scholarly journals GANDHI, YOGA AND THE ISSUE OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT. IS THE NOTION OF NONVIOLENCE (AHIMSA) APPLICABLE IN HISTORY?

ARHE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (34) ◽  
pp. 311-338
Author(s):  
MARIANA DAN
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Spiritual Growth ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Large Space ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
The One ◽  
Social Level

The fact that spiritual development is needed both on an individual and social level is an issue all traditional societies were acquainted with. The laic and materialistic contemporary world is a mere historical, de-ontologized background which, while promoting individualism and competition, puts aside the trans-historical spiritual values, that have always defined man as a humane and human being, either in religion, or culture. This paper describes the motivation which was provided for man’s spiritual development in Yoga and Christianity, which had, on the one hand, a socializing, integrating function, and on the other hand, a compensatory one. Gandhi’s politics and policy founded on nonviolence and truthfulness is contrasted with man’s nihilistic nature, if not trained to develop his spiritual traits. Today’s redefinition of culture and education, which neglects man’s spiritual values, is the reason why, by contrast, we provided a large space for explaining Gandhi’s views and Yoga, which might be models to be followed even in a laic world, in which personal development should be backed up by man’s spiritual growth, if we want to survive as human beings.

scholarly journals Healing and hope: using life-coaching principles within the context of pastoral care

2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozua Viljoen ◽  
George Lotter
Keyword(s):  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Pastoral Theology ◽  
Spiritual Growth ◽  
Healing Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Care Process ◽  
Life Coaching ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One

This article is the product of a qualitative, trans-disciplinary study that aimed to explore the use of life-coaching principles within the context of pastoral care. The research relied on the theoretical underpinnings of pastoral theology and life coaching. The problem that the article considers is that, while pastors are equipped with counselling skills, most of them are not equipped with the life-coaching skills necessary to assist people with personal and spiritual growth. We argue that pastors can enhance the pastoral care process by using basic life-coaching principles. Furthermore, we propose a pastoral care process that, on the one hand, focuses on counselling that addresses the coachee’s past as part of a healing process and, on the other hand, on life-coaching principles that look to the future while encouraging growth, as well as personal and spiritual development. GENESING EN HOOP: DIE GEBRUIK VAN LEWENSAFRIGTINGSBEGINSELS BINNE DIE KONTEKS VAN PASTORALE SORG Opsomming Hierdie artikel is die produk van ‘n kwalitatiewe, trans-dissiplinêre studie wat ten doel gestel het om lewensafrigtingsbeginsels binne die konteks van pastorale sorg te ondersoek. Die beginsels van Pastorale Teologie en Lewensafrigting het die vorm die teoretiese onderbou van die studie. Die artikel besin oor die probleem dat, alhoewel pastors oor beradingsvaardighede beskik, hulle meestal nie met die nodige lewensafrigtingsvaardighede toegerus is nie en dus nie bekwaam genoeg is om mense met persoonlike en geestelike groei te help nie. Ons redeneer dat pastors die proses van pastorale sorg kan versterk deur van basiese lewensvaardigheidsbeginsels gebruik te maak. Verder stel ons voor dat die proses van pastorale sorg nie net fokus op berading waar die person wat berading ontvang se verlede in ag geneem word nie, maar ook op lewensafrigtingsbeginsels wat kyk na die toekoms, terwyl groei, asook persoonlike en spirituele ontwikkeling aangemoedig word.

Educational and therapeutic qualities of the Bones for Life method – Third Age University lectures

Physiotherapy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Salamon-Krakowska ◽  
Ewa Ławreszuk ◽  
Agnieszka Stępień
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Senior Citizens ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Ethical Aspect ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Third Age ◽  
The World ◽  
The One

AbstractThe advantages of the Bones for Life method (BFL) when working with the elderly cannot be overestimated. Bones for Life method may constitute an example of a modern practice of oneself, an example of empowerment which differs from the one offered by mass culture. Thanks to its philosophical underpinnings and consistency the BFL method is holistic in its approach i.e. it addresses the physical as well as the spiritual aspect of human nature thus avoiding treating instrumentally the psycho-physical unity of human beings. What is also significant in the BFL method is its ethical aspect as it combines therapeutic and educational qualities. Its constitutes an integral part of somatic education (a branch of knowledge still little known in Poland) and thus fosters personal development irrespective of the person’s age. Given the increase in demand for different forms of activity tailored for senior citizens perhaps we ought to take a closer look at methods well-known and practised elsewhere in the world.

Maintaining Quality Control in Christian Missions

1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Tollefson
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Spiritual Growth ◽  
Transition Phase ◽  
Universal Method ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Hellenistic Judaism ◽  
The Church

Quality control is important in the church and in industry. Two methods for maintaining quality control in the church are membership criteria and external persecution. Traditional societies, Hellenistic Judaism, and the post-apostolic church exercised quality control through the monitoring of minimum standards maintained during the transition phase in rites of passage. Candidates during the transition phase lose their former status and so seek new identities and acquire new skills to qualify for new statuses. Few other occasions in life provide a more significant pedagogical opportunity for promoting personal development and spiritual growth. It is the universal method par excellence for maintaining quality control in societies.

scholarly journals Rozkład świata na miarę człowieka: współczesność z perspektywy słoweńskiego dramatopisarstwa

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
Krištof Jacek Kozak
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Dramatic Works ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
The One ◽  
Political Economic

The layout of the world tailored to the human. Contemporary world in Slovenian drama.This paper deals with the present-day Slovenian dramatic works facing the challenges of the contemporary world on the one hand and the consequent changes our society has been subject to on the other. Particular attention is paid to three main topics: discarded human beings or G. Agamben’s homines sacri, globalization or, in other words, “liquidity” of the modern world cf. Z. Bauman’s infamous definition, and the devolution of both Christian as well as Enlightenment values and norms. By way of an in-depth analysis, the paper will bring into picture sociological, anthropological, political, economic and other perspectives in the newest Slovenian drama. The paper’s central argument will be the present-day emptiness of norms such as the Decalogue or Kant’s categorical imperative. Such an up-to-date account of the dramatic endeavours in Slovenia necessarily paints a rather morbid picture of our contemporary world. Načrt sveta, narejenega po človekovi meri: sodobna slovenska drama tika.Pričujoči članek se ukvarja s sodobnimi slovenskimi dramskimi deli, ki se spopadajo z izzivi današnjega sveta z ene in posledičnimi spremem­bami naše družbe z druge strani. Posebno pozornost posveča trem osrednjim temam: odpisanim človeškim bitjem oziroma Agambenovim homines sacri, globalizaciji ali, z drugimi besedami, „tekočosti“ sodobnega sveta prim. neslavno definicijo Z. Baumana in razkroju tako krščanskih kot razsvetljenskih vrednot in norm. S pomočjo poglobljene analize osvetli članek sociološke, antropološke, politične, ekonomske in druge perspektive v najnovejših slovenskih dramah. Osrednji argument v članku je sodobna izpraznjenost norm, kot je na primer deset božjih zapovedi ali Kantov kategorični imperativ. Takšno posodobljeno poročilo o slovenskih dramskih prizadevanjih nujno kažejo precej morbidno sliko našega današnjega sveta. 

scholarly journals Hypertextuality of the Slovenian World Wide Web

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 469-489
Author(s):  
Gregor Petrič
Keyword(s):  
World Wide Web ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Similar Distribution ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

The substantial concern of this article is a question to what extent does the contemporary World Wide Web as an information retrieval system reflect key attributes of ideal hypertextual systems. The topic is relevant, since in the literature notions of hypertext and hypertextual systems are accompanied with strong implications not only for the ease and efficacy of access to information, but also for fostering democratisation, augmenting creativity and cooperativeness of human beings. After the brief presentation of the problem the paper focuses on the methodology of analysing this problem – definition of relevant dimensions of hypertext in the World Wide Web, their operationalisation and empirical verification. The latter is presented most thoroughly since it includes a procedure of generating a network of web sites in the Slovenian World Wide Web on the basis of approximately 1.8 million of web pages, identified by search system Najdi.si. After the definition of units and relations, relevant methods and their results are presented in order to assess the hypertextuality of the Slovenian World Wide Web. It is shown that a relatively great proportion of web sites do not follow the expectation of the designers of the World Wide Web technology for it to be a globally interconnected "Docuverse", however, a large minority of web sites are in aggregate reflecting the attributes of ideal hypertext systems. The results can be informative for the global World Wide Web since one of the essential characteristics of the Slovenian World Wide Web have similar distribution to the one assessed in other researches on significantly larger - although not adequate for complete network analysis - proportions of the World Wide Web.

Freedom and Responsibility in Neoplatonist Thought

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula Coope
Keyword(s):  
First Principle ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Soul ◽  
The One ◽  
Freedom And Responsibility

The Neoplatonists have a perfectionist view of freedom: an entity is free to the extent that it succeeds in making itself good. Free entities are wholly in control of themselves: they are self-determining, self-constituting, and self-knowing. Neoplatonist philosophers argue that such freedom is only possible for nonbodily things. The human soul is free insofar as it rises above bodily things and engages in intellection, but when it turns its desires to bodily things, it is drawn under the sway of fate and becomes enslaved. This book discusses this notion of freedom, and its relation to questions about responsibility. It explains the important role of notions of self-reflexivity in Neoplatonist accounts of both freedom and responsibility. Part I sets out the puzzles Neoplatonist philosophers face about freedom and responsibility and explains how these puzzles arise from earlier discussions. Part II looks at the metaphysical underpinnings of the Neoplatonist notion of freedom (concentrating especially on the views of Plotinus and Proclus). In what sense (if any) is the ultimate first principle of everything (the One) free? If everything else is under this ultimate first principle, how can anything other than the One be free? What is the connection between freedom and nonbodiliness? Part III looks at questions about responsibility, arising from this perfectionist view of freedom. Why are human beings responsible for their behaviour, in a way that other animals are not? If we are enslaved when we act viciously, how can we be to blame for our vicious actions and choices?

scholarly journals Pro-Environmental Behavior in an Aging World: Evidence from 31 Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1748
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Feng Hao ◽  
Yunxia Liu
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Environmental Behavior ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Individual

Population change and environmental degradation have become two of the most pressing issues for sustainable development in the contemporary world, while the effect of population aging on pro-environmental behavior remains controversial. In this paper, we examine the effects of individual and population aging on pro-environmental behavior through multilevel analyses of cross-national data from 31 countries. Hierarchical linear models with random intercepts are employed to analyze the data. The findings reveal a positive relationship between aging and pro-environmental behavior. At the individual level, older people are more likely to participate in environmental behavior (b = 0.052, p < 0.001), and at the national level, living in a country with a greater share of older persons encourages individuals to behave sustainably (b = 0.023, p < 0.01). We also found that the elderly are more environmentally active in an aging society. The findings imply that the longevity of human beings may offer opportunities for the improvement of the natural environment.

scholarly journals Bio-Inspired Modality Fusion for Active Speaker Detection

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 3397
Author(s):  
Gustavo Assunção ◽  
Nuno Gonçalves ◽  
Paulo Menezes
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Validation Process ◽  
Detection Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Speaker Detection ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Fusion Ability

Human beings have developed fantastic abilities to integrate information from various sensory sources exploring their inherent complementarity. Perceptual capabilities are therefore heightened, enabling, for instance, the well-known "cocktail party" and McGurk effects, i.e., speech disambiguation from a panoply of sound signals. This fusion ability is also key in refining the perception of sound source location, as in distinguishing whose voice is being heard in a group conversation. Furthermore, neuroscience has successfully identified the superior colliculus region in the brain as the one responsible for this modality fusion, with a handful of biological models having been proposed to approach its underlying neurophysiological process. Deriving inspiration from one of these models, this paper presents a methodology for effectively fusing correlated auditory and visual information for active speaker detection. Such an ability can have a wide range of applications, from teleconferencing systems to social robotics. The detection approach initially routes auditory and visual information through two specialized neural network structures. The resulting embeddings are fused via a novel layer based on the superior colliculus, whose topological structure emulates spatial neuron cross-mapping of unimodal perceptual fields. The validation process employed two publicly available datasets, with achieved results confirming and greatly surpassing initial expectations.

scholarly journals Two Conceptions of Second Nature

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg W. Bertram
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Open Future ◽  
Second Nature ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
Cognitive Activities ◽  
The Open Future ◽  
The One ◽  
First Nature

AbstractThe concept of second nature promises to provide an explanation of how nature and reason can be reconciled. But the concept is laden with ambiguity. On the one hand, second nature is understood as that which binds together all cognitive activities. On the other hand, second nature is conceived of as a kind of nature that can be changed by cognitive activities. The paper tries to investigate this ambiguity by distinguishing a Kantian conception of second nature from a Hegelian conception. It argues that the idea of a transformation from a being of first nature into a being of second nature that stands at the heart of the Kantian conception is mistaken. The Hegelian conception demonstrates that the transformation in question takes place within second nature itself. Thus, the Hegelian conception allows us to understand the way in which second nature is not structurally isomorphic with first nature: It is a process of ongoing selftransformation that is not primarily determined by how the world is, but rather by commitments out of which human beings are bound to the open future.

The Metaphysics of Jonathan Edwards’s “Personal Narrative”: Continuous Creation, Personal Identity, and Spiritual Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-206
Author(s):  
Christopher Woznicki
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
Continuous Creation ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
The One

Summary Central to evangelical piety is the theme of “conversionism”. Among historical figures who embody this characteristic of evangelical piety one finds that Jonathan Edwards plays an important role, in part, because of his 1740 “Personal Narrative”. In this essay I examine the metaphysics underlying Edwards’s view of conversion in his “Personal Narrative”. Special attention is given to Edwards’s doctrine of continuous creation and to a feature that underlies his understanding of spiritual development, namely the One-Subject Criterion. I weigh two options for how Edwards may coherently hold to continuous creation and the One-Subject Criterion: Mark Hamilton’s relative realism/endurance account and Edwardsean Anti-Criterialism. I conclude that given the textual evidence Edwardsean Anti-Criterialism is to be preferred over Hamilton’s view.

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