Hasidic Thought and the Holocaust (1933–1947): Optimism and Activism

Polish hasidic thought during the Holocaust exhibited optimism about the outcome. This was tied in part to the power of the inner point of faith (nekudah penimit) to impact upon the dialectical movement from darkness to light, on both the historical (sin-punishment) and metahistorical (exile-redemption) levels. Exponents of this view included the Admorim (rebbes, hasidic leaders) of Alexander, Bobov, and Gur, and Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (Warsaw). Immediately after the war, other Admorim from these streams continued with their optimism and faith-activism, even though they viewed the Holocaust through the lens of its non-redemptive aftermath. There was also a pessimistic and passive strain, shared by representatives of the Kotsk, Sokhachev, and Sokolov dynasties, in apparent response to the failure of inner faith to affect the catastrophic historical reality.     

Measuring mindfulness—the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI)

Mindfulness, a concept originally derived from Buddhist psychology, is essential for some well-known clinical interventions. Therefore an instrument for measuring mindfulness is useful. We report here on two studies constructing and validating the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) including a short form. A preliminary questionnaire was constructed through expert interviews and extensive literature analysis and tested in 115 subjects attending mindfulness meditation retreats. This psychometrically sound 30-item scale with an internal consistency of Cronbach alpha = .93 was able to significantly demonstrate the increase in mindfulness after the retreat and to discriminate between experienced and novice meditators. In a second study we broadened the scope of the concept to 86 subjects without meditation experience, 117 subjects with clinical problems, and 54 participants from retreats. Reducing the scale to a short form with 14 items resulted in a semantically robust and psychometrically stable (alpha = .86) form. Correlation with other relevant constructs (self-awareness, dissociation, global severity index, meditation experience in years) was significant in the medium to low range of correlations and lends construct validity to the scale. Principal Component Analysis suggests one common factor. This short scale is sensitive to change and can be used also with subjects without previous meditation experience.     

Negotiating the marketplace: The role(s) of Holocaust museums today

This paper explores four roles played by Holocaust museums today, as sites of mass tourism; memorials to the dead; vehicles of historical exposition; and living memorials educating subsequent generations about the “lessons” of the Holocaust. Whilst the paper refers to various Holocaust museums, it focuses on the Auschwitz museum and the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum (IWM).     

Free Will,Foreknowledge, and Future‐Dependent Beliefs

Recently, a time‐honored assumption has resurfaced in some parts of the free will debate: (A) if past divine beliefs or past truths about what we do depend on what we do, then these beliefs and truths are, in a sense, up to us; hence, we are able to act otherwise, despite the existence of past truths or past divine beliefs about our future actions. In this paper, I introduce and discuss a novel incompatibilist argument that rests on (A). This argument is interesting in itself, for it is independent of a number of assumptions about the nature of God that have played an essential role in the classical defense of incompatibilism about divine foreknowledge and human free will. Moreover, the argument enables us to identify a difficulty compatibilists encounter when employing (A) to block incompatibilism.     

Child survivors and childbearing; memories from the Holocaust invading the present

In this article—based on 40 video-taped interviews with Jewish child survivors—the author discusses how memories from the Holocaust invade the present and affect one of the most sensitive phases of the life cycle, the period of reproduction. This is discussed as applied psychoanalytic research of oral testimonies. Four areas of knowledge—history, autobiography narrative, cognitive memory research and psychoanalytical theory—are argued to help to elucidate memories and understand the tremendous force which the intersection exerts on them in the present, which is the fundamental idea of this article. The author discusses both the possibility to work through massive traumas, and the distorted concept of time. The Nazi deeds which were intended to eliminate women and children, to split families, that is, break down the continuity of life, affected both those who were directly involved, and those women and men who witnessed these deeds.     

The Formal Characteristics of Behaviour—Temperament Inventory (FCB—TI): Validity studies

A psychometric study has been conducted with the aim of testing the validity of the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour—Temperament Inventory (FCB—TI). FCB—TI has been constructed to measure six temperament traits according to the Regulative Theory of Temperament (RTT): Briskness, Perseverance (referring to the temporal aspect of behavior), Sensory Sensitivity, Emotional Reactivity, Endurance, and Activity (referring to the energetic characteristics of behaviour). These traits have been compared with other temperament as well as personality dimensions. The following measures were used: PTS, EAS—TS, DOTS—R, EPQ—R, SSS—V, 16PF, and NEO-FFI. The study was conducted on samples consisting of over 1500 subjects with satisfactory balanced gender ratio (about 50 per cent), and with a broad range of age (from 15 to 77 years), representing a variety of professions and educational levels. The correlational and factor analytic findings are presented; these show high theoretical validity of the FCB—TI scales, except the Sensory Sensitivity scale. In the discussion some conclusions concerning the revision of the structure of temperament have been suggested.     

The Will to Truth,the Death Drive and the Will to Power

This paper claims that Freud’s idea of the death drive is analogous to the will to truth in traditional philosophy and can be better understood as a truth drive. The argument is based upon Nietzsche’s interpretation of the will to truth as a concealed will to death. This interpretation emphasizes the opposition between truth and life; truth is a concept of constancy while life is a concept of change. Freud’s recognition of the conservative nature of the drives brings him to the paradoxical conclusion of the existence of a death drive. It is paradoxical, for Freud, since it considers death as a fundamental principle of life and as its aim. The paper suggests that by replacing the concept of death by the concept of truth and using Nietzsche’s idea of “the will to power” this paradox can be resolved without losing Freud’s insight of the dialectic nature of psychological life.

     

Meta-awareness and the involuntary memory spectrum: Reply to Meyer,Otgaar, and Smeets (2015)

In their commentary, Meyer, Otgaar, and Smeets (2015) raise several important issues about the definitions, characteristics and applications of various involuntary cognitive phenomena. Here we respond to the comments of Meyer et al. in ways that we hope will advance understanding of these issues, and inform future research. In particular, we have focused on the characteristics of involuntary phenomena—particularly in relation to meta-awareness—and the clinical relevance of mind-wandering.