Stephen David Edwards

International lockdown and social distancing as a response to COVID-19 indicate planetary interconnectedness. This South African case study compared global coherence, healing meditations using HeartMath Global Coherence and Inner Balance electronic applications before and during a 3-week lockdown period. Methodology integrated quantitative and qualitative components. Findings revealed significant meditation coherence and achievement increases and significant correlational cluster patterns between meditation data and global coherence increases, magnetometer readings. Local and global healing phenomena, dynamics, mechanisms and implications are discussed.Contribution: This article represents research within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences generate an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse.

For more than 15 years Professor Per Nortvedt has been arguing the case for moral realism in nursing and the health‐care context more generally. His arguments focus on the clinical contexts of nursing and medicine and are supplemented by a series of persuasive examples. Following a description of moral realism, and the kinds of considerations that support it, criticisms of it are developed that seem persuasive. It is argued that our moral responses are explained by our beliefs as opposed to moral realities. In particular, two key arguments presented by Nortvedt are challenged: the so‐called argument from convergence and the argument from clinical sensitivity. Both of these key planks in the case for moral realism are rejected, and an alternative ‘social conditioning’ account briefly sketched, which, it is claimed, has the same explanatory power as Nortvedt's thesis but does not rest on an appeal to independently existing moral properties.

This paper is prompted by the charge that the prevailing Western paradigm of medical knowledge is essentially Cartesian. Hence, illness, disease, disability, etc. are said to be conceived of in Cartesian terms. The paper attempts to make use of the critique of Cartesianism in medicine developed by certain commentators, notably Leder (1992), in order to expose Cartesian commitments in conceptions of disability. The paper also attempts to sketch an alternative conception of disability — one partly inspired by the work of Merleau-Ponty. In particular, three key Cartesian claims are identified and subjected to criticism. These are as follows: (a) The claim that the body is an object, (b) what is termed here ‘the modularity thesis’, and (c) the claim that the body cannot be constitutive of the self (i.e. since the soul/mind/brain is). In opposition to these claims, it is argued that the body is properly viewed as a subject; that there are neither purely mental, nor purely physical disabilities; and that selves are constituted, at least in part, by their bodies.

In the UK and elsewhere suicide presents a major cause of death. In 2008 in the UK the topic of suicide rarely left the news. Controversy surrounding Daniel James and Debbie Purdy ensured that the problem of assisted suicide received frequent media discussion. This was fuelled also by reports of a higher than usual number of suicides by young people in South Wales. Attention attracted by cases such as that of Daniel James and Debbie Purdy can lead to a neglect of the problem of how to respond to the vast majority of suicides, in which there is no obvious accompanying health problem. This paper seeks to redress that balance to some degree. Its focus is primarily on the provision of assisted suicide when the person seeking such assistance has no accompanying health problem. It is argued that a network of suicide centres (SCs) should be established, the purpose which in certain circumstances, will extend to assisting suicide in cases where a competent person has a definite, sustained intention to end their own life. Arguments in support of this proposal are provided, focusing on respect for autonomy, relief of suffering and respect for the ‘life-plan’ of a person. Considerations relating to reduction of harms to third parties are also recruited. Eight responses to the proposal are considered. But none is found compelling, nor are they found jointly compelling

Tom Shakepeare is an eminent, and somewhat controversial, contributor to disability studies. As he outlines, part of the explanation for his controversial status within that field stems from his engagement with disciplines outside it, including genetics and bioethics. For many in the field of disability studies, no genuine engagement should be sought with scholars in genetics or bioethics because—so the party line goes—these areas of study are inherently opposed to disability rights and otherwise pose genuine threats to the status of disabled people. The present volume is unlikely to do much to reduce his controversial status.The book is divided into three parts. The first presents a detailed criticism of the social model with some, more positive, proposals concerning how disability is best conceived. The second part—perhaps the one that will be of most interest to JME readers—concerns bioethical issues in disability. The final part focuses on themes such as care, charity, intimacy and the role of the non-disabled in “the world of disability”.The main reason why this book is unlikely to reduce Shakespeare’s controversial status is that its central theme is a sustained attack on the so-called and widely held “social model” of disability. According to this model, the causes of disability lie in the social environment, not within the individual. So, change the social environment in appropriate ways, and disability disappears. Shakespeare illustrates the various ways in which this model is analytically flawed and has had a negative effect upon disability studies, research and the lives of disabled people. …

The great wisdom traditions typically emphasize various forms of love, especially cosmic, agape type love. The African value of Ubuntu implies essential humanity, developed through the ongoing evolutionary event of humanization, socialization, enculturation, and communal spirituality. In addition to cosmic love and everyday caring practices, Ubuntu includes human essentials such as compassion, empathy, and respect. This contribution adopts a narrative approach. The authors tell a story of their involvement in the HeartMath system, with special reference to HeartMath related research before and after the establishment of the African Global Coherence Magnetometer at Bonamanzi Game Reserve. Their studies indicate the effectiveness of the Global Coherence Application (app). This electronic app, developed along scientific biofeedback principles, can be downloaded free of charge. It is highly recommended for persons interested in amplifying the effect of their meditation, contemplation and prayer.

Mystical, panentheistic lines from Wordsworth’s poem, Tintern Abbey, constitute inductive case study material to introduce HeartMath science’s Global Consciousness Project (GCP). This case study provides a temporal dimension along which to view the cosmic significance of Wordsworth’s “felt sense”, Teilhard de Chardin’s “noosphere” and the GCP. A heuristic phenomenological method is employed. This method facilitates discussion of previous South African research with traditional healers that led to collaboration with the HeartMath Institute, based in California, and establishment of an African Global Coherence Initiative Magnetometer. This latter magnetometer is one of six GCI planetary magnetometers, with the other five currently operating in in California, Saudi Arabia, Lithuania, Canada and New Zealand. The present study introduces GCP2, an update, expanded version of the Global Consciousness Project, which complments GCI. Previously operating from the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), GCP2 is now harmoniously housed by the HeartMath Institute, where its data complements both GCI and Tree Rhythm projects in amplifying interconnectedness science and global healing practices. Contemporary, endemic, planetary contexts of chaos, pollution, mindless destructiveness and war, provide urgent argument for GCP2.

This study is about the physical and spiritual aspects of running. In addition to the human physical activity of running, there is a special reference to God-consciousness. Although the paper reflects an African, Christian, psychological bias, from an interfaith perspective, it concerns a simple, natural, human activity, within a broader energetic field of consciousness, which is usually and simply referred to as Love. The deliberate choice of the broad generic terms, God, or Godhead, is intended to include such terms as Allah, Brahman, Tao, Spirit, Divine, etc. While the terms “self” and “soul” may be used in different ways by various wisdom, spiritual and religious traditions, here they essentially refer to the interior, social and spiritual dimensions of human relationships. The study adopts a phenomenological, psychological, and biographical methodology with special reference to the spirituality of running as experienced by participants and reported by the heroic figures of Allyson Felix, Eliud Kipchoge, and Teilhard de Chardin, respectively. Its humble intention is to inspire all concerning the benefits of physical activity in general and running in particular, for physical, mental, social, and spiritual health promotion.

COVID-19 offers new opportunities for confrontation and transcendence of the givens of life, including illness, suffering and death. These givens also bring humanity’s greatest gifts, such as joy and compassion. This article reports on two recent African psychology studies on COVID-19. The first study on local rural Zulu persons’ COVID-19 coping experiences provides a contemporary context for the second study on universalising and indigenising the meaning and practice of love after COVID-19. Five main points are made. First, African psychology is original psychology. Second, it refers to psychology in, of, for, and from Africa, on, by and for Africans. Third, it has much to offer psychology in other continents. Fourth, the Greek philosophy of love has considerable African origins. Fifth, the concept of Ubuntu both relates to and extends the notion of agape or unconditional love, through its emphasis on human relationships, which require extra compassionate care during and after COVID-19.

The HeartMath Institute originated in 1991 through Doc Childre’s vision of promoting heart intelligence and health. The HeartMath system is an interdisciplinary undertaking, which bridges natural, human, social, spiritual, and ecological sciences, with the goal of promoting personal, social, and global coherence. The general goal of this paper is to introduce HeartMath as a coherent scientific approach to dialogue theological information, as well as a specific meditation method to explore theological phenomena. The particular aim is to contribute a theoretical and practically orientated pilot study with heuristic phenomenological reflection on personal experience of HeartMath theory, practice, meditation, related action, and reports in the form of scientific articles. This study is directly relevant to the DIALOGO conference theme of dialogue between science and theology. Methodology concerns the theoretical and practical value of HeartMath meditation methods as described with examples from HeartMath Global Coherence (GC) and Inner Balance (IB) apps. There are five GC reflective meditations on the theme of science and theology, complemented by five IB purely contemplative meditations. The reflective and discursive focus of the paper is on the monitoring of meditation sessions related to science and theology. The specific focus is on HeartMath techniques, electronic devices, and the planetary health potential of the Global Coherence Initiative.

The accelerating destructive effects of pollution threaten the existence of all inhabitants of planet earth. Health promotion interventions inevitably include a dynamic harmony of various interacting planetary components and contexts, bio-psycho-social as well as spiritual, cultural and ecological. This study was based on a broad research question as to what would best heal polluted planet earth. As with most countries, South Africa is slowly recovering from the effects of COVID-19. It seemed timeous to investigate a local sample of knowledgeable and experienced persons with regard to their views on pollution prevention and health promotion. Sixteen local KwaZulu-Natal persons responded to an online google questionnaire. There were 5 men and 11 women, with a mean age of 55 and age range from 25 to 73 years. Data analysis using NVivo12 software indicated that participants’ responses generally coalesced into a coherent health promotion theme including subthemes of awareness, education, regulation, and action to prevent human destructiveness, promote healing and the holistic integrity of nature. Unique local findings as well as those similar to other studies are discussed. Further research could include formal scales with larger local and international samples in interconnected, ecological and health promotion initiatives.