Existential culture

The goals of transcendental meditation are similar to those of the relaxation response. Being derived from Eastern mystical practices, they have a distinctive philosophical and cultural spin. Instead of seeking to instill identifiable and tranquilizing mental content, transcendental meditation practitioners seek a state of consciousness that is devoid of content. This contentless consciousness is believed to be pre- or extra-existential, cosmic, or otherworldly hence the term transcendental. It is this reconnection with primordial, universal, preverbal awareness that confers the benefit of transcendental meditation. Here we are clearly in religious territory. 

In sharp contrast to the genetic/disease theory, Szasz, Laing, and the existential analysts stress the familial/social origins of schizophrenia, and its existential significance. Unlike physical illness, Szasz (1961) considers "mental illness" a culturally relative myth that subtly strips the "patient" of personal responsibility and basic human rights. He also em-... 

Existential analysts such as Binswanger, Jaspers, and Storch consider the virtues of so-called normality vastly overrated in our culture, and emphasize the truth content of schizophrenia and its potentially constructive aspects. The key features of the existential position are well described by Stern (1964) ... 

There is no essential conflict between the genetic/disease and the social/existential conceptions of schizophrenia. Both positions recognize the potential benefits of schizophrenic states, be they biological, psychological, or cultural. Also, so-... 

The historical Shakespeare was a canny and shrewd investor who profited from the commercial success of his plays. This success occurred through a popular public theatre culture that had flourished in his lifetime. Bond empowers his fictionalised Shakespeare to choose death as a radically self-reflexive moral critique. Bond arguably rescues the historical character from the existential and actual ditch where he lay, desperately drunk after a drinking bout with Ben Jonson. It is believed that he died soon after from his subsequent pneumonia and hypothermia. 

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