Categoria: Educação

Como lidiar con nuestros ángeles y demonios interiores

Leonardo Boff5 Comentários

El ser humano es una unidad compleja: es simultáneamente hombre-cuerpo, hombre-psique y hombre-espíritu. Detengámonos un momento en el hombre-psique, es decir, en su mundo interior, urdido de emociones y pasiones, luces y sombras, sueños y utopías. Así como hay un universo exterior universo exterior, hecho de órdenes-desórdenes-nuevos órdenes, de horribles devastaciones y de emergencias prometedoras, así también hay un mundo interior, habitado por ángeles y demonios. Ellos revelan tendencias que pueden llevarnos a la locura y a la muerte, y energías de generosidad y de amor, que nos pueden traer autorrealización y felicidad.

Como observaba el gran conocedor de los meandros de la psique humana C.G. Jung: el viaje rumbo al propio Centro, debido a estas contradicciones, puede ser más peligroso y largo que el viaje a la Luna y las estrellas.

Entre los pensadores de la condición humana, hay una cuestión nunca resuelta satisfactoriamente: ¿cuál es la estructura de base de nuestra interioridad, de nuestro ser psíquico? Son muchas las escuelas de interpretación.

Resumiendo, sostenemos la tesis de que la razón no aparece como la realidad primera. Antes de ella hay todo un universo de pasiones y emociones que agitan al ser humano. Por encima de ella está la inteligencia, por la cual intuimos la totalidad, nuestra apertura al infinito y el éxtasis de la contemplación del Ser. Las razones comienzan con la razón. La razón en sí misma es sin razón. Ella simplemente está ahí, indescifrable.

Pero ella remite a dimensiones más primitivas de nuestra realidad humana, de las que se alimenta y que la atraviesan en todas sus expresiones. La razón pura kantiana es una ilusión. La razón viene siempre impregnada de emoción y de pasión, hecho aceptado por la moderna cosmología. La cosmología contemporánea incluye en la idea de universo no solo energías, galaxias y estrellas, sino también la presencia del espíritu y de la subjetividad.

Conocer es siempre entrar en comunión interesada y afectiva con el objeto del conocimiento. Apoyado por una pléyade de otros pensadores, siempre he sostenido que el estatuto de base del ser humano no reside en el cogito cartesiano (en el yo pienso, luego existo), sino en el sentio platónico-agustiniano (en el siento, luego existo), en el sentimiento profundo. Este nos pone en contacto vivo con las cosas, percibiéndonos parte de un todo mayor, siempre afectando y siendo afectados. Más que ideas y visiones de mundo, son las pasiones, sentimientos fuertes, experiencias germinales, el amor y también sus contrarios, los rechazos y los odios avasalladores, lo que nos mueve y nos pone en marcha.

La razón sensible hunde sus raíces en el surgimiento de la vida, have 3,8 miles de millones de años, cuando irrumpieron las primeras bacterias y comenzaron a dialogar químicamente con el medio para poder sobrevivir. Ese proceso se profundizó a partir del momento en que surgió el cerebro límbico de los mamíferos, have más de 125 millones de años, cerebro portador de cuidado, de ternura, cariño y amor por la cría. Es la razón emocional que alcanzó nivel autoconsciente e inteligente con los seres humanos, pues también somos mamíferos.

El pensamiento occidental es logocéntrico y antropocéntrico y puso siempre bajo sospecha la emoción, por miedo a perjudicar la objetividad de la razón. En algunos sectores de la cultura se creó una especie de lobotomía, es decir, una gran insensibilidad ante el sufrimiento humano y los padecimientos por los cuales ha pasado la naturaleza y el planeta Tierra.

En los días actuales nos damos cuenta de que es urgente, al lado de la razón intellectual irrenunciable, incluir decididamente la razón sensible y cordial. Si no volvemos a sentir con afecto y amor a la Tierra como nuestra Madre y a nosotros como la parte consciente e inteligente de ella, difícilmente nos moveremos para salvar la vida, sanar heridas e impedir catástrofes.

Uno de los méritos innegables de la tradición psicoanalítica, a partir de su maestro fundador Sigmund Freud, fue el haber establecido científicamente la pasionalidad como la base, en grado cero, de la existencia humana. El psicoanalista trabaja no a partir de lo que el paciente piensa sino a partir de sus reacciones afectivas, de sus ángeles y de sus demonios, buscando establecer cierto equilibrio y una serenidad interior sostenible.

Toda la cuestión es cómo enseñorearnos creativamente de nuestra pasionalidad de naturaleza volcánica. Freud se centra en la integración de la libido, Jung en la búsqueda de la individuación, Adler en el control de la voluntad de poder, Carl Rogers en el desarrollo de la personalidad, Abraham Maslow en el esfuerzo de autorrealización de las potencialidades latentes. Se podrían citar otros nombres como Lacan, Reich, Pavlov, Skinner, la psicología transpersonal y la cognitiva comportamental, y otros.

Lo que podemos afirmar es que independientemente de las distintas escuelas psicoanalíticas el hombre-psique se ve obligado a integrar creativamente su universo interior siempre en movimiento, con tendencias diabólicas y simbólicas, destructivas y constructivas. Por aciertos y equivocaciones vamos procesualmente descubriendo nuestro camino.

Nadie podrá sustituirnos. Estamos condenados a ser maestros y discípulos de nosotros mismos.

How to Deal with our Inner Angels and Demons

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

The human being is a complex unit: it is simultaneously man-body, man-psyche and man-spirit. Let’s dwell for a moment on the man-psyche, that is, his inner world, made up of emotions and passions, light and shadows, dreams and utopias. Just as there is an outer universe, made up of order-disorder-new orders, of horrible devastations and of promising emergencies, there is also an inner world, inhabited by angels and demons. They display tendencies that can take us to madness and death, and impulses of generosity and love that can bring us self-realization and happiness.

As observed by C. G. Jung, who well knew the pathways of the human psyche: the journey to our own Center, due to these contradictions, can be longer and more dangerous than a trip to the Moon and the stars.

Among the philosophers of the human condition, there is a question that has never been satisfactorily resolved: what is the basic structure of our interior, of our psychic being? There are many schools of thought.

In short, we affirm the thesis that reason is not the first reality. Before it, there is a whole universe of passions and emotions that arouse the human being. Above reason there is intelligence, through which we sense totality, our openness to the infinite and the ecstasy of contemplating the Being. Reasons start with reason. Reason itself is without reason. Reason is simply there, indecipherable.

But reason carries us to the more primitive dimensions of our human reality, those that nourish reason and that run through all its expressions. Kantian pure reason in an illusion. Reason always comes saturated of emotion and passion, a fact accepted by modern cosmology. Contemporary cosmology includes in the concept of the universe not only energies, galaxies and stars, but also the presence of the spirit and of subjectivity.

To know always involves entering into an interested and affective communion with the object of knowledge. Supported by many other thinkers, I have always maintained that the basic form of the human being does not reside in the Cartesian cogito (in the, I think, therefore I am), but in the Platonic-Augustinian sense (in the I feel, therefore I am), in the profound feeling. This puts us in live contact with things, making us aware of being part of a larger whole, always affecting and being affected. More than world ideas and visions, it is the passions, strong feelings, germinal experiences, love, and their opposites as well, the rejections and the overwhelming hatreds, that move us and propel us forward.

Sensible reason finds its roots in the moment life appeared, some 3.8 thousand million years ago, when the first bacteria erupted and started to dialogue chemically with the environment, in order to survive. That process deepened when, more than 125 million years ago, the organized brain of the mammals appeared, a brain that carried caring, tenderness, affection and love for the newly born. The emotional reason reached a level of self consciousness and intelligence in the human being, because we also are mammals.

Western thought is logic-centric and anthropocentric, and always held emotion under suspicion, for fear of harming the objectivity of reason. In some sectors of culture, a sort of lobotomy was created, that is, a great insensibility for human suffering and for the problems which nature and planet Earth have endured.

We now realize that it is urgent to definitively include sensible and cordial reason, in addition to intellectual reason, which cannot be replaced. If we cannot get back to feeling, with affection and love for the Earth as our Mother and for us as her conscious and intelligent organ, it will be difficult for us to mobilize to save life, heal the wounds, and prevent catastrophes.

One of the undeniable values of the psychoanalytical tradition, starting with Sigmund Freud, its founding master, was to have scientifically established passion as the basis, at level zero, of human existence. The psychoanalyst works not from what the patient thinks but from his affective reactions, from his angels and demons, seeking to establish a certain equilibrium and a sustainable inner serenity.

The question is how to creatively take control of our volcanic passions. Freud dwells on the integration of the libido, Jung in the search for individuation, Adler in will power control, Carl Rogers in the development of personality, Abraham Maslow in the effort of self realization of latent potentialities. Other names could be mentioned, such as Lacan, Reich, Pavlov, Skinner, transpersonal psychology and cognitive behaviorism, among others.

What we can affirm is that independently of the different psychoanalytical schools, the man-psyche sees himself as forced to creatively integrate his inner universe, always in motion, with the diabolic and symbolic tendencies, destructive and constructive. Through a process of successes and mistakes, we discover our path.

No one could take our place. We are condemned to be the teachers and disciples of ourselves.

Como lidar com os anjos e demônios interiores

Leonardo Boff25 Comentários

O ser humano constitui uma unidade complexa: é simultaneamente homem-corpo, homem-psiqué e homem-espírito. Detenhamo-nos no homem-psiqué, vale dizer, no seu mundo interior, urdido de emoções e paixões, luzes e sombras, sonhos e utopias. Como há um universo exterior, feito de ordens-desordens-novas ordens, de devastações medonhas e de emergâncias promissoras, assim há também um mundo interior, habitado por anjos e os demônios. Eles revelam tendências que podem levar à loucura e à morte e energias de generosidade e de amor que nos podem trazer autorealização e felicidade.

Como observava o grande conhecedor dos meandros da psiqué humana C.G. Jung: a viagem rumo ao próprio Centro, devido a estas contradições, pode ser mais perigosa e longa do que a viagem à Lua e às estrelas.

Há uma questão nunca resolvida satisfatoriamente entre os pensadores da condição humana: qual é a estrutura de base de nossa interioridade, de nosso ser psíquico? Muitas são as escolas de intérpretes.

Resumindo, sustentamos a tese de que a razão não comparece como a realidade primeira. Antes dela há todo um universo de paixões e emoções que agitam o ser humano. Acima dela há inteligência pela qual intuimos a totalidade, nossa abertura ao infinito e o êxtase da contemplação do Ser. As razões começam com a razão. A razão mesma é sem razão. Ela simplesmente está aí, indecifrável.

Mas ela remete a dimensões mais primitivas de nossa realidade humana das quais se alimenta e que a perpassam em todas as suas expressões. A razão pura kantiana é uma ilusão. A razão sempre vem impregnada de emoção e de paixão, fato aceito pelo moderna epistemologia. A cosmologia contemporânea inclui na idéia do universo não apenas energias, galáxias e estrelas mas também a presença do espírito e da subjetividade.

Conhecer é sempre um entrar em comunhão interessada e afetiva com o objeto do conhecimento. Apoiado por uma plêiade de outros pensadores, tenho sempre sustentado que o estatuto de base do ser humano não reside no cogito cartesiano (no eu penso, logo sou), mas no sentio platônico-agostiniano (no sinto, logo existo), no sentimento profundo. Este nos põe em contacto vivo com as coisas, percebendo-nos parte de um todo maior, sempre afetando e sendo afetados. Mais que idéias e visões de mundo, são paixões, sentimentos fortes, experiências seminais, o amor e também seus contrários, as rejeições e os ódios avassaladores que nos movem e nos põem marcha.

A razão sensível lança suas raizes no surgimento da vida, há 3,8 bilhões de anos, quando as primeiras bactérias irromperam e começaram a dialogar quimicante com o meio para poder sobreviver. Esse processo se aprofundou a partir do momento em que surgiu o cérebro límbico, dos mamíferos, há mais de 125 milhões de anos, cérebro portador de cuidado, enternecimento, carinho e amor pela cria. É a razão emocional que alcançou o patamar autoconsciente e inteligente com os seres humanos, pois somos também mamíferos.

O pensamento ocidental é logocêntrico e antropocêntrico e sempre colocou sob suspeita a emoção por medo de prejudicar a objetividade da razão. Em alguns setores da cultura, criou-se uma espécie de lobotomia, quer dizer, uma grande insensibilidade face ao sofrimento humano e aos padecimentos pelos quais tem passado a natureza e o planeta Terra.

Nos dias atuais, nos damos conta da urgência de, junto com a razão intelectual irrenunciável, importa incluir fortemente a razão sensível e cordial. Se não voltarmos a sentir com afeto e amor a Terra como nossa Mãe e nós, como a parte consciente e inteligente dela, dificilmente nos moveremos para salvar a vida, sanar feridas e impedir catástrofes.

Um dos méritos inegáveis da tradição psicanalítica, a partir do mestre-fundador Sigmund Freud, foi o de ter estabelecido cientificamente a passsionalidade como a base, em grau zero, da existência humana. O psicanalista trabalha não a partir do que o paciente pensa mas a partir de suas reações afetivas, de seus anjos e demônios, buscando estabelecer certo equilíbrio e uma serenidade interior sustentável.

A questão toda é como nos assenhorear criativamente de nossa passaionalidade de natureza vulcânica. Freud se centra na integração da libido, Jung na busca da individuação, Adler no controle da vontade de poder, Carl Rogers no desenvolvimento da personalidade, Abraham Maslow no esforço de autorealização das potencialidades latentes. Outros nomes poderiam ser citados como Lacan, Reich, Pavlov, Skinner, a psicologia transpessoal e a cognitiva comportamental e outros.

O que nos é permitido afirmar é que, independentemente, das várias escolas psicanalíticas e filosóficas, o homem-psiqué se vê obrigado a integrar criativamente seu universo interior sempre em movimento, com tendências dia-bólicas e sim-bólicas, destrutivas e construtivas. Por acertos e erros vamos, processualmente, descobrindo nosso caminho.

Ninguém nos poderá substituir. Somos condenados a ser mestres e discípulos de nós mesmos.

How to Handle the Infinite Desire?

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

Desire is not just another impulse. It is a motor that sets in motion all psychic life. It is the function of a principle, defined by philosopher Ernst Bloch as the hope principle. By its nature, it knows no limits, as Aristotle and Freud already observed. The psyche not only desires this or that, it desires the totality. It does not desire the fullness of man, it seeks the superman, as Nietzsche explained, that which infinitely surpasses the human.


Desire makes existence dramatic, and sometimes tragic. But also, when realized, it produces a happiness without equal. We are always seeking the object which would fulfill our infinite desire, and fail to find it in the realm of everyday experience. In the everyday, we only find finites.
 When the human being identifies a finite reality as the infinite object it seeks, a profound disillusionment results. Can the beloved person, a very desired profession, be the dream? A moment comes, and often very quickly, when a fundamental dissatisfaction is perceived and the desire for something more is felt.

How does one escape the impasse caused by infinite desire? By fluttering from one object to another, without ever finding repose? We must start to seriously seek the true object of our desire. I respond as follows: it is the Being and not the entity, the Whole and not the part, the Infinite and not the finite. After so much traveling, the human being is left with the cor inquietum (restless heart) experience of Saint Augustine: Late I loved you, oh Beauty so ancient and so new. Late I loved you. My restless heart will not rest until it rests in You. Only the Infinite Being can fulfill the infinite desire of the human being, and let him rest.

Desire involves powerful volcanic energies. How can one handle them? Above all, it is about welcoming the condition of desire, without moralizing. Passions push the human being in all directions. Some passions push towards generosity, others to egocentrism. To integrate such energies without repressing them requires caring, and more than a few renunciations.

The psyche is called upon to build a personal synthesis, that is the search of equilibrium of all interior energies. Neither to be victimized by an obsession for a specific desire, as for example, sexuality, nor to repress it. as if it were possible to debilitate its vigor. What is important is to integrate it as expression of affection, of love and of aesthetics, and watch it carefully, because we are dealing with a vital energy that cannot be fully controlled by reason, but through symbolic means of sublimation and redirection to other humanitarian purposes. Each person must learn how to renounce, in the sense of realizing an ascetic act that liberates one from dependencies, and creates an inner freedom, one of the most valuable gifts.

Another way of dealing with infinite desire is by taking precautions, that help us avoid the traps of the very human vulnerability. We are neither omnipotent, nor gods who cannot be touched by failure. We can find ourselves weak and, sometimes, cowards. But we must take precautions against situations that could make us fall and lose the Center.

C.G.Jung offers us perhaps an inspiring key, with his proposal of building a process of individuation along life’s trajectory. This process has a holistic dimension: accept without fear and with humility all the pulsations, images, archetypes, lights and shadows. Listen to the roar of the beasts that inhabit it, but also to the enchanting song of the thrush. How can one create an interior unity, resulting in the equilibrium of our desires, the experience of freedom and the joy of living?



Jung suggests that everyone strive to create a strong Center, a unifying Self that would function as the sun does in the solar system. The sun attracts all the planets around it. Something similar must occur with the psyche: one must nourish a personal Center that integrates everything, with reflection and internalizing, and not last, by nourishing the Sacred and the Spiritual. It is not uncommon that religion, as an institution, cuts off our spiritual life, with an excess of doctrines and too rigid moral norms. But religion as spirituality performs a fundamental function in the process of individuation. Religion has the function of linking and re-linking the person with his Center, with all things, with the universe, with the original Source of all beings, giving it a sense of belonging.

The lack of integration of the energy of desire manifests itself through the rupture of social relations, the murderous violence in the schools, or in the murders of the Blacks, the poor and homosexuals.


Consequently, learning to handle the forces of desire implies a concern for social health. A humanistic, ethical and civic education must not neglect educating the desire. The greatest obstacle lies in the very logic of the prevalent system, centered in the desire to have, not thinking of the civilizing values of gentleness, good treatment and respect for the person. To the contrary, the mass media extol individual desire and violence as the means of solving human conflicts.

Globalization as a human phenomenon will force us to moderate personal desires for the benefit of the collective ones, thus making human coexistence more equilibrated and friendly.