As a recent survey of religious artifacts in the British Museum attests (MacGregor, 2018), religions exist in enormous varieties and have been ubiquitous globally and throughout history. This observation has led to the creation of the subdiscipline of psychology focused on religion which, although not as well-established as older subdisciplines such as social, cognitive and developmental...
Evidence suggests that substantial and robust community engagement is essential to local urban governance. In this paper, we reflect on the importance of a more comprehensive approach to community engagement that values both the cognitive and the affective, the technical and the relational, and the outer and inner dimensions of human experiences. The intangible and inner dimensions receive...
Rafael Benoliel: Dentistry and specifically orofacial pain have been involved in the science of sleep and its interactions with pain and various other relevant disorders for decades. Yet we have not yet explored dreams; an amazing phenomenon occurring during sleep where brain activity can induce a virtual reality that includes visual, auditory, olfactory, taste, and emotional experiences as...
Abstract. The present study employed a quasi-experimental design, in which the experimental group ( n = 13) practiced a loving-kindness meditation (LKM) via a single in-person workshop and via an app, whereas the active control group ( n = 20) practiced progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). Both interventions lasted 1 week and were executed in the respective soccer academy. The groups completed...
Einstein famously claimed that "the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." This statement suggests that no amount of scientific explanation will suffice to make sense of the bizarre situation of the human mind within the universe. So what are the actual roles of awe and wonder within the framework of contemporary science? How, for instance, do awe and...
On the 19th of September 2020 Ernest Rossi, my husband, professional partner, and best friend of 30 years left this mortal world. His passing was a comparatively rapid process of dissipation extended over a period of approximately six days. In addition to the complex of emotions and physical responses, I experienced grief. This grief affected me more than any prior loss or sadness in my life as...
The author examines the paradoxical dramatic dynamics of the Dreyer's masterpiece, according the Matte Blanco's theoretical model, as a tormented path of self awareness that consists in a progressive immersion in the unconscious. Anne, the young wife of an old Lutheran pastor, marginally involved in the witchcraft trial of a friend of her mother (now dead, but suspected to be a sorceress as...
The metaphysical vision of Advaita Vedānta has been making its way into some corners of Western analytic philosophy, and has especially garnered attention among those philosophers who are seeking to develop metaphysical systems in opposition to both reductionist materialism and dualism. Given Vedānta’s monistic view of consciousness, it might seem natural to put Vedānta in dialogue with the...
The dynamic framework of mind wandering (Christoff, Irving, Fox, Spreng, & Andrews-Hanna, 2016) is reviewed and modified through integrating the construct of mindful meta-awareness. The dynamic framework maintains that mind wandering belongs to a family of spontaneous thought phenomena. The key defining feature of mind wandering is 'spontaneity' which characterizes the dynamic nature of...
Free will designates the possibility of conscious and free choice of the subject, as well as his real possibility to act. The topic has a special medical and social relevance as it is directly connected to how the subject’s responsibility (moral, legal, medical) for his own actions are understood, but also the possibility (real or illusory) of intervention in his own life. Free will has...