Sense of self-sufficiency as a barrier for forming the open religious identity in “destitute time”

The pedagogical reflection on methods and condition of creating of an open religious identity of youth was presented by the author in the perspective of the current social situation, rather unfavourable towards activities in the field of religion especially bearing traits of the openness to the Otherness. Such a situation has been defined by the philosopher and poet Friedrich Hölderlin as the “destitute time”. Therefore, the author has made this quote of Friedrich Hölderlin and Rainer Rilke as necessary philosophical context of the reflection. In a search of the complete overview and description of the open religious identity and determinants of the process of its forming, the author focuses on the selected questions such as religious fundamentalism, sense of self-sufficiency in religious dimension, reflectivity and parrhesia which in in an essential way, positive or negative, determine the discussed process.

Stop and think. Thinking against fanaticism

Piotr Kowzan’s polemic proved that the issue of fanaticism remains an important educational problem, but also more broadly: a social one. Formulating a response to a polemic allows for rethinking and clarifying some themes. It also turns out to be important to return to the very definition of fanaticism as well as to point out that the problem is important because fanaticism threatens primarily people of value: those who perceive values and are actively engaged in their realization. In our response to the polemic, we try to point out three issues that are important in our opinion. Firstly, we emphasize that fanaticism is always harmful, and although this harmfulness is not always significant, even in the best case, fanaticism is harmful at least to the fanatic himself. Secondly, we oppose the claim that countering fanaticism can be as destructive as fanaticism itself. Thirdly, we maintain the claim that the basic symptoms of fanaticism are: an inability to make any compromises and a rejection of the very possibility of making an exception to an accepted rule of action. In conclusion, we recall Hannah Arend’s vitally important call to maintain a balance between activity and reflexivity.

A person’s individuality as the source of coping with uncertainty and risk. Reflection of Jan Szczepański’s individuality conception in connection with current mindfulness techniques

The paper attempts to answer the question: how could human individuality be a resource making it possible to cope with the experience of feeling uncertainty and risk? Jan Szczepański’s idea of individuality defines the structure and functions of that dimension of the human condition. It tries to explain the sense of man’s inner world and their reflexivity in struggling with the negative consequences due to the social organisation of collective life. An analytic view of individuality included in this concept allows for revealing the emergency nature of personal identity affected by dialogue between the inner world and the internalised outside world. The discussed concept might increase the attempt to synthesise it with the vision of mindfulness. The effect of it is a unique underlining role of loneliness in the individual process of human development and captures the moral character of individuality (hipo-egoic phenomena).