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Writing
about your feelings helps injuries heal more quickly
Madrid, September 29th, 2003
(ACPress.net).
If you are feeling blue,
write it down. Putting pen to paper apparently helps one to
accept and deal with problems, accelerating the healing process
in physical injuries as well as mental trauma.
New research presented to the British Psychological Society
shows that people who wrote about the ssaddest thing to happen
to them got over it more quickly than those who did not put
anything down on paper. Scientists took 36 people and got 18
to write about their worst experience and the other 18 to write
about something trivial. After doing this for 20 minutes a day
over 3 days, they made a small cut in the arms of all the participants.
Two weeks later they discovered that the cuts on those who had
written about their emotional experience had healed more quickly.
The arm scars which took longest to heal were on those most
suffering from stress. So, people who express what they are
feeling were freed from this strain and, being calmer, found
that their immune system worked better.
Source: El Mundo. Editing:
ACPress.net
A smile a day keeps the
doctor away
Madrid, September 29th, 2003
(ACPress.net).
Think of a pessimist
you know and you may well have noticed that they catch a lot
of colds or often complain that they do not feel well.
What goes on in the mind affects what happens in the rest of
the body and a positive attitude helps the defensive system
be stronger. What happens in a person's mind when they smile?
How does the brain work in people whose every day is 'grey'?
Is the saying 'healthy of mind, healthy of body' true? These
are some of the questions studied by investigators at Wisconsin
University in the USA.
Richard Davidson, one of the researchers and a neuro-scientist,
says "Emotions play an important part in the modulation
of the bodily systems which influence our health." Many
studies have shown that a healthy attitude helps a person remain
physically healthy, but the reason has remained a mystery. The
answer might lie in the cortex, a frontal section of the brain
which works differently in optimists and pessimists and has
to do with a person's defensive system. Davidson adds that "the
immune system interacts with endochrine and the nervous system
to offer overall protection." So smile, it's good for you.
Source: El Mundo. Editing:
ACPress.net
Parents indignant at sale
of school to Catholic group
Madrid, September 29th, 2003
(ACPress.net).
A Catholic group called
'Christ's Legionnaires', has bought a school with the school
year already begun and pupils already in class. Many parents
are up in arms at the move, about which they found out afterwards,
and at the proposed changes the group intends to make at the
school.
One of the first changes will be to put boys and girls into
separate classes, from the age of 6 upwards. The new Headmaster
says this academic year will not change given that alterations
will be "introduced gradually", such as voluntary
Communion at playtime, the construction of a Catholic chapel
and the availability of a priest for the pupils. Noone will
say how much the purchase of the school cost.
'Virgen del Bosque' school has 635 pupils and is situated in
an exclusive suburb in northern Madrid. Before being purchased
by the Legionnaires, it belonged to a cooperative made up of
30 teachers. It is a 30-year-old private school which, until
now, claimed to be "independent of any religious or political
affiliation." Pupils began classes normally on September
8th, but just four days later the school was sold to the Legionnaires,
one of whom. Manuel Galiot, became the new Headmaster. The new
regime say all current staff will be kept on at least for this
academic year.
Pupils will not be forced to study Religious Education, at least
this year, nor will boys and girls be separated until next September.
Galiot insists in defence of the move that boys and girls learn
in different ways. As for offering Communion at breaktime (bread
only as in the Catholic tradition, only the priest drinks the
wine), this is apparently the norm at Legionnaires' schools.
Many parents are unhappy though. "We found out about the
sale through a circular letter sent round after term started.
It is too late to change our children to another school because
it is very hard to find places this late. The school has always
had a liberal stance and clearly things are now going to change.
We haven't paid for our children to study in an ultra-conservative
school." The local education authorities have reminded
the school that they must fulfil the programme promised to parents
when they reserved their children's places back in April, and
they have promised an investigation into the process by which
the school was sold.
Source: El País. Editing:
ACPress.net
Protestant influence in
Spanish classic
Barcelona, September 30th,
2003 (ACPress.net).
A researcher at Barcelona
University is convinced the hitherto anonymous author of one
of Spain's best known works of literature, 'Lazarillo de Tormes',
is none other than Alfonso de Valdés, Secretary to Emperor
Charles V and brother of Protestant Reformer, Juan Valdés.
Rosa Navarro is the Head of Spanish at Barcelona University
has been studying 'Lazarillo' for 3 years since discovering
that a page was missing from the Prologue of the book. On that
page, the author would have explained the plot and intention
of the work and would have introduced the main character. Lázaro
was an instrument of criticism aimed at the Court and the Catholic
Church, and the author seems to have been influenced by Erasmian
thought.
The earliest copies of the book known to have been printed are
dated to 1554 but both have been lost. They were both copied
from an earlier edition, itself a copy of the original, printed
outside Spain. It could have been printed in Italy around the
time of the author's death in 1532. Other data which supports
Navarro's claim is the historical setting of the book, including
the defeat of Gelves in 1510 and the arrival of Charles V at
Toledo in 1525. "Only a faithful and intelligent courtesan
like Valdés could have chosen the moment with such care...
the Inquisition ended up banning the book in 1559."
Fear of the Inquisition may have been the reason why Valdés
kept his authorship quiet. Alfonso de Valdés was an Erasmist,
a friend of Protestantism, of Jewish descent and the personal
Secretary of Charles V. Navarro believes the main theme of the
book is a criticism of the clergy. Fear of reprisals would certainly
have been real for Valdés - an uncle of his died at the
stake, and his brother had to go into exile - and may well have
been the reason why he did not sign any of his writings, including
harsh criticism of the Pope in a 'Dialogue of various matters'.
Navarro adds that if her thesis is confirmed, more than 150
editions of the book which exist today will have to be revised,
along with school and university textbooks and library entries.
The date of the book will also have to be modified from the
traditionally accepted year of 1550, as Valdés died of
the plague in 1532.
Source: Reuters. Editing:
ACPress.net
Modern spirituality runs from yoga to big business
Madrid, October 1st, 2003
(ACPress.net).
Ramiro Calle, winner
of the 'Spirituality 2003' prize with his book 'Great spiritual
teachers', warns of groups who are turning the search for spirituality
into big business and encouraging followers "to step out
of your cage and into theirs."
Calle, yoga pioneer in Spain, talks of the spirituality supermarket
and suggests that a true spiritual leader must be accessible,
detached and indulgent. Calle says the eleven leaders he mentions
in his book have these and other characteristics, and "open
a path to inner peace." Most of them are Indian or Oriental
mystics, with Jesus in the middle. According to Calle, each
offers "eternal truths", though quite how one is to
know which one has the truth from this mystical potpourri is
hard to see.
Calle has taught at the Shadak Oriental and Yoga Institute for
31 years, so his choice is not surprising. However, he claims
his favourites are Jesus and Buddha "because they awake
your conscience and develop your charity." He does not
believe any one church should have a monopoly on spirituality.
"Jesus Christ is one more archetype who inspires us to
better ourselves, but never with the idea of creating a hierarchical
institution."
Calle excludes from his book any leader who endorsed violence,
such as Mohammed, and is planning another book, this time on
great women of spirituality. He offers three basic elements
in the search for inner peace which he claims are shared by
all his teachers: ethical discipline in cooperating with others
so that all may be happy, mental discipline dedicating a few
minutes to meditation each day, and the discipline of wisdom
through compassion. Don't expect the book at your local Christian
bookshop.
Source: Europa Press. Editing: ACPress.net
Taxpayers deserting Catholic
option
Madrid, October 1st, 2003
(ACPress.net).
Fewer and fewer taxpayers
are opting to give the 0.5% of their tax which is destined for
charitable purposes, to the Catholic Church.
After a period of relative stability, the numbers have plummeted
since 2001, the year of an investment scandal involving Catholic
funds and the Archbishop of Valladolid. Ten years ago about
40% put their X in the Catholic box - the alternative is 'Other
charities' (which includes various Catholic groups) - but now
barely a quarter do so.
From 1999 taxpayers have been allowed to put an X in both boxes,
and this has led to fewer people putting an X anywhere, as well
as an increase in the number opting for 'Other charities.' The
figures involved are not so bad for the Catholic Church as those
who opt for the Roman box tend to be the well-off. Yet whatever
happens on tax returns, the Vatican's coffers are guaranteed
their annual windfall, due to the advantageous arrangements
between the Spanish state and the Catholic Church. These become
ever more scandalous as the number of taxpayers willing to contribute
even in such a modest and unsacrificial way continues to descend.
Source: El Correo. Editing:
ACPress.net
University lecturer says
Spain can be bridge to Arab world
Madrid, October 1st, 2003
(ACPress.net).
Gema Martín, a
lecturer in the sociology of the Arab and Islamic world at Madrid
University, says that Spain "disappointed the Muslim world
by its support of the war against Iraq, but it realises that
90% of the Spanish population opposed it."
Martín comments that Spain's policy represented a shift
from its traditional European stance to an alliance with the
USA, and especially with Great Britain. "Spain could play,
as a medium-sized power, the role of bridge between the West
and the Arab world, given that historically the Arabs look on
Spain with affection." Its alliance with the USA over the
Iraq war came as a shock to the Muslim world, says the lecturer.
However, she adds "that there is not a direct conflict
between the Spanish and Arab peoples." She claims that
the West has become immersed in 'Islamophobia' since the September
11th attacks, "because one does not fear the Muslim for
what he does, but for what he is." Christians across the
Muslim world might tend to disagree, and in fact the Western
media and politicians have been bending over backwards since
the attacks in their efforts not to condemn Islam.
Not all will be persuaded by Martín's assertion, from
a safe vantage point in the West, that but for a few exceptions,
Westerners might live and move in Islamic countries with no
problems. She rehearses the view that America used the attack
on the Twin Towers as an excuse to launch a war against terrorism,
a desire she believes already existed. She says terrorism is
a real threat, but also a constructed one. "Without the
attacks one could not have attacked either Afghanistan or Iraq."
Source: Europa Press. Editing:
ACPress.net
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