There is a certain agreement that four dimensions are combined in every human being: the mental, the emotional, the bodily or physical, and the spiritual. The mental has to do with reasoning, while the emotional with the sentimental. Both dimensions mark reason and passion, thought and feeling, giving rise, in general terms, to science and art. These two dimensions find their material base in the brain, which, in turn, is part of the body. The spiritual dimension is the most difficult to define and even to accept. However, although it seems the most elusive or ethereal, the spiritual dimension can be defined as we will see.
One of the most remarkable features of the modern world has been its inability to recognize these four characteristics, which generates a forcing that gives rise to mutilated personalities, split beings. In a world dominated by individualism, competition, the rational, the specialized and the material, the homo industrialis ends up being an exclusively rationalist being, who seeks to suppress or eliminate all feeling (he no longer feels, he only thinks that he feels) and who of course denies the existence of the spirit. This deformation forms the individual or existential crisis that prevents the existence of subjects capable of resolving structural or collective crises, which are both environmental and social.
Spirituality in a human being appears as a result of his confrontation, not his flight, with the world, springs from a conscience, the result of deep and intimate introspective reflection on uncertainty, the non-sense of existence, the incommensurability of the universe, etc., which leads him to humbly accept the indecipherable existence of a mystery, and the recognition of an abstract and superior entity. It is the response of “being in front of the abyss”. This intuitive perception arises from the idea of ”the existence of mysterious connections between all parts of the universe or nature that make up a cosmic unit directed by an intelligent force.”
Wisdom is linked to meditation and, finally, to spirituality. The indissoluble relationship between wisdom and spirituality also allows us to identify a central feature in spiritual beings: that of the limits of being. The human being not only declares himself powerless, imperfect, limited and finite, he also recognizes his own mistakes and those of his peers, distinguishes between good and evil (has ethics), and acquires or affirms a very valuable attribute: compassion. , which is the ability to forgive and be forgiven.
Spirituality is not synonymous with religiosity. Although every human being is spiritual to some degree, not everyone is religious. Viewed in historical perspective, spirituality preceded religiosity and remained a fundamentally individual act. The religious appears when the spiritual becomes collective, institutional and practical, and when sacred entities of all kinds come to life and end up becoming human figures.
The conversion of spirituality supposes the transformation of “naturism”, that is, of a pantheon formed by numerous elements of nature without hierarchies (polytheism), in a belief where the divinities are now only human. From polytheism to monotheism with increasingly powerful male gods. After 2,000 years of expansion, the three major religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) encompass almost half of humanity. Religions today are institutions, social, cultural and political, with power relations, which in most cases have become oppressive structures.
Today, those who truly defend the planet, life, and therefore human dignity, are spiritual beings. Those who demand environmental and social justice in all the countries of the world believe in the existence of Mother Earth, a belief inherited, what a paradox, from the indigenous peoples. It was David Choquehuanca, current vice president of Bolivia, who in 2010 convened and organized the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba. The response was impressive, with 35,000 people in attendance and over a thousand delegates from 100 countries. This crucial event was preceded by the promulgation of the Constitutions of Ecuador (2008) and Bolivia (2010) that integrated the rights of Mother Earth, abandoning the dominant anthropocentric paradigm and imagining a new society. It is one thing to proclaim the recovery of the “balance of ecosystems” and quite another to assume the defense of Mother Nature. The former dominates the discourses that flow from academic elites, business organizations, and United Nations agencies. The second is increasingly present in the resistance of peasant and indigenous peoples and in the most radical and advanced environmental struggles. Only spirituality will manage to stop the road to collapse.