personal transformation
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2021 ◽  
pp. 147797142110420
Author(s):  
Tanuj Negi ◽  
Shashi Jain

A common observation in Transformative Learning (TL) literature is the scarcity of ways to gauge the extent of personal transformation. This is despite a recorded history of more than four decades and the existence of multiple schools of thought in TL. Also, there has been insufficient exploration of the personal transformation of profession changers in the TL space. We believe it is important to operationalize the key concepts of the TL theory through quantitative methods to make way for newer insights. In this paper, using the case of profession changers from India, we extend Mezirow’s work on six types of ‘Habits of Mind’ beyond their original conceptualization by identifying constituent latent factors. We examine and establish the reliability and validity of these factors and recommend a factor-based scale approach for application.


Author(s):  
Carmen García Navarro

This paper explores Anne Carson’s “Kinds of Water: An Essay on the Road to Compostela,” the author’s journal on her pilgrimage to Santiago. Taking water as a metaphor for the Camino, the text reflects the creative dimension of the pilgrimage both from an artistic and personal standpoint. Alternative discourses of the female writer and pilgrim occur in a text that is an essay and a meditation on the forms of resilience put into practice by Carson after facing a series of personal losses. The progressive construction of self-knowledge is seen as an emancipatory act that transcended Carson’s mourning period in her experience, which she took as an opportunity to embrace personal transformation. I suggest that my approach can bring useful perspectives not only to further and refine knowledge on Carson in Spain but also for the consideration of resilience as an aspect that contributes to the critical understanding of narratives of individual and social transformation.


Metamorphosis ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 097262252110490
Author(s):  
Umashankar K ◽  
Charitra HG

The contemporary human civilization has reached the peaks of accomplishment in various knowledge domains. However, people are so obsessed with their extrinsic achievements that they have forgotten to see the psychological damage caused to themselves. So, it is very crucial to explore the remedies for psychological aberrations caused by the strains of modernization. In this regard, the research article attempts to explore two psychological frameworks: Vivekananda’s Karma Yoga and Seligman’s PERMA (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) Model. Vivekananda’s Karma Yoga places character as the centre of influence and the positive character produces appropriate behavioural or cognitive patterns. He also infers on other dimensions of positive psychology such as integration of three Gunas (Samkhya Philosophy), altruism in work and the concept of Vasudeva Kutumbakam. Besides, the article tries conceptualizing the dimensions of Karma Yoga with the PERMA Model. Seligman’s PERMA Model acts as the foundation to the western concept of positive psychology and offers objective strategies to nurture positivity in people. Although there is a subjective or objective variation in these Indian and Western frameworks, there is a commonality in each dimension of these frameworks. The research article tries to exemplify commonalities among these dimensions and their applicability in achieving personal transformation. The article also exemplifies the application value of Karma Yoga and PERMA model at the workplace and how these two frameworks may be integrated to infuse more intrinsic and extrinsic positivity in the professionals. The scope of the conceptual study is widely elaborated in the article and it may be an enlightening outcome for the professional working in the corporate world.


Author(s):  
Cecilia Inkol

This article introduces the philosophical underpinnings, themes and approaches explored in the audiovisual essay The Mystery of Melusine (2021). Its footage consists of a dramatic performance in which I am enacting the contents of a philosophical poem authored by myself as the titular character. The narrative of the film essay explores the nature of truth and espouses an ontology of magic through a re-interpretation of the myth of Melusine. In European folklore, Melusine is the reclusive and mysterious wife who agrees to marry upon the condition that she is granted her privacy every Saturday. On Saturdays, she spends her solitude secretly bathing her fish tail until one day her husband peeps through the keyhole of her bathing chamber. She learns he has broken his promise to not impede her privacy, and so she evanesces. In my film essay, Melusine is a metaphor for the secretiveness and elusiveness of truth, and the way life unfurls itself in secretive and clandestine ways. The notion of truth as elusive and secretive derives its inspiration from the philosopher Martin Heidegger, and this film essay can be considered a mythic interpretation of some of his ideas. In addition to a mythic interpretation of truth, the film essay provides a narrative for the way life meets itself through otherness and recounts the journey of personal transformation in which the querent must reconcile to truth; this is elaborated as a process of self-seeing and self-recognition that takes place through the alien other.


Author(s):  
Edwin Afriyie

This paper is an investigation of the efficacy of hymns and their impact on personality. The investigation was aimed at addressing ‘the problem of the relationship of hymnody and discipline, self-regulation which results in guarded behaviour reflecting in speech, personal appearance, and conduct within the Ghanaian society.’ The investigation was against the backdrop of the perception that hymnody influences devoted singers with the power to shape personality and bring about character transformation. The objective of the investigation was to spike the hymnody effect within society. The theory of personal transformation combined the qualitative design. The study consisted of a single question to determine the most predominant view about hymnody in hymn-singing churches in Accra and Kumasi. Findings indicated that 41% of 300 informants confirmed hymnody as powerful and transformative, but elitist and excluded the non-literate. Eurocentric and Afrocentric perspectives attended the analysis of Hymnody. The study concluded that hymnody is beneficial to mood and character change to stimulate the transformation of soul and mind, leading to the growth of the inner man as a function of discipline. Thus, a reference to the notions of pedagogy and discipline are underscored as transforming outcomes of devoted hymnody participation. The paper’s contribution to knowledge lies in its focus on the role of hymnody, a religious ritual, as catalyzing the development of the discipline ethic to engage the attention of the academy for further research. Keywords: Discipline, Ghana, Hymnody, Personality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Newson ◽  
Ragini Khurana ◽  
Freya Cazorla ◽  
Valerie van Mulukom

Psychoactive drugs have been central to many human group rituals throughout modern human evolution. Despite such experiences often being inherently social, bonding and associated prosocial behaviors have rarely been empirically tested as an outcome. Here we investigate a novel measure of the mechanisms that generate altered states of consciousness during group rituals, the 4Ds: dance, drums, sleep deprivation, and drugs. We conducted a retrospective online survey examining experiences at a highly ritualized cultural phenomenon where drug use is relatively uninhibited- raves and illegal free parties. Engaging in the 4Ds at raves or free parties was associated with personal transformation for those who experienced the event as awe-inspiring, especially for people with open personalities (n = 481). Without awe, or a ritual context, indulging in the 4Ds was associated with a lack of personal growth, or anomie. A complex SEM revealed that personal transformation following awe-inspiring raves was associated with bonding to other ravers and prosocial behavior toward this group at a cost to self in a simple economic game. Bonding to humanity was not associated with these events. The findings suggest that employing the 4Ds in a ritualized environment - particularly dancing and drug use – can help build meaningful social bonds with associated positive behavioral outcomes.


Author(s):  
Yael Dansac

Ethnographical studies increasingly testify the conversion of archaeological sites into places used for a myriad of spiritual purposes associated to the culture of personal transformation. Analyzing data gathered at contemporary spiritual practices held in Carnac, a megalithic site located in northwest France, this article argues that the resignification of ancient places as ‘sacred’ and ‘energetic’ is a strategy to develop and enact inner search and work on the self. Collected data provides understanding on the actor’s conceptualizations and uses given to this place, while also suggesting further inquiries to assess the relations between spirituality, personal transformation and the enchantment of archaeological sites.


2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-101
Author(s):  
Meng Huat Chau ◽  
◽  
Krishnavanie Shunmugam

In this article, we explore teacher agency through the notion of teacher as changemaker by drawing upon our experiences in both school and university contexts. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we present a personal account of our combined professional experiences of over half a century with how agency is exercised and achieved in our classroom and beyond. This consists of a series of reflections from the classes we have taught and individual students we have mentored, to our response to research and curriculum development. In these reflections, wherever relevant, we highlight what informs our decision-making and motivates our action from merely ‘getting our job done’ to a more humanistic engagement with teaching, mentoring and other professional activities. Second, we evaluate our earlier discussion against the backdrop of the notion of teacher as changemaker. We conclude by highlighting that teachers as changemakers are individuals concerned with personal transformation and growth, that they are committed to empowering others’ lives, and that they enable others to be changemakers.


Author(s):  
Meaghan E. Fullerton

This autoethnographic study explores the process of cultivating a culturally safe and critically reflexive counselling practice in Indigenous contexts, an orientation that is imperative for settlers to work ethically with Indigenous clients, families, and communities. Any other approach risks recreating experiences of colonial violence in subtle or overt ways and eroding the therapeutic relationship. Research data generation included reflexive writing and interactive interviews with one female counselling therapists (aged 28) who, as a settler, has worked in multiple Indigenous communities. The analysis involved triangulation and using critical reflection and an understanding of cultural safety to interpret and learn from the data. Becoming unsettled is an emotionally evocative experience, but reflecting critically on discomforting emotions, reactions, and experiences is an essential component of personal transformation. Settlers cannot engage theoretically in decolonizing but rather must experience it first as individuals and then as ethically responsible citizens willing to challenge dominant cultural narratives and to help foster a more just society.


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