Categoria: Espiritualidade

Si conociéramos los sueños del hombre blanco…

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

La crisis económico-financiera que aflige a gran parte de las economías mundiales ha creado la posibilidad de que los muy ricos se vuelvan más ricos de lo que nunca antes han sido en la historia del capitalismo, lógicamente a costa de la desgracia de países enteros como Grecia, España y otros, y de modo general de toda la zona del euro, tal vez con una pequeña excepción, Alemania. Ladislau Dowbor ( http://dowbor.org), profesor de economía de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) resumió un estudio del famoso Instituto Federal Suizo de Investigación Tecnológica (ETH) que compite en credibilidad con las investigaciones del MIT de Harvard. En este estudio muestra como funciona la red del poder corporativo mundial, constituida por 737 actores principales que controlan los principales flujos financieros del mundo, ligados especialmente a los grandes bancos y otras inmensas corporaciones multinacionales. Para ellos, la crisis actual es una oportunidad incomparable de realizar el mayor sueño del capital: acumular de forma cada vez mayor y de manera concentrada.

El capitalismo ha realizado ahora su sueño, posiblemente el último de su ya larga historia. Ha tocado techo. ¿Y después del techo? Nadie sabe. Pero podemos imaginar que la respuesta nos vendrá de otros modelos de producción y de consumo sino de la propia Madre Tierra, de Gaia, que, finita, no soporta más un sueño infinito. Ella está dando claras señales anticipatorias, que al decir del premio Nobel de medicina Christian de Duve (véase el libro Polvo Vital: la vida como imperativo cósmico, 1997) son semejantes a aquellos que antecedieron a las grandes destrucciones ocurridas en la ya larga historia de la Tierra (3,8 miles de millones de años). Tenemos que estar atentos pues los eventos extremos que ya estamos vivenciando apuntan a eventuales catástrofes ecológico-sociales, aun en nuestra generación.

Lo peor de todo es que ni los políticos ni gran parte de la comunidad científica ni la población se están dando cuenta de esa peligrosa realidad. Es tergiversada u ocultada, pues es demasiado antisistémica. Nos obligaría a cambiar, cosa que pocos desean. Bien decía Antonio Donato Nobre en un estudio recientísimo (2014) sobre El futuro climático de la Amazonia: «La agricultura consciente, si supiese lo que la comunidad científica sabe (las grande sequías que vendrán), estaría en las calles con carteles exigiendo al gobierno la protección de las selvas y plantando árboles en su propiedad».

Nos falta un sueño mayor que galvanice a las personas para salvar la vida en el Planeta y garantizar el futuro de la especie humana. Mueren las ideologías. Envejecen las filosofías. Pero los grandes sueños permanecen. Ellos nos guían por medio de nuevas visiones y nos estimulan a gestar nuevas relaciones sociales, con la naturaleza y con la Madre Tierra.

Ahora entendemos la pertinencia de las palabras del cacique piel roja Seattle al gobernador Stevens del Estado de Washington en 1856, cuando éste forzó la venta de las tierras indígenas a los colonizadores europeos. El cacique no entendía por qué se pretendía comprar la tierra. ¿Se puede comprar o vender la brisa, el verdor de las plantas, la limpidez del agua cristalina y el esplendor de los paisajes? Para él la tierra era todo eso, no el suelo como medio de producción.

En este contexto piensa que los pieles rojas comprenderían el por qué de la civilización de los blancos «si supieran cuáles son las esperanzas que transmite a sus hijos e hijas en las largas noches de invierno, cuáles son las visiones de futuro que ofrece para el día de mañana».

¿Cuál es el sueño dominante de nuestro paradigma civilizatorio que colocó el mercado y la mercancía como eje estructurador de toda la vida social? Es la posesión de bienes materiales, la mayor acumulación financiera posible y el disfrute más intenso que podamos de todo lo que la naturaleza y la cultura nos pueden ofrecer hasta la saciedad. Es el triunfo del materialismo refinado que alcanza hasta lo espiritual, hecho de mercancía, con la engañosa literatura de autoayuda, llena de mil fórmulas para ser felices, construida con retazos de psicología, de nueva cosmología, de religión oriental, de mensajes cristianos y de esoterismo. Es pura engañifa para crear la ilusión de una felicidad fácil.

Así y todo, por todas partes surgen grupos portadores de nueva reverencia hacia la Tierra, inauguran comportamientos alternativos, elaboran nuevos sueños de un acuerdo de amistad con la naturaleza y creen que el caos presente no es solo caótico, sino generativo de un nuevo paradigma de civilización que yo llamaría civilización de la religación, sintonizada con la ley más fundamental de la vida y del universo, que es la panrelacionalidad, la sinergia y la complementariedad.

Entonces habremos hecho la gran travesía hacia lo realmente humano, amigo de la vida y abierto al Misterio de todas las cosas. Es el camino a seguir.

How “cordial” is the Brazilian People?

Leonardo Boff2 Comentários

Calling a Brazilian a «cordial man» derives from the writer Ribeiro Couto. The expression was popularized by Dutch Sergio Buarque, in his well known book, Roots of Brazil, (Raices de Brasil, 1936), where he dedicates all of chapter V to it. To clarify, in contrast to Cassiano Ricardo, who would understand «cordiality» as goodness and delicacy, he said that «at its core, our ordinary form of social coexistence is exactly the opposite of delicacy» (from the 1989 21ª edition, page 107). Sergio Buarque understands cordiality in the strictly etymological sense: that which comes from the heart. Brazilians are ruled more by the heart than by reason. From the heart may come love or hatred. Well, says the author: «enmity can be just as cordial as friendship, because both are born in the heart» (page 107).

I write this so as to understand the «cordial» emotions that erupted in the 2014 presidential campaign. On the one hand, there were expressions, to the point of fanaticism, of enthusiasm and love for the candidates, and on the other, profound hatred, and haughty expressions by both sides of the electorate. What Buarque from Holland wrote was affirmed: the lack of delicacy in our social coexistence.

Perhaps in no previous electoral campaign were the «cordial» gestures of the Brazilians better expressed, in the sense of the love and hatred encompassed by this word. Those who followed the social networks noticed the low levels of good education, the lack of mutual respect, and even the absence of a democratic sensibility, understood as the coexistence of differences. That lack of respect also affected the debates between the candidates, broadcast on TV. For example, the fact that one of the candidates called the President of the country «a loose woman and a liar» falls within this meaning of «cordial», but it reveals a great lack of respect for the dignity of the highest office of the nation.

To better understand this «cordiality» of ours, it helps to mention two inheritances that weigh on our citizenry: colonization and slavery. Colonization produced in us a feeling of submission. It made us adopt the political structures, language, religion and customs of the Portuguese colonizer. Thus, La Casa Grande and La Senzala were created. As Gilberto Freyre showed, it is not just about external social structures. They were internalized as an insidious dualism: on one side is the master who owns and orders everything, and on the other, the servant who owns little and obeys, or as in the social hierarchy exposed by the great divide between rich and poor. That structure persists in people’s brains, and has evolved into a code for interpreting reality.

Another very perverse tradition was slavery. We must remember that there was a time, between 1817 and 1818, when more than half of Brazil was composed of slaves (50.6%). Today, nearly 60% have something of the African slave in their blood. «Patience, resignation and obedience» was the catechism priests taught the slaves; the slave owners were taught «moderation and benevolence», which, to tell the truth, was not practiced much. Slavery was internalized in the form of discrimination and prejudice against the Black, who had to always serve. To pay a salary is still understood by many as charity and not as a duty, because slaves did everything for free before, and they imagine it must continue that way. In many cases, employees, domestic workers, or ranch hands are treated in that manner.

The result of these two traditions is found in the Brazilian collective unconscious, not so much in terms of class conflict, (that also exists), but of social status conflict. It is said that Blacks are lazy, even though we know that it was the Blacks who built almost everything in our cities. People from the North are unschooled because they live in semi-arid areas with harsh environmental limitations, but they are very creative, astute, and hard working people. The main writers, poets and actors come from the North East. In today’s Brazil, it is the region with the highest economic growth, on the order of 2-3%, above the national average, but prejudice dooms them to inferiority.

All these contradictions of our «cordiality» are on display in twitter, facebook, and other social networks. We are contradictory beings.

I also add an anthropological argument to understand the emergence of the love and hatred in this electoral campaign. It is about the essential ambiguity of the human condition. Each possesses a dimension of light and darkness, sym-bolic (that unites) and dia-bolical (that divides). The moderns say that we simultaneously are demented and wise (Morin), this is, people of rationality and goodness, and simultaneously, of irrationality and evil. Christian tradition says that we are both saints and sinners. Saint Augustine expressed it well: everyone is Adam, everyone is Christ, this is, each person is full of limitations and vices, and at the same time, is a carrier of virtues and a divine dimension. This situation is not a defect but a characteristic of la condition humaine. Each must know how to balance these two forces and in the best case, to give primacy to the dimension of light over that of darkness, to that of Christ over that of old Adam.

In these months of the electoral campaign, who we are within was revealed: «cordial» in the double sense of the word: filled with rage and indignation and at the same time with positive exaltation and serious and self controlled militancy. We must neither laugh nor cry, but try to understand. But to understand is not enough; it is urgent to seek civilized forms of «cordiality» where the will of cooperation for the common good predominates, the legitimate space for a serious opposition is respected and the different political options are welcomed. Brazil needs to unite so that together we confront the grave internal and external problems (wars of great devastation and the grave crisis of the Earth-system and of the life-system), in a project assumed by all, so that what Ignacy Sachs said of Brazil, «The Land of Good Hope», may become true.

Free translation from the Spanish by
Servicios Koinonia, http://www.servicioskoinonia.org.
Done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

To understand the victory of Dilma Rousseff

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

In this Presidential election, Brazilian men and women confronted the Biblical scene spoken of in Psalm Number One: they had to choose between two paths: one representing success and possible happiness, and the other, error and inevitable unhappiness.

The conditions were in place for a perfect storm, with distortions and slanders spread in the mass media and social networks. One magazine in particular seriously transgressed journalistic, social and personal ethics, publishing falsehoods to undermine candidate Dilma Rousseff. Behind it all were the most backward elites, striving above all to defend their privileges, rather than to universalize personal and social rights.

Facing these adversities, President Dilma, who endured torture in the dungeons of the repressive organs of the military dictatorship, strengthened her image, grew in determination and gathered her energies to confront every attack. She portrayed herself as she is: a courageous and valiant woman. She emanates confidence, a fundamental virtue for a politician. She displays integrity, and does not tolerate things not done well. That evokes in the electorate a sentiment of “feeling firm”.

Her victory is due in large part to the militants who took to the streets and organized great demonstrations. The people showed that it has matured in its political consciousness and knew, Biblically, how to choose the path that appeared more correct, by voting for Dilma. She was victorious with more than 51% of the votes.

The people already knew the two paths. One, tried for 8 years, enabled Brazil to grow economically, but transferred the great part of the benefits to the already well off, at the expense of depressed salaries, unemployment, and poverty for the great majorities: good policies for the rich and poor ones for the poor. Brazil was turned into a minor and subordinate player in the great global project, led by the wealthy and militaristic countries. This was not the project of a sovereign country, conscious of her human, cultural and ecological wealth, and worthy of a people that is proud of its crossbreeding and richer for all its differences.

The people have also traveled another path, the correct one for possible happiness. And the people had a central role in this. With public policies focused on the humiliated and downtrodden of our history, one of its children, a survivor of the great tribulation, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, managed to incorporate a population equivalent to all of Argentina into a modern society. Dilma Rousseff carried on, deepened and expanded these policies, with democratizing measures such as Pronatec, Pro-Uni, the university quotas for students from public rather than private schools; quotas for students whose grandparents came from the dungeons of slavery; and all the social programs, such as Bolsa Familia, Light for All, My House, my Life, and More Doctors, among others.

The fundamental question facing our country is being addressed: to guarantee to all, but primarily to the poor, access to the goods of life, to overcome the dreadful inequality and through educational opportunities for the young, so that they may grow, develop, and be humanized, as active citizens.

That project awakened Brazil’s sense of sovereignty, and projected it onto the world scene with an independent position, demanding a new world order, where humanity discovers itself as humans inhabiting a Common Home.

The challenge for President Dilma is not only to consolidate that which is already working and correct any defects, but to inaugurate a new cycle of the exercise of power, embracing a qualitative advance in all spheres of social life. Little will be accomplished without political reform that eliminates once and for all the bases of corruption and enables an advance in representative democracy, incorporating participatory democracy, with councils, public audiences, consultation with the social movements and the other institutions of civil society. Tax reform is also urgent, to advance equality and help diminish the abysmal social inequality. Education and health care will be at the center of the concerns of this new cycle. An ignorant and sickly people will never be able to advance towards a better life. President Dilma will be obliged to address the social imperatives regarding basic sanitation, urban mobility, with minimally dignified transportation, (85% of the population live in cities), security, and combating criminality.

In the debates she proposed a broad range of changes. Through the seriousness and sense of efficacy she always has shown, we can be sure that they will take place.

There are questions that were barely mentioned in the debates, such as the importance of modern agrarian reform, that stabilizes the peasant in the country, with all the advantages that science has to offer. It is important also to demarcate and standardize the indigenous lands, many of which are threatened by the encroachment of agro-business.

The last and perhaps the main challenge comes from the realm of ecology. The future of life and of our civilization are seriously threatened, both by the man-made death machine that could eliminate all life several times over, and by the disastrous consequences of global warming. If the warming is abrupt, as entire scientific societies warn may occur, life as we know it perhaps could not continue, and a great part of humanity would be lethally affected. Given her ecological wealth, Brazil is fundamental to the equilibrium of our tortured planet. A new Dilma administration cannot not ignore this question of life or death for our human species.

May the Spirit of Wisdom and Caring guide the difficult decisions President Dilma Rousseff must make
Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Para os que querem deixar o Brasil

Leonardo Boff76 Comentários

         É espantoso ler nos jornais e mensagens nas redes sociais e mesmo em inteiros youtubes a quantidade de pessoas, geralmente das classes altas ou os ditos “famosos” que lhes custa digerir a vitória eleitoral da reeleita Dilma Rousseff do PT. Externam ódio e raiva, usando palavras tiradas da escatologia (não da teológica que trata dos fins últimos do ser humano e do universo) e da baixa pornografia para insultar o povo brasileiro, especialmente, os nordestinos.

Estas pessoas não vivem no Brasil, mas, em geral, no Leblon e em Ipanema ou nos Jardins da cidade de São Paulo onde se albergam: em sua maioria, os pertencentes às classes opulentas (aquelas 5 mil famílias que, segundo M.Porchmann, detém 43% do PIB nacional). Muitas delas não se sentem povo brasileiro. Externam até vergonha. Mas estão aqui porque neste país é mais fácil enricar, embora o desfrute mesmo é em feito em Miami, Nova York, Paris ou Londres, pois muitos deles têm lá casas ou apartamentos.

Alguns mais exacerbados, mas com parquíssima audiência, sugerem até separar o Brasil em dois: o sudeste rico de um lado e o resto (para eles, o resto mesmo) do outro, especialmente o Nordeste.

Acresce a isso o Parlamento brasileiro, a maioria eleita com muito dinheiro, que mal representa o povo. Finge que escutou o clamor dos ruas em junho de 2013 demandando reformas, especialmente, na política, no sistema de educação e de saúde e uma melhor mobilidade urbana e não em últmo lugar a segurança e a transparência na coisa pública. Mas já esqueceu tudo. Rejeitou o projeto do governo, no rescaldo da reeleição, que visava ordenar e dar mais espaço à participação dos movimentos sociais na condução da política nacional, respeitadas as instituições consagradas pela Constituição.

Tal fato nos remete ao que Darcy Ribeiro diz em seu esplêndido livro que deveria ser lido em todas as escolas, “O povo brasileiro: a formação e o sentido do Brasil”(1995). Aí diz o grande antropólogo, indigenista, político e educador:”O ruim no Brasil e efetivo fator do atraso, é o modo de ordenação da sociedade, estruturada contra os interesses da população, desde sempre sangrada para servir a desígnios alheios e opostos aos seus…O que houve e há é uma minoria dominante, espantosamente eficaz na formulação e manutenção de seu próprio projeto de prosperidade, sempre pronta a esmagar qualquer ameaça de reforma da ordem social vigente”(p.446).

Esta afirmação nos concede entender porque a presidenta Dilma quer uma reforma política que não venha de cima, do Congresso, porque este sempre se oporá ao que possa contradizer os seus indecentes privilégios. Deve partir de baixo, ouvindo os reclamos do povo brasileiro. Quem aprendeu em 500 anos a sobreviver na pobreza senão na miséria, colheu muita experiência e sabedoria a ser testemunhada e repercutida na nova ordenação político-social do Brasil. Ouvi de um sacerdote que viveu sempre na favela:”há um evangelho escondido no coração do povo humilde e importa que o leiamos e escutemos”. Vale a mesma coisa para as várias reformas desejadas pela maioria da população: auscultar o que se aninha no coração do povo e dos invisíveis.

Podemos tolerar a arrogância e a resistência dos poderosos e dos parlamentares, o que não podemos é defraudar a esperança de todo um povo. Ele não merece isso depois de tanto suor, sacrifícios e lágrimas. Ele precisa voltar às ruas e renovar com mais contundência e ordenadamente o que irrompeu em junho do ano passado. O feijão só cozinha bem em panela de pressão. Da mesma forma, o parlamento abandona sua inércia quando é posto sob pressão, como se constatou no ano passado.

Voltemos a Darcy Ribeiro, um dos que melhor estudou e comprendeu a singularidade do povo brasileiro. Uma coisa são os povos transplantados como nos USA, no Canadá e na Austrália. Eles reproduziram os moldes dos países europeus de onde vieram. No Brasil foi diferente. Ocorreu uma das maiores miscegenizações da história conhecida da humanidade. Vieram de 60 países diferntes. Misturaram-se entre si índios, afro-descentes, europeus, árabes e orientais. Criaram um novo tipo de gente. Diz Darcy:”o nosso desafio é de reinventar o humano, criando um novo gênero de gentes, diferentes de quantas haja”(p.447). Diz mais:”olhando todas estas gentes e ouvindo-as é fácil perceber que são, de fato, uma nova romanidade, uma romanidade tardia mas melhor, porque lavada em sangue índio e sangue negro”(p.447).

Não me furto em citar estas palavras proféticas com as quais fecha seu livro “O povo brasileiro”: “O Brasil é já a maior das nações neolatinas…Estamos nos construindo na luta para florescer amanhã como uma nova civilização, mestiça, tropical, orgulhosa de si mesma. Mais alegre, porque mais sofrida. Melhor porque incorpora em si mesma mais humanidades. Mais generosa, porque aberta à convivênca com todas as raças e todas as culturas e porque assentada na mais bela e luminosa província da Terra”(p.449).

Para os que querem sair do Brasil: fiquem nessa esplêndida Terra e ajudem-nos a contuir esse sonho bom.