Visual Compassion for Women’s Empowerment

Little attention has been given to principles of Buddhist moral conduct in the West. There are ten virtuous actions of Buddhist moral conduct, called the Ten Virtuous Deeds of the Bodhisattvas. Drawing from the works of contemporary women thinkers and artists, this article considers how the beauty of human nature and spirituality can be cultivated based on Buddhist feminist perspectives. There are many oppressed women in Asian countries whose voices are not heard in society. Buddhist feminism based on the Ten Virtuous Deeds of the Bodhisattvas can probe deeply into the heart of the moral issues and nurture the powerful flow of spiritual energy for the women. This is a theoretical study that elaborates on women’s struggle for their liberation as inspired by the art of Rima Fujita.

Construct Dimensionality of Personal Energy at Work and Its Relationship with Health, Absenteeism and Productivity

Personal energy at work has become a popular topic among HRM scholars and practitioners because it has proven to impact performance. Based on the outcomes of previous research and the call for further exploration of the construct of personal energy at work, we executed this quantitative study. We explored the factor structure of the construct and its relationships with health and productivity by examining the construct that addresses four dimensions: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. Data were collected from 256 employees in an international health tech company and used to analyze construct dimensionality and relationships with health, absenteeism and productivity. The results provided support for the four-dimensional structure of personal energy at work and show that the construct of personal energy at work is related to the outcomes of health, absenteeism and productivity. Implications for theory and practice, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

JOHREI E O ESPÍRITO DA PALAVRA

O Johrei é uma prática distintiva da Igreja Messiânica Mundial do Brasil (IMMB) que se refere ao bem-estar físico, mas especialmente ao bem-estar espiritual. Entendido e praticado pelos membros da IMMB como uma forma de cura espiritual e material, o Johrei se caracteriza pela transmissão de energia espiritual por imposição de mãos e guarda, em sua elaboração conceitual, um elemento filosófico e teológico importante: a força espiritual das palavras. É sobre isso o artigo que agora apresento. Palavras-chave: Sekai Kyusei-Kyo, Johrei, Filosofia da Religião Abstract: Johrei is a distinctive Igreja Messiânica Mundial do Brasil (IMMB)'s practice, which refers to physical well-being, yet especially spiritual one. Understood and practiced by IMMB members as a form of spiritual and material healing, Johrei is characterized by the transmission of spiritual energy by laying on of hands and guarding, in its conceptual elaboration, an important philosophical and theological element: the spiritual force of speech. This is the subject of the below essay. Keywords: Sekai Kyusei-Kyo, Johrei, Philosophy of Religion

From Meditation to Bliss: Achieving the Heights of Progressive Spiritual Energy through Kirtan Singing in American Gaudiya Vaishnava Hinduism

Kirtan is a musical worship practice from India that involves the congregational performance of sacred chants and mantras in call-and-response format. The style of kirtan performed within Gaudiya Vaishnava Hinduism is an expression of Bhakti Yoga, “the yoga of love and devotion”, and focuses on creating a personal, playful, and emotionally intense connection between the worshipper and their god—specifically, through words and sounds whose vibration is believed to carry the literal presence of Krishna. Kirtan is one of many Indian genres that uses musical techniques to move participants through a progression of spiritual states from meditation to ecstasy. Kirtan-singing has become internationally popular in recent decades, largely thanks to the efforts of the Hare Krishna movement, which has led to extensive hybridization of musical styles and cultural approaches to kirtan adapted to the needs of a diasporic, globalized community of worshippers. This essay explores the practice of kirtan in the United States through interviews, fieldwork, and analysis of recordings made at several Krishna temples and festivals that demonstrate the musical techniques that can be spontaneously deployed in acts of collective worship in order to create intense feelings of deep, focused meditation and uninhibited, expressive bliss.

Rock: Symbol of Self in the Process of Individualization - Alchemy Transformation in Sandplay Therapy -

This study investigated the process leading to individuation by examining the symbolism of rocks that emerged from sandplay therapy for a middle-aged woman from the perspective of analytical psychology and alchemy. The rock symbolizes an unchangeable life force, nurturing, recovery, source of living water, grave, and place in contact with spiritual energy. The alchemical process of creating new substances using existing substances proceeds in the order of calcification, dissolution, solidification, sublimation, decay, separation, and unity. In this study, the client expressed her unconscious through the rocks in the sand tray, which corresponded to the calcification of alchemy. Afterwards, the client expressed feelings such as despair and sadness that existed deeply within her, which were linked to the process of dissolution and coagulation of alchemy. Finally, the client could proceed with the process of individuation through self-integration with her shadow by accepting the suppression and wounds of her heart that were suppressed for a long time in consciousness, which is connected with the process of sublimation, corruption, separation, and unity in alchemy. The process of individuation involves completing the true Self by integrating the Self that exists inside the individual. We can integrate these processes through a confrontational dialogue between consciousness and the unconscious through symbols.

The Role of the Ancestors in Healing: A Zululand Follow up Study

Ancestral consciousness, reverence, beliefs, and practices, forms an essential foundation for religion and healing. African religion and healing are based on the interconnectedness of all life, including ancestral heritage linked to an original creative Source, usually known through dreams via the extended family, community and collective unconscious. People only exist because of their ancestors’ gift of life and nurturance. Zulu people traditionally recognize and honour ancestors as the existential foundation for all humanization and socialization. Motivation for this study arose because of the popularity of a previous Zululand study on the role of the ancestors in healing, as well as the more recent one on coping with COVID-19. A convenience sample of twelve participants was asked to describe their understanding of the role of the ancestors in healing. Respondents indicated that although ancestors are typically not healers, unless they occupied healing roles in life such as Shembe, in their closer connection to the Creator/God, they play various roles in healing. The most important roles were of guidance, protection, direction, advice, warning, presence, communication, mediation, and intervention. The implications of these healing roles are discussed with special reference to Zulu indigenous healers. In addition to common components of healing found throughout the planet, Zulu healing is holistically interconnected with everyday life and death, as facilitated by indigenous healers through ancestors (amadlozi) breath/soul (umphefumulo), spiritual energy (umoya), humanity (ubuntu) and coherent communication (masihambisana).

Literary Discourse as a Cognitive Dialogue About «Language as the House of Spirit»

The article is focused on the diversity of literary discourse which is viewed through the prism of “the internal life of the text” and is considered as a dialogue within “the life and power” of the language. As an object of interdisciplinary scientific research literary discourse is perceived as a complex metalinguistic phenomenon, which is inherently dialogic in its character and able to generate certain reality in which modern human beings live and act. In the triad “discourse – language – language personality” the median marker is viewed as “the house of being” (M. Heidegger), “the spirit of the nation” (W. Humboldt), which allows for the understanding of flickering ideas standing behind the creativity of a modern poet.This paper provides the interpretation of the linguistic dynamics of textual space as one of the possible methods of understanding “the life and power” of the text, which helps to objectively represent the notion of “language as the house of spirit” and the spirituality of modern poetry.The purpose of the article is to study the discourse of a literary work of art as a cognitive dialogue about “language as the house of spirit” and reveal the dynamics of “the spirit” within “the soul of the text”. It should be underlined that the multidimensional character of literary discourse provides for several levels in studying a literary text:Level 1: “the text and the reality”;Level 2: “the text and the language”;Level 3: “the author and the text”;Level 4: “the reader and the text”.The research is based on the analysis of the poetic essays by Tamara Sokolskaya – “The Honesuckle” and “Poetic Ariozo. G#HF#E”.The methods employed in the paper include modeling and interpretation of the linguistic dynamics of the textual space, contrastive and synergetic analysis of the “life and power” of the text and the method of conceptual analysis.The findings of the research comprise the following the results:1. Literary discourse is specific in its multidimensional character and the variety of expressed ideas, which sets it apart from other types of discourse;2. This multidimensional character of literary discourse reveals the complexity of the spiritual life of the author of the text.3. The synergy in the dynamics of textual units demonstrates spiritual content of modern poetry which exists at different levels of consciousness.4. Literary discourse serves as the material realization of the spiritual energy of a person.5. Literary discourse should be viewed as a cognitive dialogue about “language as the house of spirit” which reveals “the dialectic of the spirit” of the author and the dynamics of “the life and power” of the text as a multicultural language code representing the spiritual energy of the nation.

Reflection

The concept of power in Fulani and Bamana metaphysics, derived from indigenous traditions according to the Fulani traditionalist Amadou Hampaté Bâ, stems from the archetype represented by the word. This archetype originates from the Supreme Force, which is an aspect of the Supreme Being, who creates through the power of the verb. Power, in this sense, multiple in its omnipresence and one in terms of its source, is at the same time spiritual energy and its physical manifestations in the world. To access this power, the human being has to reach a state of internal equilibrium through diverse initiations. These initiations facilitate the human being’s perception and expression of the sacred forces through speech, helping to recognize their sacred polyvalence and encourage human reflection of divine speech. The appropriate management of invisible forces leads the human being to become at once the guarantor of harmony and the interlocutor of God.

INTERCONNEC TERCONNECTION OF L TION OF LANGUAGE AND CUL GE AND CULTURE IN THE TURE IN THE WORLD LITERATURE

Background. The language, reflecting the originality of the people, the national spirit, the national vision of the world, the national culture, represents the united spiritual energy of the people, which is imprinted in certain sounds. The "national spirit" is the driving force behind the development of the language. "Language is a constantly renewed work of the spirit to make the articulated sound suitable for the expression of thought." The concept of "internal form" is considered in connection with the concept of "national spirit". The most important attribute of language, Humboldt singles out the "linguistic internal form", which means the totality of the laws of language reproduction, the laws according to which the spirit acts. Methods. Language is recognized as a mediator between reality and consciousness, since the world as an “inexhaustible 'continuum of diversity'”, offering us an infinite number of classifications of these varieties, does not impose any of them. Reality and its proposed classifications are reflected not directly in the language, but in consciousness, which fixes this reflection in conventional signs. Results.