Sensualité des expériences mystiques chez Augustin

Dans ses Confessions, long discours qu’il adresse directement à Dieu, Augustin explique comment l’homme, inquiet de s’être détourné de Dieu par insouciance, aspire intérieurement à retourner à son créateur, et à vivre l’expérience de plénitude associée à ce retour. Mais cette quête est d’abord celle d’Augustin lui-même qui, au IV e siècle, se rappelant les étapes de sa propre conversion au christianisme, évoque deux expériences d’extase qu’il a faites de Dieu, pendant lesquelles il entre en relation directe et charnelle avec la réalité divine. Mais comment de telles expériences mystiques peuvent-elles avoir un caractère aussi sensuel, alors que, selon Augustin, l’ascension vers Dieu suppose justement de l’homme qu’il réussisse à élever son esprit au-delà des tentations charnelles ? Le présent article vise à comprendre un peu mieux ce paradoxe

Intimité, dialogue et santé : Réflexion sur le travail de proximité dans les milieux de socialisation fréquentés par les hommes gais et bisexuels

À partir des pratiques de l’organisme communautaire Action Séro Zéro, cet article propose une réflexion sur le travail de proximité à l’égard d’enjeux reliés à la vie privée. Sont prises en considération des conceptions de la prévention du VIH qui mettent en lumière les risques d’ingérence dans la vie privée. Le contexte des milieux de socialisation fréquentés par les hommes gais et bisexuels est ensuite présenté, ainsi que des exemples du travail de proximité réalisé dans ces milieux. Dans ces exemples d’intervention de proximité, le risque d’outrepasser les limites du respect de la vie privée des individus serait contrebalancé par l’utilisation de méthodes dialogiques et participatives, ainsi que par l’ancrage dans les démarches de démocratisation d’accès dans les services de santé.This article critically reflects on issues related to personal privacy raised by outreach work. It draws on examples of intervention practices used at Action Séro Zéro, a community-based organization. Theoretical conceptions of HIV prevention work are examined with regards to the possibility outreach work of this type leads to an infringement on private life. Social settings popular among gay and bisexual men are then considered alongside examples of outreach work undertaken in these settings. In these examples, the risk that outreach work might fail to respect personal privacy is countered by the dialogical and participative methods used within this work and its grounding in efforts to democratize access to health services

Sensualité des expériences mystiques chez Augustin

Dans ses Confessions, long discours qu’il adresse directement à Dieu, Augustin explique comment l’homme, inquiet de s’être détourné de Dieu par insouciance, aspire intérieurement à retourner à son créateur, et à vivre l’expérience de plénitude associée à ce retour. Mais cette quête est d’abord celle d’Augustin lui-même qui, au IV e siècle, se rappelant les étapes de sa propre conversion au christianisme, évoque deux expériences d’extase qu’il a faites de Dieu, pendant lesquelles il entre en relation directe et charnelle avec la réalité divine. Mais comment de telles expériences mystiques peuvent-elles avoir un caractère aussi sensuel, alors que, selon Augustin, l’ascension vers Dieu suppose justement de l’homme qu’il réussisse à élever son esprit au-delà des tentations charnelles? Le présent article vise à comprendre un peu mieux ce paradox

La doctrine du péché originel chez Augustin : aperçu du contexte d’émergence

Le premier verset de la Genèse raconte qu’au commencement, Dieu créa le ciel et la terre. Le monde, sa forme et sa matière, de même que le temps, soutient Augustin, surgissent alors dans l’être, à partir de rien, en un seul instant, celui de la Création. Censés couronner l’œuvre créatrice, l’homme et la femme, pourtant, ne tardent pas à rompre le lien de confiance qui les unit à leur Créateur, en faisant mauvais usage d’une chose bonne : leur liberté. À cause de sa première transgression, nous dit Augustin, l’humanité portera désormais la marque du péché, que seule la figure rédemptrice du Christ, le Second Adam, pourra effacer, grâce au pardon donné à tous ceux qui choisissent d’emprunter sa voie. Or, en raison de son désir irrépressible de connaître et de faire l’expérience du monde par le biais de son propre être donné, soumis au changement, l’homme semble perpétuellement tenté par la transgression des limites essentielles de sa relativité à Dieu. Pourtant, Dieu, l’unique créateur de l’être des choses créées, crée toute chose bonne, du moins dans une certaine mesure : le mal dont semblent caractérisés l’être même et les actions des hommes, correspond, en vérité, aux multiples degrés de bien qui résultent d’une privation plus ou moins grande du Bien suprême qu’est Dieu. Berbère de culture romaine, témoin et acteur des derniers jours de l’Antiquité, penseur bouillonnant et théologien essentiel, Augustin laissera une œuvre importante et féconde. Nous tenterons ici de comprendre le contexte d’émergence de sa doctrine du péché originel.The first verse of Genesis says that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The world, its form and matter, and time, argues Augustin, arose in Being out of nothing, in one single instant, that of the Creation. Conceived as the coronation of Creation, man, however, quickly breaks the trust relationship with his Creator, and does this by making evil use of a good thing: his free will. Because of its first transgression, says Augustine, humanity will, from now on, bear the mark of sin, which only the redemptive figure of Christ, the Second Adam, can erase, for all of those willing to follow his path. Yet, because of his irrepressible desire to acquire knowledge and experience of the world through his own given being, subject to change, man appears to be perpetually tempted by the transgression of his essential relativity to God. God, however, being the sole creator of the very being of created things, creates all things good, but to a certain degree: evil, which seems to characterize the being and actions of men, in reality, corresponds to varying degrees of goodness, which themselves result from more or less privation of the Supreme Good, namely, God. Berber of roman culture, witness and actor of the last days of Antiquity, passionate thinker and essential theologian, Augustine has produced some of humanity’s most important writings. In this work, we will attempt to understand the context which led to the emergence of his doctrine of original sin

Relation entre le contact et la distance sociale à l’égard des personnes avec une maladie mentale.

Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude s'intéressant à la relation entre l'expérience de contact avec dès personnes ayant une maladie mentale et la distance sociale exprimée à leur égard. L'échantillon est composé de 275 citoyens adultes de la région de Québec, qui se disent favorables à l'implantation d'une ressource résidentielle, dans leur voisinage immédiat, pour un groupe de deux à six personnes avec une maladie mentale. Les résultats révèlent une relation inversée entre le contact et la distance sociale. Cette relation est significative chez les deux sexes, chez les célibataires de 35 à 44 ans, les personnes mariées ou en union de fait de 45 à 54 ans et celles de 65 ans et plus. Ces sous-groupes présentent des expériences de contact plus fréquentes et plus diversifiées ainsi qu'une distance sociale exprimée plus faible. L'identification de segments cibles favorables dans la population permettra aux décideurs et responsables de la réinsertion sociale de mieux formuler et planifier des stratégies d'intervention différenciées plus efficaces pour le maintien d'une attitude de tolérance à l'égard de voisins avec une différence

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Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1987.Bibliography: leaf 50.by Robert G. Côté.B.S

Scalable Metropolis-Hastings for Exact Bayesian Inference with Large Datasets

Bayesian inference via standard Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods is too computationally intensive to handle large datasets, since the cost per step usually scales like $\Theta(n)$ in the number of data points $n$. We propose the Scalable Metropolis-Hastings (SMH) kernel that exploits Gaussian concentration of the posterior to require processing on average only $O(1)$ or even $O(1/\sqrt{n})$ data points per step. This scheme is based on a combination of factorized acceptance probabilities, procedures for fast simulation of Bernoulli processes, and control variate ideas. Contrary to many MCMC subsampling schemes such as fixed step-size Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics, our approach is exact insofar as the invariant distribution is the true posterior and not an approximation to it. We characterise the performance of our algorithm theoretically, and give realistic and verifiable conditions under which it is geometrically ergodic. This theory is borne out by empirical results that demonstrate overall performance benefits over standard Metropolis-Hastings and various subsampling algorithms

Relationship between Adherence Level to Statins, Clinical Issues and Health-Care Costs in Real-Life Clinical Setting

AbstractObjectiveStatins have been shown to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular disease. We recognize that there is a major gap between the use of statins in actual practice and treatment guidelines for dyslipidemia. Low adherence to statins may have a significant impact on clinical issues and health-care costs. The objective is to evaluate the impact of low adherence to statins on clinical issues and direct health-care costs.MethodsA cohort of 55,134 patients newly treated with statins was reconstructed from the Régie de l'Assurance Maladie du Québec and Med-Echo databases. Subjects included were aged between 45 and 85, initially free of cardiovascular disease, newly treated with statins between 1999 and 2002, and followed-up for a minimum of 3 years. Adherence to statins was measured in terms of the proportion of days' supply of medication dispensed over a defined period, and categorized as ≥80% or <80%. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) of cardiovascular events between the two adherence groups was estimated using a polytomous logistic analysis. The mean costs of direct health-care services were evaluated. A two-part model was applied for hospitalization costs.ResultsThe mean high adherence level to statins was around to 96% during follow-up; and this value was at 42% for the low adherence level. The patients with low adherence to statins were more likely to have coronary artery disease (OR 1.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01–1.13), cerebrovascular disease (OR 1.13; 95% CI 1.03–1.25), and chronic heart failure within 3-year period of follow-up (OR 1.13; 95% CI 1.01–1.26). Low adherence to statins was also associated with an increased risk of hospitalization by 4% (OR 1.04; 95% CI 1.01–1.09). Among patients who were hospitalized, low adherence to statins was significantly associated with increase of hospitalization costs by approximately $1060/patient for a 3-year period.ConclusionLow adherence to statins was correlated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, hospitalization rate, and hospitalization costs. An increased level of adherence to statins agents should provide a better health status for individuals and a net economic gain

AMUSE-Virgo II. Down-sizing in black hole accretion

(Abridged) We complete the census of nuclear X-ray activity in 100 early type Virgo galaxies observed by the Chandra X-ray Telescope as part of the AMUSE-Virgo survey, down to a (3sigma) limiting luminosity of 3.7E+38 erg/s over 0.5-7 keV. The stellar mass distribution of the targeted sample, which is mostly composed of formally `inactive' galaxies, peaks below 1E+10 M_Sun, a regime where the very existence of nuclear super-massive black holes (SMBHs) is debated. Out of 100 objects, 32 show a nuclear X-ray source, including 6 hybrid nuclei which also host a massive nuclear cluster as visible from archival HST images. After carefully accounting for contamination from nuclear low-mass X-ray binaries based on the shape and normalization of their X-ray luminosity function, we conclude that between 24-34% of the galaxies in our sample host a X-ray active SMBH (at the 95% C.L.). This sets a firm lower limit to the black hole occupation fraction in nearby bulges within a cluster environment. At face value, the active fraction -down to our luminosity limit- is found to increase with host stellar mass. However, taking into account selection effects, we find that the average Eddington-scaled X-ray luminosity scales with black hole mass as M_BH^(-0.62^{+0.13}_{-0.12}), with an intrinsic scatter of 0.46^({+0.08}_{-0.06}) dex. This finding can be interpreted as observational evidence for `down-sizing' of black hole accretion in local early types, that is, low mass black holes shine relatively closer to their Eddington limit than higher mass objects. As a consequence, the fraction of active galaxies, defined as those above a fixed X-ray Eddington ratio, decreases with increasing black hole mass.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ (no changes wrt v1

Further Definition of the Mass-Metallicity Relation in Globular Cluster Systems Around Brightest Cluster Galaxies

We combine the globular cluster data for fifteen Brightest Cluster Galaxies and use this material to trace the mass-metallicity relations (MMR) in their globular cluster systems (GCSs). This work extends previous studies which correlate the properties of the MMR with those of the host galaxy. Our combined data sets show a mean trend for the metal-poor (MP) subpopulation which corresponds to a scaling of heavy-element abundance with cluster mass Z ~ M^(0.30+/-0.05). No trend is seen for the metal-rich (MR) subpopulation which has a scaling relation that is consistent with zero. We also find that the scaling exponent is independent of the GCS specific frequency and host galaxy luminosity, except perhaps for dwarf galaxies. We present new photometry in (g',i') obtained with Gemini/GMOS for the globular cluster populations around the southern giant ellipticals NGC 5193 and IC 4329. Both galaxies have rich cluster populations which show up as normal, bimodal sequences in the colour-magnitude diagram. We test the observed MMRs and argue that they are statistically real, and not an artifact caused by the method we used. We also argue against asymmetric contamination causing the observed MMR as our mean results are no different from other contamination-free studies. Finally, we compare our method to the standard bimodal fitting method (KMM or RMIX) and find our results are consistent. Interpretation of these results is consistent with recent models for globular cluster formation in which the MMR is determined by GC self-enrichment during their brief formation period.Comment: 35 pages, 20 figures. Accepted by Astronomical Journal. Complete preprint including high resolution figures available at http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/~cockcroft/MMRpape