Wrinkles on the Brain:
Towards Wisdom
When I reach my later years I would like to be like my Italian teacher, Father Benjamin Listello. Besides his calm demeanour and his graceful acceptance of his inabilities, what we admired in him was his sharp memory at the age of 87. But one day when I visited him in his room, I discovered his mnemonic device – just a simple things-to-do list that he updated it several times a day! An additional secret was that he always dropped his things-to-do list on the floor near the door, so that he was forced to pick it up and have a look at it.
In popular understanding, one of the signs of ageing is forgetting (and in some cases extreme dementia. Dementia is not just a problem of memory, but a cognitive condition that is marked by difficulties in skills associated with understanding, language and problem solving. […]
Month: June 2011
Psycho-spiritual reflections on later years of life – 3
Arrivals & Departures:
Handling socio-emotional situations towards altruism
In traditional societies, due perhaps to restricted physical movement, older people generally reduce their circle of acquaintances. They live in familiar set ups, with familiar people. They hardly meet new people. This makes their life less interesting perhaps, but in terms of socio-emotional aspects their situation is understandably less complex.
The beginning of later years is often marked by an experience of arrivals and departures in relationships. If the later years begin at the time of retirement, this stage is marked by an experience of saying good-bye to friends and colleagues at the place of work. At this stage many retired people may become members of church based groups or other interest groups, where they are exposed to new acquaintances. In the developed world, due to easy access to transport, (and thanks to the freedom pass for the senior citizens!), elderly people might travel more, […]
Psycho-spiritual reflections on later years of life – 4
Seeking an integration of life narratives and faith:
Towards Transcendence
In the eyes of one coming from an Asian or African background, in the churches in Europe young people are conspicuously absent. This situation, of course, has to be considered in the light of the demographic details that I mentioned in an earlier talk. However, the situation does raise some questions. Do the elderly go to church just because they belong to a generation to which religion was important? Or, is it because young people do not simply have the time to go church? Or still, people generally become more interested in religion in later years of life?
One of my lecturers, an Anglican priest herself, has a very interesting explanation: the presence of the elderly in the churches may not be a sign that Christianity has become irrelevant in Europe. The capitalist society puts too much pressure on the young people and […]
Ubiquity of the character strengths of positive psychology in African traditional religion
(Click this link to open pdf file) My MA Dissertation in Psychology of Religion: The Ubiquity of the character strengths of positive psychology in African traditional religion: A qualitative thematic analysis
Positive psychology has relied on world philosophical and religious traditions for its understanding and classification of core virtues and character strengths, and in demonstrating also their ubiquity across cultures. However, in this endeavour, reference to African Traditional Religion (ATR) is minimal. The objective of the present qualitative study was to discern if the ubiquity of character strengths extends to ATR. The catalogue of Values in Action (VIA) was chosen as the coding template; some anthropological textual data on the life cycle of the individual, collected in Nairobi, Kenya, were used as the data set. Using a hybrid approach of deductive data analysis and inductive theme development, thematic equivalents were identified, and further validated with the help of other scholarly sources. […]
How to Study 1 – SQ3R Method
Now, here is a typical method of study : SQ3R. This method, which has been proved effective all over the world, could be applied to any type of study, be it studying your class lessons or reading a book of serious nature.
SQ3R stands for SURVEY, QUESTION, READ, RECITE or RECALL and REVISE. These are the five steps of this method of study.
1. SURVEY
Choose the matter to study, keeping in mind its importance, your priorities, and your moods. Have a quick glance through the headings and sub-headings of the material you are going to study. If you are reading a book it would be necessary to go through the Back-cover comment, Table of contents, (Preface, if there is) and even the Introduction. Having an overall perspective helps your mind to organize the data and to be better prepared to receive it.
2. QUESTION
Turn the headings, now, into questions. What is the selection/text […]