The Dominican Calling and the Relation between the Active and Contemplative Lives

2021 ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Rik Van Nieuwenhove
Keyword(s):  
Active Life ◽  
Contemplative Life ◽  
Present Life

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.

Mysticism and Ethics in Western Mystical Traditions

1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven T. Katz
Keyword(s):  
Great Length ◽  
Ethical Behaviour ◽  
Gregory The Great ◽  
Active Life ◽  
Mystical Tradition ◽  
Mystical Traditions ◽  
Contemplative Life

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.

Role of Nut Consumption in the Management of Cognitive Decline - A Mini-Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 877-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanka Klimova ◽  
Kamil Kuca ◽  
Martin Valis ◽  
Jakub Hort
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Dietary Intervention ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Active Life ◽  
Healthy Nutrition ◽  
Health Aging ◽  
Review Study

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.

scholarly journals Portrait de Budé en «intellectuel»: la G. Budæi viri clarissimi Vita de Loys Le Roy (1540)

2000 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-48
Author(s):  
Michel Magnien
Keyword(s):  
Bright Light ◽  
Founding Member ◽  
Collège De France ◽  
Active Life

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.

scholarly journals NOMADISM AS A WAY OF BEING OF THE IMMIGRANTS AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 56-62
Author(s):  
Marina Kolinko
Keyword(s):  
Social Recognition ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Life Conditions ◽  
Active Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
Internal Migrants ◽  
Transitional Condition

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.

scholarly journals Shaping space in practical therapy

1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-63
Author(s):  
Piotr Gleń
Keyword(s):  
Active Life ◽  
The World ◽  
The Disabled

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.

THE REPRESENTATIONS ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE AND ACTIVE LIFE IN EARLY HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-17
Author(s):  
Vladimir Brovkin
Keyword(s):  
Way Of Life ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Active Life ◽  
Hellenistic Philosophy ◽  
Contemplative Life

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.

Civic Patron as Ideal Citizen

The Lay Saint ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 83-125
Author(s):  
Mary Harvey Doyno
Keyword(s):  
Men And Women ◽  
Internal Focus ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Civic Community ◽  
New Equation ◽  
And Control ◽  
Contemplative Life ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter discusses the cult of Pier “Pettinaio” or Pier “the comb-maker” of Siena. Pier lived in Siena until his death in 1289, earning first a pious, and then a saintly reputation for his efforts to follow a rigorous schedule of prayer, to deliver charity to his fellow city-dwellers, and finally to resist the more aggressive commercial practices espoused by other urban artisans and merchants. One sees in Pier's vita how the celebration of a contemporary lay patron became an opportunity to think about the role everyday men and women played in the creation of an ideal civic community. As the vita repeatedly argues, Pier's extraordinary spiritual rigor produced the model of good communal citizenship. But one also sees in this vita an expanded understanding of the content and role of lay charisma. At the same time that the vita celebrates Pier's external actions, it also celebrates his internal focus: his embrace of the contemplative life, his prophetic powers, and his ecstatic states. Thus, in the years immediately before the mendicants took over guardianship and control of the lay penitential life, the cult of a pious Sienese comb-maker demonstrates not only a new equation between the ideal lay Christian and the ideal lay citizen but also an expanded notion of the content and power of lay spirituality.

scholarly journals Knowledge gain and usage of knowledge learned during internet-based CBT treatment for adolescent depression - a qualitative study

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilda Berg ◽  
Anna Malmquist ◽  
Alexander Rozental ◽  
Naira Topooco ◽  
Gerhard Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Adherence Rate ◽  
Knowledge Gain ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Behavioural Treatment ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Present Life

Abstract Background The role of explicit learning of treatment content in internet-based cognitive-behavioural treatment (ICBT) is an emerging field of research. The objective of this study was to explore clients experiences of their ICBT treatment for depression with a focus on knowledge gain and usage of knowledge learned during treatment. Methods A strategic sample of ten adolescents, aged between 15 and 19 years, who had received ICBT for major depression within a clinical controlled trial were recruited for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted 6 months following trial completion. Data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The participants had a general adherence rate of 6–8 opened modules out of 8 possible. Results Two main themes were identified; “Active agents of CBT” and “Passive agents of CBT”, with each theme consisting of three and two sub-themes. Active agents of CBT reflect a tendency to specifically remember and actively apply specific CBT principles in present life situations. Passive agents of CBT reflect a tendency to remember CBT treatment principles vaguely and express a passive or reactive usage of learned therapy content. Conclusion The findings suggest that young clients can remember and apply CBT principles 6 months after their treatment. However, while experiencing benefits of treatment, clients recall and application of treatment strategies vary. The study emphasizes the importance of exploring client recall of CBT components and how valuable it is to explicitly remember contents of a treatment in order to improve and maintain improvement. Further studies on the role of knowledge and memory of ICBT for adolescent populations are warranted.

scholarly journals From contemplative life to the classroom. The active life of teaching nuns in Jalisco (1874-1920)

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Catalina Díaz Robles ◽  
◽  
Jaime Horta Rojas ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Active Life ◽  
Contemplative Life
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