2019/02/22

뿌리 깊은 유교 ... 함재봉의 ‘유교, 자본주의, 민주주의’












  • 뿌리 깊은 유교 ... :: 네이버 뉴스

    뿌리 깊은 유교 사상서 한국 민주주의 특수성을 찾다
    기사입력2019.02.18

    [김호기의 100년에서 100년으로] <50> 함재봉의 ‘유교, 자본주의, 민주주의’


    원본보기
  • 함재봉(오른쪽) 아산정책연구원장이 지난해 2월 미국 하버드대 케네디 스쿨 벨퍼 센터 초청 회의에 참석해 발언하고 있다. 함 원장은 이 자리에서 미중 사이의 한국의 전략적 딜레마에 대해 발표했다. 아산정책연구원 제공.
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  • 오늘 나는 한 이채로운 지식인을 살펴보려 한다. 정치학자 함재봉이 그다. 그가 왜 이채로운 지식인일까. 두 가지 점에서 그렇다. 첫째, 그는 미국에서 고교와 대학을 다녔고, 박사학위를 마친 다음 한국으로 돌아와 가르치고 연구했다. 둘째, 이런 지적 배경에서 그가 정작 내놓은 것은 유교사상과 민주주의를 결합한 유교민주주의론이다. 서구 교육에 오랫동안 세례 받았음에도 불구하고 전통사상인 유교를 앞세운 그의 연구들이 내겐 흥미롭고 이채로웠다.

    지난 100년의 지성사를 돌아볼 때 우리 지식사회에선 학파 또는 그룹들이 존재했다. 보수적 경제학자들로 이뤄진 ‘서강학파’, 진보적 경제학자들이 주축이 된 ‘학현학파’, 진보적 문예이론을 내세운 ‘창비(창작과 비평) 그룹’, 자유주의 문예이론이 두드러진 ‘문지(문학과 지성) 그룹’은 대표적인 사례들이었다. 
  • 진보적 사회학을 내건 ‘산사연’(산업사회연구회)이나 마르크스주의에 주력한 ‘서사연’(서울사회과학연구소)을 기억하는 이들도 있을 것이다.

    이러한 학파들 가운데 1990년대 후반과 2000년대 초반 잡지 ‘전통과 현대’에서 활동한 그룹이 있었다. 이들은 전통사상인 유교가 갖는 의미를 재발견하고 현대화하려는 지적 기획을 펼쳐 보였다. ‘전통과 현대’는 사회학자 전병재가 편집인을, 정치학자 함재봉이 편집주간을 맡았고, 유교자본주의론과 유교민주주의론을 주창해 지식사회 안에서 상당한 화제를 불러 모았다. 이채로운 지식인 함재봉을 다루는 까닭은 여기에 있다.


    ◇전통과 탈근대 사이에서

    함재봉은 1958년 미국 보스턴에서 태어났다. 부친 함병춘의 유학과 외교관 생활로 어린 시절부터 미국과 한국을 오가며 성장했다. 칼튼 칼리지에서 경제학을 공부했고, 존스홉킨스대에서 정치학 박사를 받았다. 연세대에서 정치학을 가르치다 프랑스 파리 유네스코(UNESCO) 본부 사회과학 국장을 맡았다. 이후 미국 남캘리포니아대 교수와 랜드연구소 선임 정치학자를 거쳐 현재 아산정책연구원 이사장 및 원장으로 일하고 있다.


    원본보기미국 유학파 출신인 함재봉 원장은 미국 주요 인사들과의 교류도 활발하다. 지난 2013년 헨리 키신저 전 미 국무장관의 뉴욕 자택에서 열린 만찬에 참석해 대화하고 있다. 왼쪽부터 마이클 블룸버그 전 뉴욕시장, 함 원장, 정몽준 아산정책연구원 명예이사장, 키신저 전 장관. 뉴욕=연합뉴스

    함재봉은 1997년 여름에 창간한 ‘전통과 현대’의 편집주간을 맡으면서 국내 지식사회에서 주목 받기 시작했다. 당시 ‘전통과 현대’의 등장은 앞서 말했듯 상당한 관심을 불러일으켰다. 포스트마르크스주의, 포스트모더니즘, 포스트콜로니얼리즘 등 다양한 ‘포스트주의’가 성행했던 상황에서 전통을 화두로 삼았기 때문이다.

    철학자 이승환, 사회학자 유석춘, 정치학자 김병국 등이 참여한 ‘전통과 현대’는 전통주의 내지 보수주의와 가까웠다. 하지만 동시에 ‘전통과 현대’는 그 비판 대상의 하나를 오리엔탈리즘에 맞춤으로써 방어적 국수주의와도 거리를 뒀다. 주요 필자들이 이른바 ‘국내파’가 아닌 ‘유학파’였다는 점도 이채로웠다. ‘전통과 현대’는 한편으로 전통의 재발견과 창조적 계승을 강조하고, 다른 한편으론 보수와 진보에 큰 영향을 미쳐온 서구중심주의를 비판함으로써 서구 이론 및 사상의 일방적 수용에 회의하던 이들에게 공감을 불러 모았다.

    ‘탈근대와 유교’(1998)는 이즈음 발표한 함재봉의 첫 저작이다. ‘한국 정치담론의 모색’이라는 부제가 달린 이 책에서 그는 포스트모더니즘과 유교라는 사상적 프리즘을 통해 근대사회와 한국사회의 논리에 대한 심층적 분석을 시도했다.

    함재봉은 스스로 보수주의자로서의 정체성을 갖고 있다. 그의 보수주의는 ‘철학적 보수주의’에 가깝다. 철학적 보수주의는 후기 루드비히 비트겐슈타인, 한스-게오르크 가다머, 마이클 오크숏으로 대표된다. 이들은 인간의 불완전성에 주목하고, 사회 문제들을 대화로 풀고자 한다. 전통을 중시한다는 점을 제외한다면, 이들의 사상은 미셸 푸코와 자크 데리다로 대표되는 포스트모더니즘 철학의 상대주의 인식론과 흡사하다.

    주목할 것은 이런 철학적 보수주의와 유교사상이 갖는 친화성이다. 뿌리 깊은 전통주의, 가족·국가를 중시하는 공동체주의, 선차적 중요성이 부여되는 도덕주의, 배움을 바탕으로 한 엘리트주의와 같은 유교사상의 핵심은 철학적 보수주의로부터 먼 거리에 놓인 사유가 아니다. 탈근대와 유교라는 이질적으로 보이는 두 사유 방식 사이에서 함재봉은 한국정치의 생산 및 재생산의 문법을 탐구했다.


    ◇유교민주주의란 무엇인가

    ‘유교, 자본주의, 민주주의’는 함재봉이 2000년에 발표한 저작이다. ‘탈근대와 유교’에 이어 이 책에서 그는 유교사상을 자본주의, 민주주의와의 관계 속에서 탐구하고 해석한다. 그가 목표로 삼은 것은 보편사의 흐름 속에서 한국적 정체성에 대한 자각과 정립이다. 그는 말한다.

    “유교를 자본주의와 민주주의에 비교해 보는 것은 자본주의와 민주주의를 유교적 토양 위에 정착시키는 작업이며, 자본주의와 민주주의를 유교화시키는 작업이기도 하면서 다른 한편으로는 유교를 보편화시키는 작업이기도 하다.”

    당시 유교에 대한 학문적 관심을 높인 것은 유교자본주의를 둘러싼 토론이었다. 유교자본주의는 국가와 교육의 역할에서 볼 수 있듯 동아시아 경제발전에서 유교적 가치관이 긍정적인 기여를 했다는 점을 부각시켰다. 하지만 이 담론은 1997년 외환위기가 발생하자 ‘정실자본주의’로 불리면서 작지 않은 비판을 받았다.


    원본보기함재봉 원장은 유교 사상을 자본주의와 민주주의 이념과 접목시키는 데 노력해왔다. 2000년에 집필한 책 ‘유교, 자본주의, 민주주의’는 그의 대표 저작이다. 최근에는 한국사람의 정체성을 연구한 ‘한국사람 만들기’란 책을 시리즈로 출간하고 있다. 한국일보 자료사진.
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  • 유교민주주의란 무엇인가. 유교민주주의란 ‘아시아적 가치’의 하나인 유교를 바탕으로 한 ‘비자유주의적 민주주의’를 지칭한다. 함재봉은 말한다.

    “유교민주주의란 다름 아니라 종교, 계급, 인종, 지역 간의 갈등을 긍정하거나 활용하지 않고 보다 공동체주의적인 민주주의를 모색하고자 하는 문제의식에서 출발한다. 한국사회의 도덕적 합의를 바탕으로 한 강력한 통합력을 유지시키면서 건설적인 방향으로 유도하기 위한 제도적 장치를 마련하는 것이 유교민주주의의 핵심이다.”

    함재봉은 서구 자유주의가 가져온 사회적 병폐와 도덕적 해이를 우려한다. 그리하여 이 자유주의를 도덕·가족·국가를 중시하는 유교적 공동체주의로 대체하려는 정치담론으로서의 유교민주주의를 제시한다. 유교민주주의는 서구 자유민주주의와는 상이한, 동아시아에서 관찰할 수 있는 담론이자 현실이라는 게 그의 주장이다. 지성사적으로 유교민주주의는 아시아적 가치론의 정치학인 셈이다.

    이러한 유교민주주의론에 대해선 당시 상반된 평가가 이뤄졌다. 한편에서 유교민주주의론은 동아시아 정치의 역사적 특징을 주목함으로써 서구 정치이론의 무분별한 적용에 경종을 울렸다. 근대화론이든 마르크스주의든 서구 이론이 서구중심주의로부터 자유롭지 못하다는 점에서 유교민주주의론의 문제제기는 음미할 만한 내용을 담고 있었다.

    다른 한편에선 유교 사상이 자유주의를 대신할 수 있는 정치적 대안이 될 수 있는지에 대한 회의 또한 작지 않았다. 유교는 전통주의·도덕주의·공동체주의의 사상인 동시에 권위주의·국가주의·가부장주의의 사상이라는 게 그 비판의 핵심이었다. 개인적으로 나는 공감보다 비판에 더 동의했다. 하지만 한국정치의 특수성을 유교사상에서 찾으려는 함재봉의 노력은 평가할 만하다고 생각했다.


    ◇지식사회의 미래

    최근 함재봉은 ‘한국 사람 만들기’라는 야심만만한 제목을 단 책의 저자로 돌아왔다. 그는 ‘조선 사람’이 지난 20세기를 거쳐 ‘한국 사람’으로 변화했다는 점을 주목한다. 이 ‘한국 사람’의 정체성은 ‘친중위정척사파’, ‘친일개화파’, ‘친미기독교파’, ‘친소공산주의파’, ‘인종적 민족주의파’의 다섯 가지로 나눠볼 수 있다는 게 그의 생각이다. 한국 사람의 계보학을 다룬 이 저작은 이제까지 두 권(‘친중위정척사파’와 ‘친일개화파’)으로 나왔고, 앞으로 계속 발표할 것이라고 한다.


    원본보기함재봉 원장이 지난해 3월 서울 한남동 블루스퀘어에서 열린 네이버 주최 ‘열린연단’의 연사자로 초청돼 강의를 하고 있다. 아산정책연구원 제공.

    완성된 저작이 아닌 만큼 여기서 ‘한국 사람 만들기’를 평가하기란 쉽지 않다. 분명한 것은 함재봉의 연구 태도가 주목 받아 마땅하다는 점이다. 우리 사회에서 인간과 사회 탐구를 직업으로 하는 이들에게 서양과 동양의 거리, 서구사회와 한국사회의 차이는 그 공통점 못지않게 중요한 인식 대상이다. 세계사적 보편성 속에서 우리 사회의 특수성을 주목하려는 함재봉의 학문적 태도는 바람직한 것으로 보인다.

    비서구사회에서 살아가는 지식인들은 자기 삶과 사회를 이해하는 데 서구 이론 및 사상을 어디까지, 그리고 어떻게 수용해야 할까. 서양중심주의와 동양중심주의는 그 대안이 될 수 없다. 이 둘을 모두 넘어서서 보편성과 특수성을 아우르는 담론 및 분석을 천착하는 것은 우리 지식사회의 미래에 부여된 중대한 과제라고 나는 생각한다.

    김호기 연세대 사회학과 교수


    ※ ‘김호기의 100년에서 100년으로’는 지난 한 세기 우리나라 대표 지성과 사상을 통해 한국사회의 미래를 생각하는 연재입니다. 다음주에는 한용운의 ‘님의 침묵’이 소개됩니다.



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Michael Gerson’s sermon sharing his struggle with depression



Read Michael Gerson’s sermon sharing his struggle with depression | PBS NewsHour
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Read Michael Gerson’s sermon sharing his struggle with depressionHealth Feb 19, 2019 6:20 PM EST


Michael Gerson, Washington Post columnist and regular voice on the PBS NewsHour, revealed this week that he battles depression.

On Sunday, before worshippers at Washington’s National Cathedral, Gerson delivered a guest sermon in which he explained why he had missed an earlier invitation to speak.

If he had given a sermon in early February, he said, it “would have been considerably less interesting, because I was, at that point, hospitalized for depression. Or maybe it would have been more interesting, though less coherent.”

“At some point, willed cheerfulness fails. Or we skim along the surface of our lives, afraid of what lies in the depths below. It is a way to cope, but no way to live.”



-Michael Gerson

Reaching out to the many Americans who suffer from “this insidious, chronic disease,” Gerson shared how his brain chemistry had led him to have negative thoughts about himself and his relationships with others.

“Over time, despair can grow inside you like a tumor,” he said in his sermon.

On Tuesday, Gerson joined Judy Woodruff to discuss how he has lived for decades with depression.

“Like a lot of people, I thought I was coping,” he said.

But after a medical hospitalization for his illness, he said he decided that he would go public, believing there should be no stigma.

On Tuesday’s NewsHour, you can watch our full interview with Gerson, and below, you can read his sermon as written.
======================

When your Dean and I were conspiring about when I might speak, I think he mentioned February 3rd as a possibility. A sermon by me on that date would have been considerably less interesting, because I was, at that point, hospitalized for depression. Or maybe it would have been more interesting, though less coherent.

Like nearly one in ten Americans – and like many of you – I live with this insidious, chronic disease. Depression is a malfunction in the instrument we use to determine reality. The brain experiences a chemical imbalance and wraps a narrative around it. So the lack of serotonin, in the mind’s alchemy, becomes something like, “Everybody hates me.” Over time, despair can grow inside you like a tumor.

I would encourage anyone with this malady to keep a journal. At the bottom of my recent depression, I did a plus and minus, a pro and con, of me. Of being myself. The plus side, as you’d imagine, was short. The minus side included the most frightful clichés: “You are a burden to your friends.” “You have no future.” “No one would miss you.”

The scary thing is that these things felt completely true when I wrote them. At that moment, realism seemed to require hopelessness.

But then you reach your breaking point – and do not break. With patience and the right medicine, the fog in your brain begins to thin. If you are lucky, as I was, you encounter doctors and nurses who know parts of your mind better than you do. There are friends who run into the burning building of your life to rescue you, and acquaintances who become friends. You meet other patients, from entirely different backgrounds, who share your symptoms, creating a community of the wounded. And you learn of the valor they show in lonely rooms.

Over time, you begin to see hints and glimmers of a larger world outside the prison of your sadness. The conscious mind takes hold of some shred of beauty or love. And then more shreds, until you begin to think maybe, just maybe, there is something better on the far side of despair.

I have no doubt that I will eventually repeat the cycle of depression. But now I have some self-knowledge that can’t be taken away. I know that – when I’m in my right mind – I choose hope.

The phrase – “in my right mind” – is harsh. No one would use it in a clinical setting. But it fits my experience exactly.

In my right mind – when I am rested and fed, medicated and caffeinated – I know that I was living within a dismal lie.

In my right mind, I know I have friends who will not forsake me.

In my right mind, I know that chemistry need not be destiny.

In my right mind, I know that weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

This may have direct relevance to some here today. But I also think this medical condition works as a metaphor for the human condition.

All of us – whatever our natural serotonin level – look around us and see plenty of reason for doubt, anger and sadness. A child dies, a woman is abused, a schoolyard becomes a killing field, a Typhoon sweeps away the innocent. If we knew or felt the whole of human suffering, we would drown in despair. By all objective evidence, we are arrogant animals, headed for the extinction that is the way of all things. We imagine that we are like gods, and still drop dead like flies on the windowsill.

The answer to the temptation of nihilism is not an argument – though philosophy can clear away a lot of intellectual foolishness. It is the experience of transcendence we cannot explain, or explain away. It is the fragments of love and meaning that arrive out of the blue – in beauty that leaves a lump in your throat… in the peace and ordered complexity of nature… in the shadow and shimmer of a cathedral… in the unexplained wonder of existence itself.

I have one friend, John, who finds God’s hidden hand in the habits and coloring of birds. My friend Catherine, when her first child was born, discovered what she calls “a love much greater than evolution requires.” I like that. “A love much greater than evolution requires.”

My own experience is tied to this place. Let me turn to an earlier, happier part of my journals, from May 2nd, 2002:

“It has probably been a month,” I wrote, “since some prompting of God led me to a more disciplined Christian life. One afternoon I was led to the Cathedral, the place I feel most secure in the world. I saw the beautiful sculpture in the Bishop’s Garden – the prodigal son melting into his father’s arms – and the inscription how he fell on his neck, and kissed him. I felt tears and calm, like something important had happened to me and in me… My goals are pretty clear. I want to stop thinking about myself all the time. I want to be a mature disciple of Jesus, not a casual believer. I want to be God’s man.”

I have failed at these goals in a disturbing variety of ways. And I have more doubts than I did on that day. These kind of experiences may result from inspiration… or indigestion. Your brain may be playing tricks. Or you may be feeling the beating heart of the universe. Faith, thankfully, does not preclude doubt. It consists of staking your life on the rumor of grace.

This experience of pulling back the curtain of materiality, and briefly seeing the landscape of a broader world, comes in many forms. It can be religious and non-religious, Christian and non-Christian. We sometimes search for a hidden door when the city has a hundred open gates. But there is this difference for a Christian believer: At the end of all our striving and longing we find, not a force, but a face. All language about God is metaphorical. But the metaphor became flesh and dwelt among us.

Becoming alert to this reality might be called “enlightenment,” or the work of the Holy Ghost, or “conversion.” There really is no formula. Historically, there was Paul’s blinding light on the road to Damascus. There was Augustine, instructed by the voice of a child to “take up and read.” There was Pascal sewing into his jacket: “Since about half-past ten in the evening until about half-past midnight. FIRE. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.” There was Teresa of Avila encountering the suffering Christ with an “outpouring of tears.” There was John Wesley’s heart becoming “strangely warmed.”

Here is how G.K. Chesterton described this experience in a poem called “The Convert”:

“The sages have a hundred maps to give
That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,
They rattle reason out through many a sieve
That stores the sand and lets the gold go free:
And all these things are less than dust to me
Because my name is Lazarus and I live.”

It is impossible for anyone but saints to live always on that mountaintop. I suspect that there are people here today – and I include myself – who are stalked by sadness, or stalked by cancer, or stalked by anger. We are afraid of the mortality that is knit into our bones. We experience unearned suffering, or give unreturned love, or cry useless tears. And many of us eventually grow weary of ourselves – tired of our own sour company.

At some point, willed cheerfulness fails. Or we skim along the surface of our lives, afraid of what lies in the depths below. It is a way to cope, but no way to live.

I’d urge anyone with undiagnosed depression to seek out professional help. There is no way to will yourself out of this disease, any more than to will yourself out of tuberculosis.

There are, however, other forms of comfort. Those who hold to the wild hope of a living God can say certain things:

In our right minds – as our most sane and solid selves – we know that the appearance of a universe ruled by cruel chaos is an lie and that the cold void is actually a sheltering sky.

In our right minds, we know that life is not a farce but a pilgrimage – or maybe a farce and a pilgrimage, depending on the day.

In our right minds, we know that hope can grow within us – like a seed, like a child.

In our right minds, we know that transcendence sparks and crackles around us – in a blinding light, and a child’s voice, and fire, and tears, and a warmed heart, and a sculpture just down the hill – if we open ourselves to seeing it.

Fate may do what it wants. But this much is settled. In our right minds, we know that love is at the heart of all things.

Many, understandably, pray for a strength they do not possess. But God’s promise is somewhat different: That even when strength fails, there is perseverance. And even when perseverance fails, there is hope. And even when hope fails, there is love. And love never fails.

So how do we know this? How can anyone be so confident?


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2019/02/21

MYSTICISM AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD REG NAULTY

MYSTICISM AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
 REG NAULTY
8/06/2010   COMPASS
‘The sole meaning of human life lies in serving the world by promoting the establishment of the Kingdom of God.’ —Tolstoy.1

THIS PAPER SHOWS shows how mysticism can contribute to the Kingdom of God, and that it has already done so. The examples are from contemporary economics and politics.
The kingdom of God has had a more robust innings in Russia than in the Christian West. Dostovevskv has Fr.Zossima say in The Brothers Karamazov that the brotherhood of man would come to pass when the period of extreme individuality was over. Tolstoy went to much greater lengths on the subject. Tolstoy wrote an entire book about it: The Kingdom of God Is Within You. Though the kingdom may begin within you, the whole point of the book is to make it a social reality. Writing in 1893, Tolstoy asserted that ‘a time is already coming when the Christian principles of equality [the brotherhood of man, the community of property, and non resistance to evil by violence] will appear just as natural and simple as the principles of ... national life do now.’2
Well, he was partly right, though the form the first two of these took in the Soviet Union would have appalled him. One can imagine the theologians, ‘those masters of circuitous evasion’ as Tolstoy called them, saying ‘I told you so.’ In the West, aspirations like ‘thy kingdom come’ in the Lord’s prayer and injunctions such as ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God’, were construed to be about the next life. After all, Jesus said at his trial ‘my kingdom is not of this world.’
However, it is not that simple. St. Paul wrote ‘it is not eating and drinking that made the Kingdom of God, but the saving justice, the peace and joy brought by the Holy Spirit’ (Rom 14:17) which seems to be about life here. As a result, there is a difference of opinion among theolo-gians. After a survey of the literature, Professor Michael P. Hornsby Smith, a sociologist, comes down on the ‘already’ but ‘not yet’ position. That is, the kingdom of God is partially, but not completely, present. ‘So a purpose of [his] book is to seek a kingdom of truth, life, justice, love and peace.’ He asks ‘How can the emergence of these ‘kingdom values’ be encouraged?’3
In Hornsby Smith’s book, the kingdom of God is put at the centre of a Church‘s social teaching. It is not a criticism of his account that he omits any mention of mysticism as a source of some of his ‘kingdom values’. Mysticism does not feature in the social teaching of most churches, as it does not feature in social thought generally. Indeed, Max Weber roundly declared that ‘mystical experiences lead away from everyday life and all expedient conduct.’4 Pace Weber, mysticism has the merit of supporting the kingdom of God.
We may find some encouragement for this in the father of all social thought, Plato. In The Republic, the forthcoming rulers are led to an awareness of Goodness Itself, which has the effect of making them love goodness, and motivates them to give it appropriate expression in the governance of the state. Sir Desmond Lee, in his translator’s introduction to The Republic, writes ‘the vision of the good is not entirely dissimilar to what others have called the vision of God.’5
Then why not take something that straightforwardly is a theistic mystical experience and see what social ramifications there are? That is the procedure here. The experience selected is fromSt Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) the reason being that his experience is typical of Christian mystics. There is, to be sure, within Christianity, a neo-Platonic tradition whose ex-perience may well derive from meditation, like Buddhism, but here we are dealing with the prayerful tradition. Here, thcn, is the experience
His whole being somehow changed into a movement of divine love…He is filled with God. But God is love, and the deeper one‘s union with God, the more one is filled with God.6
St Bernard goes on to point out the social consequence:
It will not now be hard to fulfill the commandment in regard to loving his neighbor. For he truly loves God and in this way also loves the things  which are God‘s.7
The experiencer was filled with God’s love, and turns that love onto other human beings. The result is what Hornsby Smith calls solidarity, or what Dostoyevsky calls brotherhood. The intent is towards community. The mystic pursues community and opposes whatever is destructive of it. That is mysticism’s social and political agenda.
St Bernard puts the point succinctly: ‘This heart is filled with a love that embraces everybody.8 So it wishes them peace, which is essential to the preservation of the community. St Bernard makes a strong statement about the implication to peace:
Instead of shutting off your affections from your enemies, you will do good to those who hate you, you will pray for those who persecute and slander you, you will strive to be peaceful even with those who hate peace.9
Community and peace are the orientations provided by the experience. There will be other sources of a person‘s social and political agenda, and they may be good, such as experience and reason. And one of the great lessons of’ experience is that society benefits from freedom as well as community, so it is desirable to have both. A mystic is capable of learning from experience like everyone else, so will pursue community in ways compatible with freedom. Thus one of the great mystics of the twentieth century, Toyohiko Kagawa(1888-1960] an economic reformer in the 1930’s, writing in the shadow of the Great Depression when capitalism seemed to be finished, sought unity in cooperatives rather than communism.
However, the greatest doubt about the mystic’s social vision comes from its utopian character. Utopian visions and social reality don’t mix, it will be said. When has the brotherhood of man ever come to pass? It may not have come to pass everywhere at all times. but in some places at some times it has done well. In what follows, I shall cite two instances in the twentieth century in which the social orientation provided by mystical experience has made a social difference.
The first is Toyohiko Kagawa. He felt that God… ‘was inside me ...l felt great ecstasy and joy.’10 Thinking about it later, he wrote
The purpose of our having mystical experience is not that we may achieve our ow-n personal satisfaction, but that we may succor the poor, help those in trouble, and educate the masses.11
And educate them, he did. He threw himself into labour unions, women’s rights, farm organisations, and health clinics.
The great problem of his time was unemployment. Kagawa had no doubt about what should have been happening: the workers should have had increased ownership and control of the means of production, but through a co-operatized form of ownership which allowed a form of community control. Kagawa viewed capitalism as a form of industrial autocracy. He had no objection to small shops, farms, lawyers’, doctors’ and dentists’ practices being owned by individuals, since the work was performed primarily by one person with a few assistants. But when the firm began to grow, and the wealth which brought about the expansion was co-operatively raised, the resulting firm should be co-operatively owned. The resulting co-operatives should then federate and buy out other businesses and co-operatize them.
Co-operatives did economic justice: they returned the wealth to the people who had generated it. In Kagawa’s world there would be no armed revolution, but no Rupert Murdochs either. In his book Brotherhood Economics, whose title exhibits the tendency to social solidarity typical of love mystics, Kagawa attempted to assimilate economics into love consciousness, culminating in his description of the co-operative state.
Kagawa’s work was noticed in Australia. In 1936, an Australian clothing manufacturer, Fletcher Jones, went to Japan to see how Kagawa’s ideas were working out. As a result, he turned his business, which was to have 3,000 employees, into a staff co-operative. The title of Jones’ autobiography, Not By Myself,12 explains why.
 Kagawa, was not afraid to borrow. In 1921 he founded something like a religious order, The Friends of Jesus Group, which became the centre of his religious and charitable work. As his biographer Schildgen observes, it combined the discipline of the Jesuits, the methodism of John Wesley‘s spiritual circle, and the hands on activism of the Salvation Army.
Mv second witness is .Anwar El- Sadat, formerly President of Egypt. During an eight month stay in prison in the last days of the colonial period in Egypt Sadat, a military officer, underwent a religious conversion. He felt that he established ‘communion with the Lord of all Being…the mystics I read in prison appealed to me tremendously…’13He continues ‘I came to experience friendship with God,’ and he was fully conscious of the political consequences: ‘My friendship with God changed me a great deal. Only in defence of a just cause would I take up arms...’14 It made that much difference to him: war would have to be shown to be just.
Sadat‘s  political orientation brought about by his communion with God existed alongside others deriving from his military background. In view of these, Sadat launched a war against Israel. It took another man of similar mind to bring the political effects of his conversion to the fore. That man was President Jimmy Carter. It was a case of Sufi recognising Sufi. Sadat described Carter as a man ‘impelled by the power of religious faith and lofty values’15 Carter brokered the Camp David Accords which took Egypt out of the firing line against Israel. In his historic speech to the Knesset in       1977, Sadat quoted from Proverbs ‘...to the counsellors of peace is joy.’16 He was shot dead by extremists soon after.
I conclude that mystical experience can support the The Kingdom of God, notably in the areas of solidarity and peace, since it has already done so.

 NOTES

 1. Leo Tolstoy. The Kingdom Of God and Peace Essays. Works of St Bernard of Clairvaux, vol. 5, trans. Robert
Oxford University Press. London. 1974. P.444 Walton OSB, Cistercian Publications, Consortium Press,
2. Ibid. P.135. Washington, DC, 1974.P.118
3. Michael P. Hornsby- Smith. An Introduction To Catho- 8. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon 27:11, On the Song of lic Social Thought. Cambridge University Songs, op. cit. P.84.
Prcss.Cambridge. 2006. P.44. 9.Ibid.
4.Max Weber. ‘The Social Psychology Of The World’s 10. Robert Schildgen. Toyohiko Kagawa. Apostle of Love Religions.’ in From Max Weber: Essavs In Sociology. and Social Justice. Centenary Books. Berkeley. Calitrans H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. Routledge and fornia. 1998.P.36.
Kegan Paul.London.1974.P. 289. 11. Ibid. P.86.
5. Sir Desmond Lee. Introduction to Plato The Repub- 12. Fletcher Jones. Not By Myself. The Wentworth Press. lic. The Penguin Classics. Second Edition. 1974. P.41 Sydney. 1976.
6. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon 26.5 On The Song of 13. Anwar EL- Sadat. In Search Of   Identiy. An  AutobiSongs, vol 3 trans Killian Walsh OCSO. Cistercian Pub- ography. Fontana‘Collins. Great Britain. 1978. P.108. lications, Kalamazoo, MI, 1976. P.63. 14. Ibid
7.Bernard of Clairvaux, ‘Treatises on Loving God’, The 15. Ibid. P.359. 16. Ibid. P. 401.
37

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Australia named among second most depressed countries in the world - Scimex

Australia named among second most depressed countries in the world - Scimex

Australia named among second most depressed countries in the world

Publicly released: Fri 31 Mar 2017 at 1130 AEDT | 1330 NZDT
Together with the USA and Estonia, Australia could have the second highest prevalence of depressive disorders globally, according to WHO's Depression and Other Common Mental Disorders Global Health Estimates. Of the over 180 countries surveyed, the Ukraine had the highest rate of depression (with 6.3 per cent of the population affected), followed by Australia, the USA and Estonia with prevalence rates of 5.9 per cent. Out of the 21 countries in the WHO Western Pacific Region, Australia came second only to New Zealand for anxiety disorders, with seven per cent of the population affected. The estimates show that depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide.
Organisation/s: The University of Queensland, World Health Organization

Media Release

From: World Health Organization“Depression: let’s talk” says WHO, as depression tops list of causes of ill health

30 March 2017 | GENEVA - Depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. According to the latest  estimates from the World Health Organization, more than 300 million people are now living with depression, an increase of more than 18% between 2005 and 2015. Lack of support for people with mental disorders, coupled with a fear of stigma,  prevent many from accessing the treatment they need to live healthy, productive lives.

The new estimates have been released in the lead-up to World Health Day on 7 April, the high point in WHO’s year-long campaign “Depression: let’s talk”. The overall goal of the campaign is that more people with depression, everywhere in the world, both seek and get help.

Said WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan: “These new figures are a wake-up call for all countries to re-think their approaches to mental health and to treat it with the urgency that it deserves.”

One of the first steps is to address issues around prejudice and discrimination. “The continuing stigma associated with mental illness was the reason why we decided to name our campaign Depression: let’s talk,” said Dr Shekhar Saxena, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO. “For someone living with depression, talking to a person they trust is often the first step towards treatment and recovery.”

Urgent need for increased investment

Increased investment is also needed. In many countries, there is no, or very little, support available for people with mental health disorders. Even in high-income countries, nearly 50% of people with depression do not get treatment. On average, just 3% of government health budgets is invested in mental health, varying from less than 1% in low-income countries to 5% in high-income countries.

Investment in mental health makes economic sense. Every US$ 1 invested in scaling up treatment for depression and anxiety leads to a return of US$ 4 in better health and ability to work. Treatment usually involves either a talking therapy or antidepressant medication or a combination of the two. Both approaches can be provided by non-specialist health-workers, following a short course of training, and using WHO’s mhGAP Intervention Guide. More than 90 countries, of all income levels, have introduced or scaled-up programmes that provide treatment for depression and other mental disorders using this Intervention Guide.

Failure to act is costly. According to a WHO-led study, which calculated treatment costs and health outcomes in 36 low-, middle- and high-income countries for the 15 years from 2016-2030, low levels of recognition and access to care for depression and another common mental disorder, anxiety, result in a  global economic loss of a trillion US dollars every year.  The losses are incurred by households, employers and governments. Households lose out financially when people cannot work.  Employers suffer when employees become less productive and are unable to work. Governments have to pay higher health and welfare expenditures.

Associated health risks

WHO has identified strong links between depression and other noncommunicable disorders and diseases. Depression increases the risk of substance use disorders and diseases such as diabetes and heart disease; the opposite is also true, meaning that people with these other conditions have a higher risk of depression.

Depression is also an important risk factor for  suicide, which claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

Said Dr Saxena: “A better understanding of depression and how it can be treated, while essential, is just the beginning. What needs to follow is sustained scale-up of mental health services accessible to everyone, even the most remote populations in the world.”

Depression is a common mental illness characterized by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that people normally enjoy, accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities, for 14 days or longer.

In addition, people with depression normally have several of the following: a loss of energy; a change in appetite; sleeping more or less; anxiety; reduced concentration; indecisiveness; restlessness; feelings of worthlessness, guilt, or hopelessness; and thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

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Mental Health - Our World in Data
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Depression (mood) - Wikipedia

Depression (mood) - Wikipedia



Depression (mood)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
Not to be confused with major depressive disorder.
"Despair" redirects here. For other uses, see Despair (disambiguation).
"Hopelessness" redirects here. For the album by Anohni, see Hopelessness (album).
Depression
A man diagnosed as suffering from melancholia with strong su Wellcome L0026693.jpg
Lithograph of a man diagnosed as suffering from melancholia with strong suicidal tendency (1892)
SpecialtyPsychiatry, psychology
Depression, a state of low moodand aversion to activity, can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, tendencies, feelings, and sense of well-being. A depressed mood is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one. It is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effectof some drugs and medical treatments. Depressed mood may also be a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder or dysthymia.[1]

Factors[edit]

Life events[edit]

Adversity in childhood, such as bereavement, neglect, mental abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and unequal parental treatment of siblings can contribute to depression in adulthood.[2][3] Childhood physical or sexual abuse in particular significantly correlates with the likelihood of experiencing depression over the victim's lifetime.[4]
Life events and changes that may precipitate depressed mood include (but are not limited to): childbirth, menopause, financial difficulties, unemployment, stress (such as from work, education, family, living conditions etc.), a medical diagnosis (cancer, HIV, etc.), bullying, loss of a loved one, natural disasters, social isolation, rape, relationship troubles, jealousy, separation, and catastrophic injury.[5][6][7] Adolescents may be especially prone to experiencing depressed mood following social rejection, peer pressure, or bullying.[8]

Personality[edit]

High scores on the personality domain neuroticism make the development of depressive symptoms as well as all kinds of depression diagnoses more likely,[9] and depression is associated with low extraversion.[10] Other personality indicators could be: temporary but rapid mood changes, short term hopelessness, loss of interest in activities that used to be of a part of one's life, sleep disruption, withdrawal from previous social life, appetite changes, and difficulty concentrating.[11]

Gender identity and sexuality[edit]

People who are marginalized due to either their gender identity or sexual orientation are more prone to depression.[12]

Medical treatments[edit]

Depression may also be the result of healthcare, such as with medication induced depression. Therapies associated with depression include interferon therapy, beta-blockers, isotretinoin, contraceptives,[13] cardiac agents, anticonvulsants, antimigraine drugs, antipsychotics, and hormonal agents such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist.[14]

Substance-induced[edit]

Several drugs of abuse can cause or exacerbate depression, whether in intoxication, withdrawal, and from chronic use. These include alcohol, sedatives (including prescription benzodiazepines), opioids (including prescription pain killers and illicit drugs such as heroin), stimulants (such as cocaine and amphetamines), hallucinogens, and inhalants.[15]

Non-psychiatric illnesses[edit]

Main article: Depression (differential diagnoses)
Depressed mood can be the result of a number of infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, neurological conditions[16] and physiological problems, including hypoandrogenism (in men), Addison's disease, Cushing's syndrome, hypothyroidism, Lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, chronic pain, stroke,[17]diabetes,[18] and cancer.[19]

Psychiatric syndromes[edit]

Main article: Depressive mood disorders
A number of psychiatric syndromes feature depressed mood as a main symptom. The mood disorders are a group of disorders considered to be primary disturbances of mood. These include major depressive disorder (MDD; commonly called major depression or clinical depression) where a person has at least two weeks of depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities; and dysthymia, a state of chronic depressed mood, the symptoms of which do not meet the severity of a major depressive episode. Another mood disorder, bipolar disorder, features one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood, cognition and energy levels, but may also involve one or more episodes of depression.[20] When the course of depressive episodes follows a seasonal pattern, the disorder (major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, etc.) may be described as a seasonal affective disorder. Outside the mood disorders: borderline personality disorder often features an extremely intense depressive mood; adjustment disorder with depressed mood is a mood disturbance appearing as a psychological response to an identifiable event or stressor, in which the resulting emotional or behavioral symptoms are significant but do not meet the criteria for a major depressive episode;[21]:355 and posttraumatic stress disorder, a mental disorder that sometimes follows trauma, is commonly accompanied by depressed mood.[22]

Historical legacy[edit]

Main article: Dispossession, oppression and depression
Researchers have begun to conceptualize ways in which the historical legacies of racism and colonialism may create depressive conditions.[23][24]

Management[edit]

Depressed mood may not require professional treatment, and may be a normal temporary reaction to life events, a symptom of some medical condition, or a side effectof some drugs or medical treatments. A prolonged depressed mood, especially in combination with other symptoms, may lead to a diagnosis of a psychiatric or medical condition which may benefit from treatment. The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 2009 guidelines indicate that antidepressants should not be routinely used for the initial treatment of mild depression, because the risk-benefit ratio is poor.[25] Physical activity can have a protective effect against the emergence of depression.[26]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). American Psychiatric Association. 2013.
  2. ^ Christine Heim; D. Jeffrey Newport; Tanja Mletzko; Andrew H. Miller; Charles B. Nemeroff (July 2008). "The link between childhood trauma and depression: Insights from HPA axis studies in humans". Psychoneuroendocrinology. 33 (6): 693–710. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.03.008. PMID 18602762. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  3. ^ Pillemer, Karl; Suitor, J. Jill; Pardo, Seth; Henderson Jr, Charles (2010). "Mothers' Differentiation and Depressive Symptoms Among Adult Children". Journal of Marriage and Family. 72 (2): 333–345. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00703.x. PMC 2894713. PMID 20607119.
  4. ^ Lindert J, von Ehrenstein OS, Grashow R, Gal G, Braehler E, Weisskopf MG (April 2014). "Sexual and physical abuse in childhood is associated with depression and anxiety over the life course: systematic review and meta-analysis". Int J Public Health. 59 (2): 359–72. doi:10.1007/s00038-013-0519-5. PMID 24122075.
  5. ^ Schmidt, Peter (2005). "Mood, Depression, and Reproductive Hormones in the Menopausal Transition". The American Journal of Medicine. 118 Suppl 12B (12): 54–8. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2005.09.033. PMID 16414327.
  6. ^ Rashid, T.; Heider, I. (2008). "Life Events and Depression" (PDF). Annals of Punjab Medical College. 2 (1). Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  7. ^ Mata, D. A.; Ramos, M. A.; Bansal, N; Khan, R; Guille, C; Di Angelantonio, E; Sen, S (2015). "Prevalence of Depression and Depressive Symptoms Among Resident Physicians: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". JAMA. 314 (22): 2373–2383. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.15845. PMC 4866499. PMID 26647259.
  8. ^ Davey, C. G.; Yücel, M; Allen, N. B. (2008). "The emergence of depression in adolescence: Development of the prefrontal cortex and the representation of reward". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 32 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2007.04.016. PMID 17570526.
  9. ^ Jeronimus; et al. (2016). "Neuroticism's prospective association with mental disorders: A meta-analysis on 59 longitudinal/prospective studies with 443 313 participants". Psychological Medicine. 46 (14): 2883–2906. doi:10.1017/S0033291716001653. PMID 27523506.
  10. ^ Kotov; et al. (2010). "Linking "big" personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: a meta-analysis". Psychological Bulletin. 136 (5): 768–821. doi:10.1037/a0020327. PMID 20804236.
  11. ^ "Signs and Symptoms of Mild, Moderate, and Severe Depression". 2017-03-27.
  12. ^ Plöderl, M; Tremblay, P (2015). "Mental health of sexual minorities. A systematic review". International Review of Psychiatry (Abingdon, England). 27 (5): 367–85. doi:10.3109/09540261.2015.1083949. PMID 26552495.
  13. ^ Rogers, Donald; Pies, Ronald (9 January 2017). "General Medical Drugs Associated with Depression". Psychiatry (Edgmont). 5 (12): 28–41. ISSN 1550-5952. PMC 2729620. PMID 19724774.
  14. ^ Botts, S; Ryan, M. Drug-Induced Diseases Section IV: Drug-Induced Psychiatric Diseases Chapter 18: Depression. pp. 1–23.
  15. ^ American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.
  16. ^ Murray ED, Buttner N, Price BH. (2012) Depression and Psychosis in Neurological Practice. In: Neurology in Clinical Practice, 6th Edition. Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jankovic J (eds.) Butterworth Heinemann. 12 April 2012. ISBN 978-1437704341
  17. ^ Saravane, D; Feve, B; Frances, Y; Corruble, E; Lancon, C; Chanson, P; Maison, P; Terra, JL; et al. (2009). "Drawing up guidelines for the attendance of physical health of patients with severe mental illness". L'Encéphale. 35 (4): 330–9. doi:10.1016/j.encep.2008.10.014. PMID 19748369.
  18. ^ Rustad, JK; Musselman, DL; Nemeroff, CB (2011). "The relationship of depression and diabetes: Pathophysiological and treatment implications". Psychoneuroendocrinology. 36(9): 1276–86. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.03.005. PMID 21474250.
  19. ^ Li, M; Fitzgerald, P; Rodin, G (2012). "Evidence-based treatment of depression in patients with cancer". Journal of Clinical Oncology. 30 (11): 1187–96. doi:10.1200/JCO.2011.39.7372. PMID 22412144.
  20. ^ Gabbard, Glen O. Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders. 2 (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing. p. 1296.
  21. ^ American Psychiatric Association (2000a). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision: DSM-IV-TR. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89042-025-6.
  22. ^ Vieweg, W. V.; Fernandez, D. A.; Beatty-Brooks, M; Hettema, J. M.; Pandurangi, A. K.; Pandurangi, Anand K. (May 2006). "Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Clinical Features, Pathophysiology, and Treatment". Am. J. Med. 119 (5): 383–90. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2005.09.027. PMID 16651048.
  23. ^ Cvetkovich, Ann (2012). Depression: A Public Feeling. Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books. ISBN 978-0822352389.
  24. ^ Cox, William T.L.; Abramson, Lyn Y.; Devine, Patricia G.; Hollon, Steven D. (2012). "Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Depression: The Integrated Perspective". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 7 (5): 427–49. doi:10.1177/1745691612455204. PMID 26168502.
  25. ^ NICE guidelines, published October 2009. Nice.org.uk. Retrieved on 2015-11-24.
  26. ^ Schuch, FB; Vancampfort, D; Firth, J; Rosenbaum, S; Ward, PB; Silva, ES; Hallgren, M; Ponce De Leon, A; Dunn, AL; Deslandes, AC; Fleck, MP; Carvalho, AF; Stubbs, B (1 July 2018). "Physical Activity and Incident Depression: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies". The American Journal of Psychiatry. 175 (7): 631–648. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17111194. PMID 29690792.

External links[edit]

  •  Media related to Depression at Wikimedia Commons
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