Contemplation and Social Transformation: The Example of Thomas Merton

This essay examines the relationship between the Christian tradition of contemplation and social action. It takes as its paradigm the life and writings of Thomas Merton (Fr Louis), an American Cistercian monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, who became one of the most widely-read and influential spiritual writers as well as Christiansocial commentators of the mid-twentieth century. Merton, who often wrote through an autobiographical medium, gradually moved away from an early emphasis on contemplative withdrawal to a belief that the monastic life is a form of counter-cultural solidarity with those who struggle for social transformation and justice. The essay more broadly explores the theological basis for a coherence of mysticism and action in contrast to some misinterpretations of the Christian language of interiority. It concludes with an exploration of the relationship between contemplation and politics in a number of twentieth and twenty-first century theologians, both Catholic and Protestant.The American Cistercian monk and social activist Thomas Merton (1915-1968) has been described as one of the greatest spiritual writers of the twentieth century. He merited this description partly because, while a Roman Catholic,he embraced a generous “catholicity” beyond the boundaries of a single institution (cf. Mursell 2001:340)

Corporate innovation - the role of internal revolutionaries

This integrating essay reviews three books, Inclusive Leadership, written with a co-author, Brian Hirsh, Ronin and Revolutionaries and The Ronin Age. The essay explores the idea of the internal revolutionary, or Ronin, and examines various models of leadership and influence that have characterised organisational thinking over many years, and the challenges that Ronin pose for leadership and effective management. It also explores the extent to which the focus on innovative thinking is increased by the growing importance of knowledge as a key competitive issue

Iron chlorosis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) grown on high pH calcareous vertisol

Genotypic differences exist in the sensitivity of cultivars of chickpea to iron deficiency. Sensitive cultivars exhibited typical iron deficiency symptoms when grown on calcareous soils with high pH. FeSO4 sprays (0.5%) corrected deficiency symptoms and increased yields by up to 50% in cultivars inefficient in iron utilization, but gave no increase in cultivars that were efficien

Effects of pod exposure on yield of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum)

Pod photosynthesis is known to contribute to seed filling in a number of legume crops, and may also be of importance in chickpeas (Cicer arietium L.), which have green pods possessing stomata. Although the pods of chickpeas are borne in the leaf axils, they generally hang below the leaves and are consequently more or less shaded; but a few lines have recently been identified in which the pods are borne above the leaves. This “exposed pod” character could be incorporated into new cultivars by breeding if it were shown to be of advantage. The effect on yield and yield components of exposing pods of normal cultivars was investigated in field experiments at three locations in India: at Hyderabad and Hissar during the winter season, and in the Lahaul valley in the Himalayas during the summer season. A significant effect of pod exposure on yield or yield components was not observed in any of the experiments, except at Hissar where a slight but significant increase in 100-seed weight was noted. The “exposed pod” character is unlikely to be of use in breeding for higher yield potentials

Understanding causality and uncertainty in volcanic observations: an example of forecasting eruptive activity on Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat

Following a cessation in eruptive activity it is important to understand how a volcano will behave in the future and when it may next erupt. Such an assessment can be based on the volcano's long-term pattern of behaviour and insights into its current state via monitoring observations. We present a Bayesian network that integrates these two strands of evidence to forecast future eruptive scenarios using expert elicitation. The Bayesian approach provides a framework to quantify the magmatic causes in terms of volcanic effects (i.e., eruption and unrest). In October 2013, an expert elicitation was performed to populate a Bayesian network designed to help forecast future eruptive (in-)activity at Soufrière Hills Volcano. The Bayesian network was devised to assess the state of the shallow magmatic system, as a means to forecast the future eruptive activity in the context of the long-term behaviour at similar dome-building volcanoes. The findings highlight coherence amongst experts when interpreting the current behaviour of the volcano, but reveal considerable ambiguity when relating this to longer patterns of volcanism at dome-building volcanoes, as a class. By asking questions in terms of magmatic causes, the Bayesian approach highlights the importance of using short-term unrest indicators from monitoring data as evidence in long-term forecasts at volcanoes. Furthermore, it highlights potential biases in the judgements of volcanologists and identifies sources of uncertainty in terms of magmatic causes rather than scenario-based outcomes

Effect of seed-grading on the yields of chickpea and pigeonpea

Larger seeds of chickpea (Cicer arietinium Linn.) and pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (Linn.) Millsp.] gave rise to larger seedlings than did smaller seeds. When approximately half the cotyledonary reserves from pigeonpea seeds were removed, seedling weight was reduced to about half of the controls, suggesting that seedling growth was related to the reserve material in the seeds. Seed-grading had no significant effect on the yield of either of these crops grown on a Verrisol and on Alfisol in Andhra Pradesh, or on an Entisol in Haryana or in the Lahaul valley of the western Himalayas. Seeds harvested from pigeonpea grown from larger seeds were significantly heavier than those from plants derived from small seeds, probably because of the genetic heterogeneity of the varieties

The expression and influence on yield of the ‘double-podded’ character in chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.)

The number and percentage of nodes bearing two pods in ‘double-podded’ cultivars of chickpeas grown in northern India (at Hissar) and peninsular India (at Hyderabad) were compared. At Hissar 11% of the pod-bearing nodes were double-podded; at Hyderabad 28% were double-podded on early-sown and 49% on late-sown plants. In all cases the number of double-podded nodes per plant was similar, but different numbers of single-podded nodes per plant were formed, depending on the length of the growing season. At Hyderabad the percentage of double-podded nodes was not significantly affected by population-density nor by shading the plants throughout the reproductive phase. Partial defoliation of the plants reduced the percentage of double-podded nodes, as did the removal of all flowers from the plants for the first two to four weeks of the reproductive phase. The conversion of ‘double-podded’ plants to ‘single-podded’ plants by cutting off one of the flowers at every double-flowered node had no effect on yield at a location in the Himalayas where the double-podded character was poorly expressed, but at Hyderabad the yield of the ‘single-podded’ plants was significantly reduced compared with the ‘double-podded’ controls. The results indicate that the double-podded character can confer an advantage in yield of about 6 to 11% under conditions in which the character is well-expressed

From social contract to 'social contrick' : the depoliticisation of economic policy-making under Harold Wilson, 1974–75

The 1974-79 Labour Governments were elected on the basis of an agreement with the TUC promising a redistribution of income and wealth known as the Social Contract. However, the Government immediately began to marginalise these commitments in favour of preferences for incomes policy and public expenditure cuts, which has led the Social Contract to be described as the 'Social Contrick'. These changes were legitimised through a process of depoliticisation, and using an Open Marxist framework and evidence from the National Archives, the paper will show that the Treasury's exchange rate strategy and the need to secure external finance placed issues of confidence at the centre of political debate, allowing the Government to argue there was no alternative to the introduction of incomes policy and the reduction of public expenditure