Death and Birth: An Initiation into Midlife

Throughout history people have created rituals and myths in an attempt to make sense of their existence and to provide life with structure and meaning. In postmodern societies, though, these traditional rituals have largely lost their meaning. Transitional turning points such as the highly charged threshold from adolescence into young adulthood are still celebrated but, they have mostly been diminished to social events and photo opportunities. Subsequently they have lost their power to break open the ego structure, which would allow for a new perspective and an opportunity for growth, propelling the youngster into adulthood. There is a growing understanding, though, that the psyche needs transformational experiences during times of transitions to channel the energies inherent in each stage of life. For most people living in Westernized societies, however, initiations happen spontaneously, when life suddenly rubs up so intensely that a person's only choice is to shed his or her skin and to emerge as a changed human being. The author explores the death of her father and the ensuing period of profound grief as an initiation from young adulthood into the more mature life as a mother and wife.     

Communication Efficiency in Couples With and Without a Schizophrenic Offspring

A new, experimental method was developed to study language and communication in schizophrenia, employing the device of a map task. Two subjects are given what they believe are identical maps. Subject A is called upon to explain a route to Subject B, whose map has, in fact, an additional street marked on it. Comparing five parent dyads of schizophrenic patients (Group S) with a matched group of five parent dyads of normals (Group N), both groups performed equally well on the training route (for which the maps were identical), but on the experimental route, four out of the five Group S couples were unable to solve the problem. (As a side-light, it was learned subsequently that the fifth Group S couple had previously received some family therapy.) Further qualitative analysis was done on the data. The results have stimulated additional research using this experimental approach.     

葛洪卒年考

葛洪的年寿及卒年,历来争议较大。通过详细考辨《神仙传》《世说新语》《高僧传》《晋书》《道藏》以及敦煌遗书等所载有关葛洪卒年的各种文献,笔者认为葛洪实卒于晋康帝建元元年(公元343年),享年六十一岁。     

俞琰生年卒年考

俞琰是宋末元初著名的易学家和道教学者,很多学者曾从道教内丹修炼和易学史的角度对俞琰进行了较为深入的研究,可是对其生年卒年却无法得出较为一致的明确结论.本稿考察了与俞琰有关的各类文献,对俞琰的生年卒年作出了较为详尽的考订.     

生死与灵魂观念

生死是一对现实的矛盾.这对现实的矛盾导致了理想与现实的冲突.现实是有生必有死,理想是长生不死.对现实存在的认识可以影响理想.但是理想与现实却难以时时处处相符合.特别是当理想发自本能的时候,就更缺乏与现实统一的基础.不能统一,又难以放弃理想或改变现实,就难免会走向调合.调合的方法很多.庄子说"生死一也",甚至论证死比生好.有人说自己的生命在子孙身上得到延续.有人去炼内、外丹求长生不老.有人则干脆致力于不思考这一问题,从而取消之.而有人则以灵魂观念自慰.     

An Intriguing Third Way: Mapping Contextual Education for Curricular Integration

This article emerges from the experience of incorporating doctoral students into our Contextual Education (CXE) Program at Emmanuel College (Toronto). This change, I argue, helped us to distinguish more clearly among and thus distinctly orient the different kinds of relationships and theological practices that make up our program towards the often‐elusive goal of curricular integration. After outlining a definition of integration, I contextualize that definition in our particular practices at Emmanuel College using Kathryn Tanner's (1997) understanding of theology as a cultural practice as my guide. I then offer a brief overview of our CXE Programs to demonstrate how nurturing strategic partnerships within them has made certain forms of integration possible for our students. I close with some activities for practical application in other CXE contexts.     

On the Death of SMART and the Birth of GRAPA

Should SMART be dead—as Edwards and Barron affirmed in 1994? This article is a comparative study of the methods SMART and SMARTS, in relation to the eliciting of weights. It compares the weights and final rankings of alternatives. To these two techniques has been added a graphical version of the PA (GRAPA), which is simpler and more intuitive. My study is designed to orient nonprofessional decision-makers with regard to which technique to employ, when what is sought is simplicity and ease of use without loss of rigor.     

The Death of a Child and the Birth of Practical Wisdom

This paper explores the notion of practical wisdom asan alternative to current formulations of criticalthinking. The practical realm is that ofill-structured problems that emerge from life aslived; it is a realm of legitimate uncertainty andambiguity that requires an ethical responsiveness orpractical wisdom. The death of a child is a case inpoint. The author identifies and examines threeaspects of practical wisdom – the ethical claims ofpartiality, a yielding responsiveness and the play ofthought – and juxtaposes them with aspects of criticalthinking. The work of Martha Nussbaum and RichardPaul are interwoven throughout the discussion. Theauthor concludes that the discourse of criticalthinking is in danger of lapsing into a form of moralescapism wherein all we are rationally responsible foris thinking correctly. Practical wisdom, on theother hand, recognizes that thinking is not simply anintellectual cognitive act of an individual but adance between the life of a child and the love of anelder, a conversation between what is and what couldbe, an openness to passionate sorrow and surprise, aplay between understanding and perception. As such,practical wisdom provides a more likely account ofliving in good faith with oneself and others.     

Excerpts from An Artist's Thought Book: Intriguing Thoughts about the Artistic Process

An Artist's Thought Book: Intriguing Thoughts About the Artistic Process is a series of aphorisms by Dr. Richard Bargdill, associate professor of psychology at St. Francis University. These original aphorisms are 1- or 2-sentence thoughts that are roughly categorized into 5 book chapters concerning: what it means to be an artist, a poet, a singer, and a painter, as well as thoughts on the nature of creativity. The purpose of an aphorism is to say enough to provoke thoughts in the reader without completely spelling out what the author specifically means. The beauty of writing in the aphoristic style is that different people can interpret the same sentence in many ways. Here, the author has picked a few of his favorite aphorisms from each of the chapters. Bargdill is an award-winning poet and artist who was most recently recognized for his first place sculpture at the prestigious 2009 Pennsylvania State art show: Art of the State. To learn more about the artist, please visit his Web site at www.poetryartandsong.com. The book is available at Amazon.com.     

Synthetiki Psychotherapy: An Integrative Psychotherapy for Individuals with Schizophrenic Symptoms

During the past 22 years, the author has developed an integrative psychotherapeutic model, called Synthetiki Psychotherapy (from the Greek word synthesis), for the treatment of individuals with schizophrenic symptoms. It has been influenced by certain philosophical and ethical principles, by ancient and modern Greek civilization and culture, and by the psychotherapy integration movement, and has been tested through research at the Laboratory of Clinical and Social Psychology of the University of Crete, Greece. The principles of Synthetiki Psychotherapy are presented and discussed.     

Physically Transcendent Awareness: A Comparison of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Before Birth and After Death

Veridical evidence of a physically transcendent source of consciousness comes from both extremes of the life span when central nervous system functioning is compromised, suggesting that some form of personhood can exist independently of known cellular processes associated with the body. In pre- and perinatal accounts, veridical memories have surfaced of events in the first two trimesters, long before the central nervous system is fully functional, continuing through the third trimester, when measurable brain activity begins, until just after birth. In the empirically verifiable out-of-body phase of near-death experience (NDE) accounts, a source of consciousness has been shown to record events when measurable metabolic processes, including brain activity, have ceased altogether. These two states have similar phenomenologies, suggesting that a physically transcendent source representing individual consciousness predates physical life at the moment of conception and survives it after death, and that its maturity and functioning do not directly reflect the level of central nervous system functioning in the body.     

西堂智藏生卒年考

<正>西堂智藏为马祖道一最重要的门人之一,在中国禅宗史上有很高的地位,他有不少新罗门人,法流东国,化及海外,对于中国禅宗的对外传播和中韩两国的文化交流贡献很大。智藏生卒年学术界尚有争论。本文指出其生卒当以唐技《龚公山西堂敕谥大觉禅师重建大宝光塔碑铭》为准,并依据其新罗门人寂忍慧彻之碑文对此进行了论证。     

白玉蟾的生卒年月及其有关问题考辨

南宋著名的内丹理论家白玉蟾的生卒年月问题，目前见诸于学界的各种说法，在不同程度上都有着以讹传讹的错误，由此也使他的寿龄和履历等问题，未能得到较为客观真实的回答，以致人们无法真正了解他的生平概况。本文从三个方面针对以上诸问题加以考辨，以免该问题存在的各种错误观点继续干扰学界对白玉蟾及其金丹派南宗的深入研讨。