7 research outputs found
Hope Speech detection in under-resourced Kannada language
No full text@article{hande-etal-kanhope,
title = "Hope Speech detection in under-resourced Kannada language",
author = "Hande, Adeep and
Priyadharshini, Ruba and
Sampath, Anbukkarasi and
Thamburaj, Kingston Pal and
Chandran, Prabakaran and
Chakravarthi, Bharathi Raja ",
journal={SN Computer Science},
publisher={Springer}
}Numerous methods have been developed to monitor the spread of negativity in modern years by eliminating vulgar, offensive, and fierce comments from social media platforms. However, there are relatively lesser amounts of study that converges on embracing positivity, reinforcing supportive and reassuring content in online forums. Consequently, we propose creating an English-Kannda Hope speech dataset, KanHope and comparing several experiments to provide benchmarking for the dataset. The dataset consists of 6,176 user-generated comments in code mixed Kannada crawled from YouTube and manually labelled as bearing hope speech or not-hope speech. In addition, we introduce DC-BERT4HOPE, a dual-channel model that uses the English translation of KanHopeEDI for additional training to promote hope speech detection. The approach achieves a weighted F1-score of 0.756, bettering other models. Henceforth, KanHope aims to instigate research in Kannada while broadly promoting researchers to take a pragmatic approach towards online content that encourages, positive, and supportive
Determination of the Pre-Qualification Rules for the Acceptance Testing of MVDC Cable System
No full textIn the transmission and distribution network of the future, there is expected to be a mix of both Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC). In the high voltage division owing to technical and economic aspects, there is a wider use of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) instead of High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC). However, when observing the medium voltage network, it is noticed that it is completely AC in nature. One major reason for this preference of AC in the medium voltage network is the better know-how of an AC network and the presence of well established and reliable MVAC components and the ability to transform (step up and down) voltage in AC. A switch to Medium Voltage Direct Current (MVDC) is expected as the cost of power electronic components is decreasing with time, and there is an improvement in their performance. Therefore, switching to MVDC would provide advantages in the form of improved transfer capacity and better power control. MVDC grids are debated to be a vital member of the future distribution network. In the present scenario, there is an absence of such an MVDC grid. Thereby, there are also no MVDC accessories available which can be used in such a grid. Therefore, there is also the absence of a testing procedure for the same. CIGRE TB 496 provides the testing strategies for DC cable systems up to 500 kV, but it does not take into consideration the difference between an MVDC system and an HVDC system. The systems may have a striking difference in construction, such as concerning materials. Additionally, there is also a difference concerning max field stresses and thickness of the insulation. The possibility of using the AC accessories for DC application needs to be analysed, and it needs to be verified how such an AC accessory would behave under the influence of prolonged DC stresses. The use of existing MVAC accessories for DC would be beneficial given the high production standards and the voluminous supply chain of MVAC systems. Additionally, this also opens possibilities of reusing existing AC cable system for DC stress. It needs to be noticed that in DC, the field distribution would depend on the conductivity of the material which is different from AC where the field distribution depends on the permittivity of the material. The permittivity of insulation is virtually independent of the temperature. However, conductivity has a strong relation to temperature and electric field, which makes DC field distribution more complex when compared to AC field distribution for any geometry. The test criteria of MVAC and pre-qualification test for HVDC are well known and need to be utilised in proposing and motivating the test sequence and test voltages for the accessories to be used in the future MVDC network. These accessories to be used in this future MVDC cable system needs to be analysed using Finite Element Method (FEM). The field simulations would give identification of locations in the joint which are undergoing maximum stresses during DC application. These maximum values of stresses are used to calculate the voltage life of the system based on electro-thermal life laws. The test results based on the representative testing procedure would help in understanding the performance and lifetime of the cable systems under DC stress. Therefore, to understand all items previously mentioned, a representative testing procedure needs to be proposed and motivated to test the use of existing MVAC accessories in the future MVDC network
Do images really do the talking? Analyzing the significance of images in tamil troll meme classification
No full textA meme is a part of media created to share an opinion or emotion across the internet. Due to their popularity, memes have become the new form of communication on social media. However, they are used in harmful ways such as trolling and cyberbullying progressively due to their nature. Various data modelling methods create different possibilities in feature extraction and turn them into beneficial information. The variety of modalities included in data plays a significant part in predicting the results. We try to explore the significance of visual features of images in classifying memes. Memes are a blend of both image and text, where the text is embedded into the picture. We consider a meme to be trolling if the meme in any way tries to troll a particular individual, group, or organisation. We try to incorporate the memes as a troll and non-trolling memes based on their images and text. We evaluate if there is any major significance of the visual features for identifying whether a meme is trolling or not. Our work illustrates different textual analysis methods and contrasting multimodal approaches ranging from simple merging to cross attention to utilising both worlds’—visual and textual features. The fine-tuned cross-lingual language model, XLM, performed the best in textual analysis, and the multimodal transformer performs the best in multimodal analysis.peer-reviewe
Modelo de inteligência artificial explicavel para classificadores de cancer de mama em mamografias
No full textDissertação (mestrado) — Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade UnB Gama, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Biomédica, 2023.Câncer de mama está associada à maior taxa de incidência de câncer entre as mulheres em todo o mundo. Assim como em outros tipos de câncer, diagnósticos mais precoces levam a tratamentos potencialmente menos invasivos e a maiores taxas de sobrevida. Uma ferramenta que auxilie a análise de mamografias para descobrir lesões mamárias e sua classificação constitui portanto um importante instrumento para o tratamento eficaz.Com desenvolvimento da tecnologia, a Inteligˆencia Artificial passou a trazer impactos cada vez maiores e mais positivos em diversas áreas, e se destaca na Engenharia biomédica por prover ferramentas de auxílio a diagnóstico cada vez mais eficazes. Em particular Machine Learning (ML) e Deep Learning a partir das duas primeiras décadas do século XX, passaram a prover cada vez mais soluções em problemas considerados complexos n s áreas de visão computacional e processamento de sinais e imagens, como os problemas de classificação de imagens e detecção de objetos.Neste contexto, a análise mamográfica, para fins de diagnósticos e classificação de câncer,pode ser descrito como um problema de classificação de imagens, e se beneficia de algumas abordagens de ML descritas na literatura. De fato, vários trabalhos já propõem a detecção de câncer e a classificação do tipo BIRADS de forma automatizada, a partir de imagens de ultrassom ou de tomografia por raios-X da mama. No entanto, a maioria das abordagens em ML para análise mamográfica encontradas focam em técnicas tidas como de caixa preta,em que não há justificativa direta, em formato compreensível para um analista humano,dos resultados de classificação ou de decisões de encaminhamento. Esta limitação reduz a aplicabilidade dos modelos, já que a ausˆencia de explicabilidade tem impactos legais em procedimentos de autorização de tratamentos, por exemplo, e reduz o potencial de novos avanços na área de oncologia e radiologia mamária, tendo em vista que os conhecimentos adquiridos se tornam menos propagáveis e generalizáveis.Por outro lado, a maior parte das soluções encontradas na literatura científica para classificação de lesões mamárias foca em abordagens de ML com redes rasas. Foram encontradas poucas abordagens utilizando algoritmos de aprendizagem profunda, que demonstram desempenho mais alto em outras aplicações de classificação de imagens, desde que o treinamento explore uma base de imagens suficientemente representativa. Além disso, são soluções consideradas caixa preta, o que significa que é fornecida uma resposta a partir de uma imagem de entrada, e não é possível determinar diretamente quais características das imagens analisadas que mais influenciaram diretamente a decisão final fornecida pela rede, ainda que esse resultado já seja conhecido. Existem modelos de ML que provˆeem explicabilidade paraas decisões, o que significa que são explicitadas as principais características das imagens ou sinais de entrada que levaram `a decisão final do sistema. Essa característica é relevante no contexto de aplicação em saúde, tanto pelo avanço de conhecimento que pode representar em termos dos aspectos relevantes ao diagnóstico. Entretanto, não foram encontrados na literatura muitos trabalhos avançados abordando o uso de modelos explicáveis em análise de imagens mamográficas com uso de ML.Um modelo explicável é capaz de se encaixar em leis e fazer com que a solução seja aplicada em um domínio real. O diagnóstico de câncer é um momento sensível, por conta disso saber como um modelo de Deep Learning ou Machine Learning chegou a um determinado resultado, pode direcionar melhor médicos a investigarem casos de maneira mais direcionada, dessa forma dando mais ˆenfase em algumas características da imagem, além de gerar mais confiabilidade nos resultados de predição de modelos.O uso de Deep Learning para tarefas de classificação de imagens tem obtido resultados surpreendentes, que se igualam e em alguns casos e até mesmo superam a capacidade humana, por isso essa abordagem vai ser discutida nessa dissertação. Aliando uma poderosa ferramenta de classificação com técnicas que permitam deixar os modelos criadoscom predições explicáveis, assim tornar uma ferramenta de classificação de lesões mamárias com alto potencial de confiabilidade para seus usuários finais, os médicos especialistas.Para atingir esses objetivos são investigados arquiteturas de Aprendizagem Profunda como VGG16 e técnicas de explicabilidade de modelos treinados como LIME que é um framework de explicabilidade de bom desempenho e de maneira simples de utilização.Essa dissertação tem o intuito de desenvolver um modelo de Deep Learning, que utilize técnicas de Ingeligˆencia Artificial Explicável (XAI, do inglˆes Explainable Artificial Intelligence) ou seja tenha predições explicáveis que classifique lesões mamárias e identifique as características importantes que levaram o modelo a atingir tal resultado.Após o treinamento do modelo usando arquitetura VGG16, as métricas analisadas foram acurácia, especificidade e sensibilidade, os resultados obtidos foram respectivamente 68%77% e 65%. Resultados maiores foram encontrados na literatura, porém não são resultados que sejam reprodutíveis. Em muitos casos as bases de dados são particulares de hospitais que a equipe fez o levantamento de mamografias dos últimos 20 anos, criou-se o conjunto de dados e os testes foram feitos. Houve uma dissertação de mestrado feita por Adam Jaamour em 2020 na Universidade de St Andrews com uma abordagem semelhante e que obteve resultados próximos aos apresentados nessa dissertação, o autor reportou o resultado da acurácia de 67%.Modelos de ML e DP tˆem um grande potencial, entretanto devem ser treinados com conjunto de dados datasets com grande quantidade de imagens, e imagens de qualidade.Com a performance melhorada, e atingindo métricas melhores do que as apresentadas neste trabalho, pode ser que esses modelos sejam aplicáveis em uso da vida real. O uso combinado de modelos de DL com frameworks de Inteligˆencia Artificial Explicável, pode ajudar no direcionamento de lesões. As marcações de áreas suspeitas são diferentes do direcionamento que médicos radiologistas procuram, entretanto são marcações com potencial direcionado para uma área da lesão em análise.Breast cancer is associated with the highest cancer incidence rate among women worldwide. Just like other cancer types, early diagnosis leads to potentially less invasive treatments and higher survival rates. A tool that assists in the analysis of mammograms to discover breast lesions and their classification is, therefore, an important tool for effective treatment.With the development of technology, Artificial Intelligence has begun to bring increasingly greater and more positive impacts in several areas, and stands out in biomedical engineering for providing increasingly effective diagnostic aid tools. In particular, Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DP) from the first two decades of the 20th century began to increasingly provide solutions to problems considered complex in the areas of computer vision and signal and image processing, such as image classification problems, and object detection. In this context, mammographic analysis, for cancer diagnosis and classification, can be described as an image classification problem, and benefits from some ML approaches described in the literature. Several studies already propose the detection of cancer and classification of the BI-RADS type in an automated way, based on ultrasound images or X-ray tomography of the breast. However, most ML approaches for mammographic analysis that were found, focus on techniques considered to be black boxes, in which there is no direct justification, in a format understandable to a human analyst, of the classification results or referral decisions. This limitation reduces the applicability of the models,since the lack of explainability has legal impacts on treatment authorization procedures,for example, and reduces the potential for new advances in the area of oncology and breast radiology, considering that the knowledge acquired makes them less propagable and generalizable.On the other hand, most of the solutions found in the scientific literature for classifying breast lesions focus on ML approaches with shallow networks. Few approaches using deep learning algorithms were found, which demonstrate higher performance in other image classification applications, as long as the training explores a sufficiently representative image base. Furthermore, they are considered black box solutions, which means that an answer is provided from an input image, and it is not possible to directly determine which characteristics of the analyzed images most directly influenced the final decision provided by the network, even though this result is already known. There are ML models that provide explainability for decisions, which means that the main characteristics of the images or input signals that led to the system’s final decision are explained.This characteristic is relevant in the context of health application, for the advancement of knowledge that it can represent in terms of aspects relevant to diagnosis. However, not many advanced works were found in the literature addressing the use of explainable models in mammographic image analysis using ML.The diagnosis of cancer is a sensitive moment, with this in mind, knowing how aDeep Learning or Machine Learning model has achieved certain results can better direct physicians to investigate cases in a more directed way, thus placing more emphasis on some characteristics of the image, and it can generate more reliably in a model prediction.The use of Deep Learning for image classification tasks has obtained surprising results,some results have achieved human capacity, and in some cases, it has even surpassed human capacity, which is why this approach will be discussed in this dissertation. Combining a powerful classification tool with techniques that allow the created models to have explainable predictions, thus making a breast lesion classification tool with high potential reliability for its end users, specialist physicians. To achieve these goals, Deep Learning architectures such as VGG16 and explainability techniques for trained models such asLIME, which is an explainability framework with good performance and simple to use,are investigated. This thesis aims to develop a Deep Learning model, which uses Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques so that it has explainable predictions that classify breast lesions and identify the important characteristics that lead the model to achieve such a result .After training the model using VGG16 architecture, the metrics analyzed were accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity, the results obtained were respectively 68% 77%, and65%. Greater results were found in the literature, but these are not reproducible results.In many cases, the databases are private to hospitals where the team collected mammograms from the last 20 years, created the dataset, and tested them. There was a master’s thesis done by Adam Jaamour in 2020 at the University of St Andrews with a similar approach which obtained results close to those presented in this dissertation, the author reported an accuracy result of 67%.ML and DP models have great potential, however, they must be trained with datasets with a large number of images, and quality images. By improving performance and achieving better metrics than those presented in this work, these models may be applicable in real-life use. The combined use of DL models with Explainable Artificial Intelligence frameworks can help direct physicians to important areas of the lesion. The highlights of the lesions are different from what is expected to be shown in lesions by physicians, however, these lesions highlights potentially guide physicians to important areas for theML or DP model.Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologias em Engenharia (FCTE) – Campus UnB GamaPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Biomédic
Review for Religious - Issue 01.4 (July 1942)
No full textIssue 1.4 of the Review for Religious, 1942.A. M. D. G.
Review for Religious
JULY 15o 1942
Direction by the Confess0r" ~ " " ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ The Editors
Self-Knowledge ............ Patrick
Perfection and the Relicjious .......... Augustine Klaas
Mqral Beauty in Our Duties to God "~" Gera~d Kelly
The General Chapter of Affairs ~ Adam C. Ellis
The Precious Blood .......... Malachl J. Donnelly
The Rural Life Apostolate ........ John, L. Thomas
St. Boniface and Giff-Excl~anges ...... ~., Gerald Ellard
Book Reviews Questions Answered
Decisions of the Holy See
VOLUME I NUMBER 4
FOR RI:::LIGIOUS
VOLUME I JULY -15, 1942 NUMBER 4
CONTENTS
SPIRITUAL DIRECTION BY THE ORDINARY CONFESSOR
The Editors .......... ,218
BOOKS RECEIVED .................. 222
SELF-KNOWLEDGE--Patrick M. Regan, S.J ...:.. ... . 223’
FRANCISCAN ,STUDIES ............... 232
PERFECTION AND THE REIAGIOUS--Augustine K]aas, S.J. 233
MORAL BEAUTY IN OUR DUTIES TOWARDS GOD
Gerald Kelly, S.J ......... 244
PAMPHLET REVIEWS ......... ’. . " .... 252
THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF AFFAIRS IN A RELIGIOUS CON°
GREGATION--Adam C. Ellis, S.J" . .......... 253
THE PLACE OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
Malachi J. Donnelly, S.J ...... 259
THE CATHOLIC RURAL LIFE APOSTOLATE---John L. Thomas, S.J2.63
GIFT-EXCHANGES IN THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ST. BONIFACE
Gerald Ellard, S.J ........ 271
BOOK REVIEWS :
MARCH INTO TOMORROW. By the Reverend John J. Considine, M.M. 281
WATCI21 AND PRAY. By the Reverend J. E. Moffat, S.J .....281
IN THE SHADOV~ OF OUR LADY OF THE CENACLE.
By Helen M. Lynch, R.C ...... " 282
I PRAY THE MASS. By the Reverend HugoH. Hoever, S.O. Cist. 283
MODICUM. By the Reverend Athanasius Bierbaum, O.F.M. ". 284
HOMILETIC HINTS. By the Reverend Albert H. Dolan, O. Carm. ’. 284
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
24. Indulgence on Day of Investiture or Profession ...... 285
25. Obligation to Perform Penance for Violating Rule .....285
26. Community. Prayers when Chaplain Opens Tabernacle .... 286
27. Vows when in Danger of Death .......... 286
DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE OF INTEREST TO RELIGIOUS287
REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, July, 1942. Vol. I, No. 4. Published bi-monthly:
January, March, May, July, September, and November, at The College Press,
606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary’s College, St. Marys, Kausas,
with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942,
at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879.
Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald.Kelly, 8.3.
Copyright, i942, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations
of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author.
Subscription price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A.
Spiri!:ual Direction
by !:he Ordinary Con~:essor
THE EDITORS
448 ’ UR confessor never say, s a word to us. He just
gives absolution, and lets us go. He seems to have
no time for us." Thus goes a complaint which,
though not exactly common,, is frequent enough to indi-cate
a problem that calls for a solution. The problemm
a very important one in the religious lifemmay be clearly
stated in two brief questions: Does the Church wish ordi-nary
~onfessors to give spiritual guidance? If so, why is
this office at times neglected?
There seems to be no valid reason for. hesitancy con-cerning
the answer to the first question. The Church does
wish that, in general, the ordinary confessors should give
spiritual direction. The law that these confessors be care-fully
selected indicates that they should be able and willing
to give direction; the law limiting their number indicates
the desirability of uniformity of direction.
This does not mean that the ordinary confessor must
give spiritual direction to each of his penitents every week..
But surely it means that at times during the course of a Yea’r
all religious will have the opportunity of benefiting by his
counsel. Otherwise large numbers of religious will find
their opportunities for direction limited almost exclusively
to the time of their annual retreat. Such once-a-year direc-tion
was never the ideal; and in these days of large retreats
it is even less desirable than formerly.
The second question is not so readily answered. We
know that some rellgi0us, disappointed over. the fact that
the confessional has not proved to be the source of guidance
218
"DIRECTION BY THE CONFESSOR
they had expected, are in~lined to. answer: "The confessor
isn’t able to give direction. He’s not sufficiently interested
in.us to give ~us his time~". Reasons such .as these may be
valid for some cases--though certainly it is not for us to
pass judgment on any individual case. It is possible for a
priest to be incapable of fulfilling an office to which he has
been ai0pointed, and it is possible that capable priests will
neglect their duty. Such. failures will never be wholly elim-inated
so long as God chooses to carry on His work by
means of human instruments.
If inability or negle.ct of duty were the only possible
explanations for deficiency in regard to spiritual direction,
there would be no good reason for the present editorial.
But we. are convinced that in many cases there is an entirely
different explanation. We think that a situation may fre-quently
arise in which the confessor is both able and will-ing
to give direction and the community is eager ~o receive
it, yet no direction results. Consider, for instance, a case
like the following:
Father A is a zealous and capable priest. Any of his
intimate friends would consider him well-equipped for the
office of ordinary confessor of religious. He knows how to
direct souls in the practice of virtue, how to encourage the
downhearted, how to help those in occasions of sin, and so
forth. He has a great esteem for .religious; he knows that
the Church wishes them to receive direction and that of all
people they are perhaps the most deserving and apprecia-,
tire of any spiritual help a priest might give them. He has
resolved that, if ever he is made an ordinary confessor, he
will do all he can to live up to the Church’s ideal. To this
end, he has at times made a particular study of the prob-lems
that might be peculiar to religious: for example, dif-ficulties
with obedience and common life, temptations
219
THE EDITORS
against vocation, discou.ragement over lack of’progress in
general and over "failure in prayer" in particular.
The time comes when Father A is appointed an ordi-nary
confessor." Full of zeal, he takes his place in the con-fessional
for the first time. One after another the penitents
come, and, almost before he realizes it, .Father /~ hears a
voice say, "I’m the last one, Father." As he leaves the con-fessional,
he notes that he has heard about twenty confes-sions
in twenty-five minutes.
The speed of this first experience is not lost on Father
A. He is chagrine.d at the thought that he seems to have
fallen into the one fault that he was always Warned to
avoid: he had given little more than absolution--scarcely
a word. of counsel or encouragement. He consoles himself,
however, with the reflection that this wasonly the first time
and that in future .there will be more opportunity to help.
Yet week follows week; and there never seems to be any
"opportunity to help."
Alarmed by his repeated failures to give direction,
Father A pauses for self-examination. All his fine ideals
seem to have been merd theory. No one asks for direction;
no one seems to need encouragement or special :guidance.
Perhaps he should take the initiative and give some hdvice,
even though none is requested? He has read about this
often, yet he finds that now When he faces a practical situ-ation
h~ is puzzled. What should he say? In the average
confession there are a fewsmall things that might be termed
ordinary human failings, even of the saints. None of these
things seems to be an apt starting point for any kind of per-sonal
advice; yet Father A wishes his counsel to have some
kind of personal bearing. He does not wish to impose his
own ideals on other souls. He would feel very "artificial"
in giving general advice that he feels sure the penitent knows
already.
220
DIRECTION BY THE CONFESSOR
The self-examination proves of no help. Father A de-cides
to wait a little longer. But in the meantime the delay
is having its effect on the community. Almost without their
realizing it, the members begin to .think of their confessor
as "an absolving machine.’~ Those Who have real problems
take them to an occasionalconfessor or simply save them
for the annual retreat.
We have outlined one way in which it can happen that,
though a community wants direction and the confessor
wants to give it, nothing comes, of it.. The community and
the confessor are like two friends who have had a quarrel
and then go for months without speaking, though each one
would be delighted to renew the friendship.
¯ There may be many other ex~planati0ns for lack of
direction by the ordinary confessor; yet we believe that
cases like that of Father A are not uncommon. In other
words, we think that often the only reason why direction
is not given is that the community and the confessor fail to
’;get together." The confessor does not know how to make
the approach: the community does not make it for him.
Such a situation is deplorable; there should be many
ways of avoiding it. Surely this is a problem, a problem
of sufficient importance for sincere and wholesome discus-sion.
We think that our REVIEW offers an apt medium
for such discussion; hence, now that we have at least par-tially
outlined the problem, we turn to our readers and ask
for suggestions. We are willing to allow some space in
subsequent issues of the REVIEW for communications on
this subject, and we hope that our readers are sufficien.tly
interested in the matter to discuss it among themselves and
to send us any suggestion they deem helpful.
This is not a contest. It is a cooperative movement for
progress in the use of an important means to peace of soul
and self-sanctification. Concerning the communications
THE EDITORS
sent to us, we wish to make the folloWing observations:
:1) Letters will be welcomed from anyone: priests, in-dividual
religious, or religious communities.
2.) We seek positive suggestions, not mere negative
criticism. By positive suggestions we mean anything that
may throw light on the problem outlined and make for a
better understanding between confessors and religious.
3) The subject of the confessional is always a delicate
one; hence we wish it clearly understood that we are con-fining
this discussion only to the gendra! point of spiritual
direction, methods of giving it, of profiting by it, and so.
forth.
4) Communications, will be printed without names
and without reference to places.
5) The communications should be as brief as the sub-ject-
ma~ter will permit.. We may find it necessary to edit
them a bit, even to digest them. But the substance will al-ways
be given.
6) Address communications directly to The Editors
of REVFEW FOR RELIGIOUS, St. Mary’s College, St. Marys,
Kansas.
BOOKS RECEIVED
(To be reviewed later.)
OUR MODELS IN RELIGION. Marist Brothers. Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
THE DIALOG MASS. By Gerald Ellard, S.J. Longmans, Green ~ Company.
New York.
THE SOLUTION IS EASY. By Mark Schm~d, O.S.B. Frederick Pustet.
New York.
222
Selt:-Knowledge
Patrick M. Regan, S.J.
ALL Religious realize the importance of self-knowl-.
edge in the spiritual life. Though one can make some
progress toward perfection .without adeep fund of
self-knowledge, still it is safe to say that a comprehensive
knowledge of one’s personal talents or lack of them can be a
powerful foice for advancing the soul in sanctity. We are
filled with admiration of Christ in all His words and works,
but we must remember that one of the secrets of His influ-ence
over the hearts of men is His absolute, unerring cer-tainty
about Himself, His mission, the prophecies concern-ing
Him. This looms large in the narrative of His life, help-ing
to explain at every step the reason for His perfect man-ner
of acting. A boy of twelve, His explanation of the
tragic sorrow He had brought Mary and Joseph, the simple
declaration that it was His Father’s business, cannot but
convey the strong impression that He was so infallibly sure
of Himself that neither sorrow, tragedy, nor any calamity
could be allowed to interfere. In His dying hour, "all is
consummated" is the public avowal for all men of all time
that He knew to perfection every step of the way, that
nothing unforeseen had ever happen.ed in His life. But
Christ is not only to be admired, He is also to be imitated
as far as possible; hence with His grace our kn0wledge of
self will contribute its share to our success in the work of
life. ’
On the other hand the .New Testament is careful to re-cord
not a few of the tragedies that followed on the lack of
self-knowledge. Even after all Christ’s training, .Peker had
so little Understanding of himself and his weakness that
not even a divine revelation of his impending fall gave him
223
PATRICK M. REGAN
pause. Had he just a glimmer of self-knowledge, the warn-ing
ofChrist would have struck home. How well Judas
might have profited in acquiring an insight of his own char-acter,
had he but heeded the loving instructions and friend-ly
warnings of the most perfect of all spiritual directors.
Numerous other examples might be cited to show how our
Divine Lord esteemed self-knowledge and the importance
He attached to it. And justly so, since it is a fundamental
necessity of the spiritual life, without which perfection be-comes
so difficult as to be practically unattainable. It is
se!f one must pilot alone to the shores of eternity, and to do
it securely and with a degree of success, one must make cer-tain
he knows that self quite thoroughly.
Even from a purely natural sta.ndpoint and on its own
merits, this science of our own personality is most desir-able.
One can hardly pick up a modern magazine or book
without finding references to its need and desirability; hence
the numerous plans for developing personality, and charts
for rating it. Again,.to cite but one example: in a large
city a very capable psychologist of reputation and experi-ence
has a large clientele of business men who seek her aid
in getting an insight into their characters. One of them,
echoing the opinions of the rest, declared: "I know my
business, Father, she has the stuff; it is not a racket, for-tune-
telling, or anything of the sort; the vision she gave
me of myself was i~asily worth the twenty-five dollars she
charged, for it was worth thousands to me in my business."
Advantages t:or the Religious.
It is a great advantage to know yourself,, even in a par-tial,
elementary way. Though to a religious it may not be
worth much money, still it can save, much valuable time,
pre.vent tragic mistakes, relieve one of.much worry and
anxiety. How many ~eligious pursue a will-o’-the-wisp
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SELF- KNOWLEDGE
for many a year, which they fancied a necessary virtue or
accomplishment. How precious.little, after all, is needed’
to sanctify yourself, provided you are certain of what tab
ents you possess and make efficient use of them. In this
connection the recollection of St. Joseph of Cupertino im-,
mediately flashes to mind. His biographers tell us his utter
lack of human,knowledge kept him out of one religious
order and caused his dismissal from another; yet he built
his sanctity on this very defect. One talent--he realized
his .great deficiency; b.ut with that one talent he reached the
heights. It is not how many talents one has received, but
how skillfully and efficiently he uses them that sanctifies.
Religious are always eager and zealous to acquire self-knbwledge,
t14ough not always so eager and zealous for the
work entailed. An instruction or exhortation on the sub-ject
so deeply interests them that they will almost certainly
seek a special conference with the director for further per-sonal
instruction. Regtettably, however, far too man~
labor under the delusion that the director can furnish a
perfect insight into self for the asking, that out of the
abundance of his genius.and experience he will unfold their
whole souls before them to impart comprehensive enlight~
enment on their own mysterious selves. Would the task
were so easy! Such an attitude betrays a misunderstanding
of spiritual direction, shows a leaning toward excessive
passivity and lack of initiative in the spiritual life; every-one
should expect to shoulder himself a good. portion of
the burden of his own spiritual direction. Yet this very
¯ defect brings out another advantage of self-knowledge.
One who has made progress along that line will be able to
cooperate intelligently with helpful advice imparted, ia
fact will be more capable of enlightened reception of direc-tion
offered. Countless persons would quickly reach heights
of perfection, if mere passive, receptivity of spiritual guid-.
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PA’~VRICK M. REGAN
ante were sufficient; they are expert at doing just what they
are told, provided they do not have to think for themselves
in the process or take the initiative. If Providence would
furnish tl~em direction requiring nothing more than .that
they follow it blindly, they would soon be perfect. But
God ordinarily demands that we do some of the leading,,
some of the guiding ourselves. The more perfectly one
knows his soul, the more perfect will be his performance
~in guiding it and being guided on the. path of sanctity.
How necess.ary is self-knowledge for a religious appears
from another angle .to which atter~tion is called by Rev-erend
Mother Stewart, R.S.C.~I..: "In general, books for
spiritual training direct their treatment against strongly-marked
and outspoken faults, and take for granted that
severe treatment and explicit methods will deal with them.
But a whole class of subtle faults that grow up in the shade
are not taken into account. Now, in books for spiritual
training, it is quite possible to break down a nature of less
resistance, by guiding it along lines destined for one of
stronger make, and leaving it without knowledge of prin-ciples
for its own guidance. It may remain ignorant of its
own faults and defects, because they have not come within
the scheme that was drawn up for others." (Tbe.Societ~
of tt2e Sacred Heart, p. 82.) Since we cannot demand Pen-tecostal
miracles from the Holy Spirit constantly, we must
conform to the ordinary way of Divine Providence, and
temper and adapt the general doctrine according to our own
needs and ’capabilities. This requires a knowledge of our
own individual selves.
Still another advantage is that when one knows himself,
not perfectly it may be: but sufficiently for forming a work-ing
hypothesis at least, he will not dissipate his energies,
pursuing what may be impossible for him, or quite un-
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SELF-KNoWLEDGE
necessary in his particular vocation.. He will also have a
strong in~entive to strive .hard to, advance, his goodquali-ties
encouraging him tO make sacrifice, his defects urging
him forward to strengthen the weakness of character. What
is more, he will get at the root 6f the trouble, instead of
spending much time and effort on surface symptoms only;
it will be pride, envy, sloth, or some other fundamental
tendency that he will effectually check, and with each con-quest
many surface manifestations such as uncharitable-ness,
impatience, intellectual dishonesty, and the like will
vanish.
Finally, this understanding of self will help very much
to understand others, to grasp their problems, sympathize
in their troubles, and thus promote the spirit of charity in
the soul. One cannot understand the heart of another who
does not first understand hisown. There are few religious
who do not, at some time or other, have to make some con-tribution
to. helping other souls by means of direction. The
long, trying novitiate of learning to dirett ond’s own soul is
the very best preparation for aiding others to advance in
God’s service. It is the best antidote to a shallow, super.-
ficial view of lif~ and of those who share life with us, since
it widens and deepens our outlook on everyone and every-thing
we meet along the way.
Nature ot: SelF-Knowledge.
Precisely what is this self-knowledge of which we hear
so much? Fundamental as it is, a starting point in our spir-itual
life, we should aim at clear ideas of what it is and
wl~at it involves. It is the understanding of a particular
person, my.self, whom I know through my virtues and
defects, my natural and sup~rnatura! talents, my likes and
dislikes, m~r own personal life history. We may expand
these ideas further. It is’ tl~e understanding 6f my own per-
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PATRICK M. REG~q
sonality, especially in the light of the fact that there is ab-so!
utely no possibility of there ever being another person-ality
exactly like mine anywhere in the whole of cidation.
Since my personality is such a unique thing, so different
from every other, so isolated from all others, I am the only
one, except Almighty God, who can hope ever to acquire
a very intimate knowledge of myself. From another point
of view, self-knowledge may be said’to be an understand-ing
of my life, but not just that; it is seeing my life with a
particular pattern or design running through it, my own
personality. Hence it is much more than knowing what is
found {n spiritual books about the principles and practice
.of. asceticism. These stop short at the threshold; I alone can
enter in to apply the knowledge to self, observing the effect
on all that lies hidden within. Moreover it is much more
than knowing faults, defects, sins, virtues, successes; it is
the understanding of the person who has these defects and
achieves these successes, and the intimate personal explana-tion
of them.
Many are prejudiced against self-knowledge, even fear
to undertake the task
