Life as an Image of Ourselves

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Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63867/aeif.14

Keywords:

transience, meaning, hope, community, phenomenology, existentialism

Abstract

The essay offers a subjective philosophical and humanistic reflection on the concept of life in its various dimensions - biological, existential, spiritual, and ethical. The author juxtaposes scientific, medical, and phenomenological perspectives, emphasizing that life cannot be reduced to biological processes but is a dynamic reality in which a person experiences both self and world. The reflection includes the motif of the transience of existence, as well as questions about meaning and the boundaries of life, and about the relationship between life, health, and consciousness. The text highlights the existential and spiritual dimensions in which hope, love, and community become values through which one may discover meaning despite impermanence. In this personal sketch, the author invokes the thought of Heidegger, Frankl, Levinas, and John of the Cross, weaving it together with a physician’s reflections.

     

Author Biography

  • Piotr Kasztelowicz, Oddział Wewnętrzny, Szpital Powiatowy w Chełmży

    A physician and graduate of the Medical Academy in Poznań (now the Poznań University of Medical Sciences) in 1989. In 1998 he completed his specialization in internal medicine. He is regarded as a co-creator of the Polish medical internet, having organized and co-organized medical internet conferences and authored more than 37 publications in this field, including several in Medline-indexed journals. Since 2007, he has headed the Department of Internal Medicine at the District Hospital in Chełmża. Previously, he worked in the Cardiology Department and later in the Pulmonology Department at the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Toruń. He is interested in the philosophy of medicine — he participated in the Philosophical Gathering in Toruń in 2011 (https://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/AvantPlusZF2011.pdf), as well as in philosophical meetings organized by Prof. Maria Szyszkowska in Nałęczów and in Kuźnica on the Hel Peninsula. He was a participant and committee member in the "Internet for Doctors" and "Against Corruption — Medical Group" projects of the Stefan Batory Foundation. A practicing Catholic, active in prayer groups (the “Go Further” community in Toruń). He enjoys photography and cats. He is a father of four, practices fencing, and loves listening to blues.

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Published

2025-12-19

Issue

No. 2 (2025): Life Anyway - Constellations of How We Choose to Live

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Existential Analysis and the Phenomenology of Life

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Czasopismo ukazuje się w wersji elektronicznej – w trybie open access – m.in. na stronie czasopisma. Publikowanie jest nieodpłatne na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND). Prace publikujemy zarówno w języku polskim, jak i angielskim.

How to Cite

Kasztelowicz, P. (2025). Life as an Image of Ourselves. Existential Analysis and the Phenomenology of Life, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.63867/aeif.14

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