Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberto Serafim Simoes.pdf: 656619 bytes, checksum: f4c52ac9c62f93df72256c354fd8ad34 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The present study aims at the heuristic value of Physiology of Religion, through a discussion of the physiology in this supernatural in religious doctrines and practices of Yoga. The paper began by defining religion, spirituality and religiosity second Pargament and Hill, but in particular by using the Theory of Religion by Stark and Bainbridge. After a brief review of three major religious scriptures of Yoga (Yoga Sutras, Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Gheranda Samhita) that, respectively, are succeeding in Classical and Medieval periods, we could identify that the offer of salvation required a transformation physiological or supernatural subtle for its adherents. Then a cut was made showing the latest concepts of modern physiology and neuroscience, which are used by yogis in their current doctrines, practices and contemporary religious organizations in order to monopolize the religious power of Yoga. Finally, we could identify in the discourse of religious experts of Modern Yoga, several elements of empirical physiology West which forced them to revisit, to create, maintain and exchange compensators, giving new meaning to their doctrines, adjusting their practices and reinterpreting their religious experience through a language borrowed from physiology, neuroscience and biomedicine empirical. This event is one of the most striking particulars Yoga in its contemporary period, which led to an ambivalence that has generated tensions between their organizations, the popularization and winning new fans through the empirical findings of its practices, and the desecration of due to their religious secularism that leads his mystical practices to the condition of therapeutic techniques in hospitals, colleges and research laboratories / O presente estudo buscou evidenciar o valor heurístico da Fisiologia da Religião, por meio de uma discussão da fisiologia sobrenatural presente nas práticas e nas doutrinas religiosas do Yoga. A dissertação começou por definir a religião, a espiritualidade e a religiosidade segundo Pargament e Hill, também indicando a Teoria da Religião de Stark e Bainbridge. Após uma breve revisão de três importantes escrituras religiosas do Yoga (Yoga Sutras, Hatha-Yoga Pradipika e Gheranda Samhita) que, respetivamente, se sucedem nos períodos Clássicos e Medievais, foi possível identificar que a sua proposta salvífica necessitava de uma transformação fisiológica sobrenatural ou sutil para seus adeptos. A seguir foi feito um recorte apresentando os conceitos mais recentes da fisiologia e da neurociência modernas, os quais são utilizados pelos yogues atuais nas suas doutrinas, práticas e organizações religiosas contemporâneas, a fim de monopolizarem o poder religioso do Yoga. Por fim, foi possível identificar, no discurso dos especialistas religiosos do Yoga Moderno, vários elementos da fisiologia empírica ocidental que obrigou estes a revisitarem, a criarem, a manterem e a trocarem os compensadores, ressignificando as suas doutrinas, ajustando as suas práticas e reinterpretando suas experiências religiosas por meio de uma linguagem emprestada da fisiologia, da neurociência e da biomedicina empírica. Este acontecimento é uma das características mais marcantes do Yoga no seu período contemporâneo, que o conduziu a uma ambivalência que gerou tensões entre as suas organizações, à popularização e à conquista de novos adeptos por meio das descobertas empíricas das suas práticas, e à profanação da sua religiosidade devido à secularização que conduz suas práticas místicas à condição de técnicas terapêuticas em hospitais, academias e laboratórios de pesquisa

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Julia Signer e Cruz.pdf: 940902 bytes, checksum: 08ea98e2b16c5857fa67dab7a4a23bab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-15 / This paper has as purpose to observe the psychological effects of the rigpa´s (clear light) experience among some Tibetan Buddhist practioners. As I didn t find academic researches with this object, this paper came to fullfill this fault. We use as theoretical base the Jung s psychology and the philosophy of Ati and Anutara Yogas of Tibetan Buddhism. Twenty two practioners, ages between 23 and 71 years old of both sexes were interviewed. The results allows us to conclude that rigpa s experience make possible to realize the human existence in a more open way where the Consciousness is fixed in a place deeper than the ego, what may produce a existential experience of union with the universe, a natural feeling of joy, freedom and well being, a body relaxation and a sense of mental openness with a spontaneously sense of natural wisdom / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo observar os efeitos psicológicos da experiência de rigpa (clara luz) entre praticantes do Budismo Tibetano. Como não foram encontradas pesquisas acadêmicas que enfoquem esse objeto, o presente estudo visa suprir essa carência. Como base teórica usamos a psicologia junguiana e a filosofia das yogas Ati e Anutara do Budismo Tibetano. Realizou-se uma pesquisa de campo constituída de entrevistas semi-abertas com 22 praticantes de idades variantes entre 23 e 71 anos, de ambos os sexos. Os resultados revelam que a experiência de rigpa permite conceber a existência humana de maneira mais profunda e sediar a Consciência em um lugar mais profundo do que o eu, o que leva a uma vivência existencial unida a todo o Universo, a um sentimento espontâneo de alegria, liberdade e leveza, a um relaxamento corporal e a uma sensação de abertura mental, com o surgimento espontâneo de uma sabedoria natural

Undergraduate students lack the opportunity and environment to contemplate and develop ecoliteracy skills that serve to integrate subject matter into their everyday experiences. Ecoliteracy is grounded in Capra's web of life theoretical framework and represents students' capacities to read world systems objectively with their head, heart, hands, and spirit. Contemplative pedagogy provides educators with exercises that give students time to reflect on the integration of learning. Ecoliteracy and contemplative pedagogy research has shown little quantitative data pertaining to how contemplative pedagogy affects undergraduate student ecoliteracy. To address that gap, this causal-comparative study measured the use of contemplative pedagogy exercises relative to undergraduate student ecoliteracy. A convenience sample of 150 undergraduate students who did and did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises completed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale and Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form. Independent-samples t tests measured the differences between the 2 groups. Findings indicated that students who did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises in the classroom were more likely to self-report higher ecoliteracy. A possible interpretation of these findings is that current contemplative pedagogy exercises may focus students' attention internally and not adequately promote the world-centered view that would more readily advance student ecoliteracy skills. Results of this study provide further insight that may inform professional development and contemplative pedagogy exercises that empowers students' ecoliteracy skills by encouraging critical thinking, action, and compassion towards positive social change.

This thesis explores the significance of contemporary Christian spirituality for authentic Christian ministry. To this end an extensive survey of contemporary academic literature is conducted. The research bears in mind the almost unprecedented contemporary interest in `spirituality,' both for academics and laypersons alike, and presupposes the need to redefine and understand spirituality for our times. The study yields the finding that contemporary academic spirituality contributes a newfound authenticity to Christian ministry. Spirituality achieves such authenticity for ministry through highlighting and realising a number of outstanding features. These features include: a new global awareness, and an appreciation of spiritual diversity; a `this-worldly' embodiment or `materialism' as integral to spirituality; a rediscovery of the experiential dimension of ministry; a re-awakening of the contemplative spirit as permeative of every dimension of life and activity, and a new inter-disciplinary appreciation of the metaphors, means and stages for spiritual formation and maturation. The hermeneutically sound and convincing contribution of spirituality is ascribed to its growing academic credibility, its utilisation of its own historical tradition and documented experience, and its discriminative deployment of postmodernism's amenability to Christian spirituality. Finally, the thesis is not concerned with distilling practical ministerial activities from spirituality. It strives, rather, for an understanding of ministry at the ontological level, where self-understanding, vocational awareness and a desire for God realise the essence and dynamic of ministry. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / Thesis (D.Th.)

Le sommeil profond, distinct du rêve qu’il accompagne, a bien souvent été occulté par ce dernier au sein des études philosophiques et historiques. La présente recherche, consacrée aux figures d’endormis et aux théories du sommeil à la Renaissance, propose de combler en partie cette lacune en partant de l'hypothèse selon laquelle le sommeil profond, bien qu’il échappe à la conscience, n'en demeure pas moins chargé de sens et de valeurs. L’imaginaire bifurque pour créer, en lieu et place d’une absence de connaissance, une source vive de métaphores. Placé au confluent des traditions chrétiennes et païennes, l’art de la Renaissance offre à l’interprétation une multiplicité de figures endormies. Métaphores visuelles, pétries par la littérature de l’époque, nourries de théories qu’elles transforment en retour. À travers elles, dormir constitue bien souvent l’indice du péché, car « l’oisiveté est mère de tous les vices ». Mais, la métaphore change avec la pose du dormeur, son lieu et son environnement également. Selon les œuvres, le sommeil devient l’emblème de l’enfance ou de la vieillesse (premiers et derniers sommeils), une métaphore d’ignorance et d’oubli (sommeil léthéen), la figure du secret et de la foi (repos contemplatif), du désespoir et de la mélancolie (sommeil de tristesse), de l’amour céleste et du ravissement (vacance de l’âme) ou bien du rapt et de la volupté (érotisme léthargique). L’énigme du sommeil donne forme aux questions insolubles qui ne cessent de nous mettre en éveil : images léthargiques de bonheur, d’amour et de mort qui n’en finissent pas de hanter l’imaginaire contemporain, « métaphores absolues » dont l’histoire ne cesse de s’inventer. / Scores of historical and philosophical studies have been devoted to dreams. However, the notion of deep sleep (as opposed to dreams) seems to have been thoroughly neglected. The present study attempts to fill this gap by analyzing representations of sleepers and theories of sleep in the Renaissance. My working hypothesis is that even though deep sleep appears to be located outside of the realm of consciousness, it amounts nonetheless to a heavily determined notion, both semantically and axiologically. Sleep seems to offer a form of imaginative diversion, as the absence of knowledge gives free rein to fanciful metaphors. At the crossroads of Christian and pagan traditions, Renaissance art offers a cornucopia of representations of sleep. They constitute visual metaphors, deeply influenced by the literature and theoretical writings of the period, on which they had in turn a tremendous impact. Thus, sleep is often equated with sin, as « idle hands are the devil's workshop », but its meaning also depends on the sleeper's attitude, location and context. For instance, sleep can be depicted as an emblem of early childhood or old age (first or last sleep), a metaphor for oblivion (Lethean sleep), a figure of ecstasy and faith (contemplative rest), an image of melancholy (sleep of sadness), of spiritual rapture (vacation of the soul) or sensual ravishment (lethargic eroticism). Whichever the case, sleep always remains an enigma, a Protean concept assuming the shape of virtually unanswerable questions : lethargic images of happiness, love and death that are still haunting the contemporary imagination, « absolute metaphors » constantly reinventing themselves and their history.

Meditation is a practice that promotes improvements in physical and mental health, according to previous studies. The proven benefits, such as relaxation and stress reduction, have attracted people's interest in initiating training. However, practice demands discipline, time, and dedication. Despite the diversity of techniques available for training, beginners may find it difficult to concentrate during the learning phase of meditation. Technological advances have enabled the emergence of devices that offer guided meditation for users. In that sense, designers engaged with creating products that become tools to enrich the personal experience of users. Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the tools adopted for this purpose. The use of VR to stimulate meditative practice has been a topic of research in the field of technological media. However, research focuses on the practice known as Mindfulness. Also, researchers focus their attention on 3D graphics design. Therefore, this study explored the possibility of designing immersive technologies for the practice of guided meditation. More specifically, to investigate the effects of using 360-degrees Virtual Reality videos supporting the practice of Relaxation Response meditation exercise, developed by Dr. Herbert Benson, and Contemplative Inquiry presented by Robert Butera. Furthermore, the study aimed to explore if technology improves the meditation experience. Adopting the theoretical approaches of Positive Technology and Research through Design, the Aurora and Pandora prototypes were designed to explore the themes. The results indicate that guided meditation presented through immersive videos can provoke desirable emotional responses in people who practice meditation, such as calm and relaxation. However, undesirable physical effects were observed in the participants. The discomfort of vision, stress, and irritation were examples. Also, the experiments showed that it was possible to improve the experience of meditative practices.

Church leaders and other members of the Mystical Body of Christ can avail themselves more to the contemplative gift while undergoing the Paschal Mystery as a team and cultivating spaces of encounter and communion with people in the Church and in the world for deepening union with God and further entry in the process of divinization. Members of the Mystical Body can be more sensitive to the presence of God within themselves and others through devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that offers an entryway for Divine Love to take captive the affections of the will as the contemplative gift is increasingly activated from within each person. This way is shown through the Holy Family and their common spiritual life which offers a model of Church that invites all people to share in their oneness of heart rooted in the Trinity to be love as one family of God.

In order to address complex challenges and bring about transformations, change agents need to possess the necessary capacities. Contemplative pedagogies such as Social Presencing Theater (SPT) may play a crucial role in developing such capacities. Therefore, this thesis explores how the embodiment method SPT could contribute to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in order to support change agents in development. SPT and its learning environment, outcomes and possible contributions to ESD were researched through surveys with twelve participants of a two-day SPT training, as well as interviews with eleven SPT facilitators. According to the results, SPT has the potential to offer relevant contemplative practices that cultivate the capacities that leaders need to address complexity and uncertainty. The findings suggest that as a learning process, SPT can foster capacities within change agents and groups, promoting awareness and mental flexibility to recognize and work with dynamic systems. SPT also appears to foster specific learning outcomes, including several key competencies for sustainability. We recommend applying SPT in the context of strategic leadership development for sustainability, to promote sustainability education that is strategic, holistic, and innovative.

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