Categoria: Religião

Caring for the body vs the cult of the body

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

Understanding human existence, starting from the theory of complexity, is enriching. It is worth noting that we are complex beings, endowed with a convergence of countless factors, material, biological, energized, spiritual, earthly and cosmic. We possess an outward appearance with which we make others aware we are one of them and that we belong to the universe of the bodies. And we have an interior inhabited by vigorous positive and negative energies that form our psychic individuality. We are carriers of the dimension of the profound where the most important questions exist about the meaning of our journey through this world. These dimensions constantly coexist and interact, influencing each other and molding that which we call the human being.

We must care for everything in us. Otherwise, we lose the equilibrium among the forces of which we are constructed and dehumanize ourselves. In dealing with the topic of caring for the body, we must consciously oppose the dualism that the culture persists in maintaining: on one side, the «body», detached from the spirit, and on the other, the disembodied «spirit». In this way, we lose the unity of human life.

Commercial propaganda exploits this duality, presenting the body not as the totality of the human, but breaking it up; muscles, hands, feet, etc., into its different parts. The principal victims of this fragmentation are women, because the machista vision found refuge in the media world of marketing, using parts of the woman, her breasts, her gender, and other aspects to continue making woman an «object» of consumption by the machista men. We should firmly oppose this cultural distortion.

It is also important to reject the «cult of the body» promoted by the plethora of gymnasiums and other ways of working on the physical person, as if the man/woman-body were a machine stripped of its spirit, that seeks to constantly enlarge the muscles. With this we do not want to detract from the merit of the different types physical exercise, in function of good health and a better integration of mind-body; the massages that renew the body’s vigor and make the vital energies flow, particularly the oriental disciplines such as yoga, that favor a meditative posture of life, or the incentive to maintain a balanced diet, including fasting, either as voluntary asceticism or as a way of better harmonizing the vital energies.

Clothing deserves special consideration. Not only does it have a utilitarian function, to protect us from inclement weather, it also relates to caring for the body, because clothes represent a language, a form of presenting oneself on the stage of life. It is important to take care that clothing expresses a form of being, and that it shows the human and aesthetic profile of a person. This is especially meaningful for a woman, because she has a more intimate relationship with her body and its appearance.

There is nothing more ridiculous and revealing of an anemic spirit than beauty constructed with unnecessary botox and plastic surgeries. From this artificial embellishment has grown a whole industry of cosmetics and slimming practices in clinics and spas that are hardly in service of a more integrated dimension of the body. This is not to say that we must invalidate massages and cosmetics that are important for the skin and for proper embellishment. But there is a beauty appropriate for each age, the enchantment born of the life’s work and the spirit in the physical expression of the human being. No photoshop can displace the rugged beauty of a laborer’s face, sculpted by the harshness of life, the lines etched by suffering. The struggles of so many women who work in the fields, in the city and in the factories have left in their bodies another form of beauty, frequently with an expression of great strength and energy. They speak of real life and not of an artificial and made-up existence. To the contrary, the touched-up photographs of the icons of conventional beauty, almost all shaped by current beauty fashions, barely conceal the artificiality of the figure and the frivolous vanity there revealed.

Everyone is a victim of a culture which does not cultivate the caring appropriate to each phase of life, with its beauty and luminosity, and also with the tell-tale marks of a life lived, that imprinted in the face and body the struggles, the sufferings, the overcoming. Such marks create a singular beauty and a specific luminosity, instead of fixing the persons in the profile of an outdated past.

We care for the body in a positive manner, by returning, with an attitude of synergy and communion with all things, to nature and the Earth, whence we had exiled ourselves centuries ago. This means establishing a biophilic relationship, of love and sensitivity towards the animals, flowers, plants, climates, sceneries and the Earth. When they show her to us from outer space – those beautiful images of the terrestrial globe transmitted by telescopes or space craft — we burst with feelings of reverence, respect and love for our Great Mother, from whose womb we all come. She is small, cosmologically already old, but radiant and full of life.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for the human being-body consists of achieving an equilibrium of self affirmation, without falling into arrogance and rejection of others, and the integration of a major whole, of family, community, the work team and society, without allowing one’s self to be overcrowded and fall into uncritical adhesion. The search for this type of equilibrium is not resolved at once, it must be worked on daily, because it is demanded from us at every moment.  An adequate balance must be found between the two forces that could either tear us apart or integrate us.

Caring for our being-in-the-world also includes our diet: what we eat and drink. It is to make of eating more than an act of nourishment, but a rite of celebration and communion with our fellow diners and with the fruits of the Earth’s generosity. It is to know how to select organic products or those least filled with chemicals. A healthy life results from that, a life that assumes a posture of caution against the eventual diseases that may befall us as a result of the degraded environment.

In this manner the human being-body makes its inner and exterior harmony transparent, as a member of the great community of life

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU

Caring for the body vs the cult of the body

Leonardo Boff5 Comentários

Understanding human existence, starting from the theory of complexity, is enriching. It is worth noting that we are complex beings, endowed with a convergence of countless factors, material, biological, energized, spiritual, earthly and cosmic. We possess an outward appearance with which we make others aware we are one of them and that we belong to the universe of the bodies. And we have an interior inhabited by vigorous positive and negative energies that form our psychic individuality. We are carriers of the dimension of the profound where the most important questions exist about the meaning of our journey through this world. These dimensions constantly coexist and interact, influencing each other and molding that which we call the human being.

We must care for everything in us. Otherwise, we lose the equilibrium among the forces of which we are constructed and dehumanize ourselves. In dealing with the topic of caring for the body, we must consciously oppose the dualism that the culture persists in maintaining: on one side, the «body», detached from the spirit, and on the other, the disembodied «spirit». In this way, we lose the unity of human life.

Commercial propaganda exploits this duality, presenting the body not as the totality of the human, but breaking it up; muscles, hands, feet, etc., into its different parts. The principal victims of this fragmentation are women, because the machista vision found refuge in the media world of marketing, using parts of the woman, her breasts, her gender, and other aspects to continue making woman an «object» of consumption by the machista men. We should firmly oppose this cultural distortion.

It is also important to reject the «cult of the body» promoted by the plethora of gymnasiums and other ways of working on the physical person, as if the man/woman-body were a machine stripped of its spirit, that seeks to constantly enlarge the muscles. With this we do not want to detract from the merit of the different types physical exercise, in function of good health and a better integration of mind-body; the massages that renew the body’s vigor and make the vital energies flow, particularly the oriental disciplines such as yoga, that favor a meditative posture of life, or the incentive to maintain a balanced diet, including fasting, either as voluntary asceticism or as a way of better harmonizing the vital energies.

Clothing deserves special consideration. Not only does it have a utilitarian function, to protect us from inclement weather, it also relates to caring for the body, because clothes represent a language, a form of presenting oneself on the stage of life. It is important to take care that clothing expresses a form of being, and that it shows the human and aesthetic profile of a person. This is especially meaningful for a woman, because she has a more intimate relationship with her body and its appearance.

There is nothing more ridiculous and revealing of an anemic spirit than beauty constructed with unnecessary botox and plastic surgeries. From this artificial embellishment has grown a whole industry of cosmetics and slimming practices in clinics and spas that are hardly in service of a more integrated dimension of the body. This is not to say that we must invalidate massages and cosmetics that are important for the skin and for proper embellishment. But there is a beauty appropriate for each age, the enchantment born of the life’s work and the spirit in the physical expression of the human being. No photoshop can displace the rugged beauty of a laborer’s face, sculpted by the harshness of life, the lines etched by suffering. The struggles of so many women who work in the fields, in the city and in the factories have left in their bodies another form of beauty, frequently with an expression of great strength and energy. They speak of real life and not of an artificial and made-up existence. To the contrary, the touched-up photographs of the icons of conventional beauty, almost all shaped by current beauty fashions, barely conceal the artificiality of the figure and the frivolous vanity there revealed.

Everyone is a victim of a culture which does not cultivate the caring appropriate to each phase of life, with its beauty and luminosity, and also with the tell-tale marks of a life lived, that imprinted in the face and body the struggles, the sufferings, the overcoming. Such marks create a singular beauty and a specific luminosity, instead of fixing the persons in the profile of an outdated past.

We care for the body in a positive manner, by returning, with an attitude of synergy and communion with all things, to nature and the Earth, whence we had exiled ourselves centuries ago. This means establishing a biophilic relationship, of love and sensitivity towards the animals, flowers, plants, climates, sceneries and the Earth. When they show her to us from outer space – those beautiful images of the terrestrial globe transmitted by telescopes or space craft — we burst with feelings of reverence, respect and love for our Great Mother, from whose womb we all come. She is small, cosmologically already old, but radiant and full of life.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for the human being-body consists of achieving an equilibrium of self affirmation, without falling into arrogance and rejection of others, and the integration of a major whole, of family, community, the work team and society, without allowing one’s self to be overcrowded and fall into uncritical adhesion. The search for this type of equilibrium is not resolved at once, it must be worked on daily, because it is demanded from us at every moment.  An adequate balance must be found between the two forces that could either tear us apart or integrate us.

Caring for our being-in-the-world also includes our diet: what we eat and drink. It is to make of eating more than an act of nourishment, but a rite of celebration and communion with our fellow diners and with the fruits of the Earth’s generosity. It is to know how to select organic products or those least filled with chemicals. A healthy life results from that, a life that assumes a posture of caution against the eventual diseases that may befall us as a result of the degraded environment.

In this manner the human being-body makes its inner and exterior harmony transparent, as a member of the great community of life.

Free translation from the Spanish sent by
Melina Alfaro, alfaro_melina@yahoo.com.ar,
done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

Os aviões não pilotados: a violacão mais covarde dos direitos humanos

Leonardo Boff34 Comentários

Vivemos num mundo no qual os direitos humanos são  violados, praticamente em todos os níveis, familiar, local, nacional e planetário. O Relatório Anual da Anistia Internacional de 2013 com referência a 2012 cobrindo 159 países faz exatamente esta dolorosa constatação. Ao invés de avançarmos no respeito à dignidade humana e aos direitos das pessoas, dos povos e dos ecossistemas estamos regredindo a níveis de barbárie. As violações não conhececem fronteiras e as formas desta agressão se sofisticam cada vez mais.

 

A forma mais convarde é  a ação dos “drones”, aviões não pilotados que a partir de alguma base do Texas, dirigidos por um jovem militar diante de uma telinha de televisão, como se estivesse jogando, consegue identificar um  grupo de afegãos  celebrando um casamento e dentro do qual, presumivelmente deverá haver algum guerrilheiro da Al Qaeda. Basta esta suposição para com um pequeno clique lançar uma bomba que aniquila  todo o grupo, com muitas mães e crianças inocentes.

 

É a forma perversa da guerra preventiva, inaugurada por Bush e criminosamente levada avante pelo Presidente Obama que não cumpriu as promessas de campanha com referência aos direitos humanos, seja ao fechamento de Guantânamo, seja à supressão do “Ato Patriótico”(antipatriótico) pelo qual qualquer pessoa dentro dos USA pode ser detida por suspeita de terrorismo, sem necessidade de avisar a família. Isso significa sequestro ilegal que nós na América Latina conhecemos de sobejo. Verifica-se em termos econômicos e também de direitos humanos uma verdadeira latinoamericanização dos USA no estilo dos nossos piores momentos da época  de chumbo das ditaduras militares. Hoje, consoante o Relatório da Anistia Internacional, o país que mais viola direitos de pessoas e de povos são os Estados Unidos.

 

Com a maior indiferença, qual imperador romano absoluto, Obama nega-se a dar qualquer justificativa suficiente sobre a espionagem mundial que seu Governo faz a pretexto da segurança nacional, cobrindo áreas que vão de trocas de e-mails amorosos entre dois apaixonados até dos negócios sigilosos e bilionários da Petrobrás, violando o direito à privacidade das pessoas e à soberania de todo um país. A segurança anula a validade dos direitos irrenunciáveis.

 

O Continente que mais violações sofre, é a África. É o Continente esquecido e vandalizado. Terras são compradas (land grabbing) por grandes coroporações e pela China para nelas produzirem alimentos para suas populações. É uma neocolonização mais perversa que a anterior.

 

Os milhares e milhares de refugiados e imigrantes por razões de fome e de erosão de suas terras são os mais vulneráveis. Constituem uma sub-classe de pessoas, rejeitadas por quase todos os países, “numa globalização da insensibilidade” como a chamou o Papa Francisco. Dramática, diz o Relatório da Anistia Internacional, é a situação das mulheres. Constituem mais da metade da humanidade, muitísssimas delas sujeitas a violências de todo tipo e em várias partes da Africa e da Ásia ainda obrigadas à mutilação genital.

 

A situação de nosso pais é preocupante dado o nível de violência que campeia em todas as partes. Diria, não há violência: estamos montados sobre estruturas de violência sistêmica que pesa sobre mais da metade da população afrodescendente, sobre os indígenas que lutam por preservar suas terras contra a voracidade impune do agronegócio, sobre os pobres em geral e  sobre os LGBT, discriminados e até mortos. Porque nunca fizemos uma reforma agrária, nem política, nem tributária assistimos nossas cidades se cercarem de centenas e centenas de “comunidades pobres”(favelas) onde os direitos à saúde, educação, à infra-estrutura e à segurança são deficitariamente garantidos. A desigualdade, outro nome para a injustiça social, provoca as principais violações.

 

O fundamento último do cultivo dos direitos humanos reside na dignidade de cada pessoa humana e no respeito que lhe é devido. Dignidade significa que ela é  portadora de espírito e de liberdade que lhe permite moldar sua própria vida. O respeito é o reconhecimento de que cada ser humano possui um valor intrínseco, é um fim em si mesmo e jamais meio para qualquer outra coisa. Diante de cada ser humano, por anônimo que seja, todo poder encontra o seu limite, também o Estado.

 

O fato é  que vivemos num tipo de sociedade mundial que colocou a economia como seu eixo estruturador. A razão é só utilitarista e tudo, até a pessoa humana, como o denuncia o Papa Francisco é feita “um bem de consumo que uma vez usado pode ser jogado fora”. Numa sociedade assim não há lugar para direitos, apenas para interesses. Até o direito sagrado à comida e à bebida só é garantido para quem puder pagar. Caso contrário, estará ao pé da mesa, junto aos cães esperando alguma migalha que caia da mesa farta dos epulões.

 

Neste sistema econômico, político e comercial se assentam as causas principais, não exclusivas, que levam permanentemente à violação da dignidade humana. O sistema vigente não ama as pessoas, apenas sua capacidade de produzir e de consumir. De resto, são apenas resto, óleo gasto na produção.

 

A tarefa além de humanitária e ética é principalmente política: como  transformar este tipo de sociedade malvada numa sociedade onde os humanos possam se tratar humanamente e gozar de direitos básicos. Caso contrário a violência é a norma e a civilização se degrada em barbárie.

 

Die Bedeutung Mandelas für die bedrohte Zukunft der Menschheit

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

 Mit seinem Tod wurde Nelson Mandela im kollektiven Unterbewussten der Menschheit eingebunden, sodass er niemals daraus verschwinden wird, denn er wurde zu einem universellen Archetypen, jener einer zu Unrecht verurteilten Person, die nicht nachtragend war und zu vergeben wusste und gegensätzliche Standpunkte miteinander zu versöhnen wusste und der uns eine unsterbliche Hoffnung gab, dass es immer noch einen Ausweg für die Conditio Humanae gibt. Nachdem er 27 Jahre in Haft verbracht hatte und im Jahr 1994 zum Präsidenten Südafrikas gewählt wurde, nahm er die große Herausforderung an, und es gelang ihm, die Gesellschaft seines Landes, die damals unter der enormen Ungerechtigkeit litt, die mit der Struktur der Apartheid einherging, welche die große schwarze Mehrheit seines Landes entmenschlichte und zur Un-Person verdammte, in eine einheitliche Gesellschaft zu verwandeln, frei von Diskriminierung, demokratisch und frei.

Dies gelang ihm durch die Wahl des Weges der Tugend, Vergebung und Versöhnung. Vergeben heißt nicht vergessen. Die Wunden sind noch da, manche von ihnen eitern noch immer. Vergeben heißt, das letzte Wort nicht der Verbitterung und der Rachsucht zu lassen oder diesen zu erlauben, den weiteren Lauf des Lebens zu bestimmen. Vergeben heißt, die Menschen von der Kette der Vergangenheit zu befreien, das Blatt zu wenden, auf dem zwischen Schwarz und Weiß unterschieden wird, und auf einem anderen Blatt weiter zu schreiben. Versöhnung ist nur möglich und verwirklicht, wenn die Täter ihre Verbrechen zugeben und die Opfer über deren Taten völlig in Kenntnis gesetzt werden. Die Bestrafung der Kriminellen ist die moralische Verurteilung der ganzen Gesellschaft.

 

Einer seiner Lösungswege, ein sehr origineller übrigens, schlägt ein Konzept vor, das unserer individualistischen Kultur fremd ist: Ubuntu. Es bedeutet: „Ich kann nur durch dich und mit dir ich selbst sein.“ Das heißt, ohne ein dauerhaftes Band, das alle mit allen verbindet, wird eine Gesellschaft, wie es in unserer der Fall ist, Gefahr laufen, in einem endlosen Konflikt zu zerreißen.

 

In allen Schulbüchern auf der ganzen Erde sollte diese humanistische Aussage Mandelas stehen: „Ich kämpfte gegen die Dominanz durch die Weißen und kämpfte gegen die Dominanz durch die Schwarzen. Ich kultivierte das Ideal einer demokratischen und freien Gesellschaft, in der alle Menschen in Harmonie miteinander leben können und gleiche Möglichkeiten haben. Dies ist mein Ideal, und ich hoffe, ich lebe lange genug, um dies zu erleben. Sollte es jedoch nötig sein, wäre ich auch bereit, für dieses Ideal zu sterben.“

 

Warum schuf Mandelas Lebensgeschichte die Hoffnung für die Zukunft der Menschheit und unserer Zivilisation? Deswegen, weil wir den Kreuzungspunkt von Krisen erreicht haben, der unsere Zukunft als menschliche Spezies gefährden könnte. Wir befinden uns mitten in der sechsten großen Massenvernichtung. Kosmologen (Brian Swimme) und Biologen (Edward Wilson) warnen uns, dass dieser zerstörerische Vorgang im Jahr 2030 kulminieren könnte, wenn alles so weitergeht wie bisher. Dies bedeutet, dass der Glaube, wirtschaftliches Wachstum würde uns soziale, kulturelle und spirituelle Entwicklung bringen, eine Illusion ist. Wir befinden uns in Zeiten von hoffnungsloser Barbarei.

Ich möchte jemanden zitieren, der jeglichen Verdachts erhaben ist: Samuel P. Huntington, der ehemalige Pentagon Berater und scharfe Analyst des Globalisierungsprozesses, der am Ende seines Buches „Kampf der Kulturen“ (Clash of Civilizations) sagt: „Recht und Gesetz sind die wichtigsten Voraussetzungen der Gesellschaft; in großen Teilen der Welt scheinen diese sich zu verflüchtigen; auf einem Weltniveau scheint die Zivilisation in vielen Aspekten der Barbarei den Weg freizugeben, das Gespenst eines bisher nie dagewesenen Phänomens zu schaffen, ein weltweites dunkles Zeitalter, das über die Menschheit fällt“.

 

Ich möchte die Meinung des bekannten Philosophen und Politikwissenschaftlers Norberto Bobbio hinzufügen, der wie Mandela an Menschenrechte und Demokratie als Mittel zur Problemlösung von zwischenstaatlicher Gewalt und als Weg zu einer friedlichen Koexistenz glaubte. In seinem letzten Interview erklärte er: „Ich vermag nicht zu sagen, wie das dritte Jahrtausend sein wird. Meine Gewissheiten versagen, und durch meinen Kopf schwirrt nur ein enormes Fragezeichen: Wird es das Jahrtausend der Vernichtungskriege sein oder das der Eintracht zwischen den Menschen? Auf diese Frage weiß ich keine Antwort.“

 

Angesichts dieser düsteren Aussichten würde Mandela sicher, basierend auf seiner politischen Erfahrung, antworten: Ja, es ist möglich für die Menschen, sich miteinander zu versöhnen, der Sapiens-Dimension den Vorrang vor der Demens-Dimension zu geben und eine neue Art des Miteinander im gemeinsamen Haus einzuführen. Vielleicht ist etwas Wahres an den Worten seines guten Freundes, Erzbischof Desmond Tutu, der den Wahrheits- und Versöhnung-Prozess koordinierte: „Nachdem wir mit dem Dämon der Vergangenheit konfrontiert wurden und ihm ins Auge blickten, um Vergebung baten und sie erhielten, lasst uns nun das Blatt wenden: die Vergangenheit nicht vergessen, aber nicht zulassen, dass sie uns für immer bedrückt. Lasst uns der glorreichen Zukunft einer Gesellschaft entgegengehen, in der die Menschen nicht für unwesentliche biologische Gründe oder andere merkwürdige Eigenschaften wertgeschätzt werden, sondern dafür, dass sie Personen von unendlichem Wert sind, die nach dem Bilde Gottes geschaffen wurden.“

 

Nelson Mandela hinterlässt uns diese Lektion der Hoffnung: Wir können leben, wenn wir Ubuntu ohne Diskriminierung verwirklichen.

Übersetzt von Bettina Gold-Hartnack