Papers by Vincent Di Stefano
Avena. Journal of the Association of New Zealand Medical Herbalists, Autumn 2011, Vol. 11, 1, 8-9
Avena, Journal of the New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists, Winter 2011, Vol. 11, 2, 16-18
"Restoring the Caduceus" offers a reflection on both the state of biomedicine and the present sta... more "Restoring the Caduceus" offers a reflection on both the state of biomedicine and the present state of the planet. It points to the essential need for holistic perspectives in dealing both with human illness, and with the environmental deformations produced by industrial/technological civilisation.
"Restoring the Caduceus" was first published in AVENA - Journal of the New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists, Vol. 10 (2) 2010.
The Townsend Letter, May 2009, Issue 310, 90-93
Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism, 1990, Vol. 2, 3, 55-58
Five hundred years after his birth, Paracelsus remains one of the most influential physicians to ... more Five hundred years after his birth, Paracelsus remains one of the most influential physicians to have emerged from the European tradition. As a contemporary of Kepler, Copernicus, Da Vinci and Erasmus, he walked fully in the light of the European Renaissance, illuminating it further with the power of his own personality. Though reviled in his own day by a complacent and elitist medical orthodoxy, his contributions to medicinal chemistry, herbal and mineral therapeutics, epidemiology, and psychological medicine continue to reverberate into the present time.
This three-part essay reviewing the life and times of this extraordinary medical reformer and physician was originally published in the Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism, Vol. 6 (1-3) 1994 as an offering in celebration of the 500th anniversary of his birth.
"The Wreck of the Deutschland" is unquestionably Gerard Manley Hopkins' master work. It reflects ... more "The Wreck of the Deutschland" is unquestionably Gerard Manley Hopkins' master work. It reflects where the true centre of this man of deep spirituality and towering intellect lay - in the heart, which is evoked 18 times during the course of the poem.
"The Wreck of the Deutschland" was written at the suggestion of one of his religious superiors after Hopkins expressed his personal anguish at the death of 80 people, among whom were five Franciscan nuns, when the German ship The Deutschland ran aground at the mouth of the Thames in early December 1875. The poet-turned-priest was in the seventh year of his nine-year-long training for the Jesuit priesthood. He had maintained a complete literary silence throughout that time.
"The Wreck of the Deutschland" was written in the months immediately after the ship-wreck. The poem was deemed "unpublishable" both by his Jesuit community and by his close friend, the Poet-Laureate Robert Bridges. When Bridges finally gathered Hopkins' poems together and published them 30 years after his friend's death, he described "The Wreck of the Deutschland" as, "a great dragon folded in the gate to forbid all entrance."
This essay - which includes a link to the author's audio rendition of the poem - represents a small attempt to revise Bridges' sombre judgement and suggests, rather, that this symphonic poem holds an infinite cask of jewelled insights into the nature of Gerard Manley Hopkins and his understanding of human frailty, of human strength, of human tragedy, and of divine mercy.
This paper was prompted by a close viewing of the 2017 Thomas Lecture presented by William Desmon... more This paper was prompted by a close viewing of the 2017 Thomas Lecture presented by William Desmond at the Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in southern Indiana on April 6th 2017. The presentation was entitled "The Idiocy of Being in Aquinas' Third Way." Although the lecture nominally served to address Saint Thomas Aquinas' third argument for the existence of God, the greater part offered a privileged entry into Desmond's thought, particularly in regard to how the contemporary Western mindset has come to be one of default atheism. Desmond offers a highly individuated perspective on the intellectual currents and armoured modes of being that have contributed to this development. Links to both the original video of the lecture and an abridged downloadable audio version of Desmond's presentation are included at the end of the paper.
Two days after Christmas in 2008, the isolated and densely populated city of Gaza was visited by ... more Two days after Christmas in 2008, the isolated and densely populated city of Gaza was visited by volley upon volley of deadly missile and mortar fire. The intense bombardment of what has been described by the United Nations Development Program as "one of the most densely populated places on earth" continued unabated for a period of three weeks. By the end of the assault, over 1,400 Palestinians had been killed and more than 5,000 wounded, many seriously. Between three and four hundred of the dead were children. A total of 13 Israelis were killed during the same time, four of them by the action of their own troops.
This paper is linked to downloadable audio produced in 2013 that offers an account of pivotal events in the history of Israel/Palestine from 1947 to the present through the reflections of a number of informed and articulate commentators.
The companion audio to this paper can be streamed or downloaded from: https://archive.org/details/SlouchingTowardsGaza
Despite the fact that we have now entered uncharted territory in relation to the effects of indus... more Despite the fact that we have now entered uncharted territory in relation to the effects of industrial civilisation on the fate of the earth and her creatures, big government of all persuasions seems intent on relentlessly pursuing economic growth, environmental plunder and social and political control at every level.
In view of our gathering predicament reflected in such intangibles as steadily rising carbon dioxide levels, deepening ocean acidification and accelerating methane exhalations from formerly locked under-sea and tundra deposits - to say nothing of the numerous social, political and environmental pathologies that continue to assail humanity - it is instructive to revisit the thoughtful offerings of Thomas Berry, a wise elder who sought to awaken us all to the changes that have already occurred and those that will inevitably follow.
"Restoring a Ruined Earth" offers a tribute to the prophetic insight, vision and integrity of cultural historian Thomas Berry. Though others viewed him as a depth theologian and cultural guardian, he chose in his later years to call himself a "geologian" as an acknowledgement of his earth-centred philosophy which drew strongly from the insights of Taoism, Confucianism and the mysticism of Teilhard de Chardin and Henri Bergson.
The first thermonuclear explosion ever to occur on the earth, Ivy Mike, was detonated by the US M... more The first thermonuclear explosion ever to occur on the earth, Ivy Mike, was detonated by the US Military on Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands on 1st November 1952. Sixteen months later, the explosion of Castle Bravo on Bikini atoll marked the beginning of a second series of thermonuclear tests staged with the express purpose of creating a much smaller "deliverable" thermonuclear weapon in the megaton range.
"When Protectors Become Destroyers" offers an account of the events surrounding these tests, and describes their human and environmental consequences from the perspective of the inhabitants of the Marshall Islands. Special attention is given to the effects of Castle Bravo, the first of six thermonuclear tests that were conducted as part of Operation Castle between 1st March and 22nd April 1954.
Companion audio to this paper can be streamed or downloaded from: https://archive.org/details/PrometheanHubrisAndTheRuiningOfRongelap1
This essay offers a reflection on the less visible aspects of the Indian nuclear project. It deta... more This essay offers a reflection on the less visible aspects of the Indian nuclear project. It details how the state-owned Uranium Corporation of India Limited has derelicted all standards of decency in its oversight and management of the Jaduguda uranium mines and milling complex in the state of Jharkhand in north-east India.
Embedded in this essay is a link to to the video documentary "Buddha Weeps at Jaduguda" produced by Indian film-maker Shri Prakash in 1999.
In addition, the essay carries a link to video of Prakash's observations 15 years later on the fate of Jaduguda (and more generally of how tribal peoples have been affected by the Indian government's aggressive program of nuclearisation) recorded at the World Uranium Symposium in Canada in 2015.
This paper offers a brief reflection on the some of the principal recommendations of the recent S... more This paper offers a brief reflection on the some of the principal recommendations of the recent South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission report. The Royal Commission proposed that the South Australian government put steps into motion to receive over one third of the world's high level nuclear waste for above-ground storage and eventual burial in yet-to-be-built underground repositories in the South Australian desert. In real terms, the report recommended that South Australia imports 138,000 tons of high level waste in the form of spent fuel rods, and an additional 390,000 cubic metres of intermediate level waste for storage and eventual underground burial.
The paper provides some historical context regarding the circumstances that have over the past 70 years seen the world-wide accumulation of 390,000 tons of high level nuclear wastes from nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons programs.
This essay offers an overview of the forces active in the twentieth century that eventually culmi... more This essay offers an overview of the forces active in the twentieth century that eventually culminated in the atomic destruction of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. It offers a reflection on the origins and the inherent violence of the nuclear project.
Many of us have become increasingly aware of a growing hostility expressed towards Pope Francis b... more Many of us have become increasingly aware of a growing hostility expressed towards Pope Francis by a number of individuals and fundamentalist Catholic groups who remain ideologically opposed to the reforms carried out after Vatican II during the 1960s. This is perplexing, especially in view of the fact that Pope Francis has shown himself to be a man who is deeply aware both of human reality with all its strengths and weaknesses, and of the tenebrous future that confronts our planet and her peoples.
This essay offers a reflection on the man himself and on the influences that have contributed both to his formation and to the particularly unique style of his pontificate.
Book Reviews by Vincent Di Stefano
Reading Ivan Illich is not easy, though in a different way to reading Continental philosophers, q... more Reading Ivan Illich is not easy, though in a different way to reading Continental philosophers, quantum physicists, or modern virologists. Illich's language is demanding and requires a certain suspension of judgement if one is to penetrate the systemic meaning behind his often challenging - if not vehement - rhetoric. But it is worth the effort.
"On Ivan Illich and the Limits to Medicine" offers a reflection on the life and work of Illich, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his "Limits to Medicine; Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health."
Copies of E.F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful, first published in 1973, can still be found in ma... more Copies of E.F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful, first published in 1973, can still be found in many libraries. And it occasionally chances as an unexpected treasure on the shelves of second-hand bookshops. Although most copies of the book were printed in paperback form, it remains one of the pivotal works of the twentieth century and carries within it the fruits of decades of considered reflection on the nature of human and planetary flourishing.
On E.F. Schumacher and Small is Beautiful offers a reflection on the life and work of Schumacher, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his Small is Beautiful. A Study of Economics as if People Mattered.
Leopold Kohr, described as a “teasing leprechaun” by his fellow Austrian Ivan Illich, is one of t... more Leopold Kohr, described as a “teasing leprechaun” by his fellow Austrian Ivan Illich, is one of the unknown and unsung men of wisdom of the twentieth century. The Breakdown of Nations remains his enduring legacy. What radiates through this penetrating critique of an even-then overgrown civilisation is the great humanity of one who has seen and understood the ultimate folly of pursuing power, conquest and dominion.
Although the outlaw wisdom of Leopold Kohr may have by-passed mainstream theatres, it remains a fruitful source of insight and inspiration for those who would strive for a future grounded in both human and universal values.
"On Leopold Kohr and The Breakdown of Nations" offers a reflection on the life and work of Leopold Kohr, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his "The Breakdown of Nations."
The events at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 3rd and 4th 1989 remain seared in the memories ... more The events at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 3rd and 4th 1989 remain seared in the memories of those who witnessed them, either at close range, or through media reports at the time. Soon after, Australian sociologist Jonathan Unger compiled and published a collection of essays that continue to be an ongoing testament to a time when the aspirations for human freedom throughout China took living form, only to be overturned by powerful forces controlled by the State, and then erased as far as possible from the memory of the Chinese people.
"Remembering Tiananmen Square and the Pro-Democracy Protests" offers a reflection of what took place on the night of June 3rd and the morning of June 4th, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from Unger's "The Pro-Democracy Protests in China. Reports from the Provinces."
Book Chapters by Vincent Di Stefano
Holism and Complementary Medicine. Origins and Principles. Allen and Unwin, Crow's Nest, NSW, 2006
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Papers by Vincent Di Stefano
"Restoring the Caduceus" was first published in AVENA - Journal of the New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists, Vol. 10 (2) 2010.
This three-part essay reviewing the life and times of this extraordinary medical reformer and physician was originally published in the Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism, Vol. 6 (1-3) 1994 as an offering in celebration of the 500th anniversary of his birth.
"The Wreck of the Deutschland" was written at the suggestion of one of his religious superiors after Hopkins expressed his personal anguish at the death of 80 people, among whom were five Franciscan nuns, when the German ship The Deutschland ran aground at the mouth of the Thames in early December 1875. The poet-turned-priest was in the seventh year of his nine-year-long training for the Jesuit priesthood. He had maintained a complete literary silence throughout that time.
"The Wreck of the Deutschland" was written in the months immediately after the ship-wreck. The poem was deemed "unpublishable" both by his Jesuit community and by his close friend, the Poet-Laureate Robert Bridges. When Bridges finally gathered Hopkins' poems together and published them 30 years after his friend's death, he described "The Wreck of the Deutschland" as, "a great dragon folded in the gate to forbid all entrance."
This essay - which includes a link to the author's audio rendition of the poem - represents a small attempt to revise Bridges' sombre judgement and suggests, rather, that this symphonic poem holds an infinite cask of jewelled insights into the nature of Gerard Manley Hopkins and his understanding of human frailty, of human strength, of human tragedy, and of divine mercy.
This paper is linked to downloadable audio produced in 2013 that offers an account of pivotal events in the history of Israel/Palestine from 1947 to the present through the reflections of a number of informed and articulate commentators.
The companion audio to this paper can be streamed or downloaded from: https://archive.org/details/SlouchingTowardsGaza
In view of our gathering predicament reflected in such intangibles as steadily rising carbon dioxide levels, deepening ocean acidification and accelerating methane exhalations from formerly locked under-sea and tundra deposits - to say nothing of the numerous social, political and environmental pathologies that continue to assail humanity - it is instructive to revisit the thoughtful offerings of Thomas Berry, a wise elder who sought to awaken us all to the changes that have already occurred and those that will inevitably follow.
"Restoring a Ruined Earth" offers a tribute to the prophetic insight, vision and integrity of cultural historian Thomas Berry. Though others viewed him as a depth theologian and cultural guardian, he chose in his later years to call himself a "geologian" as an acknowledgement of his earth-centred philosophy which drew strongly from the insights of Taoism, Confucianism and the mysticism of Teilhard de Chardin and Henri Bergson.
"When Protectors Become Destroyers" offers an account of the events surrounding these tests, and describes their human and environmental consequences from the perspective of the inhabitants of the Marshall Islands. Special attention is given to the effects of Castle Bravo, the first of six thermonuclear tests that were conducted as part of Operation Castle between 1st March and 22nd April 1954.
Companion audio to this paper can be streamed or downloaded from: https://archive.org/details/PrometheanHubrisAndTheRuiningOfRongelap1
Embedded in this essay is a link to to the video documentary "Buddha Weeps at Jaduguda" produced by Indian film-maker Shri Prakash in 1999.
In addition, the essay carries a link to video of Prakash's observations 15 years later on the fate of Jaduguda (and more generally of how tribal peoples have been affected by the Indian government's aggressive program of nuclearisation) recorded at the World Uranium Symposium in Canada in 2015.
The paper provides some historical context regarding the circumstances that have over the past 70 years seen the world-wide accumulation of 390,000 tons of high level nuclear wastes from nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons programs.
This essay offers a reflection on the man himself and on the influences that have contributed both to his formation and to the particularly unique style of his pontificate.
Book Reviews by Vincent Di Stefano
"On Ivan Illich and the Limits to Medicine" offers a reflection on the life and work of Illich, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his "Limits to Medicine; Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health."
On E.F. Schumacher and Small is Beautiful offers a reflection on the life and work of Schumacher, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his Small is Beautiful. A Study of Economics as if People Mattered.
Although the outlaw wisdom of Leopold Kohr may have by-passed mainstream theatres, it remains a fruitful source of insight and inspiration for those who would strive for a future grounded in both human and universal values.
"On Leopold Kohr and The Breakdown of Nations" offers a reflection on the life and work of Leopold Kohr, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his "The Breakdown of Nations."
"Remembering Tiananmen Square and the Pro-Democracy Protests" offers a reflection of what took place on the night of June 3rd and the morning of June 4th, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from Unger's "The Pro-Democracy Protests in China. Reports from the Provinces."
Book Chapters by Vincent Di Stefano
"Restoring the Caduceus" was first published in AVENA - Journal of the New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists, Vol. 10 (2) 2010.
This three-part essay reviewing the life and times of this extraordinary medical reformer and physician was originally published in the Australian Journal of Medical Herbalism, Vol. 6 (1-3) 1994 as an offering in celebration of the 500th anniversary of his birth.
"The Wreck of the Deutschland" was written at the suggestion of one of his religious superiors after Hopkins expressed his personal anguish at the death of 80 people, among whom were five Franciscan nuns, when the German ship The Deutschland ran aground at the mouth of the Thames in early December 1875. The poet-turned-priest was in the seventh year of his nine-year-long training for the Jesuit priesthood. He had maintained a complete literary silence throughout that time.
"The Wreck of the Deutschland" was written in the months immediately after the ship-wreck. The poem was deemed "unpublishable" both by his Jesuit community and by his close friend, the Poet-Laureate Robert Bridges. When Bridges finally gathered Hopkins' poems together and published them 30 years after his friend's death, he described "The Wreck of the Deutschland" as, "a great dragon folded in the gate to forbid all entrance."
This essay - which includes a link to the author's audio rendition of the poem - represents a small attempt to revise Bridges' sombre judgement and suggests, rather, that this symphonic poem holds an infinite cask of jewelled insights into the nature of Gerard Manley Hopkins and his understanding of human frailty, of human strength, of human tragedy, and of divine mercy.
This paper is linked to downloadable audio produced in 2013 that offers an account of pivotal events in the history of Israel/Palestine from 1947 to the present through the reflections of a number of informed and articulate commentators.
The companion audio to this paper can be streamed or downloaded from: https://archive.org/details/SlouchingTowardsGaza
In view of our gathering predicament reflected in such intangibles as steadily rising carbon dioxide levels, deepening ocean acidification and accelerating methane exhalations from formerly locked under-sea and tundra deposits - to say nothing of the numerous social, political and environmental pathologies that continue to assail humanity - it is instructive to revisit the thoughtful offerings of Thomas Berry, a wise elder who sought to awaken us all to the changes that have already occurred and those that will inevitably follow.
"Restoring a Ruined Earth" offers a tribute to the prophetic insight, vision and integrity of cultural historian Thomas Berry. Though others viewed him as a depth theologian and cultural guardian, he chose in his later years to call himself a "geologian" as an acknowledgement of his earth-centred philosophy which drew strongly from the insights of Taoism, Confucianism and the mysticism of Teilhard de Chardin and Henri Bergson.
"When Protectors Become Destroyers" offers an account of the events surrounding these tests, and describes their human and environmental consequences from the perspective of the inhabitants of the Marshall Islands. Special attention is given to the effects of Castle Bravo, the first of six thermonuclear tests that were conducted as part of Operation Castle between 1st March and 22nd April 1954.
Companion audio to this paper can be streamed or downloaded from: https://archive.org/details/PrometheanHubrisAndTheRuiningOfRongelap1
Embedded in this essay is a link to to the video documentary "Buddha Weeps at Jaduguda" produced by Indian film-maker Shri Prakash in 1999.
In addition, the essay carries a link to video of Prakash's observations 15 years later on the fate of Jaduguda (and more generally of how tribal peoples have been affected by the Indian government's aggressive program of nuclearisation) recorded at the World Uranium Symposium in Canada in 2015.
The paper provides some historical context regarding the circumstances that have over the past 70 years seen the world-wide accumulation of 390,000 tons of high level nuclear wastes from nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons programs.
This essay offers a reflection on the man himself and on the influences that have contributed both to his formation and to the particularly unique style of his pontificate.
"On Ivan Illich and the Limits to Medicine" offers a reflection on the life and work of Illich, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his "Limits to Medicine; Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health."
On E.F. Schumacher and Small is Beautiful offers a reflection on the life and work of Schumacher, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his Small is Beautiful. A Study of Economics as if People Mattered.
Although the outlaw wisdom of Leopold Kohr may have by-passed mainstream theatres, it remains a fruitful source of insight and inspiration for those who would strive for a future grounded in both human and universal values.
"On Leopold Kohr and The Breakdown of Nations" offers a reflection on the life and work of Leopold Kohr, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from his "The Breakdown of Nations."
"Remembering Tiananmen Square and the Pro-Democracy Protests" offers a reflection of what took place on the night of June 3rd and the morning of June 4th, and incorporates a number of selected excerpts from Unger's "The Pro-Democracy Protests in China. Reports from the Provinces."