4,803 research outputs found
Developing Communities of Practical Wisdom: An Exercise in the Synthesis of Memory, Religion and Pragmatism in Religious Studies at GSU
There is an ancient tension between the values of being and doing, with, at various times, doing garnering the more important position. In truth, both are important and matter. There are reciprocity and rhythm in the cycle of being, learning, doing, and reflection where all dimensions inform the next. Hans Georg Gadamer (1982) wrote similarly that understanding, interpretation, and application were in relationship such that the individual components could not be separated. Religious Studies stands as a discipline at the juncture of both being and doing: awareness and appreciation for diverse cultural, spiritual, and value dimensions. It also poses the questions What is the value of religiously or spiritually-informed action in contemporary times? How do memory and tradition inform us, but not keep us constrained in boxes? How can we courageously step away and step out to use all that we know to meet what is yet unknown
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Remission from Depression in the DSM: Moving from Rhetoric to Restoration
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, 5th Edition, the most recent edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
uses the term âremissionâ to describe the reduction of
depressive symptoms. This paper argues that by categorizing
someone who no longer has depressive symptoms as
âin remission,â that person may feel indefinitely tied to his
or her diagnosis. Considering the unfortunate stigma associated
with mental illness, permanent linkage to diagnosis
through records and professional memory may cause individuals
to internalize pathology. In fact, the language of the
diagnosis can affect self-perception in sensitive souls for
a lifetime. As an implication for practice, we propose that
cognitive and narrative therapy approaches, mood-memoirs,
and use of metaphor present alternative uses of language
that can reduce power imbalances between clinicians
and clients, providing a bridge to healing
Dying Alone and Lonely Dying: Media Discourse and Pandemic Conditions
© 2020 The Authors. Background and objectives
This paper explores current concerns and practice related to older people dying alone in Intensive Care Units, care homes, and at home through media discussions during the Covid-19 pandemic and before. It addresses the historically-situated concept of a good death and a bad death and suggests why dying alone, whether completely alone or without significant others physically present, may be considered a bad death.
Methods
As evidence for collective fears about dying alone, we explored the treatment of these deaths in media using headline examples from the US New York Times and the English Guardian newspaper from the 19th century through Sept. 2020.
Results
A search of the New York Times located 39 articles with either lonely dying or lonely death in the headline. The Guardian had 25 articles with use of the term, but unlike the New York Times, no obituaries were included. Although the deaths profiled were deemed unusual, deaths by suicide were only minimally classed as dying alone. The condition of dying alone is represented as a stigmatised death. Themes addressed: 1) dying alone is a nonnormative event; 2) this death matters; and 3) where people die alone, societies should honour the death and learn from it.
Discussion and implications
Contemporary dying involves conditions for which we are unprepared as a society. We seldom address our civic obligations to each other. Few people have discussed their wishes about their preferences in dying and whether and how they want to be accompanied at their death, if possible. This is an invisible constraint of modern healthcare. Because of limited discussions and preparation, these deaths may lead to disenfranchised grief for the mourners. Cultural and societal responses to lonely dying are important in easing the emotional burden of dying alone, helping individuals prepare for this possibility and better integrating death with the life course. Recommendations include inclusion of accompaniment/nonaccompaniment at death as part of advance care planning and mitigation if this condition occurs. It is essential for individuals to find their own still point of acceptance within competing societal narratives of privileging the self in dying alone and the value of social connection
Consumer Competence Strategies, Spiritually Inspired Core Values and Locus of Control: What Are the Links?
© 2019 by the authors. Ethical consumption has increased as a result of a more pressing environmental agenda, allowing consumers to assert their core values through marketplace decisions. The progressive secularisation of society has opened a gap on how religion and spirituality, defined in this paper as constructs that underpin core values, affect individuals through their consumption choices. An exploratory approach was taken in this research to investigate how consumers negotiate their daily shopping habits, whether they align with or diverge from their religious or secular core values, and whether an internal or external locus of control (LoC) was demonstrated. This qualitative study used the theory of reasoned action and applied an interpretative paradigm, being most interested in the lived experience of the 25 participants. They were recruited from religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds, following a purposeful sampling strategy. The participants kept a 2-week daily diary detailing spending decisions and were interviewed, also to provide the opportunity to discuss their diary entries. Findings reveal the direction of linkage between constructs such as core values, LoC orientation and Consumer Competence strategies. The study also revealed how religious participants were subject to a moral dualism that at times created dissonance between their core values and their consumer behaviour
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Older Adults Walking the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage: motivations, transformations, and spiritual perspectives
© The Author(s) 2020. This mixed-method study describes reasons that older people chose to complete the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain and their assessment of how they were changed by the experience. The study is framed in Maslowâs (1988) self-actualization and Tornstamâs (2005) concept of gerotranscendence. We analyzed a subset of 121 participants age 65 and over who completed an online survey. Motivation included five themes: gratitude and transitions, cultural or historical curiosity. relationships, challenge and adventure, and spirituality. Transformations since their return involved greater strength, self-understanding, peace, desire to live lightly and to integrate their experience. Older individuals who walked the Camino have done so for a variety of reasons. Spiritual reasons may be more difficult to disclose. Half responded in the open-ended question, but a later spirituality question added many more respondents. Older people envision many forms of benefit to walking the pilgrimage and find growth in the experience
Kahler Stabilized, Modular Invariant Heterotic String Models
We review the theory and phenomenology of effective supergravity theories
based on orbifold compactifications of the weakly-coupled heterotic string. In
particular, we consider theories in which the four-dimensional theory displays
target space modular invariance and where the dilatonic mode undergoes Kahler
stabilization. A self-contained exposition of effective Lagrangian approaches
to gaugino condensation and heterotic string theory is presented, leading to
the development of the models of Binetruy, Gaillard and Wu. Various aspects of
the phenomenology of this class of models are considered. These include issues
of supersymmetry breaking and superpartner spectra, the role of anomalous U(1)
factors, issues of flavor and R-parity conservation, collider signatures, axion
physics, and early universe cosmology. For the vast majority of
phenomenological considerations the theories reviewed here compare quite
favorably to other string-derived models in the literature. Theoretical
objections to the framework and directions for further research are identified
and discussed.Comment: Invited review article for International Journal of Modern Physic
FIRST J102347.6+003841: The First Radio-Selected Cataclysmic Variable
We have identified the 1.4 GHz radio source FIRST J102347.6+003841 (hereafter
FIRST J1023+0038) with a previously unknown 17th-mag Galactic cataclysmic
variable (CV). The optical spectrum resembles that of a magnetic (AM Herculis-
or DQ Herculis-type) CV. Five nights of optical CCD photometry showed
variations on timescales of minutes to hours, along with rapid flickering. A
re-examination of the FIRST radio survey data reveals that the radio detection
was based on a single 6.6 mJy flare; on two other occasions the source was
below the ~1 mJy survey limit. Several other magnetic CVs are known to be
variable radio sources, suggesting that FIRST J1023+0038 is a new member of
this class (and the first CV to be discovered on the basis of radio emission).
However, FIRST J1023+0038 is several optical magnitudes fainter than the other
radio-detected magnetic CVs. It remains unclear whether the source simply had a
very rare and extraordinarily intense radio flare at the time of the FIRST
observation, or is really an unusually radio-luminous CV; thus further
observations are urged.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; accepted for December 2002 issue of Publications
of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi
Exploration and exploitation in the presence of network externalities
This paper examines the conditions under which exploration of a new, incompatible technologyis
conducive to firm growth in the presence of network externalities. In particular,
this studyis motivated bythe divergent evolutions of the PC and the workstation markets in
response to a new technology: reduced instruction set computing (RISC). In the PC market,
Intel has developed new microprocessors bymaintaining compatibilitywith the established
architecture, whereas it was radicallyr eplaced byRISC in the workstation market. History
indicates that unlike the PC market, the workstation market consisted of a large number
of power users, who are less sensitive to compatibilitythan ordinaryusers. Our numerical
analysis indicates that the exploration of a new, incompatible technologyis more likelyto
increase the chance of firm growth when there are a substantial number of power users or
when a new technologyis introduced before an established technologytakes off.
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MACHO 96-LMC-2: Lensing of a Binary Source in the LMC and Constraints on the Lensing Object
We present photometry and analysis of the microlensing alert MACHO 96-LMC-2.
The ~3% photometry provided by the Global Microlensing Alert Network follow--up
effort reveals a periodic modulation in the lightcurve. We attribute this to
binarity of the lensed source. Microlensing fits to a rotating binary source
magnified by a single lens converge on two minima, separated by delta chi^2 ~
1. The most significant fit X1 predicts a primary which contributes ~100% of
the light, a dark secondary, and an orbital period (T) of 9.2 days. The second
fit X2 yields a binary source with two stars of roughly equal mass and
luminosity, and T = 21.2 days.
The lensed object appears to lie on the upper LMC main sequence. We estimate
the mass of the primary component of the binary system, M ~2 M_sun. For the
preferred model X1, we explore the range of dark companions by assuming 0.1
M_sun and 1.4 M_sun objects in models X1a and X1b, respectively. We find lens
velocities projected to the LMC in these models of v^hat_X1a = 18.3 +/- 3.1
km/s and v^hat_X1b = 188 +/- 32 k/ms. In both these cases, a likelihood
analysis suggests an LMC lens is preferred over a Galactic halo lens, although
only marginally so in model X1b. We also find v^hat_X2 = 39.6 +/- 6.1 k/ms,
where the likelihood for the lens location is strongly dominated by the LMC
disk. In all cases, the lens mass is consistent with that of an M-dwarf. The
LMC self-lensing rate contributed by 96-LMC-2 is consistent with model
self-lensing rates. (Abridged)Comment: 23 pages, including 3 tables and 6 figures; Accepted for publication
in The Astrophysical Journa
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