The spiritual and religious dimension of education and bringing-up

In this article I will discuss the differences between the concepts “spirituality”, “religion” and “faith” and indicate the intertwinement of these dimensions of man’s mental life with bringing-up and education. Definitions of these concepts will not be given. Rather, their characteristics will be brought to the fore. The purpose of this article is to look for the essential relation of spirituality to the education and bringing-up of children. A so-called “religious matrix” will be worked out in which the core questions of spirituality and religion are to be expressed. By means of this matrix, a notion of the relation between spirituality, bringing-up and education will be formulated

De problematiek van transsexualiteit en operatieve veranderingen aan het menselijk lichaam vanuit wijsgerigantropologisch en ethisch perspectief.

The purpose of this contribution is to discuss the question of detnmssexualization of gender-dysfore persons. On grounds of scientific research into the nature and nurture aspects of personality development and the lack of bicxhemicai grounds for a transsexual personality development, I will defend that it is a command of love to accept the plea for chirurchical treatment of gender-dysfore persons

Creative reminiscence as an early intervention for depression: results of a pilot project.

Reminiscence may help in resolving conflicts from the past and making up the balance of one’s life. Life-review may be further enhanced by the creative expression of memories in stories, poems or drawings. In this way people are encouraged to create and discover metaphors, images and stories that symbolically represent the subjective and inner meaning of their lives. In this article, a new intervention, which combines reminiscence and creative expression aimed at early treatment of depression, is described. A pilot project showed that the intervention Searching for the meaning in life may generate small-sized effects in reducing depression. Additionally, it appears to generate effects of medium size in enhancing mastery. Several possible ways to improve the effectiveness of the intervention are described

Naar een integrale theorie van kernbegrippe in onderwijs en opvoeding.

This paper investigates how education may be related to the needs of contemporary society as embodied in the connections and relationships between education on one hand, and spirituality/ religion, quality of life, wellbeing and happiness issues, social capital, social justice, human rights and morality on the other. These issues tend to be investigated as separate issues or phenomena, each with its own philosophical ramifications and structural intricacies, and each with certain connections and intersections with education. They are seldom connected with one another or with education in particular. Since the human being is intended to be an integral whole, education should also be a holistic undertaking that will shape and develop the less mature person into a fully integrated, mature person. Most definitions of education emphasise guiding the less mature person to responsible behaviour, and to accepting responsibility for actions taken and behaviour displayed. These definitions do not, however, seem to acknowledge the fact that education should also lead to moral integrity. They do not embrace the idea that education should not only lead to the wellbeing and happiness of less mature individuals, but also to healthy societal relationships. Neither do they seem to reflect the fact that education should contribute to enhancing the quality of life of everybody involved, as well as that of the broader society. To investigate this, we weighed the evidence and opinions on the subject of education-related concepts in question in terms of how the proverbial “person on the Clapham bus” would see things. Our thinking was preference-utilitarian in that we looked for what would satisfy the preferences of sentient people. Our reflections were guided by “reason-and-mind”. We departed from a view of education in the broadest sense of the word (i.e. not restricted to teaching-learning, instruction only), with the emphasis on how education is pivotal in our individual and collective lives, and how it helps making sense of concepts such as spirituality, quality of life, human wellbeing, happiness, social capital, social justice, human rights and morality. Education manifests itself in so many forms and in so many locations that it can only be defined in general, generic terms. It is usually considered to be a process or action in which more mature individuals interact with less mature individuals for the purpose of guiding, forming, equipping and enabling the latter for their future occupations, and also assisting them to become mature and responsible members of the various societal relationships to which they will belong in future. Spirituality refers to a sincere respect for, appreciation of and adherence to a sacred dimension in the life-world of people. It is a lived passion; a state of being focused and energetically motivated; a condition characterised by a feeling of being totally captured. It is the conduit through which a transcendental, ultimate reality impacts on human beings, transforming them so that they increasingly tend to live their lives in service of these ultimate realities. It is the manner in which one more or less methodically relates beliefs and experiences of inspiration and/or transcendence, to the actual practice of life, by orientating oneself on sources of spirituality. The educator should embody the desired form of spirituality by being committed to and captured by some inspirational force or other that may be of a religious or a non-religious nature. By emulating the spiritual example set by the educator, educands may either acquire the same spirituality for their own journey as human beings, or reject the example set by the educator, in which case the educands (the individuals who are being educated) orientate their own selves towards a new spiritual principle. The “organic individual” (person with integrity) is one who has made a conscious ideological choice. The spirituality associated with, and flowing from, such an ideological choice helps them to transcend self-centredness. They do not serve the interests of the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and weak, but will want to serve the interests of change for the better of all. Spirituality is a prerequisite for inspirational education since it connects at the deepest level with the most fundamental manner-of-being of being human. Without education no person can grow up to become a fully organic person imbued with a particular spiritual or ideological directedness and openness. The role of education is to inculcate the values and norms of social justice in a sense of fairness, and to the benefit of all. What people say about happiness and quality of life and the prerequisites for these, resonates with the fundamental tenets of education. It confirms the fully organic person’s spiritual directedness and openness regarding social justice, fairness and peaceful coexistence which, in one way or another, is the outcome of education. It emphasises the modus vivendi approach to morality and social justice, as well as the notion of “liberal toleration”. It is aimed at promoting peaceful coexistence in plural societies. cSocial capital can be understood as the benefits that accrue for individuals and groups from mutual trust, reciprocity, networking and collective action. The accumulation of social capital depends on cooperation between individuals as well as the relationships between them. It creates a bridge which spans differences. Education should contribute to the social capital of the communities it serves, because individuals should not only understand their position as an individual within a particular group, but should also have a notion of what to contribute to the group in terms of social capital. As human beings we are subjected to a moral compulsion to search for a better and more just world – a world that arguably is best attainable through education. The need for sincerity and honesty in human relationships, based on the principle of openness to mystery and respect, accentuates the intrinsic relationship between social justice, quality of life and spirituality as phenomena in our life worlds. To act ethically is to be considerate of the interests of others, without expecting reward or punishment, requiring no one but oneself to witness the act. Education is a pivotal activity that treats all these (and other related) phenomena as pedagogical aims, thereby reinforcing itself as a formative enterprisehttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=0041-4751&lng=enhttp://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/tvg/v53n3/02.pd

Evaluatie versterking eerstelijns GGZ: een onderzoeksprogramma om het beleid ter versterking van de eerstelijns GGZ te evalueren: Tweede interim rapportage, maart 2003.

De meeste mensen met sociale of psychische problemen die zich bij hun huisarts aanmelden horen daar ook thuis. Ze vormen echter wel een relatief zware belasting, doordat ze anderhalf keer zo vaak komen als patiënten met alleen lichamelijke aandoeningen; bovendien duren hun consulten bijna tweemaal zo lang brengen ze gemiddeld iets meer problemen per consult naar voren. Van alle problemen waarmee mensen naar de huisarts gaan is 8% van psychische en sociale aard. Van de patiënten met zulke problemen krijgt 54% een recept voor een antidepressivum, een slaapmiddel of een kalmeringsmiddel. Dit blijkt uit een voormeting naar de hulpverlening op het gebied van de Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg (GGZ) in de huisartspraktijk, waarbij gebruik is gemaakt van gegevens uit de 2e Nationale Studie naar ziekten en verrichtingen in de huisartspraktijk (NS2). Uit de voormeting blijkt ook dat dat huisartsen in hun voorschrijf- en doorverwijsgedrag weinig onderscheid maken tussen mensen met lichte en met zware psychische klachten. Wie depressief is krijgt van de huisarts bijna altijd (83%) medicijnen, ook al adviseren de richtlijnen om daar terughoudend mee te zijn. Wie slechts een ‘down of depressief gevoel’ heeft krijgt meestal ook (65%) een recept. Beide groepen worden relatief weinig (ca. 6%) doorverwezen naar de gespecialiseerde geestelijke gezondheidszorg, bijvoorbeeld het RIAGG, de eerstelijnspsycholoog of het algemeen maatschappelijk werk (AMW). Ook mensen die overspannen zijn of tijdelijke stressklachten hebben worden weinig doorverwezen. De voormeting maakt deel uit van de evaluatie van een onderzoeksprogramma naar de effecten van de versterking van de eerstelijns Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg (GGZ). Het onderzoek is uitgevoerd door het NIVEL, het Trimbos-instituut en het SGBO (Onderzoeks- en Adviesbureau van de Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten) in opdracht van het Ministerie van VWS en de stuurgroep "Tussen de Lijnen". De eerstelijnszorg (huisarts, algemeen maatschappelijk werk en eerstelijnspsychologen) heeft eind jaren '90 een belangrijke taak toebedeeld gekregen bij de opvang van mensen met psychische problemen. De huisarts moet ervoor zorgen dat zij op de juiste plaats, liefst binnen de eerstelijn, worden behandeld. Dat mag echter niet de werkbelasting van de huisarts verhogen. Daarom zijn er in opdracht van het ministerie van VWS allerlei versterkende maatregelen op touw gezet. Een deel van die maatregelen betreft kwaliteitsbevorderende projecten ten behoeve van verbetering van de psychische hulpverlening in de huisartspraktijk. Andere initiatieven beogen de capaciteitstoename van het AMW en van de eerstelijnspsychologen, verbetering van de beleidsmatige samenwerking op regionaal niveau, het bevorderen van de samenwerking binnen de eerstelijn en tussen de eerstelijn en de gespecialiseerde GGZ, en de Consultatieregeling voor ondersteuning van de eerstelijn door de tweedelijns-GGZ waar thans 120 projecten gebruik van maken (zie het NIVEL-rapport GGZ-consultaties aan de eerstelijnszorg (registratie 2002) (PDF) . De effecten van deze en andere maatregelen op de versterking van de eerstelijns GGZ worden de komende jaren onderzocht. De eindresultaten worden in 2004 verwacht. Dan zal blijken of de samenwerking tussen de eerste- en de tweedelijns GGZ is toegenomen onder invloed van de stimuleringsmaatregelen van VWS