Transformative Experience

Author: Laurie Ann Paul
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198717954
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
As we live our lives, we repeatedly make decisions that shape our future circumstances and affect the sort of person we will be. When choosing whether to start a family, or deciding on a career, we often think we can assess the options by imagining what different experiences would be like for us. L. A. Paul argues that, for choices involving dramatically new experiences, we are confronted by the brute fact that we can know very little about our subjective futures. This has serious implications for our decisions. If we make life choices in the way we naturally and intuitively want to--by considering what we care about, and what our future selves will be like if we choose to have the experience--we only learn what we really need to know after we have already committed ourselves. If we try to escape the dilemma by avoiding an experience, we have still made a choice. Choosing rationally, then, may require us to regard big life decisions as choices to make discoveries, small and large, about the intrinsic nature of experience, and to recognize that part of the value of living authentically is to experience one's life and preferences in whatever way they may evolve in the wake of the choices one makes. Using classic philosophical examples about the nature of consciousness, and drawing on recent work in normative decision theory, cognitive science, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind, Paul develops a rigorous account of transformative experience that sheds light on how we should understand real-world experience and our capacity to rationally map our subjective futures.

Transformative Experience

Author: L. A. Paul
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191027812
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Book Description
As we live our lives, we repeatedly make decisions that shape our future circumstances and affect the sort of person we will be. When choosing whether to start a family, or deciding on a career, we often think we can assess the options by imagining what different experiences would be like for us. L. A. Paul argues that, for choices involving dramatically new experiences, we are confronted by the brute fact that we can know very little about our subjective futures. This has serious implications for our decisions. If we make life choices in the way we naturally and intuitively want to--by considering what we care about, and what our future selves will be like if we choose to have the experience--we only learn what we really need to know after we have already committed ourselves. If we try to escape the dilemma by avoiding an experience, we have still made a choice. Choosing rationally, then, may require us to regard big life decisions as choices to make discoveries, small and large, about the intrinsic nature of experience, and to recognize that part of the value of living authentically is to experience one's life and preferences in whatever way they may evolve in the wake of the choices you make. Using classic philosophical examples about the nature of consciousness, and drawing on recent work in normative decision theory, cognitive science, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind, Paul develops a rigorous account of transformative experience that sheds light on how we should understand real-world experience and our capacity to rationally map our subjective futures.

Becoming Someone New

Author: Enoch Lambert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192556959
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
Suppose you're offered an opportunity to experience something that is unlike anything you have ever encountered, but that's all you know—aside from the fact that the experience is physically safe and morally acceptable. How do you decide whether to take up the offer? Several philosophers have recently argued that we are in similar situations for more of our decisions than we usually recognize. Are they right? What resources can we draw on to create such situations? Are they enough to satisfy our aims of making the best decisions we can, especially in high stakes situations? This volume brings together philosophers and psychologists to investigate the phenomenon of transformative change and a host of fascinating questions it prompts. Taking their departure from seminal work on transformative choice and experience by L. A. Paul and Edna Ullmann-Margalit, the authors pursue fundamental questions concerning the nature of rationality, the limits of the imagination, and the metaphysics of the self. They also strike out into new areas, including value theory, aesthetics, moral and political philosophy. Several chapters present the results of experimental investigation into the psychology of transformation, self-concept, and moral learning.

The Unfolding Self

Author: Ralph Metzner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780981831800
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Book Description
A classic and perennially relevant book, written by one of the world's foremost authorities in the field, The Unfolding Self Varieties of Transformative Experience Back to Titles The Unfolding Self examines in detail the transformations which an individual undergoes in the process of their expansion of consciousness. Referencing ancient and modern cultures from around the world, Dr. Metzner accomplishes what only a great teacher can do; conveying subtle concepts and fascinating breadth through an engrossing tapestry of myth, allegory, cross-references and historical context. Drawing upon 50 years as a pioneer in the study of consciousness, beginning with his triune collaborations with Dr.'s Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard University in the early 1960's, Dr. Metzner brings unique experience and sagacity to this most important of inquiries. Now required reading in a number of progressive psychology courses, The Unfolding Self promises to provide its reader with valuable tools to become "wise, impartial judges" in their process of transformation into a more integrated and fulfilled person.

Odyssey Works

Author: Abraham Burickson
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1616895683
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
Odyssey Works infiltrates the life of one person at a time to create a customtailored, life-altering performance. It may last for one day or a few months and consists of experiences that blur the boundaries of life and art—is that subway mariachi band, used book of poetry, or meal with a new friend real or a part of the performance? Central to this book is their 2013 performance for Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm. His Odyssey lasted four months and included a fake children's book, introducing the themes of his performance, and a cello concert in a Saskatchewan prairie (which Moody almost missed after being stopped at customs with, suspiciously, no idea why he was traveling to Canada). The book includes Moody's interviews with Odyssey Works, an original short story by Amy Hempel, and six proposals for a new theory of making art.

Transformative Religious Experience

Author: Joshua Iyadurai
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498270190
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Book Description
What makes a priest of one religion become a preacher of another religion? How could a person embrace a religion suddenly that he or she had up to then opposed? Why would young women risk their reputation and endanger their lives for the sake of newfound faith? How could an alcoholic detest a sip of wine all of a sudden? What drives an atheist to become an ardent worshiper of God? How could an intelligent person relate to God as to an adult human being? Transformative Religious Experience answers these questions with fascinating narratives of conversion. These narratives together show how the transforming effects of conversion permeate the daily lives of converts in a multireligious context. Joshua Iyadurai analyzes psychologically the mystical turning point in the conversion process and finds that the divine-human encounter entails a cognitive restructuring: a new set of beliefs, values, and desires replaces previously held religious beliefs, values, and desires. By drawing insights from the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and theology, Iyadurai develops an interdisciplinary step model from a phenomenological perspective to explain the conversion process that incorporates the religious practices and social-psychological factors while giving a central place to religious experience.

Foucault's Heidegger

Author: Timothy Rayner
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826494862
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
A new and important study of the relationship between two key thinkers of the twentieth century.

The Transformative Power of Near-Death Experiences

Author: Dr Penny Sartori
Publisher: Watkins
ISBN: 178678100X
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Book Description
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are often transformative, not only on an individual level, but on a collective level too. This book contains a selection of inspiring stories from ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences that have changed the course and direction of their lives and opened each and every one of them to the power of divine love. Recent years have seen a dramatic change of attitude towards NDEs. Unfortunately, the ongoing debates about NDEs have detracted greatly from the very important transformational effects that NDEs have and how empowering they can be for the whole of mankind. The NDE instils knowledge in those who experience it that we are all interconnected and part of one great whole. This book aims to inspire people from all walks of life, creeds, cultures and faiths to the transformational power of the message of NDEs and show how the love experienced during the NDE has the capacity to heal minds, bodies and souls.

Expecting Wonder

Author: Brittany L. Bergman
Publisher: Broadleaf Books
ISBN: 1506458912
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Book Description
When you're expecting a baby, all the focus seems to be on the external trappings of pregnancy--baby showers, doctor appointments, setting up the nursery, learning about baby's development. But amid all that preparation, your own emotional and spiritual journey is also taking place. You're not just growing a baby; you're becoming a mother. In Expecting Wonder, Brittany L. Bergman dives into this identity transformation with wit and grace, offering a heart-level guidebook for women in the season of pregnancy. Bergman shares stories of wrestling with fear, learning to trust God's goodness, and making space physically and emotionally for both her baby and her changing identity. By sharing her own honest journey of fear, change, and hope, Bergman offers the reader a picture of the miracle that God is working not just in the reader's body, but also in her soul.

Learning Critical Reflection

Author: Laura Béres
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135103328X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Book Description
Learning Critical Reflection documents the actual learning experiences of social work students and practitioners. It explores how a more in-depth understanding of the process of learning, combined with an analysis of how to critically reflect, will help improve the learning process. The contributors are all professionals who have learnt, in a formalised way, how to critically reflect on their practice. They speak in depth, and with feeling, about their experiences, how downsides and upsides worked together to transform the way they understood themselves, their professional identity, and their practice. Existing literature about critical reflection is reviewed, identifying the details of learning, and pulling no punches in recognising the difficulty and complexity of becoming transformed through this learning process. The editors of this book also contribute their own reflections on learning how to teach critical reflection and include the findings of a research study conducted on students’ learning. Edited by two experienced educators, this book showcases the process of learning, from the perspective of the learners, in order that educators and students, managers, supervisors, and frontline practitioners alike, may make the most of opportunities to critically reflect in both educational and workplace settings. It should be considered essential reading for social work students, practitioners, and educators.