"敌人"与"筵席"

近日再读诗篇23篇时,我的心经历了强烈的震撼,特别是第5节——“在我敌人面前,你为我摆设筵席;你用油膏了我的头,使我的福杯满溢”。这句话让我大得安慰,也让我惭愧不已。这句话是作者大卫的心灵独白,是他在困苦当中发出的感恩与赞美。他承     

物语哲思

橡皮和铅笔橡皮问铅笔:“你为什么愿意跟我交朋友呢?”铅笔诚恳地回答:“因为你能帮助我改正错误。”墨水瓶和钢笔墨水瓶感谢钢笔说:“我虽然有一肚子货,但没有你的使用,什么作用也发挥不了啊!”钢笔回答道:“我虽然能写出很多好文章,但没有你的灌输,一个字也写不出来呀!”椅子和桌子椅子羡慕桌子:“看你多好,身上摆着花瓶、书刊和话机,我净被人坐在屁股底下。”桌     

"我们的好长老!"——怀念上杭基督教会胡桂英长老

“主人说：‘好，你这又良善又忠心的仆人，你在不多的事上有忠心，我要把许多事派你管理，可以进来享受你主人的快乐。’”（太25：21）     

落地生根

“落地生根”是我家花的名字,不知道它的学名叫什么,是从单位同事那弄来种养的。我和同事聊天时,说自己不会养花,很好的花,让我一养就给养死了。她说你养“落地生根”吧,它极易活也好养。于是,她给我从落地生根的叶上取下一些带小细根的小叶朵（因是由四片小叶组成的一个像花一样的骨朵,故我叫它小叶朵）,告诉我说：这就是它的花种,你回去撒在花盆里,不用管它,自己就长。[第一段]     

把失败率99％的事坚持做它100次

大学毕业后,我应聘到一家公司做营销。一年下来,我的营销业绩很不理想。一次,我去请教营销主管,他每年的营销业绩都在公司排第一,人们都称他为“营销大王”。“现在有一笔营销业务,它的失败率为99％,你会去做它吗？”营销主管问我。“当然不会。因为它的成功率太小了,几乎为零,做了也是白做。”我说。“假如你把这笔失败率99％的业务。坚持做它100次,情况会怎么样呢？你不妨算一算。”营销主管说。     

逼你成功

我有个事业非常得意的朋友。40多岁,没结婚,每天跑进跑出,比谁都忙。有一天我问他,你都在忙什么啊,又是为谁忙啊?他先愣了一下,接着笑笑,说：“我也不知道为谁忙,只觉得背着一个好大好大的包袱,每天拼命往前冲。”“那包袱里装的是什么啊?”我开玩笑地问,“你有没有自己打开来看看?”“我看了,我看了,”他说,“里头全是我公司职员家里的老老少少,要吃要喝,为了他们,我想不干都不成,我是被逼得往前冲。”“你怎么不说是你自己的野心和理想,使你往前冲呢?”我不以为然地说。“没错啊,我自己的野心和理想当然逼我冲。想想,…     

公共汽车上的一场争吵

公共汽车从起点站开出已经好一会了。售票员连喊了好几遍:“月票请出示!”“买票不要忘记!”售票员走到一个老妇人面前说:“请把月票拿出来看看!”那老妇人回答说:“我现在买票,一张五分。”“要罚两张全程票,总共四角。”“罚什么票?我只乘了两站!”“你为什么乘车不买票?”“你别凶!你这个售票员是啥态度?”“我怎么凶啦?你乘车不买票就应该照章罚票!”“你在家里对待父母亲也是这种态度     

略谈经训中的“都阿”启示及其现实意义

“我们的主啊!求你在今世赏赐我们美好的[生活],在后世也赏赐我们美好的[生活],求你保护我们,免受火狱的刑罚。”——《古兰经》第2章第201节“主啊!你为我完善我的宗教,它是我事业的保证;你为我改良我的现世,它是我生活的领域;你为我改善我的后世,那里有我的归宿;你使我活着增加善功,你使我死了摆脱罪恶。”——《利雅得圣训集》“都阿(”祈祷),因与伊斯兰教信仰的纽带关系,成为与穆斯林生活息息相关的一项常见性宗教功修,无论是集体性的“都阿”,还是个人性的“都阿”,都在穆斯林的社会和宗教生活中发挥着举足轻重的作用。鉴于“都阿”的…     

夏威夷佛缘

“你现在的生活好吗?”师傅突然问。我沉吟,考虑如何说好?“不”,我终于说,眼圈便也红了。“放下它。”师傅坚决地说。“放下?”他做了对我不利的事,却要我放下?不!我的眼泪“刷”地流了出来。“我佛慈悲,一个学佛的人,是成佛菩萨,还是走向六道轮回,常常在一念之差,人生人生,是要了生死,出三界,要是一己私欲都放不下,如何一了生死,走出三界?他是你的丈夫,你不原谅他,谁还能原谅他?“南无阿弥陀佛。”师傅合掌。我想到了令我很烦很烦的生活,想到了我飘摇不定的婚姻,想到放生之外的话题:宽容,我感到有一柱阳光姿态昂扬地嵌进我的心———人应…     

用心来吟唱的歌

从心里流出的歌总是美丽的,用心来吟唱的歌总是迷人的:它能使人热血沸腾,它能使人潸然泪下,它能使人悠然神往,它能使人永志不忘。一个小伙子爱上一个姑娘,姑娘曾问他“你真的爱我?”“真的。”“愿意为我牺牲一切吗?”“愿意。”“那么,请把你妈妈的心挖来。”小伙子听了果然“紧跟照办”,把妈妈杀了,他捧起那颗心直奔姑娘,突然,急切的小伙子跌倒了,也就在     

"Near" and "far" in language and perception.

A major interest in cognitive science is the relationship between linguistic and perceptual representations of space. One approach to exploring this relationship has been to investigate aspects of the linguistic encoding of space that correspond closely to aspects of the visual system. Another approach, which does not contradict the first but rather complements it, is to investigate ways in which linguistic and visual representations of space are different. This paper pursues the second approach by arguing that the distinction between proximal and distal demonstratives (e.g. this vs. that, here vs. there) does not correspond to an independently established distinction between near and far space in the visual system but is instead based on language-internal factors. Recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies suggest that the brain contains separate mechanisms for representing, on the one hand, near or peripersonal space which extends roughly to the perimeter of arm's reach and, on the other hand, far or extrapersonal space which expands outward from that boundary. In addition, crosslinguistic research suggests that it is very common for languages to have two basic types of demonstrative terms - proximal and distal. This parallelism raises the possibility that the linguistic distinction may derive from the perceptual distinction. However, several arguments support the contrary view that the two distinctions are independent of one another. A substantial proportion of languages in the world have demonstrative systems that divide space into three or more egocentrically-grounded regions, thereby violating the two-way perceptual contrast. Even more importantly, empirical studies of how demonstratives are used in ongoing discourse in different languages suggest that they do not encode quantitative spatial information such as within vs. beyond arm's reach; instead, they specify abstract semantic notions that, when combined with the unique pragmatic features of communicative contexts, allow speakers to make a virtually unlimited range of spatial distance contrasts. Thus, demonstratives constitute an interesting case of divergence between linguistic and perceptual representations of space.     

"Brainwashing" Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on "Cults" and "Sects"

This study examines the recent rash of official reports done by governmental agencies in Western Europe to guide policy development in those societies. Particular attention is given to reports in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, and Italy, and to the changes in such reports that have occurred, perhaps because of the influence of scholarly critiques offered for some of the earlier reports. The reports are divided into "Type I" and "Type II" reports, with the former being thorough-going in their anti-cult orientation, and the latter reports being more moderate in tone, with some attention paid to scholarship on new religions. However, the major thesis of the study is supported, as an examination of both types of reports reveals that they incorporate "brainwashing" and "mind control" imagery imported from the United States, even though such theories have been largely discounted within the United States. Use of such theories leads directly to some questionable policy recommendations, as demonstrated in the reports. Reasons for the spread of "brainwashing" ideas to Europe are discussed.     

中文语境下的“心理”和“心理学”

“心”或“心理”等词语在汉语中有相当长的历史,对这些词语的理解反映了中国人关于“心理”的认识。中文的“心”往往不是指一种身体器官而是指人的思想、意念、情感、性情等,故“心理学”这三个汉字有极大的包容性。任何学科都摆脱不了社会文化的作用,中国心理学亦曾受到意识形态、科学主义和大众常识等方面的影响。近年中国学者对心理学自身的问题进行了反思。从某种意义上说,中国人对“心理”和“心理学”的理解或许有助于心理学的整合,并与其他国家的心理学一道发展出真正的人类心理学     

The "what" and "where" of object representations in infancy

Four-month-olds' memory for surface feature and location information was tested following brief occlusions. When the target objects were images of female faces or monochromatic asterisks infants showed increased looking times following a change in identity or color but not following a change in location or combinations of feature and location information. When the target objects were images of manipulable toys, the infants showed increased looking times following a change in location but not identity or the binding of location and identity information. This evidence is consistent with the idea that young infants are unable to maintain the information processed separately in both the dorsal and ventral visual streams during occlusions. Our results suggest that it is the target's affordance for action that determines whether the dorsal or ventral information is selectively maintained during occlusion.     

基督教信仰"信与行"解析

基督教信仰的"信"有着多层含义,主要包含"单纯的信心"、"敬畏不惧怕"、"信靠"和"盼望";"行"主要指"爱"和从信而出的好行为.信与行的关系即马丁·路德理解的"因信称义",但由于人类的思维倾向及从"信"到"行"过程的复杂性,导致了许多现实问题.因此,考察信与行的关系要以其关系的内在根据为出发点全面把握,同时不能回避实际过程的复杂性.