page to take the course!

Faculty

Gyorgyi Szabo PhD

Core faculty of Dissertation Writing

Gyorgyi is Dean of Graduate Studies at Ubiquity University. She was a Co-Founder and Academic Dean of the ‘Ervin Laszlo Center for Advanced Study’ (ELCAS). She served as the Director of Research and Development of the Center’s Exploratoria Program. She was co-creator of the WorldShift International Foundation, and the WorldShift 2012 organizations, and currently serves as the Executive Director at the Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm… read more

Jim Garrison PhD

Founder, President, Chief Academic Officer, Faculty

Jim Garrison, PhD, has had a lifetime of social and political activism beginning in the 1960s with the anti-war, anti-nuclear, citizen diplomacy and environmental movements. He founded Ubiquity University having served as President of Wisdom University from 2005 – 2012 which was acquired by Ubiquity in 2013. He has spent his entire professional life in executive leadership, including as co-founder and president of the Gorbachev Foundation/USA (1992 – 1995) and State of the World Forum (1995 – 2004) with Mikhail Gorbachev serving as convening chairman… read more
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