The paradox of death and the Theatre of the Absurd

The aim of the article is the presentation of some interesting and stimulating questions connected with the problem of eschatological codes in the Theatre of the Absurd. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the topos of Death in the Theatre of the Absurd. Because the subject has been underexplored so far, the author tries to triangulate the Theatre of the Absurd within the genre of drama first, and then moves on to the short reflection on chosen plays of Beckett and Ionesco, concentrating on the role that eschatological elements, funereal objects and eschatons play in them. The starting point of this paper could be called “eschatology of the Absurd” or “immortality deconstructed”. Meaninglessness, as the value of absolute meaning, the meaning (Sinn) and significance (Bedeutung) of Death in the Theatre of the Absurd, is also discussed. As a method of research, he proposes a short “collective phenomenological analysis”. To analyse the issue from a broad perspective, the author takes into account the relationships between the writers and their times, and refers to cultural sources, specifically the Paradox of Death in the Theatre –particularly in the Theatre of the Absurd

Meditations on emptiness. The Buddhist contexts in Samuel Becketts's „The Endgame" and „Happy Days"

Thanks to Buddhist contexts, present in S. Beckett's two long plays (The Endgame and The Happy Days) we understand that death, signifying the ultimate Nothingness and Emptiness appears to be the change of the perceiving substance, which getting rid of the body, is joined with the nonbodily content of the things. Beckett's doxology of the light makes it that since Life is compared to the flame, Death depicts its extinguishing, but at the same time the value of eschatological hope is expressed through Buddhist motifs (karma of the Yoga, little Buddha, nirvana, the wheel of Samsara and the like). Death is for Winnie, Hamm and Clove an internal act of transgression, touching directly the dying person, but at the same time the heroes of Beckett's plays transfer their feeling connected .with dying to the external observer (the spectator). And so Beckett achieved the dimension of the most important function of the theatre of „participation" and „initiation". Recognising Buddhist contexts in Beckett's plays, we accept Death as one of the stages of the biological cycle - being a peculiar kind of repayment of a debt to nature.Thanks to Buddhist contexts, present in S. Beckett's two long plays (The Endgame and The Happy Days) we understand that death, signifying the ultimate Nothingness and Emptiness appears to be the change of the perceiving substance, which getting rid of the body, is joined with the nonbodily content of the things. Beckett's doxology of the light makes it that since Life is compared to the flame, Death depicts its extinguishing, but at the same time the value of eschatological hope is expressed through Buddhist motifs (karma of the Yoga, little Buddha, nirvana, the wheel of Samsara and the like). Death is for Winnie, Hamm and Clove an internal act of transgression, touching directly the dying person, but at the same time the heroes of Beckett's plays transfer their feeling connected .with dying to the external observer (the spectator). And so Beckett achieved the dimension of the most important function of the theatre of „participation" and „initiation". Recognising Buddhist contexts in Beckett's plays, we accept Death as one of the stages of the biological cycle - being a peculiar kind of repayment of a debt to nature

Guidelines of the Polish Respiratory Society for diagnosis and treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Introduction: This document presents the guidelines of the Polish Respiratory Society (PTChP, Polskie Towarzystwo Chorób Płuc) for diagnosis and treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), developed by a group of Polish experts.Material and methods: The recommendations were developed in the form of answers to previously formulated questions concer-ning everyday diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. They were developed based on a current literature review using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology.Results: We formulated 28 recommendations for diagnosis (8), pharmacological treatment (12) as well as non-pharma-cological and palliative therapy (8). The experts suggest that surgical lung biopsy (SLB) not be performed in patients with the probable usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern, with an appropriate clinical context and unanimous opinion of a  multidisciplinary team. The experts recommend using antifibrotic agents in IPF patients and suggest their use irrespective of the degree of functional impairment. As regards non-pharmacological and palliative treatment, strong re-commendations were formulated regarding pulmonary rehabilitation, oxygen therapy (in patients with chronic respiratory failure), preventive vaccinations as well as referring IPF patients to transplant centres. Table 1 presents an aggregate list of recommendations.Conclusions: The Polish Respiratory Society Working Group developed guidelines for IPF diagnosis and treatment

Meditations on emptiness. The Buddhist contexts in Samuel Becketts's „The Endgame" and „Happy Days"

Thanks to Buddhist contexts, present in S. Beckett's two long plays (The Endgame and The Happy Days) we understand that death, signifying the ultimate Nothingness and Emptiness appears to be the change of the perceiving substance, which getting rid of the body, is joined with the nonbodily content of the things. Beckett's doxology of the light makes it that since Life is compared to the flame, Death depicts its extinguishing, but at the same time the value of eschatological hope is expressed through Buddhist motifs (karma of the Yoga, little Buddha, nirvana, the wheel of Samsara and the like). Death is for Winnie, Hamm and Clove an internal act of transgression, touching directly the dying person, but at the same time the heroes of Beckett's plays transfer their feeling connected .with dying to the external observer (the spectator). And so Beckett achieved the dimension of the most important function of the theatre of „participation" and „initiation". Recognising Buddhist contexts in Beckett's plays, we accept Death as one of the stages of the biological cycle - being a peculiar kind of repayment of a debt to nature

Mediterranean culture as universal Western civilization. Philosophical and literary investigations

The Author asks whether the Mediterranean culture developed a higher civilization, explicitly a European universal civilization? He tries to answer for this question having at his disposal various philosophical views, historical facts, thesis of culturologists and sociologists, often referring to the literary contexts and exemplification. In this work, the thesis that „Every civilization is a culture, but not every culture is also a civilization” has been reversed. The transition from the culture to the civilization is close to the thesis of V.S. Naipaul, who noticed, that in the 20th century a universal civilization was created, which concerns the cultural unification of humanity and the increasingly common acceptance of the common values, beliefs and customs. Analyzing the spirit of the Mediterranean civilization, the authortries to explains that it is the Western civilization, and with his rich inventory of notions of symbols, ideas, phenomenas, and creating the universal reservoir and „the pattern for the future” constantly immersed in the ancient past. Also climate – philosophy – literature – religion and politics – the idea of Living Thought), created the basic determinant of the Western civilization. Moreover, when recording the durability of logos, individualism, „circular” and pax romana lists the features of the Mediterranean culture, considering anthropocentrism and individualism as the main dominant feature

Meditations on emptiness. The Buddhist contexts in Samuel Becketts's „The Endgame" and „Happy Days"

Thanks to Buddhist contexts, present in S. Beckett's two long plays (The Endgame and The Happy Days) we understand that death, signifying the ultimate Nothingness and Emptiness appears to be the change of the perceiving substance, which getting rid of the body, is joined with the nonbodily content of the things. Beckett's doxology of the light makes it that since Life is compared to the flame, Death depicts its extinguishing, but at the same time the value of eschatological hope is expressed through Buddhist motifs (karma of the Yoga, little Buddha, nirvana, the wheel of Samsara and the like). Death is for Winnie, Hamm and Clove an internal act of transgression, touching directly the dying person, but at the same time the heroes of Beckett's plays transfer their feeling connected .with dying to the external observer (the spectator). And so Beckett achieved the dimension of the most important function of the theatre of „participation" and „initiation". Recognising Buddhist contexts in Beckett's plays, we accept Death as one of the stages of the biological cycle - being a peculiar kind of repayment of a debt to nature

Coherent supercontinuum generation up to 2.3 µm in all-solid soft-glass photonic crystal fibers with flat all-normal dispersion

Supercontinuum spanning over an octave from 900-2300 nm is reported in an all-normal dispersion, soft glass photonic crystal fiber. The all-solid microstructured fiber was engineered to achieve a normal dispersion profile flattened to within -50 to -30 ps/nm/km in the wavelength range of 1100-2700 nm. Under pumping with 75 fs pulses centered at 1550 nm, the recorded spectral flatness is 7 dB in the 930-2170 nm range, and significantly less if cladding modes present in the uncoated photonic crystal fiber are removed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an octave-spanning, all-normal dispersion supercontinuum generation in a non-silica microstructured fiber, where the spectrum long-wavelength edge is red-shifted to as far as 2300 nm. This is also an important step in moving the concept of ultrafast coherent supercontinuum generation in all-normal dispersion fibers further towards the mid-infrared spectral region

Guidelines of the Polish Respiratory Society for Diagnosis and Treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Introduction: This document presents the Guideliness of the Polish Respiratory Society (PTChP, Polskie Towarzystwo Chorób Płuc) for diagnosis and treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), developed by agroup of Polish experts. Material and methods: The recommendations were developed in the form of answers to previously formulated questions concer-ning everyday diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. They were developed based on acurrent literature review using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. Results: We formulated 28 recommendations for diagnosis (8), pharmacological treatment (12) as well as non-pharma-cological and palliative therapy (8). The experts suggest that surgical lung biopsy (SLB) not be performed in patients with the probable usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern, with an appropriate clinical context and unanimous opinion of a multidisciplinary team. The experts recommend using antifibrotic agents in IPF patients and suggest their use irrespective of the degree of functional impairment. As regards non-pharmacological and palliative treatment, strong re-commendations were formulated regarding pulmonary rehabilitation, oxygen therapy (in patients with chronic respiratory failure), preventive vaccinations as well as referring IPF patients to transplant centres. Table 1 presents an aggregate list of recommendations. Conclusions: The Polish Respiratory Society Working Group developed Guideliness for IPF diagnosis and treatment

Wytyczne Polskiego Towarzystwa Chorób Płuc dotyczące diagnostyki i leczenia idiopatycznego włóknienia płuc

Wprowadzenie: Niniejszy dokument przedstawia rekomendacje Polskiego Towarzystwa Chorób Płuc (PTChP) dotyczące diagnostyki i leczenia idiopatycznego włóknienia płuc (IPF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis), opracowane przez grono polskich ekspertów. Materiał i metody: Wytyczne opracowano w formie odpowiedzi na wcześniej sformułowane pytania, dotyczące codziennych problemów diagnostycznych i terapeutycznych. Opracowano je na podstawie bieżącego przeglądu literatury, z wykorzystaniem metodologii GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation).Wyniki: Sformułowano 28 rekomendacji, dotyczących diagnostyki (8), leczenia farmakologicznego (12) oraz leczenia niefarma-kologicznego i terapii paliatywnej (8). Eksperci sugerują niewykonywanie biopsji chirurgicznej u chorych z wzorcem prawdopo-dobnego zwykłego śródmiąższowego zapalenia płuc (UIP, usual interstitial pneumonia), przy odpowiednim kontekście klinicznym i zgodnej opinii zespołu wielospecjalistycznego. Eksperci rekomendują stosowanie leków antyfibrotycznych u chorych na IPF  i sugerują ich stosowanie niezależnie od stopnia upośledzenia czynnościowego. W zakresie leczenia niefarmakologicznego i paliatywnego sformułowano silne zalecenia dotyczące rehabilitacji oddechowej, tlenoterapii (u chorych z przewlekłą niewydolnością oddychania), szczepień ochronnych, a także kierowania chorych na IPF do ośrodków transplantacyjnych. Wnioski: Zespół roboczy PTChP opracował wytyczne diagnostyki i leczenia IPF