Mysticism and Ethics in Western Mystical Traditions

1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven T. Katz

Having considered the role of ethics in Indian mystical teachings in a previous, related, essay I would like to consider the same question in its western religious contexts in the present paper, beginning with the Christian mystical tradition. As is the case with Asian traditions charges of moral unconcern are widely directed at Christian mystics, but they are false. Christian mystics are not indifferent to morality nor do they disconnect morality from an intrinsic relationship to their mystical quest. Augustine would already teach that the story of Leah and Rachel was an instructive allegory in which the active life represented by Leah was intrinsic to the contemplative life represented by Rachel while Gregory the Great would unambiguously assert: ‘We ascend to the heights of contemplation by the steps of the active life’, defining the active life as: ‘to dispense to all what they need and to provide those entrusted to us with the means of subsistence’. These representative early samples of the salience of ethical behaviour to the life of contemplation could be multiplied at great length, and almost without exception in the teaching of the major Christian mystics. This historical exegetical exercise, however, is in the present circumstances, both out of place and I hope unnecessary. Instead, the more general, more enigmatic, more repercussive, issues raised by the place and significance of morality within the Christian mystical tradition need attending to.

Author(s):  
Rik Van Nieuwenhove

This chapter discusses how Aquinas conceives of the relation between the active and contemplative lives in light of the mendicant controversy. Aquinas distinguishes between the two lives on the basis of the distinction between the practical and theoretical intellect. Hence, he does not explicitly adopt the terminology of the mixed life. From the beginning of his career Aquinas argued that the contemplative life is inherently more meaningful; but at times, given the needs of the present life, the active life deserves priority and may prove more useful. Aquinas proved unwavering on this issue but his argumentation subtly shifts: increasingly, he will appeal to the role of charity to argue that greatest love is manifested when, at times, we relinquish the delights of contemplation to engage in activities of the active life, especially those closely associated with, and nourished by, contemplation: contemplata aliis tradere.


Author(s):  
Максим Глебович Калинин

Продолжая публиковать оригинальный текст и русский перевод новонайденных фрагментов «Книги глав о ведении» Иосифа Хаззайи (VIII в.), одного из ярчайших представителей восточносирийской мистической традиции, предлагаем вниманию читателей главы 75-162 из фрагмента, представленного восточносирийской рукописью Paris. syr. 434. Эти главы включают в себя комментарий Иосифа Хаззайи на видение Иезекииля, другие экзегетические пассажи, изречения о смирении и любви, описания мистического опыта и пространное рассуждение о роли ангелов в жизни человечества. We proceed to publish the original text and Russian translation of the newly discovered fragments of «Book of the Chapters on Knowledge» of Joseph Ḥazzāyā (8th c.), one of the brightest representatives of the East Syriac mystical tradition. Now the readers are offered the original text and Russian translation of chapters 75-162 from the fragment of Joseph Ḥazzāyā’s work known from the East Syriac manuscript Paris. syr. 434. These chapters include the commentary of Joseph Ḥazzāyā on Ezekiel’s vision, another exegetical passages, sayings on humility and love, various descriptions of mystical experience, and a lengthy discourse on the role of angels in the life of human beings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 877-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanka Klimova ◽  
Kamil Kuca ◽  
Martin Valis ◽  
Jakub Hort

Background: Currently, there is a significant increase in the number of older generation groups, which may result in serious economic and social issues. Therefore, there is a need to prolong the active life of these older individuals, especially by focusing on modifying lifestyle factors such as healthy nutrition. In fact, recent research has shown that, for example, nuts are an important part of people’s healthy diet because they have appeared to be neuroprotective compounds which might maintain or in some cases even improve people’s cognitive functions. Objective: The purpose of this review study is to explore the role of the nut nutrition in the maintenance and delay of cognitive decline among older individuals. Results: The findings indicate that the nut consumption may contribute to the delay of cognitive decline in aging. However, this nut diet is just one component of the multi-nutrient dietary intervention for health aging. Conclusion: More longitudinal controlled randomized studies have to be performed in this field to prove the efficacy of the nut nutrition for the delay of cognitive decline.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-428
Author(s):  
R Wordsworth ◽  
BJ Erasmus

This article reports on the results of a survey conducted among human resource practitioners in South Africa regarding their involvement in and experience of business ethics and unethical behaviour in their organisations. The results of the study concur with the theoretical perception that human resource managers have an important role to play in the institutionalisation of good ethical behaviour in the organisation, with the majority of respondents reporting that the human resource department is a primary resource for ethical initiatives and that human resource professionals are involved in the formulation of ethics policies. The article provides some insights in terms of the role of the human resource managers in the management of ethics. In so doing, an attempt is made to address the question of whether human resource managers should be the drivers of ethics initiatives in the organisation.


M n gement ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oussama Ouriemmi ◽  
Wafa Ben Khaled ◽  
Mahaut Fanchini

The aim of this article is to study the role of judges and their impact on the retaliation processes initiated by organisations against whistleblowers. More specifically, we question the normative logics used by judges to validate or invalidate such processes. To this end, we cross-check and analyse judicial data from the LuxLeaks case (2010–2018). Our results firstly enable us to establish a relationship between, on the one hand, the interpretative power of judges and their profile and, on the other, the attitude that judges may have at the end of the retaliation process towards whistleblowers, that is, retaliatory actors or protective actors. Our results also explain the normative dynamics that permeate the judicial retaliation process. They show that judges can challenge existing legal norms, clarify and operationalise others, and create new norms regulating ethical behaviour in organisations.


2000 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-48
Author(s):  
Michel Magnien

Hellenist, philologist, historian, friend and counsellor to the King, mythical founding member of the Collège de France, as well as family man, Guillaume Budé appears to us as a hero of humanism and compels our collective admiration because he could lead simultaneously a contemplative and an active life. How was he perceived by his contemporaries? A few months after the death of the humanist (August 1540), while still in mourning, his disciple Loys Le Roy — a future bright light in the study of Greek — published the G. Budaei Vita. This biography is a virtual hagiography of a lay saint, endowed with a high mission, who sacrificed his health, even his life, to the cause of knowledge and the service of the King. This paper analyzes how a young humanist defines the role of humaniores litterae in an ordered society through their greatest incarnation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 56-62
Author(s):  
Marina Kolinko

The article presents the innovatory understanding of the nomadic strategy of human being in the transitional condition. The aim of the article is to determine the role of the nomadic being way in the social group of internal migrants. It is substantiated, that aims and actions of a nomad are directed on creating new ways of realization and conceptualization of variants of nomadic being. It is explained, that a nomad doesn’t go by the way, offered by traditional types of activity, but searches innovatory ways of realization, doesn’t stop on deciphering of traditionally existing being senses, but produces them him/herself. A subject, living in a space of “boundaries” is deprived of the settled comfort, he/she searches for a possibility of balance and harmony, social recognition and improvement of own life conditions in the movement and change. The culture of choice, formed by the logic of the modern market, gives a nomad resources for regulating the own freedom degree. Nomadic instruments correspond to the migrants’ way of life. Digital nomadism creates stimuli for the active life and adaptation to new conditions of different groups of migrants.


1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-63
Author(s):  
Piotr Gleń
Keyword(s):  

The authors of this article present issues concerning not only disability but also rehabilitation, which allows the disabled to become more independent. The principal aim of this article is to discuss the problem of the handicapped who have to face the world that is still non-adapted to their needs in terms of architecture. Hence, this paper is focused particularly on the role of designers creating the space surrounding the disabled who strive for returning to normal active life.


2021 ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Vladimir Brovkin

It is established that the question of the preferred way of life was actualized in the early Hellenistic philosophy. For many philosophers, the contemplative and the active life were equivalent. This position was held by Demetrius of Phalerum, early Stoics, probably Xenocrates and Menedemus of Eretria. Dicaearchus preferred an active life. Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Epicurus preferred the contemplative life. Unlike Aristotle and Theophrastus, Epicurus viewed the contemplative life not as an end, but only as a means of achieving serenity. It was also found that the high value of active life in early Hellenistic philosophy was due to the preservation of the polis system and the formation of Hellenistic monarchies, which opened up wide opportunities for philosophers to participate in political activities. The desire for a contemplative life was associated with the crisis of the polis system.


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