Le Druzisme représente un courant philosophico-religieux qui peut être considéré comme une doctrine d'apparence religieuse, de pensée philosophique et systématique, de référence gnostique dans l'histoire de l'Islam. Ses adeptes vivent en communauté hermétique, ses sages (šeiẖs) se retirent dans des réclusions (ẖalwāt) en s'isolant comme des mystiques, ils se livrent à une retraite spirituelle sans pratique religieuse, ils ne se réfèrent à aucune tradition précédente des religions monothéistes, de par leurs écrits ou leurs pratiques. Ils conservent une tradition et une éthique avec un code de conduite et des interdits culinaires. En revanche, le Druzisme est né au sein de l'Isma`ilisme, il établit un lien intellectuel et spirituel avec la philosophie antique et avec le néoplatonisme tout en assimilant des éléments des religions d'orient avec des éléments grecs helléniques. Peut-on alors parler d'une secte de l'Islam, du moment où il n'y a aucun lien avec ce dernier sinon le milieu historique dans lequel celle-ci est vu le jour? Peut-on parler de religion, quand il n'y a aucune religiosité ou pratique religieuse exprimée ou vécue? S'agit-il de dire que l'on est face à une théosophie alors que le lien entre les membres de la communauté n'est pas fondé sur la philosophie et que le commun des Druzes n'est pas philosophe? Comment qualifier ce phénomène d'une communauté dont le lien est une foi qui n'est pas exprimée religieusement, et une doctrine dont le contenu n'est pas révélé, à laquelle s'attachent des membres qui ne le connaissent qu'une fois initiés? En somme, qui sont les Druzes et qu'est-ce que le Druzisme? Existe-t-il un lien entre cette doctrine et la gnose? / Druzism is a philosophico-religious movement which may be considered primarily as a doctrine but with a religious appearance, a systematic and philosophical thinking, with some reference to Gnosticism in the history of Islam. Its adherents live in a community of hermits, its wisemen (šeiẖs) retire in seclusion (ẖalwāt) by isolating themselves like mystics, as they deliver themselves to living in a spiritual retreat, without any religious practice ; they refer to no previous religious traditions even among the monotheistic ones, whether in reference to their sacred writings or religious practice. The Druze adheres to a tradition and a code of ethics and behaviour, as well as to culinary prohibitions. Druzism itself however, was born in the heart of Ismailism, while establishing an intellectual and a spiritual link with both ancient philosophies and neoplatonism, all the while assimilating various element of mid and far-eastern religions, mixed with Greek and Hellenistic ideas. Can we therefore speak of the Druze as if forming a sect of Islam? Can we even speak of a religion where in fact there is no trace of religiosity or religious practice either expressed or lived? Is it possible that we are facing theosophy where the link between the members of the community is certainly not founded on a philosophy? How can one qualify this phenomenon of a community where the main tenet is that of a faith which is not expressed in a religious manner, and a held doctrine the contents of which are not revealed, to which its members adhere, not knowing it fully unless once initiated? In summary, who are the Druzes, and what is Druzism? Is there a link between its doctrine and that of Gnosticism?

[pt] Apoiado nas teorias do imaginário psíquico e social- histórico de Castoriadis e da eficácia simbólica de Lévi- Strauss, o presente trabalho pretende entender quais pressupostos motivam o uso da terapia de vida passada. Foram estudados os principais autores do campo, bem como foram realizadas e analisadas entrevistas com terapeutas e clientes desta modalidade. Observou-se que a prática da terapia de vida passada tem se proliferado e se ramificado em diversas variações técnicas. Intimamente ligadas a esta terapia estão uma série de crenças de cunho espiritualista que dificultam sua aceitação nos meios científicos e acadêmicos. Todavia, a técnica tem se popularizado muito entre terapeutas e clientes que, cada vez mais, procuram por esta terapia. / [en] Based on the Castoriadis theories about psycho-social- historical imagination and on the symbolic efficacy of Lévi-Strauss, this study aims to understand the motivation that lies behind the use of past live therapy. A research was conducted on the main authors in this field and a number of interviews were performed with patients, as well as with past live therapists. An analysis of their discourse revealed that this kind of therapy has been growing and ramifying in the most different technical variations. We noticed that this past live therapy is closely permeated by a series of spiritualists` beliefs and these beliefs makes its acceptance very hard among scientists and academics. On the other hand, the technique has become popular among therapists and patients, who have been more and more looking for this type of therapy.

[pt] De Gaugin a Picasso, o primitivismo foi um conceito-chave para o desenvolvimento das vanguardas européias. Termo polêmico, historicamente associado ao processo colonialista e ao eurocentrismo, foi curioso reencontrá-lo como título do projeto de um dos artistas mais radicais e inventivos do século XXI: o tailandês Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Desenvolvido em 2009, o Primitive Project é um reencontro de Weerasethakul com o nordeste da Tailândia, a região de Isaan, e consistiu de uma exposição, compreendida de sete video-instalações e dois curtas-metragens, um livro de artista da plataforma Cujo, além do longametragem Tio Boonmee que pode recordar de suas vidas passadas, premiado com a Palma de Ouro em Cannes, em 2010. Partindo de uma discussão teórica, crítica e histórica do conceito do primitivo no século XX, a dissertação elabora uma leitura das propostas e imagens que constituem o Primitive Project, indicando a maneira como Weerasethakul apropria-se do termo primitivo, transformando-o em um espaço de experiência de outras possibilidades de encontro com o audiovisual. / [en] From Gaugin to Picasso, the primitive is an important concept in the development of the European avant-garde. A difficult term to deal with, historically tied to the process of colonialism and eurocentrism, it came as a surprise to find it as the title of a project from one of the most inventive and radical artists of the 21st Century: the thailandese Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Created in 2009, the Primitive Project is a reencounter of Weerasethakul with the northeast of Thailand, the region of Isaan, and consists of a art installation, made up of seven video-installations and two short-films, an artists book of the CUJO platform, and of the feature film Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives, awarded the Palme D or in Cannes, in 2010. Starting with a theoretical, critical and historical discussion on the concept of the primitive in the 20th century, the dissertation elaborates a reading of the images and concepts that constitutes the Primitive Project, indication how Weerasethakul appropriates the concept of the primitive, transforming it in a space for experiencing new possibilities of engagement with the audiovisual form.

This dissertation concentrates on those factors which form the doctrine of G-dly reward and punishment. In other words, the philosophical approach amongst Jewish thinkers from the Middle Ages to the above subject, which taken together give expression to the doctrine of reward and ptmishment, or at least to the possibility of determining such a doctrine. The definition of correct behaviour is not of interest for pwposes of this dissertation, nor is human judgement of behaviour, even according to a G-dly doctrine; only the A-lmighty's judgement and implementation thereof The following points are of note. Research into the specific approach of one individual philosopher is not the aim of this dissertation, but rather a collective crystallised viewpoint according to various different Jewish philosophers, in order to reach a harmonious formation of the desir~ goal. Hence the details are also important since they assist towards the goal. The views of the philsophers are of interest and not their source, viz. from whom these views were received or by whom the philosophers were influenced, as is usually the case in research. Nevertheless, this aspect is elaborated upon in the introduction to this dissertation, in the style of the customary academic research approach. An analytical comparison is made between the opinions of various authors, taking into account the finer points of their words, as well as between the differing opinions expressed by a single author in his various writings, and conclusions are drawn, the results of which are highly significant. Besides the fact that it is not within our power to adjudicate between the views of the great Jewish thinkers, this is even more true here, due to the metaphysical nature of the subject, which makes logical, rational-realistic judgement very difficult. Nevertheless, some criteria have been established for making such a decision. In summary, this dissertation is an attempt to research many diverse opinions in the treasury of Jewish thought from the Middle Ages, and to extract those opinions from which a complete system of the doctrine of reward and punishment can be built. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D.Litt et Phil. (Judaica)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:27:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pedro Savelli.pdf: 1178771 bytes, checksum: e340079926a5e9d29ae08f90eefddb56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-17 / Deification: in the ecstatic love of God we are deified to be in communion with His life and nature. The Perspective of the Deification opens three paths for the human being to be conscious of taking part of the divine nature: a) through the way of Life. We only exist by virtue of the kindness of God. Out of nothing, He calls everything to the light: the work of the Creation expresses the Will of God, everything belongs to Him and from Him receives the natural deification; b) through the way of Revelation. The people from Israel knew how to interpret its own history as a singular election of God, whose objective is to be the light to the nations: deification by the obedience to the listening of the Word of God. c) Through the way of Grace: Reincarnation and Glorification of the Christ-Sacrament. Father God, in the mystery of His donation to the humanity, invites us to participate in His divine nature, transformed by the Son in the strength of the Hole Spirit: covering us of Christ by the Baptism and feeding us from Him by the Eucharist: sacramental deification. In Christ, Head, the Church is Sacrament. It updates the deifying Grace through the Spirit, celebrating the liturgy, particularly, the Eucharist: it is in the latter that we find ourselves / Deificação: no amor extático de Deus somos deificados para estarmos em comunhão com a Sua vida e natureza. A Perspectiva da Deificação abre três caminhos para o humano tomar consciência de participar da natureza divina: a) pelo caminho da Vida. Existimos somente pela bondade de Deus. Ele do nada, chama tudo à luz: a obra da Criação expressa a Vontade de Deus, tudo pertence a Ele e Dele recebe a deificação natural; b) pelo caminho da Revelação: o Povo de Israel soube interpretar a própria história como uma eleição particular de Deus, cuja finalidade é ser luz às nações: deificação pela obediência à escuta da Palavra de Deus. c) Pelo caminho da Graça: Encarnação e Glorificação de Cristo-Sacramento. Deus Pai, no mistério de sua doação à humanidade, convida-nos a participar de Sua natureza divina, transformados pelo Filho na força do Espírito Santo: revestindo-nos de Cristo pelo Batismo e alimentando-nos Dele pela Eucaristia: deificação sacramental. Em Cristo, Cabeça, a Igreja é Sacramento. Ela atualiza pelo Espírito a Graça deificante, celebrando a liturgia, em particular a Eucaristia: é neste último caminho que nos encontramos

This dissertation concentrates on those factors which form the doctrine of G-dly reward and punishment. In other words, the philosophical approach amongst Jewish thinkers from the Middle Ages to the above subject, which taken together give expression to the doctrine of reward and ptmishment, or at least to the possibility of determining such a doctrine. The definition of correct behaviour is not of interest for pwposes of this dissertation, nor is human judgement of behaviour, even according to a G-dly doctrine; only the A-lmighty's judgement and implementation thereof The following points are of note. Research into the specific approach of one individual philosopher is not the aim of this dissertation, but rather a collective crystallised viewpoint according to various different Jewish philosophers, in order to reach a harmonious formation of the desir~ goal. Hence the details are also important since they assist towards the goal. The views of the philsophers are of interest and not their source, viz. from whom these views were received or by whom the philosophers were influenced, as is usually the case in research. Nevertheless, this aspect is elaborated upon in the introduction to this dissertation, in the style of the customary academic research approach. An analytical comparison is made between the opinions of various authors, taking into account the finer points of their words, as well as between the differing opinions expressed by a single author in his various writings, and conclusions are drawn, the results of which are highly significant. Besides the fact that it is not within our power to adjudicate between the views of the great Jewish thinkers, this is even more true here, due to the metaphysical nature of the subject, which makes logical, rational-realistic judgement very difficult. Nevertheless, some criteria have been established for making such a decision. In summary, this dissertation is an attempt to research many diverse opinions in the treasury of Jewish thought from the Middle Ages, and to extract those opinions from which a complete system of the doctrine of reward and punishment can be built. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D.Litt et Phil. (Judaica)

What does it mean to be lawful in a secular age? Reincarnating Law in the Cosmos orbits around such a humanistic inquiry, offering a local contribution to a global jurisprudence by theorizing contemporary Indigenous and state laws in Canada in reciprocal relation to secular modernity. In this context, the study marks the first substantive engagement with Val Napoleon’s Ayook: Gitksan Legal Order, Law, and Legal Theory (2009). The study interprets Napoleon’s reification thesis on Gitxsan law and society as part of a historical disembedding process and evaluates it with reference to a 2016 pipeline agreement signed between a segment of Gitxsan hereditary leaders and the province of British Columbia. Translating Charles Taylor’s concept of excarnation for the legal sphere, it then expands upon Napoleon’s thesis by postulating the steady disembodying and disenchanting reduction of Gitxsan lawful life. To address this dilemma, the study supplements the active and reasoned sense of Gitxsan citizenship posited in Ayook by recasting it in phenomenological terms as a distinctly embodied form of legal agency. To clarify this aspect of agency, the study applies critical race feminist Preeti Dhaliwal’s legal research and playwriting method known as jurisprudential theatre. Dhaliwal’s method shapes the study in two significant ways. First, her impetus for developing the method draws from her own witnessing and overcoming of excarnation in the Canadian law school and immigration system, demonstrating it to be a larger problem traversing multi-juridical borders. To address this problem, the method, in turn, enables the innovation of a new Gitxsan concept of legal agency – the ‘wii bil’ust (giant star) – and an original drama that reveals the real-world struggle and heroism of reincarnating the Gitxsan legal order across generations over the past century. To encourage the broader reincarnation of law, and building on Jeremy Webber’s critique of the functionalist account of customary law, the study points towards a shared grammar of incarnational law. That is, a grammar deepened by embodied modes of relationality, reimagined cosmologies attuned to our earthly predicaments, and creative fluency in multiple languages and traditions, among other habitable zones. / Graduate / 2023-07-15

This work discourses about the teaching of bulgarian {--} french philosopher, pedagogue and spiritual teacher Omraam Mikhaël Aivanhov. It is divided in several thematic chapters discoursing always a certain philosofical {--} spiritual theme from the point of view how is it treated in the teaching of Aivanhov. Among those themes are for example: Creation, Good and evil, About God, Jesus and Christ, Reincarnation, Soul, Ressurection, Holy Trinity. Aivanhov has fresh and undogmatic approach to these themes and he accents that his teaching can serve to a man for the practical work on him or herself. He does not stick to any particular tradition neither he arteficially syncretizes. He rather sees the various levels of the creation and its Creator as a reality which has universal laws and principles. And a mission of man is according to Aivanhov to discover those laws and principles and to live in harmony with them.

This study uses the Tibetan mandala, a Buddhist meditation aid and sacred artform, as a secular critical model by which to analyse the complete fictions of author David Mitchell. Discussing his novels, short stories and libretti, this study maps the author's fictions as an interconnected world-system whose re-evaluation of secular belief in galvanising compassionate ethical action is revealed by a critical comparison with the mandala's methods of world-building. Using the mandala as an interpretive tool to critique the author's Buddhist influences, this thesis reads the mandala as a metaphysical map, a fitting medium for mapping the author's ethical worldview. The introduction evaluates critical structures already suggested to describe the author's worlds, and introduces the mandala as an alternative which more fully addresses Mitchell's fictional terrain. Chapter I investigates the mandala's cartographic properties, mapping Mitchell's short stories as integral islandic narratives within his fictional world which, combined, re-evaluate the role of secular belief in galvanising positive ethical action. Chapter II discusses the Tibetan sand mandala in diaspora as a form of performance when created for unfamiliar audiences, reading its cross-cultural deployment in parallel with the regenerative approaches to tragedy in the author's libretti Wake and Sunken Garden. Chapter III identifies Mitchell's use of reincarnation as a form of non-linear temporality that advocates future-facing ethical action in the face of humanitarian crises, reading the reincarnated Marinus as a form of secular bodhisattva. Chapter IV deconstructs the mandala to address its theoretical limitations, identifying the panopticon as its sinister counterpart, and analysing its effects in number9dream. Chapter V shifts this study's use of the mandala from interpretive tool to emerging category, identifying the transferrable traits that form the emerging category of mandalic literature within other post-secular contemporary fictions, discussing works by Michael Ondaatje, Ali Smith, Yann Martel, Will Self, and Margaret Atwood.