Fundamental Existential Questions Research Articles

“GOD ALONE EXISTS IN SOLITUDE”: INTERVIEWING OLD MIGRANTS ABOUT LONELINESS

Abstract Current research emphasizes the need for a more critical reflective approach to studying older migrants, with particular attention paid to methodological and ethical challenges during fieldwork. One of the key methodological challenges researchers face is selecting appropriate questions, as the questions asked can influence the insights gained into the phenomenon under study. This is because researchers gain an understanding of the phenomenon based on the questions they ask. Previous research on the well-being of older migrants has primarily focused on their family relationships, health status, social participation into activities, and vulnerabilities. However, an important question to understand the well-being of older migrants is whether and to what extent they experience loneliness. This study involved conducting 20 semi-structured interviews with first-generation Turkish migrants over the age of 65 living in northern Netherlands. The findings suggest that the phrasing of questions plays a significant role in both how participants interpret the questions and their responses. During the interviews, while loneliness was generally considered a negative issue, some participants approached it from a religious perspective, leading to reflection on more fundamental existential questions, which in turn led to denial.

Cue Brexit: Performing Global Britain at the UN Security Council

AbstractThe role of performance in ontological security seeking is underdeveloped, despite the fact that many elements of such behaviour – narratives, rituals, routinised meetings – carry a distinctive performative quality. Drawing on Butlerian performance theory, this article makes the case that performances are essential to re-establishing coherence and a sense of self following ontologically critical situations. The reproduction of the self, especially while directly addressing fundamental existential questions, is an important way to overcome critical situations. At the state level, this reproduction of self also includes a reproduction of the international system, a task which is best enacted in everyday diplomatic practice. To explore this theory, I use Brexit as an illustrative case study. Brexit was a moment of profound crisis for the United Kingdom (UK) and an ontologically critical situation. It forced the UK to reposition itself on the world stage and confront significant challenges to its self-understanding. In Westminster, these efforts centred on ‘Global Britain’ – a narrative shift that bridged the identity gap and provided a thin framework for foreign policy. At the same time, British diplomats were tasked with international realignment post-Brexit. In this way, everyday diplomatic practice became Brexit performances.

Post-Islamism: From Islamism to Muslim Democracy? Transformation of Islamist Parties in Tunisia and Morocco

The article analyzes the transformation of the parties of political Islam in and after coming to power as a result of the revolutionary events of the Arab Spring. It was then, in the 2010s, after decades of repression and isolation, that adherents of political Islam had the opportunity to become key players on the new political scene in the region. Political Islam as a modern ideology faces fundamental existential questions about the nature and relevance of Islamism as a political project, and the issue of Islamists’ participation in the political life of the Muslim world is becoming increasingly relevant. In Tunisia and Morocco, parties of political Islam have been given the opportunity to integrate and be recognized in the political arena. The inclusion of Islamists in legal political life in Tunisia and Morocco contributed to their ideological and political transformation, especially in relation to such complex issues as the relationship between religion and politics, issues of individual freedoms, human rights, minorities and women's issues. Scholars use the terms “post-Islamism” and “neo-Islamism” to define the changes that have taken place over the past decade. Which imply the transformation of socially conservative parties towards the adoption of the rules of a civil democratic political system and the rejection of the Islamization of society from above. The Tunisian Islamist party Ennahda and the Moroccan Justice and Development Party have gone through somewhat similar paths over the past decade, having passed through the crucible of power and taking responsibility for the processes taking place in their countries. They have also shown flexibility in finding compromises and drawing dividing lines between their religious preaching activities and politics. Both parties continue to strike a balance in combining the right doses of Islamism, democracy, pluralism, secularism and national interests.

Meaningful Aging in the Face of Vulnerability: Perspectives From the Humanities and Arts

This symposium interprets GSA’s 2020 leading conference theme, “Why Age Matters”, as touching upon fundamental existential questions about the meaning of old age. Although meanings of aging have always been implicitly present in a variety of disciplinary gerontological studies, scholars from the humanities and arts have traditionally taken the lead in the field to provide thorough reflections and analyses about what makes later life meaningful. In this symposium, we aim to present a selection of perspectives from the humanities and arts that explore how meaningful aging can be realized in circumstances of the increasing vulnerability that inevitably accompanies old age. First, Hanne Laceulle uses a practice-theoretical philosophical framework to argue that the common assumption that vulnerability constitutes a threat to meaningfulness deserves to be nuanced, because meaning can also occur in the process of integrating vulnerability in one’s life. Second, Theresa Allison, Jennie Gubner and Alexander Smith show how vulnerable older adults living with dementia and their caregivers seek meaning in daily life, adapting meaningful activities to circumstances of increasing vulnerability. Third, Kate de Medeiros and Ulla Kriebernegg discuss how a dialogue between facts and fictions, narrative and literary gerontology, can contribute in seeing vulnerability as a form of resistance. Fourth, Margaret Perkinson illustrates the power of visual images as elicitors of reflections on meaning among the older inhabitants of a Guatemalan village. Documenting villagers’ own perspectives through PhotoVoice methodology underscores the fundamental importance of taking first-person perspectives into account when studying meaning.

Thinking about My Existence during COVID-19, I Feel Anxiety and Awe-The Mediating Role of Existential Anxiety and Life Satisfaction on the Relationship between PTSD Symptoms and Post-Traumatic Growth.

Background: The global outbreak of COVID-19set new challenges and threats for every human being. In the psychological field it is similar to deep existential crises or a traumatic experience that may lead to the appearance or exacerbation of a serious mental disorder and loss of life meaning and satisfaction. Courtney et al. (2020) discussed deadly pandemic COVID-19 in the light of TMT theory and named it as global contagion of mortality that personally affected every human being. Such unique conditions activate existential fears as people start to be aware of their own mortality. Objective: The main aim of this study was to test the mediating effect of existential anxiety, activated by COVID-19 and life satisfaction (SWLS) on the relationship between PTSD symptoms and post-traumatic growth (PTG). We also examined the moderated mediating effect of severity of trauma symptoms on life satisfaction and existential anxiety and its associations with PTG. Method: We conducted an online survey during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Poland. The participants completed existential anxiety scale (SNE), life satisfaction scale (SWLS), IES-R scale for measuring the level of PTSD symptoms and post-traumatic growth inventory (PTGI). Results: The effect of PTSD on PTG was found to be mediated by existential anxiety and life satisfaction. We also confirmed two indirect effects: (1) the indirect effect of PTSD on PTG via existential anxiety and life satisfaction tested simultaneously; (2) the indirect effect of life satisfaction on PTG through severity of trauma symptoms. An intermediate or high level of PTSD level was related to less PTG when low and full PTSD stress symptoms strengthened PTG experiences. Conclusions: A therapeutic intervention for individuals after traumatic experience should attempt to include fundamental existential questions and meaning of life as well as the severity of PTSD symptoms. The severity of traumatic sensations may affect the relationship between life satisfaction and post-traumatic growth.

Sitting with the Demons – Mindfulness, Suffering, and Existential Transformation

In the article, I critically evaluate some common objections against contemporary approaches to mindfulness meditation, with a special focus on two aspects. First, I consider the claim that de-contextualized contemporary approaches may have serious ethical consequences (the so-called problem of “mindful sniper/zombie”); second, I investigate the suggestion that it may be misleading to construe mindfulness meditation as (simply) a relaxation and/or attention-enhancing technique, as it is sometimes accompanied by unpleasant, even terrifying phenomena (the so-called “dark night of the soul”). In the last two sections, I weave the two narratives together by putting forward the following claim: traditionally-minded criticisms of contemporary approaches are ultimately correct, but for the wrong reasons––the historical context is not important in itself, but because of the role it plays in confronting the practitioner with the fundamental existential questions. In this sense, mindfulness meditation can be conceived as an important, but not the only element of a broader process of overcoming existential angst, whose ultimate goal is not relaxation or enhanced attention, but rather a radical existential transformation.

Evil and religion: Ricoeurian impulses for theology in a postsecular climate

Starting point of this article is a tension perceived in postsecular reassessments of religion between a new openness to religion’s meaning and importance and a negative motivation, due to religion’s violent presence. These negative conditions may hinder assessing religion in its fullness and specific character. Further reflection on the right attitude to study religion and a way out of this tension is given by analyzing Paul Ricoeur philosophical approach to religion in The Symbolism of Evil. A detailed investigation of Ricoeur’s text is necessary to find out why he, as a philosopher, turns to religious language for reflecting on what he calls ‘the reality of evil’. The outcome of this study provides a critical perspective for discussing current reassessments of religion, as well as recent debates on the use of the concept of evil. This discussion will focus on the importance of approaching religion as dealing with fundamental existential questions, including when the topic of evil is concerned. Such a deliberate and positive approach to religion does not exclude criticism. A constructive approach to religion like Ricoeur’s seems necessary to really make sense of the ‘postsecular’ perspective as bridging the gap between religious and secular approaches.

Finding Your Passion: Work and the Authentic Self

Finding Your Passion: Work and the Authentic Self

Intimate images of death in contemporary Polish documentaries

AbstractThe theme of death in contemporary Polish documentary cinema is increasingly present, which is distinctly evidenced by the creative works of Marcin Koszałka, who debunks one more social taboo. The author of the paper is interested in the intimate presentation of death, which, on the one hand, has a provocative dimension, and, on the other, it stems from the personal need to confess, which is carried out by the film alter egos of Koszałka, for example by his sister in Ucieknijmy od niej [Let’s run away from her] or by Piotr Korczak in Deklaracja nieśmiertelności [Declaration of Independence]. The films made by Koszałka - the author of Istnienie [The Existence] are based on baroque concepts which, by shocking the audience with their form, are meant to ask fundamental existential questions. Koszałka’s creative output is viewed by scholars first of all from the standpoint of self-treatment, which seems insuficient: when analyzing Koszałka’s films, it is impossible to avoid an ethical or existentialist perspective Another interesting and separate example of intimate presentation of the death theme is the film by Adam Sikora Paweł [Paul], which presents the Mikołów Institute director suffering from cancer: the camera accompanies Paweł Targiel’s “confession”, which reveals the stream of consciousness of the departing man. These extremely different presentations: baroque pieces by Koszałka and ascetic ones by Sikora essentially ask the same questions about the limits of documentary cinema.

Tropes of solitude and Lu Xun’s tragic characters

Much ink has been spilled over how Lu Xun’s (1881–1936) political views inform his creative writing and how politics and literature are mutually implicated, but the aesthetics of his tragic narratives remains marginal in literary studies. Often lauded as the father of modern Chinese literature, Lu Xun has not only made major contributions to the formation of literary realism but also put his unique vision of tragedy into practice. At the core of his tragic poems and narratives lie the tropes of solitude. The tragic is characterized, not by tragic incident, but by void thereof, by a state of speech-less solitude and nothingness (xuwu). The aesthetic implications of such a tragic vision are twofold. The creation and consumption of literature in China during the first half of the twentieth century focused on questions of the nation and society, but Lu Xun’s solitary characters in The Weeds ask fundamental existential questions while carving a space for a new genre of writing.

Religion, spirituality, and genetics: Mapping the terrain for research purposes

Genetic diseases often raise issues of profound importance for human self-understanding, such as one's identity, the family or community to which one belongs, and one's future or destiny. These deeper questions have commonly been seen as the purview of religion and spirituality. This essay explores how religion and spirituality are understood in the current US context and defined in the scholarly literature over the past 100 years. It is argued that a pragmatic, functional approach to religion and spirituality is important to understanding how patients respond to genetic diagnoses and participate in genetic therapies. A pragmatic, functional approach requires broadening the inquiry to include anything that provides a framework of transcendent meaning for the fundamental existential questions of human life. This approach also entails suspending questions about the truth claims of any particular religious/spiritual belief or practice. Three implications of adopting this broad working definition will be presented.

Sociology and Beyond: Towards A Deep Sociology

AbstractThis paper explores potential new directions for a sociology linked more to Asian social theory and to new forms of knowledge emerging from ecology and the new social movements than to its older foundations in Western philosophy and conceptions of society. It suggests that there is a route beyond the trajectory of modernist and postmodernist social thinking and it calls into question the anthropocentric, Cartesian and dualistic assumptions of most conventional sociology. It does so by exploring the possible relationships between sociology and the existential issues thrown up by Asian philosophical and religious traditions, and in particular Buddhism, and the in many ways parallel arguments of Deep Ecology. In doing so it calls into question the adequacy of current sociology as a vehicle for addressing fundamental existential questions and in particular the issues of social suffering, the emerging ecological crisis and the alternative conceptions of society generated by many of the new social movements, and suggests ways in which this inadequacy might potentially be resolved.

HARRY POTTER: A MODERN MAGE HERO

J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series follows the tradition offantasy works such as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Animportant difference from these, however, is that it showsthe contemporary mage looking for answers for fundamentalexistential questions of identity.

The Christian Understanding of Salvation-Liberation

The organizing committee assigned me the following task: first, to articulate the Christian theological understanding of salvation; second, to include some Roman Catholic perspectives on that common Christian task; third, to reflect on the political-ethical dimensions of the Christian understanding of salvation. I shall attempt to fulfill that assignment in the following way: First, I shall locate the question of salvation within the fuller system of symbols in Christian theology. Next, I shall give my own theological understanding of the basic characteristics of Christian salvation. Thirdly, I shall reflect further on the question of salvation by paying special attention to the political-ethical implications of salvation as the latter is interpreted, especially but not exclusively, by some contemporary Roman Catholic political and liberal theologians. Because of the confines of space, I shall simply state my own systematic theological interpretation on each of these issues. Those confines do not, of course, excuse any failures of interpretation on my part of either the great Christian tradition's understanding of salvation or the character of the fundamental questions which the Christian symbol of salvation addresses. Here too, the peculiarity of all properly theological interpretation must hold: however personal any individual theologian's interpretation must necessarily prove, that interpretation can never be merely personal. In sum, this interpretation, like that of all the other Christian partners in the Christian-Buddhist dialogue, must be held accountable to the following Christian theological criteria for the adequate interpretation of any doctrine or symbol: first, that the proposed interpretation be hermeneutically faithful to the Christian tradition; second, that the proposed interpretation be intelligible to any intelligent, rational, and responsible human being who asks the fundamental existential questions which the particular symbol addresses. The latter is based on the principle that any human being should be able to ask and critically reflect upon such familiar existential questions as mortality, transience, anxiety, a search for a properly human way to exist, and freedom from all bondage-personal, social, and political-which the Christian symbol of salvation both provokes and responds to.