Literatura científica selecionada sobre o tema "Personal discernment"

This article considers the theme of discernment in the tradition of Ignatian spirituality emanating from the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). After a brief introduction which addresses the central problematic of bad influences that manifest themselves as good, the article turns to the life and work of two Jesuits, the 16th C English missionary to India, Thomas Stephens and the 20th C French historian and cultural critic, Michel de Certeau. Both kept up a constant dialogue with local culture in which they sought authenticity in their response to ‘events’, whether a hideous massacre which shaped the pastoral commitment and writing of Stephens in the south of the Portuguese enclave of Goa or the 1968 student-led protests in Paris that so much affected the thinking of de Certeau. Very different in terms of personal background and contemporary experience, they both share in a tradition of discernment as a virtuous response to what both would understand as the ‘wisdom of the Spirit’ revealed in their personal interactions with ‘the other’.

This paper attempts to deal with an essential dimension of the process of discernment as Francis develops it, namely, the narrative. The paper treats the imaginative discernment exemplified in his use of storytelling, metaphors, and symbols to open a creative forum for discerning sacred truths in our personal lives. To justify the appropriateness of Francis’s use of imagination in discernment, the first part of the paper analyzes Ignatius’s use of the imagination, especially in the Rules for Discernment of Spirits. The second and lengthier part of the paper turns to Pope Francis’s skilled narrative use of metaphors and symbols. He adopts the Ignatian imaginative style with metaphors that appeal to contemporary seekers. The various metaphorical twists that he incorporates into this experience have a privileged place in his spiritual pedagogy of accompanying, discerning, and walking together with people during difficult times. The metaphorical style of Ignatius and Francis allows for a comprehensive understanding of the role that imagination can play in the discernment of spirits. Besides enriching our understanding of discernment, this style can facilitate a Christian spirituality that enhances the search for and discovery of meaning within our contemporary lives.

This article employs a Christological lens, deeply informed by Bernard J. F. Lonergan’s theology of history and soteriology, to discern the conditions necessary for all-inclusive solidarity. It highlights the twofold kenotic aspect of solidarity, addressing a gap in mainstream theological discourses that often emphasize ‘particular’ solidarity with those in need while neglecting its ‘universal’ (all-inclusive) dimension. Affirming ‘universal’ solidarity necessitates guarding against a misleading notion of neutrality and against totalization, as well as resisting a truncated understanding of intersubjectivity that is prone to group bias. After laying the foundations for understanding solidarity in light of its secular origins and Christian theological context, the article concludes that redemptive solidarity cannot exist without a christomorphic kenosis, which encompasses two incommensurable dimensions: solidarity with victims and solidarity with victimizers as potential converts (that is, as capable of metanoia). In the pursuit of transforming evil into good in history, kenotic solidarity requires prioritizing the common good over personal advantage, even to the extent of refusing to exploit what is (or seems to be) rightfully one’s own—whether privilege, possessions, or the right to strict retribution— just as Christ did when he did not exploit his equality with God to his own advantage (Phil 2:6).

元宇宙是借助数字技术打造的沉浸式全息虚拟社会，其实现需要依靠增强现实（AR）、虚拟现实（VR）等沉浸式技术设备获得用户的动态，在此过程中需要大量收集用户的身体特征数据、手势动作、眼球位置信息等广义的“个人生物信息”。当前，我国《个人信息保护法》对于广义上的“个人生物信息”并无明确定义，仅将“个人生物识别信息”列举为“特殊个人敏感信息”的七种情形之一。结合个人生物信息在元宇宙中的技术中立、平台管理、跨国利用、去中心化追责风险，应拓宽“个人生物识别信息”的法律概念，将“可识别”纳入其概念范畴内，以回应个人生物信息的广义内涵。此外，还需要建立去中心化身份认证系统，完善 “My Data” 数据模式，并强化代码与法律的互补，以构建更加全面和有效的个人生物信息保护机制，在技术发展的同时确保个人隐私不受侵害，构建安全、公正、有序的元宇宙环境。 Metaverse is an immersive holographic virtual society created with the help of digital technology, the realisation of which needs to rely on immersive technological devices such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to obtain the dynamics of the user, and in the process needs to collect a large number of user’s physical characteristics data, gestures, eye position information and other broadly-defined “personal bio-information”. Currently, China’s Personal Information Protection Law does not have a clear definition of “personal biological information” in the broad sense, and only lists “personal biometric information” as one of the seven types of “special personal sensitive information”. It only lists “personal biometric information” as one of the seven cases of “special personal sensitive information”. Taking into account the risks of technological neutrality, platform management, transnational use and decentralisation of personal biometric information in the meta-universe, the legal concept of “personal biometric information” should be broadened to include “identifiable” in its conceptual scope, in order to respond to the broad connotation of personal biometric information. The legal concept of “personal biometric information” should be broadened to include “identifiable” in order to respond to the broader meaning of personal biometric information. In addition, it is also necessary to establish a decentralised authentication system, improve the “My Data” data model, and strengthen the complementarity between code and law, in order to build a more comprehensive and effective protection mechanism for personal biometric information, to ensure that personal privacy is not infringed upon while the technology develops, and to build a safe, just and orderly meta-universe environment.

One of the major factors for personal development and growth is understanding human emotions, and therefore it plays an important role in imitating human intelligence. Vocal and Sentiment analysis are the major focus points for advancement in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Sentiment analysis provides major help to data analysts of big enterprises to measure public opinion, conducting market research, understanding customers experience and viewing brand and product reputation. Emotion recognition provides an opportunity to grasp the general people’s sentiments about social events, marketing strategies, political views and product liking. In this paper, we have used various AI models on a variety of audio datasets to recognise and analyse the sentiments of the speaker. Our dataset includes some audio songs sung by some singers and some audio clips of few actors. We trained CNN and LSTM models to analyse our dataset and predict their accuracy. The ever-growing need of sentiment analysis coincides greatly with the extension of social media such as forum discussions, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other similar platforms.

One of the major factors for personal development and growth is understanding human emotions, and therefore it plays an important role in imitating human intelligence. Vocal and Sentiment analysis are the major focus points for advancement in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Sentiment analysis provides major help to data analysts of big enterprises to measure public opinion, conducting market research, understanding customers experience and viewing brand and product reputation. Emotion recognition provides an opportunity to grasp the general people’s sentiments about social events, marketing strategies, political views and product liking. In this paper, we have used various AI models on a variety of audio datasets to recognise and analyse the sentiments of the speaker. Our dataset includes some audio songs sung by some singers and some audio clips of few actors. We trained CNN and LSTM models to analyse our dataset and predict their accuracy. The ever-growing need of sentiment analysis coincides greatly with the extension of social media such as forum discussions, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other similar platforms.

The general topic of the analysis of the author aims to observe several facets of the manifestation of pastoral work in local communities. To highlight this, the author considers it very important to understand how the Church implements her canonical decisions so that the faithful are supported in their spiritual life according to a good management of the means available to the Church (oikonomia) and by showing pastoral discernment both at the personal and community level. In order to achieve this goal, the author analyses the way in which these two notions are present in the documents promulgated by the Council of Trullo (691-692). e whole pastoral ministry of the Church is a manifestation of ecclesial discernment. e canons of the Council in Trullo are fundamental texts of the Church which bring together the entire canonical tradition highlighting the relationship between the pastoral discernment of the servants of Christ and the freedom of those who seek spiritual healing. An important role is given to Canon 102 of the Council of Trullo.

Dance improvisation in performance is often spirited and unpredictable. But the form can also be hampered by its conditions of uncertainty so that a state of open, spontaneous creativity can actually become difficult to achieve in performance situations. In particular, the perceived ‘judgment’ of an audience can alternately enhance or inhibit the performer’s creative engagement with open improvisation. This article describes a studio process utilizing Authentic Movement which was directed towards a performance in which the dancers attempted to diminish the negative impact that external factors, or internalized perceptions of external factors, can have on improvisation. However, the article is specifically focused on the experiences of a single dancer (the author) in the studio practice which underpinned the performance. At the heart of this practice were personal explorations of how best to discern a positive personal interest while improvising. This discernment is framed as a means to define an ‘inner witness’ (drawing from Authentic Movement theory): an internal perceptual anchor at the centre of the practice which helps fosters an open, imaginative engagement with improvisation. The article also seeks to clarify a subjective situation in objective, theoretical terms and so to shed light on a phenomenon also experienced by many other performers of improvisation. Drawing on the work of Teresa Brennan and Mihali Csikszentmihalyi, the article examines how the affective impact of judgment can interrupt the spontaneous flow of embodied imagination in improvisation.

La notion de bonnes mœurs, telle qu'elle fut reçue dans la tradition canonique, est-elle appelée à disparaître en droit canonique positif sous l'influence des évolutions récentes intervenues dans les droits séculiers de nombreux pays au cours de ces dernières décennies ? Telle est la question qui traverse l'ensemble des pages de cette recherche doctorale.Au cours de la décennie 1990, l'introduction de la notion d'autonomie personnelle dans les droits séculiers ouvrit la voie à de nombreuses évolutions en matière de libertés individuelles. On assista ainsi à la montée en puissance des droits subjectifs, notamment dans le domaine de la vie privée et familiale. Outre la multiplication des remariages après divorce, d'autres formes de conjugalités obtinrent leur reconnaissance juridique, mettant sérieusement à mal le modèle de l'institution matrimoniale traditionnelle protégée par le droit canonique.Dans ce contexte sociojuridique marqué par une grande mutation des structures familiales, l'Église catholique fut confrontée à des situations pastorales complexes et inédites, nécessitant de nouvelles réponses canoniques appropriées, c'est-à-dire des solutions qui prennent en compte les réalités sociologiques actuelles sans perdre de vue l'exigence de leur conformité aux principes moraux de droit divin. Jusqu'en 2016, l'Église réaffirma constamment l'impossibilité de faire évoluer la législation canonique pour répondre aux demandes tendant à relativiser l'enseignement de la morale chrétienne, fondée sur la Révélation divine.Mais, l'exhortation apostolique Amoris laetitia, publiée le 19 mars 2016 à la suite de deux synodes des évêques tenus en 2014 et 2015 sur le thème des défis pastoraux de la famille, opéra un véritable changement de paradigme dans l'attitude de l'Église en consacrant la catégorie du discernement personnel et pastoral. Il s'agit en réalité de la prise en compte du jugement la conscience éclairée du sujet de droit dans l'évaluation canonique de certaines situations personnelles de vie qui sont en contradiction objective avec les préceptes de la morale chrétienne.Aussi, est-on en droit de se demander si avec la consécration de cette nouvelle figure juridique, le droit canonique est encore fondé de sanctionner les comportements qui violent objectivement certaines normes de la morale chrétienne. La réponse doit être affirmative dans la mesure où le législateur canonique n'a pas abrogé les dispositions du Code en vigueur ayant vocation à protéger la conception théologique des boni mores, mais s'est contenté de créer un nouvel instrument d'assouplissement de leur application à certains fidèles qui se trouvent dans une situation conjugale complexe et à des conditions précises.Si cette catégorie juridique, encore émergente en droit canonique, permet désormais d'envisager des solutions adéquates, différenciées et équitables à la difficile question de l'intégration dans l'Église des personnes dont la situation de vie conjugale contredit objectivement les préceptes de la morale chrétienne, il faut néanmoins reconnaître que sa mise en œuvre a sans doute sonné le début d'une décadence progressive et irréversible de la notion traditionnelle de boni mores en droit canonique. En définitive, on pourrait se demander si la catégorie du discernement personnel et pastoral n'est pas in fine en droit canonique, la facette modérée de la notion d'autonomie personnelle dans les droits séculiers<br>Is the notion of good morals, as it has been received in the canonical tradition, destined to disappear in positive Canon Law under the influence of recent developments in the secular laws of many countries in recent decades? This is the question that runs through all the pages of this doctoral research.The introduction of the notion of personal autonomy in secular law paved the way for many developments in the area of individual freedoms. This led to the rise of subjective rights, particularly in the area of private and family life. In addition to the increase in remarriages after divorce, other forms of conjugality obtained legal recognition, seriously undermining the model of the traditional matrimonial institution protected by Canon Law.In this socio-juridical context marked by major changes in family structures, the Catholic Church was confronted with complex and unprecedented pastoral situations, requiring new and appropriate canonical responses, i.e solutions that take account of current sociological realities without losing sight of the requirement of their conformity to the moral principles of Divine Law. Until 2016, the Church constantly reaffirmed the impossibility of changing canonical legislation to respond to requests tending to relativize the teaching of Christian morality, based on divine Revelation.However, the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, published on March 19, 2016 following two Synods of Bishops held in 2014 and 2015 on the pastoral challenges of the family, brought about a real paradigm shift in the Church's attitude by establishing the category of personal and pastoral discernment. In reality, this means taking into account the judgment of the enlightened conscience of the subject of law in the canonical evaluation of certain personal life situations that are in objective contradiction with the precepts of Christian morality.We are therefore entitled to ask whether, with the consecration of this new juridical figure, Canon Law is still justified in punishing behavior that objectively violates certain norms of Christian morality. The answer must be in the affirmative, insofar as the canonical legislator has not repealed the provisions of the Code in force designed to protect the theological conception of the boni mores, but has merely created a new instrument for relaxing their application to certain members of the faithful in particular situations and under specific conditions.While this juridical category, still emerging in Canon Law, now makes it possible us to envisage adequate, differentiated and equitable solutions to the difficult question of the integration into the Church of persons whose marital situation objectively contradicts the precepts of Christian morality, it must nevertheless be recognized that its implementation has without doubt begun a progressive and irreversible decline of the traditional notion of boni mores in Canon Law. Ultimately, one might ask whether the category of personal and pastoral discernment is not, in fine, in Canon Law, the moderate facet of the notion of personal autonomy in Secular Law

Définie à l’origine comme l’aptitude à la sanction, la capacité pénale peut s’entendre plus largement comme résumant l’ensemble des aptitudes subjectives, c’est-à-dire propres au délinquant, indispensables à l’engagement et à la sanction de sa responsabilité pénale. Ces aptitudes sont de deux ordres. L’aptitude à l’infraction et l’aptitude à l’imputation de cette infraction conditionnent le jugement de responsabilité et contribuent à en assurer la dimension morale. L’aptitude à la sanction ou capacité pénitentiaire joue un rôle plus original puisqu’elle apparaît comme le fondement de la personnalisation de la peine, permettant d’adapter la sanction pénale à la personnalité et aux besoins de celui qui doit la subir<br>Originally defined as the capacity to be punished, criminal capacity can be understood more widely as summarizing mental abilities that are required for criminal responsibility. Some are needed to commit the offense, others for criminal responsibility but both ensure the moral meaning of criminal law. Applied to the penalty, criminal capacity can be used to adapt the sentence to the personality and needs of those who must endure it

Alors que l’on enseigne classiquement la distinction radicale du droit pénal et de la responsabilité civile, une étude approfondie du droit positif révèle une tendance générale et profonde à la confusion des deux disciplines. Face à ce paradoxe, le juriste s’interroge : comment articuler le droit civil et le droit pénal de la responsabilité ? Pour y répondre, cette thèse suggère d’abandonner l’approche traditionnelle de la matière, consistant à la tenir pour une simple catégorie de classement des différentes branches, civile et pénale, du droit de la responsabilité. La responsabilité juridique est présentée comme une institution autonome et générale organisant la réaction du système à la perturbation anormale de l’équilibre social. Quant au droit de la responsabilité civile et au droit criminel, ils ne sont plus conçus que comme les applications techniques de cette institution en droit positif.Sur le fondement de cette approche renouvelée et par le prisme de l’étude des conditions de la responsabilité en droit privé, la thèse propose un ordonnancement technique et rationnel du droit pénal et de la responsabilité civile susceptible de fournir les principes directeurs d’une véritable théorie générale de la responsabilité juridique. En tant qu’institution générale, celle-ci engendre à la fois un concept de responsabilité, composé des exigences de dégradation d’un intérêt juridiquement protégé, d’anormalité et de causalité juridique et qui fonde la convergence du droit pénal et du droit civil, et un système de responsabilité, qui en commande les divergences et pousse le premier vers la protection de l’intérêt général et le second vers celle des victimes<br>While the radical distinction between criminal law and civil liability is classically taught, a thorough survey of positive law reveals a general and profound trend towards a confusion of these two disciplines. Faced with this paradox, the jurist wonders : how to articulate the civil and criminal laws of responsibility ? To answer this question, the thesis suggests abandoning the traditional approach of the subject, which consists in treating it as a mere category of classification of the different branches, civil and criminal, of responsibility/liability. Legal responsibility is presented as an autonomous and general institution organizing the response from the system to abnormal disturbance of social equilibrium. Civil liability law and criminal law are, as far as they are concerned, henceforth conceived as the mere technical applications of this institution in positive law.On the basis of this new approach and through the prism of the study of liability conditions in private law, the thesis proposes a technical and rational organization of criminal law and civil liability that may provide the guiding principles of a real general theory of legal responsibility. As a general institution, it gives not only a concept of responsibility, requiring degradation of a legally protected interest, abnormality and legal causation, and establishing the convergence of criminal law and civil law, but also a system of responsibility, determining the divergences of them and steering the first towards the protection of general interest and the second towards the protection of victims

Partindo da doutrina da indissolubilidade, houve um longo percurso no debate sobre o tema dos divorciados recasados. O que permitiu focalizar o tema, ter uma abordagem abrangente e centrada na pessoa, conciliar opiniões, avançar com novas propostas pastorais, desenvolver modelos de formação para os sacerdotes, equipas de casais e comunidades, aplicar processos de acompanhamento e discernimento dos casais, e introduzir alterações na disciplina da Igreja. Os Sínodos sobre a Família de 1980, 2014 e 2015 tiveram um grande impacto no interior da Igreja, com a criação de uma nova mentalidade e de novas atitudes. Lançaram novos desafios às comunidades, na missão de acompanhamento e integração destes fiéis, aos sacerdote que acompanham o processo de discernimento, para o eventual acesso aos sacramentos, e propuseram novos conceitos e uma nova linguagem. A Exortação Amoris Laetitia, acolhe os novos caminhos que partem da realidade concretas das famílias em situação de fragilidade, propondo uma nova abordagem: discernimento, acompanhamento, integração e reconciliação. Cada caso é um caso e o Papa Francisco, pela nota 351, defende que, em certos casos, poderia haver também a ajuda dos sacramentos, recordando que a Eucaristia “não é um prémio para os perfeitos, mas um remédio generoso e um alimento para os fracos”. O Papa declarou a interpretação do Capítulo VIII da Amoris Laetitia, feita pelos bispos da Região de Buenos Aires, como Magistério Autêntico. Está dado o mote para a sua aplicação em todas as dioceses e definidos os critérios a serem utilizados no processo de discernimento e no acesso aos Sacramentos da Eucaristia e da Penitência.<br>Starting from the doctrine of indissolubility, there was a long course in the debate on the subject of remarried divorcees. This has made it possible to focus on the theme, to have a comprehensive and person-centered approach, to reconcile opinions, to advance new pastoral proposals, to develop training models for priests, couples and community teams, to apply couples' follow-up and discernment processes, and to introduce changes in Church discipline. The Family Synods of 1980, 2014 and 2015 had a major impact within the Church, with the creation of a new mentality and new attitudes. They introduced new challenges to the communities, in the mission of accompanying and integrating these faithful, to the priests accompanying the process of discernment, to the eventual access to the sacraments, and to propose new concepts and a new language. The Amoris Laetitia Exhortation welcomes the new paths that depart from the concrete reality of fragile families, proposing a new approach: discernment, accompaniment, integration and reconciliation. Each case is a case and Pope Francisco, by note 351, argues that in certain cases there could also be the help of the sacraments, recalling that the Eucharist "is not a prize for the perfect, but a generous medicine and a food for the weak. " The Pope declared the interpretation of Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia, made by the bishops of the Region of Buenos Aires, as Authentic Magisterium. It is given the nickname for its application in all dioceses and defined the criteria to be used in the process of discernment and access to the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance.

This chapter summarizes many of the key findings from the research and offers some reflection questions that can be of value to religious communities, vocation directors, and others interested in promoting vocations to religious life. Influences on consideration of a vocation in general include family faith and parish life; Catholic schools; and volunteer service. Influences on consideration of a particular religious institute include personal witness and visibility of religious; community life; and cross-generational and cross-cultural commonalities. We can look at these influences in two ways: those that encourage and sustain the discernment of a vocation to consecrated life and/or priesthood in general, and those that invite and inspire women and men to pursue a vocation in a specific religious institute.

An important feature of spiritual formation involves finding reliable processes, people, practices, and materials that put one in the best position to cultivate the spiritual life and to achieve the specified goals (e.g. purity of heart, discernment, and the vision of God). Accordingly, this chapter draws attention to some works that connect philosophy (including some epistemological themes and issues) and spirituality (including the topic of spiritual formation). It also spells out some of the main features of John Cassian’s (c.360–435 ce) account of spiritual formation. In particular, it focuses on his understanding of the penultimate and ultimate goals of spiritual formation, of the importance of relying on others for making epistemic progress in the spiritual life, and of the three indicators that help determine whether a person is a reliable spiritual authority. The chapter concludes by identifying briefly three areas that deserve further epistemological attention.

Mormons believe that spiritual gifts must be in evidence in the true church and cited them frequently as evidence of a divinely sanctioned “restoration” of the gospel. Even many contemporary Restorationists broke with Mormons on the question of cessationism. Early Mormon charismata were tamed by revelation urging rational standards. Mormons continue to hold revelation—direct communication from God—as a fundamental tenet, with the institutional and the personal sometimes in tension. Visions and prophecies are affirmed in principle but less frequent in the modern church. Healing has largely been relegated to a priesthood ordinance. Speaking in unknown tongues (glossolalia) is almost unheard of today, and xenoglossia is interpreted as a spiritual assist to missionaries in foreign lands. Discernment is similarly understood in non-charismatic ways, and exorcism has largely faded.

Abstract My final public virtue is “discernment”—the art of choosing well. This implies cultivating an examined and well-directed life rather than simply responding to immediate instincts. Discernment is not just related to individual choice but also applies to our lives within society. Discernment echoes Aristotle’s third kind of knowledge—“phronesis” or “practical wisdom.” This places social demands on us which may take us beyond purely personal satisfaction. In Christian thought, for example in John Cassian’s monastic writings, discernment is an act of moderation and balance which measures all other virtues. The important medieval philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, describes discernment as “practical prudence.” This regulates all the public virtues. Most famously, “discernment” is central to the sixteenth-century spiritual writings of Ignatius Loyola. It is what should be at the heart of all human choosing. To choose well, we need to be freed from unhelpful dependencies.

Gatekeeping decisions frequently involve ethical dilemmas. Therefore, trauma-informed decision-making is required for each step of the gatekeeping process when addressing trainees demonstrating problems of professional competence (PPC). This chapter outlines an ethical decision-making model for gatekeeping that includes six phases of action: (a) preparing, (b) naming, (c) engaging, (d) assessing, (e) implementing, and (f) evaluating. Additionally, this model infuses SAMHSA's six key principles of trauma-informed care, along with multicultural and personal discernment considerations throughout.

Internet has created an opportunities for businesses especially retailers to stay connected with customers in the era of globalization. The customers can make purchases in a faster and convenient manner with the use of internet. E- Retailing is becoming very prominent and is being accepted by every age group across the world over the last few decades. Customers are embracing the shift from physical store to virtual store for purchase of products. E- Commerce has been grown very fast because of many advantages associated with buying on internet because of lower transaction and search cost as compared to other types of shopping. Through online shopping consumers can buy faster, more alternatives and can order product and services with comparative lowest price. (Cuneyt and Gautam 2004). This research paper will focus on youth of different social, national cultural backgrounds and their perception and attitude towards e-retailing .This also attempts to find out the important factors that make them loyal towards a particular marketer, without personal interaction.

For good or ill, people throughout the world of the 21st century continue to act on perceptions of divine guidance, inspiration, and revelation in personal and public life. Religious experience can lead to both extraordinary lives of human creativity and lives of crippling religious fear and violence. The first-century world of the apostle Paul’s Corinth brought together Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians in vigorous conversation and debate about mystical experience, religion, divination, superstition, providence, the rational mind, discernment, and delusion. Contemporary biblical scholarship has generally been wary of religious experience, but the texts themselves swim in this environment. The introduction argues that religious and biblical scholars as well as those who pursue or question spiritual exploration in the 21st century will benefit from engagement with these first-century debates.

Chapter 4 examines thirteenth- and fourteenth-century guidance texts for anchoresses, including Ancrene Wisse and Richard Rolle’s The Form of Living, as well as the Latin vita of Margaret the Lame (d. 1250), anchoress of Magdeburg. In these writings, as elsewhere, the Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38) functions as a remarkable and versatile textual resource that, with its dazzling array of metaphors, came to represent the routinely conflict-ridden relationship between angels, female penitents, and confessors. As visionary anchoresses faced insistent calls for subordination, their angelic capacity to resemble their confessors and to appropriate their spiritual knowledge and discernment undermined those same calls. I argue that these anchoritic writings, and even the many narratives of anchorites from Caesarius of Heisterbach’s thirteenth-century Dialogue of Miracles, draw on the Annunciation in negotiating the uneasy relations between personal inspiration and the imperatives of subordination.

This chapter looks at challenges of the overlapping crises of COVID-19 and the resulting economic fallout, climate destruction, and long-overdue racial reckoning that have shone a light on the fractured and unhealthy relationships between people and institutions that govern their lives. The chapter provides valuable insights for those who are looking for co-conspirators to create institutions and communities where everyone can thrive. It also reviews narratives that provide a sense of the commitment of time and other resources that build a trusting community. The chapter considers the importance of building the skills of a group of community-engaged professionals to examine their aspirations for their workplaces, their communities, and the world. It discusses the process of discernment about personal stories, values, and lived experiences that is part of defining self-interest in the community organizing model.

Abstract On Tuesday 1 May 1792, the library of the late Denis Daly, independent member of Parliament for County Galway, advisor and friend to Henry Grattan, and classical scholar, fell under the hammer in Dublin. The auction, handled by James Vallance, was publicized by an extensive, finely produced catalogue, printed by the Dublin bookseller and printer John Archer, who had joined with his colleague, William Jones, to purchase the library from the Daly family and offer it for public sale. Running to 152 pages, listing 1,441 items organized according to subject and size, Archer ‘s publication was rather more than a sales catalogue, for it also voiced a very personal appeal. In a preface steeped in the vocabulary of eighteenth-century discernment, praising ‘[t]he taste, the learning, and the liberality which the late Right Hon.

This chapter discusses the linked Enduring Questions courses Aesthetic Exercises: Engagement, Empathy, Ethics and Spiritual Exercises: Engagement, Empathy, Ethics. These courses explore the roles of training, habit, attention, empathy, discernment of desire, and contemplation surrounding experiences of the beautiful and the divine. The courses introduce students to various modes and theories of aesthetic and spiritual practice in the West, from antiquity to the present, and invite critical inquiry into the forms of life they foster and, most importantly, into the students’ own embodied experiences with these practices, whether attending a symphony concert or practicing silent meditation. Theology, study of the arts, and philosophy are presented not as disciplines to be mastered but as lived exercises indispensable to cultivating attention, being alive, and serving the common good. Training for, and consequent appreciation of, aesthetic and spiritual experiences are integral to the personal formation at the heart of a liberal arts education.

In a typical railyard environment, a myriad of large and dynamic objects pose significant risks to railyard workers. Unintentional falls, trips and collisions with dynamic rolling stock due to distractions or lack of situational awareness are an unfortunate reality in modern railyards. The challenges of current technologies in detecting and tracking multiple differently-sized mobile objects in situations such as i) one-on-one, ii) many-to-one, iii) one-to-many, iv) blind spot, and v) interfering/non-interfering separation creates the possibility for reduction or loss of situational awareness in this fast-paced environment. The simultaneous tracking of assets with different size, velocity and material composition in different working and environmental conditions can only be accomplished through joint infrastructure-based asset discovery and localization sensors that cause no interference or impediment to the railyard workers, and which are capable of detecting near-misses as well. Our team is investigating the design and performance of such a solution, and is currently focusing on the innovative usage of lightweight low-cost RADAR under different conditions that are expected to be encountered in railyards across North America. We are employing Ancorteks 580-AD Software Defined RADAR (SDRadar) system, which operates at the license-free frequency of 5.8 GHz and with a variety of different configuration options that make it well-suited for generalized object tracking. The challenges, however, stem from the unique interplay between tracking large metallic objects such as railcars, locomotives, and trucks, as well as smaller objects such as railyard workers, in particular their robust discernment from each other. Our design’s higher-level system can interact with the lower-level SDRadar design to change the parameters in real-time to detect and track large objects over significant distances. The algorithm optimally adjusts waveform, sweep time and sample rate based on one or multiple detected object cross-sections and subsequently alters these parameters to be able to discern other objects from them that are in close proximity. We also use an ensemble method to determine the velocity and distance of target objects to accurately track the subject and larger objects at a distance. The methodology has been field-tested with several test cases in a multitude of weather and lighting conditions. We have also tested the proper height, azimuth and elevation angles for positioning our SDRadar to alleviate the risk of blind spots and enhancing the detection and tracking capabilities of our algorithm. The approach has outperformed our previous tests using visual and acoustic sensors for detection and tracking railroad workers in terms of accuracy and operating flexibility. In this paper, we discuss the details of our proposed approach and present our results from the field tests.