Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study postulates that drawing functions as a valuable vehicle that facilitates reciprocity between the drafter and her life-world. This relationship of exchange can bring about transformation of the self. The study is a qualitative study that aims to establish an understanding of how drawing functions as a vehicle facilitating reciprocity between the drafter and her life-world. In order to effectively research the transformative potential of reciprocity between artist, drawing, and life-world, theoretically and practically, the study is divided into two main parts. Firstly, it constitutes a theoretical section, which forms the foundation for further exploration in the second part of the study. Secondly, the study focuses on the practical manifestation of the theories as manifest in my drawings and in selected drawings of Diane Victor, whose work primarily functions as ‘a third person perspective’ in relation to my own work. The study is rooted in a psycho-analytical framework, focusing on Self psychology and Intersubjective Psychoanalysis of personality psychologists such as Jung, Miller, Goldberg and McAdams, amongst others, as well as the writings of philosophers, art historians and drawing theorists such as Jacques Derrida, Catherine de Zegher, and Suzi Gablik. Valuable links are forged between the transformative potential of drawing, the psychological and the spiritual. Parallels are drawn between notions derived from self-psychology and theology, based on the premise that human beings constitute body (physical aspect), soul (mind and emotion) and spirit, three components that are hardly divisible and that work together in drawing, effecting the transformation of the self. I argue that a failure to acknowledge the significance of the interactivity between these facets limits and inhibits the transformative potential of the drawing process. Through interactivity between the self and her life-world through drawing, moments of ‘recognition’ and ‘knowing’ occur - concerning hidden ‘truths’ of the self, which could affect personal transformation. In this study, life-world comprises inner and outer world, a visible and invisible world. The visible world focuses on the interaction of the self with nature and culture, and the invisible world focuses on the interaction of the self with a psychic world, which includes the workings of the conscious and unconscious mind in drawing and their connection with a spiritual dimension. The spiritual aspect in drawing is researched through the notions of transformative “presence” and the “transcendent function” of drawing. The study explores the psychological and spiritual value of drawings as transformative selfobjects to address the general neglect of the spiritual. I affirm that there exists a mutually conducive potential and influence that the interplay between the spiritual and the psychological in the drawing process bring about. As a “selfobject”, a drawing attains its own ‘silent visual language’ replacing or assisting the role of the therapist, becoming pivotal in a transformative ‘interpersonal dialogue’. Lastly, Jung (Miller, 2004:4) claims that the unification of the conscious and unconscious eventually results in “a living birth that leads to a new level of being, a new situation” (Miller, 2004:4). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie veronderstel dat teken funksioneer as 'n waardevolle voertuig wat wisselwerking fasiliteer tussen die tekenaar en haar omwêreld, ‘n wisselwerking wat kan lei tot transformasie van die self. Die studie is 'n kwalitatiewe studie wat daarop gemik is om 'n begrip te kweek van hoe teken funksioneer as voertuig wat wisselwerking fasiliteer tussen die self en haar omwêreld. Ten einde die transformatiewe potensiaal van sodanige wisselwerking deur middel van teken effektief te bestudeer op ʼn teoretiese asook ʼn praktiese vlak, word die studie verdeel in twee hoofdele. Eerstens bied die studie 'n teoretiese gedeelte wat die grondslag vorm vir verdere ondersoek in die tweede deel. Tweedens fokus die studie op die praktiese manifestasie en toeligting van die teorieë in my tekeninge en in geselekteerde tekeninge van Diane Victor, wie se werk hoofsaaklik funksioneer as ‘ʼn derde persoon perspektief’ in verhouding tot my eie werk. Die studie is gewortel in 'n psigo-analitiese raamwerk, met die fokus op Selfsielkunde en Intersubjektiewe Psigo-analise van persoonlikheidsielkundiges soos Jung, Miller, Goldberg en McAdams, onder andere, sowel as die geskrifte van filosowe, kunsgeskiedkundiges en tekenteoretici soos Jacques Derrida, Catherine de Zegher en Suzi Gablik. Die studie het dus ten doel om betekenisvolle bande te smee tussen die transformerende potensiaal van teken, die sielkundige asook geestelike werking wat dit teweegbring. Parallelle word getrek tussen begrippe in selfsielkunde en teologie, gebaseer op die veronderstelling dat die mens bestaan uit liggaam (fisiese aspek), siel (verstand en emosies) en gees. Hierdie onderskeie aspekte (liggaam, siel en gees), is moeilik deelbaar en werk onlosmaaklik saam in die tekenproses ten einde die transformasie van die self te bevorder en te bewerkstellig. Ek argumenteer dat indien ‘n mens versuim om die betekenis en waarde van die interaktiwiteit tussen hierdie fasette te herken, word die transformatiewe potensiaal van die tekenproses misken. Teken kan derhalwe beskou word as ʼn effektiewe voertuig wat wisselwerkende prosesse tussen die self en haar leefwêreld fasiliteer, waartydens daar oomblike van ‘erkenning’ en ‘weet’ voorkom met betrekking tot verborge ‘waarhede’ van die self wat persoonlike transformasie kan beïnvloed. In hierdie studie word daar na omwêreld verwys as 'n interne asook ʼn eksterne wêreld, 'n sigbare en onsigbare wêreld. Wisselwerking dui op die interaksie van die self met die natuur asook kultuur as die sigbare. Wisselwerking dui ook op interaksie van die self met 'n psigiese, onsigbare wêreld. Hierdie psigiese wêreld van die self omvat die bewuste en onderbewussyn deur middel van teken, asook die verband met' n geestelike dimensie. Die geestelike aspek in teken word bestudeer deur die konsepte van transformatiewe "teenwoordigheid" en die "transedentale funksie" van teken. Die studie ondersoek die sielkundige en geestelike waarde van tekeninge wat as transformatiewe ‘selfobjekte’ die potensiaal besit om die algemene verwaarlosing van die geestelike aan te spreek. Ek bevestig dat daar 'n wedersydse bevorderlike wisselwerking en invloed bestaan tussen die geestelike en die psigologiese wat deur wederkerige prosesse binne die tekenproses gefasiliteer word. As 'n ‘selfobjek’ kommunikeer tekeninge deur hul eie ‘stille visuele taal’ en toon die potentiaal om die rol van ʼn terapeut te vervang, of alternatiewelik, te ondersteun, deur middel van visuele ‘interpersoonlike dialoog’. Laastens, beweer Jung dat die eenwording van die bewuste en onbewuste eventueel kulmineer in "ʼn lewende geboorte wat lei tot 'n nuwe vlak van bestaan, 'n nuwe situasie" (Miller, 2004:4).

Individualūs poreikiai ir asmeninė patirtis užima vis svarbesnę vietą sveikatos priežiūros sistemoje, plinta sveiko gyvenimo būdo idėjos. Subjektyviems poreikiams patenkinti šalia biomedicininio sveikatos gerinimo modelio atsiranda daugybė alternatyvių technikų bei sveikatos specialistų, siūlančių skirtingas sveikos gyvensenos strategijas. Šio darbo problema yra šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje atsirandantis sveikos gyvensenos strategijų pliuralizmas, siejamas su vartotojiškos kultūros, socialinės refleksijos ir pomaterialistinių vertybių atsiradimu. Biomedicina sveiką gyvenseną traktuoja kaip sveikatos gerinimo strategiją. Tačiau sveikos gyvensenos pasirinkimai susiję ne tik su sveikata, bet taip pat su tam tikro gyvenimo stiliaus pasirinkimu. Jei medicininės praktikos yra orientuotos į konkrečios problemos sprendimą, tai sveika gyvensena tampa kur kas platesniu reiškiniu. Todėl šiuo darbu siekiama atskleisti sveikos gyvensenos strategijų pasirinkimo motyvus, bei gyvenimo stiliaus raišką. Atlikus empirinių duomenų analizę paaiškėja, kad sveika gyvensena suvokiama kaip savirealizacijos, egzistencinio saugumo poreikio patenkinimo, subjektyvaus gerbūvio kūrimo priemonė. Sveikatos samprata peržengia vien biologinio poreikio ribas ir tampa saviraiškos piemone, sveikos gyvensenos vertybėmis grįstu savitu gyvenimo stiliumi. Sveikos gyvensenos praktikos ne tik stiprina sveikatą, bet subalansuojančiu ir kitas žmogaus gyvenimo sritis. / Individual needs and personal experience is gaining more importance in people’s health care system, and the patterns of healthy lifestyle are being spread along. To meet subjective needs of the people a number of alternative techniques and various health care specialists offering different lifestyle strategies appear next to the biomedical model of health promotion. The core question of the present paper is the plurality of healthy lifestyle strategies associated with the appearance of consumer culture, social reflection and post-materialistic values in today’s society. In biomedicine healthy lifestyle is seen as a strategy of health improvement. However, the patterns of healthy lifestyle are not only associated with health but also with certain choices of a living of life. If medical practice focuses on a specific problem, a healthy lifestyle then becomes a much broader phenomenon. Therefore this paper aims at revealing the motif choice of strategy of healthy lifestyle and the expression of lifestyle. The empirical analysis of the data showed that healthy lifestyle was perceived as a mean of self-realization, the satisfaction of the need of existential security and the development of subjective well-being. The concept of health goes beyond the limits of biological need becoming a mean of self-realization, a way of living based on values of healthy lifestyle. The practice of healthy lifestyle not only enhances one’s health but also becomes a much broader phenomenon equally... [to full text]

My thesis focuses on agricultural livelihoods and EU integration in the Southern Carpathian Mountains of Romania.  I analyse how the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was deployed by policy makers and elites in the first year after EU membership, and how it shaped the livelihood possibilities of <i>tarani </i>(peasants).  Given the polarised nature of Romania’s post-socialist agrarian structure, the CAP excluded peasants from its policies, and demanded they change their <i>exploatatii/ferme de subzistenta;</i> (subsistence farms) into commercial farms.  Arguing from the premise that ‘subsistence farms’ are actually <i>gospodarii taranesti</i> (peasant households) working on different principles from farms altogether, it was possible to inquire into the strategies people deployed resourcefully in their everyday work to keep making a living. I analyse EU integration as a modern political and economic project that seeks to make the radically complicated pathways of people and things ‘transparent’.  I pursue the question of how the neoliberal expansion of economic rationality to all spheres of life shapes the actions of people. My ethnography captures the unease people felt in the face of the current transformation of value and illustrates how a much longer history of devaluing peasants has been taking place.  It makes clear how the devaluation of peasants and their produce is part of a larger epistemological project of development and progress.  My analytical framework enables me to show how the effects of polarisation and externalisation have had serious consequences for the ways people think about questions of freedom, success, merit and the ‘just state’ in Romania today.  My research suggests the need for a broader epistemological shift in the face of crisis, from a dominance approach towards commons thinking.

This study determined the number of self-directed learning projects undertaken by older adults and examined the motivational factors and anticipated benefits related to the learning activities. In addition, obstacles to conducting self-directed learning were identified by the respondents. A list of 20,032 names of adults, aged 50 or more years and residing in Tom Green County, Texas, was obtained from voter registration rolls and the residential rolls of four retirement complexes. Four hundred names were randomly selected to serve as the sample of the study. Of the 400 potential subjects, 120 persons agreed to be interviewed. Indepth interviews were conducted using the questions from Tough's Interview Schedule for Studying Some Basic Characteristics of Learning Projects and a probe sheet to identify obstacles to conducting self-directed learning projects. The interviews focused on the learning activities of older adults during the previous year. The 120 subjects of this study conducted a total of 239 learning projects in the previous year, an average of 1.99 self-directed learning projects per person. Ninety-five (95%) percent of the persons interviewed reported to have conducted at least one learning project in the past year. The majority of the learning projects were self-planned for the purpose of self-enjoyment and self-fulfillment. The most frequent obstacles to conducting self-directed learning projects identified by the subjects included: 1) finding the time for the learning activity; 2) the cost of the learning activity; 3) home responsibilities; 4) difficulty deciding what knowledge or skill to learn; 5) difficulty remembering new material or information; and 6) poor health. Comparisons of the results of this study were made with the results of previous studies by Tough, Hiemstra, and Ralston. The data support the belief that books, pamphlets, and newspapers are the primary source of information for the older adult. The results of this study indicate that older adults value self-directed learning as a major source of self~fulfillment in their lives and are motivated to develop new knowledge and skills through self-planned, self-directed learning projects.

<p>What are the social conditions that enable depression to play a significant societal role in contemporary Western societies? This is the leading question of the dissertation. As an alternative to those who claim that contemporary depression is constructed by the exorbitant consumption of antidepressants, it is stated that both depression and the consumption of antidepressants is</p><p>possible due to contemporary social conditions. Inspired by the analysis of modernity by Wagner, and on the basis of the theoretical concept of third modernity as proposed by Carleheden, it is claimed that an ethical conduct of life that demands authentic self-realization has been institutionalised in</p><p>our historical epoch. By analysing how authentic self-realization is being realized in the new spirit of capitalism (Boltanski & Chiapello), it is being concluded that the socializing parameters of third modernity are those of being able to be active, flexible, polyvalent, adaptable, versatile etc. selves. Hence, authentic self-realization in imbued with these normative demands. In relation to the phenomenon of depression this is interesting, because contemporary depression can be understood, not as a subjective condition, but as a phenomenon of lack. What is being applauded in the society of today is just what depressive individuals lack, namely the ability to act in accordance</p><p>with the normative claims of self-realization. Depressed individuals are in that sense failed selves (Ehrenberg) who represent and informs us about the “other side” of contemporary normative self-realization requirements. In other words: Within present-day society the institutionalized demands for authentic self-realization and depression have become each others antithesis. This socially demanded form of self-realization – which is put under the scrutiny of normative critique (Taylor) – is thus exactly what allows for depression to play such a significant role in present-day Western societies.</p><p>Keywords: third modernity, new spirit of capitalism, authenticity, self-realization, depression, normative critique.</p>

<p>Bakgrunden till studien härrör i att människan förändras mot bakgrund av sociala sammanhang, exempelvis i form av fritidsintressen, familj och vänner, som hon är en del av eller tar del av. Utgångspunkten har i det här fallet varit att undersöka hur den personliga utvecklingen kan påverkas av en tids studier på högre nivå. Således syftar undersökningen till att utforska om det, utifrån studentens motivation, finns någon relation mellan vägen till självförverkligande och högre studier. Undersökningsmaterialet innefattar empiriska data i form av intervjuer med studenter från skilda utbildningsinstitutioner vid Karlstad universitet som har minst 80 poäng, varav 60 poäng i ett ämne. Intervjuerna behandlar frågor som berör studentens förhållande till familj, vänner, fritid och studiesituation. Med utgångspunkt i Charles Taylors självförverkligandeteori synliggörs undersökningspersonernas personliga utveckling under studieperioden. Analysen visar att studiernas påverkan på undersökningspersonerna varierar. De flesta utvecklas på det personliga planet även om studierna i vissa fall inte synes ha något inflytande. I något fall upplevs inte studierna vara personligt utvecklande.</p> / <p>The background of this study emanates from individuals’ change in relation to their social context, such as leisure time activities, family, and friends, which they participate in and take part off. This study takes it starting point in examining the possible influence of advanced studies in higher education on personal development. The aim is to investigate whether there is any relation, on basis of the student’s motivation for higher studies, between higher education and the way to self-realization. The empirical data consists of interviews with students, from different faculties at the University of Karlstad, who has at least 2 years (80 credit points) of university training off which 60 points concern of specific scientific subject. The interview questions address the relationship between the student and their family and friends. Personal development has been assessed in relation to Charles Taylor’s self-realization theory. The analysis shows that the influence of higher education on self-realization varies. Most respondents in the survey group experienced personal growth during their study time although their studies, in some cases did not seem to have had any effect. Some respondents did not experience personal growth at all.</p>

Bakgrunden till studien härrör i att människan förändras mot bakgrund av sociala sammanhang, exempelvis i form av fritidsintressen, familj och vänner, som hon är en del av eller tar del av. Utgångspunkten har i det här fallet varit att undersöka hur den personliga utvecklingen kan påverkas av en tids studier på högre nivå. Således syftar undersökningen till att utforska om det, utifrån studentens motivation, finns någon relation mellan vägen till självförverkligande och högre studier. Undersökningsmaterialet innefattar empiriska data i form av intervjuer med studenter från skilda utbildningsinstitutioner vid Karlstad universitet som har minst 80 poäng, varav 60 poäng i ett ämne. Intervjuerna behandlar frågor som berör studentens förhållande till familj, vänner, fritid och studiesituation. Med utgångspunkt i Charles Taylors självförverkligandeteori synliggörs undersökningspersonernas personliga utveckling under studieperioden. Analysen visar att studiernas påverkan på undersökningspersonerna varierar. De flesta utvecklas på det personliga planet även om studierna i vissa fall inte synes ha något inflytande. I något fall upplevs inte studierna vara personligt utvecklande. / The background of this study emanates from individuals’ change in relation to their social context, such as leisure time activities, family, and friends, which they participate in and take part off. This study takes it starting point in examining the possible influence of advanced studies in higher education on personal development. The aim is to investigate whether there is any relation, on basis of the student’s motivation for higher studies, between higher education and the way to self-realization. The empirical data consists of interviews with students, from different faculties at the University of Karlstad, who has at least 2 years (80 credit points) of university training off which 60 points concern of specific scientific subject. The interview questions address the relationship between the student and their family and friends. Personal development has been assessed in relation to Charles Taylor’s self-realization theory. The analysis shows that the influence of higher education on self-realization varies. Most respondents in the survey group experienced personal growth during their study time although their studies, in some cases did not seem to have had any effect. Some respondents did not experience personal growth at all.

This thesis compares philosophers Ken Wilber (Integralism) and Leonard Peikoff (Objectivism), who argue that Western philosophy is saturated with a fallacious mind/body dichotomy, which they trace historically and psychologically. Wilber’s and Peikoff’s agendas, worldviews and starting points are contrasted, specifically, Wilber’s holons, Kosmos model, the Big Three Value Spheres and Peikoff’s metaphysical axioms. Their definitions of consciousness are reviewed, along with their mutual epistemological emphasis on knowledge as contextual. Wilber makes mystical validity claims supported by stages of cognitive development. Discussed attributes of the mind/body dualism are: regression and repression; control versus chaos; hedonism, uniformity and authoritarianism; Subjectivism and Intrinsicism; Ego-agency versus Eco-communion. Both philosophers maintain that each partial strategy collapses into the dysfunctions of the opposite strategy. Their respective models of resolution through integration are presented in conclusion, particularly Wilber’s case for nondual Self-realization.

The present study lays bare the relationship between nature and the individual in the novels of D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf through an analysis of their uses of natural images. It starts with an overview of the different view points of different critics who have studied these writers&rsquo / uses of nature and the way these writers treat nature. This critical overview eventually affirmed that the relationship between the individual and nature is central to these writers&rsquo / uses of nature. Being modernist writers, D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf are both interested in the psychology of individuals. Although they differ in their ways of depiction, they employ natural imagery to depict the psychology of the individuals, which can be defined as their Romantic sensibility toward nature. In both writers, though nature is more central to Lawrence&rsquo / s works than to those of Woolf&rsquo / s, nature is of great importance in the creation and representation of characters. Through their contact with nature, their characters experience self-realization as they reveal their hidden selves and as they find ties between their selves and nature. More specifically, this study tries to examine how Lawrence and Woolf depict nature in order to reveal the psychology of characters in relation to their experiencing self-realization in Lawrence&rsquo / s Women in Love (1920) and The Plumed Serpent (1926) and Woolf&rsquo / s The Voyage Out (1915) and Orlando: A Biography (1928).

Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1999. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2823. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as, preliminary leaves [2-3]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-112).