The Primacy of Interrelating: Practicing Ecological Psychology with Buber, Levinas, and Merleau-Ponty

AbstractThis study explores the primacy of interrelating and its ecopsychological significance. Grounded in evidence from everyday experience, and in dialogue with the phenomenology of Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, we discover that humans are inherently relational beings, not separate egoic subjects. When experienced intimately (not just conceptually), this realization may transform our (often pathological) interrelationship with the beings and presences in the community of nature. Specifically, interrelating is primary in three ways: 1) interrelating is always already here, transpiring from the beginning of the human species and human culture, from the beginning of every infant's life, and (most significantly) from the continuously arising beginning of every presencing moment; 2) the quality of our interrelating is truly what matters most, the most important expression of and facilitator of health, compassion, and justice for humankind and the rest of nature; and 3) interrelating is the ever-present path via which we discover/create and carry on our (inter)existence. Interrelating is an existential given—indeed we are our interrelating—yet we are summoned ethically to cultivate our way of interrelating so as to serve others and the non-human natural community. Thus interrelating is our essence, our calling, and our path.

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What Matters: Quantity or Quality of Pornography Use? Psychological and Behavioral Factors of Seeking Treatment for Problematic Pornography Use

Journal of Sexual Medicine ◽

10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.02.169 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 815-824 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Mateusz Gola ◽

Karol Lewczuk ◽

Maciej Skorko

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Factors ◽

Pornography Use ◽

What Matters

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P077 What matters to Ulcerative Colitis patients when they make treatment decisions? A systematic review

Journal of Crohn s and Colitis ◽

10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjab076.206 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S180-S180

Author(s):

A M Folan ◽

G Jones ◽

D Baker ◽

S Brown ◽

M Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Ulcerative Colitis ◽

Decision Making ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Elective Surgery ◽

Treatment Decisions ◽

Physical Symptoms ◽

Adherence To Medication ◽

What Matters

Abstract Background The decision for ulcerative colitis (UC) patients to opt for elective surgery or continue medical treatment is dependent on patient preferences taking into account a range of factors. In addition to choosing between medical and surgical treatment, patients undergoing elective surgery are presented with a further decision regarding which operation to choose. The aim of this systematic review is to identify and understand what matters to UC patients when they are making these decisions. Methods Five electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, and Embase) were searched for relevant literature up to 15 October 2020. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies were included in this review. Studies reporting on what was important to UC patients (over 16 years of age) when they make treatment decisions were included. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess the quality of the papers. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Results The searches identified 6,917 papers and a final 19 (eight quantitative, seven qualitative, four mixed methods) papers were included. All studies were published since 2007 and included a total of 3,328 participants from nine countries. Five overarching themes (and their associated 20 sub-themes) were generated to describe the factors reported as important to UC patients in making treatment decisions. These were: 1. Information provision (information content, knowledge about their illness, quality of information); 2. Impact of the treatment upon daily life (controlling physical symptoms, quality of life); 3. Levels of risk (trade-off, high risk, concern and worry); 4. Burden of treatment (the need to see benefits of medication, route and size of medication, side effects, dosing frequency, costs, effort of being the patient, adherence to medication, surgery concerns, timing of surgery); and 5. Patient-clinician relationship (shared decision-making, communication, mismatch between what clinicians and patients consider to be important). Conclusion Communication between patients and their IBD teams should take into account the range of factors that influence their treatment decision making. Decision support interventions that incorporate such factors may better support the patient-clinician relationship and improve knowledge of treatment options and how these impact on what matters to them. Future studies are needed to determine which factors identified in this review are dominant.

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Faith and Culture

10.5771/9783828877702 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jude Ezimakor

Keyword(s):

Jesus Christ ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Christian Faith ◽

Everyday Experience ◽

Human Culture ◽

Cultural Life

How do faith and culture interact? Using the example of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria, Jude Ezimakor explains their interplay and shows how the Christian faith can connect with human culture to give an authentic testimony of faith in concrete everyday experience. In particular, he explores the question of who Jesus Christ is for a particular community of believers and what meaning he can convey in their contemporary lives and their particular cultural life situations. In this way, Christology begins to merge Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis with the question: How does faith come alive in a particular social-cultural context in order to develop it?

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Case Study From Nova Scotia, Canada

Well-Being: Expanding the Definition of Progress ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190080495.003.0012 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 181-187

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Economic Growth ◽

Nova Scotia ◽

Natural Beauty ◽

Community Belonging ◽

Education Levels ◽

What Matters

For decades, the narrative in Canada’s Nova Scotia province has centered on concepts of economic sluggishness and a dwindling population base. This pervasive and unmotivating “we’re falling behind” story is built squarely on measures of economic growth, and on the assumption that growing the economy is what matters most. Lost in that formula, however, are qualities that make Nova Scotia a place its residents deeply value. Education levels are high in the province, as are measures for quality of life and community belonging. The region boasts abundant natural beauty. By many counts, Nova Scotia has already achieved the kind ...

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Understanding what matters most to people with multiple myeloma: a qualitative study of views on quality of life

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/1471-2407-14-496 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Thomas R Osborne ◽

Christina Ramsenthaler ◽

Susanne de Wolf-Linder ◽

Stephen A Schey ◽

Richard J Siegert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Multiple Myeloma ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

What Matters

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What Matters to Patients With Cleft Lip and/or Palate

The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal ◽

10.1177/1055665617732854 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 442-450 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Karen W. Y. Wong Riff ◽

Elena Tsangaris ◽

Timothy E. E. Goodacre ◽

Christopher R. Forrest ◽

Jessica Lawson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Qualitative Methodology ◽

Cleft Lip ◽

Patient Reported Outcome ◽

Patient Reported ◽

Related Quality ◽

Health Related ◽

Changes Over Time ◽

What Matters

Objective: The goal of treatment for individuals with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) is to improve physical, psychological, and social health. Outcomes of treatment are rarely measured from the patient’s perspective. The aim of the study was to develop a conceptual framework for a patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument for individuals with clefts (CLEFT-Q) by developing an in-depth understanding of issues that individuals consider to be important. Design: The qualitative methodology of interpretive description was used. Setting, Participants, and Intervention: We performed 136 individual in-depth interviews with participants with clefts of any age, presenting for cleft care, across 6 countries. Parents were involved if the child was more comfortable. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using constant comparison. The data were used to develop a refined conceptual framework. Results: Participants described concepts of interest in 3 top-level domains, each of which included subdomains: appearance (face, nose, nostrils, teeth, lips, jaw, cleft lip scar), health-related quality of life (psychological, social, school, speech-related distress), and facial function (speech, eating/drinking). Participants were able to describe changes over time with regard to the 3 domains. Conclusions: A conceptual framework of concepts of interest to individuals with CL/P formed the basis of the scales in the CLEFT-Q. Each subdomain represents an independently functioning scale. Understanding what matters to patients is essential in guiding PRO measurement.

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