Viaje a Avalon en "Libros" La reconocida analista junguiana Jean Shinoda Bolen relata en esta obra su viaje por Europa en busca de lo sagrado femenino. Los amamos, los odiamos y El libro de los seis anillos en "Libros" La supervivencia, tanto en el combate como en la vida cotidiana, requiere que utilicemos todas nuestras capacidades y aptitudes.
Nos relacionamos unos con otros, con nuestras familias, con el trabajo, el dinero, la sociedad, la tierra y el universo. El conjunto de nuestras relaciones forma la sociedad; y la sociedad somos nosotros. Hacen exactamente lo mismo, ejercitarse en vivir el instante presente con plenitud. Y, a pesar de todo, son los grandes desconocidos de Occidente.
K asegura que el individuo puede ser feliz en todo momento, sin importar las circunstancias o contextos en los que se encuentre. Con los ojos bien abiertos en "Libros" La senda espiritual es como cualquier camino: Una ausencia muy presente en "Libros" La presente obra invita a olvidar todo lo que sabemos sobre el despertar espiritual y nos plantea una posibilidad tan novedosa como radical: Conversaciones con yoguis en "Libros" Pocas personas conocen mejor la India sagrada que Ramiro Calle.
Los sikhs en "Libros" Los sikhs constituyen una comunidad social y religiosa con un sentido de identidad muy acusado. No en vano, en sus cinco siglos de historia el sikhismo ha sabido desmarcarse del hinduismo y del islam. Friedrich o Frederick S. En Oriente esos hombres y mujeres han sido llamados rishis, jivanmuktas, munis, budas, iluminados Recull de poemes per a petits i grans en "Libros" Un recull, acurat i ordenat, d epoesia per a nens i nenes, fet per mestres de l'escola Rosa Sensat.
El cerebro al descubierto en "Libros" El don de la palabra; los sentidos; las emociones; la complejidad del movimiento; la memoria… constituyen entramados funcionales que la ciencia comienza a desvelar. La odisea de Occidente en "Libros" Como Ulises en la Odisea, Occidente ha emprendido un rumbo lleno de peripecias, descubrimientos, horrores y maravillas. Pujol, A Coomaraswamy, K. En Occidente la naturaleza ha sido concebida como una fuente de recursos sobre la que el ser humano posee plenos poderes.
Todas estas percepciones puede que sean claves cotidianas de nuestra inmortalidad. La esencia del yoga.
Gandhi en "Libros" Pocas personas han dejado una huella tan fuerte en la historia como Mohandas K. Se trata de un proceso que puede ser inmensamente enriquecedor para todo el mundo. Pero no falto de complejidad e incertidumbre. Multiplicidad en "Libros" Multiplicidad propone una manera totalmente nueva de vernos. Jung que las personas necesitamos cuatro funciones para comprender la realidad y relacionarnos con el medio: Tus zonas oscuras en "Libros" Todos tenemos conductas que nos confunden.
EMDR en "Libros" A veces, las experiencias negativas permanecen sin digerirse adecuadamente, dejando un residuo emocional que acaba gobernando nuestra vida cotidiana. En tal caso, el sujeto queda atrapado en el trauma y, a menudo, requiere ayuda externa para ponerse nuevamente en marcha. Este libro recrea la magia de ese momento.
Luz sobre la vida en "Libros" B. Mediadores privilegiados de nuestro mundo interior y, en gran medida, de nuestro inconsciente, los recuerdos orientan las acciones, deciden nuestras elecciones e influyen en nuestro destino. Dejar de preocuparse por el efecto que causamos. Un estudio destinado a convertirse en el libro de referencia obligatorio sobre el universo de la Nueva Era. El presente libro pretende ayudarnos a conectar con este fundamento de salud mental, corporal y espiritual.
El presente libro nos explica que la creatividad no es patrimonio exclusivo de los genios. Incluso un derecho animal. El complejo de derecha en "Libros" J. Teilhard de Chardin, P.
by Ken Wilber
Dios, hoy en "Libros" E. El debate en torno a honest to god en "Libros" John A. Yoga para la mujer en "Libros" No cabe duda de que Geeta S. Iyengar, hija del ilustre B. Iyengar exponente del Yoga de fama mundial , posee el don del Yoga en su sangre. El Ayurveda explora la vida en todos sus niveles. Comentarios sobre el vivir. El miedo nos hace temblar, llorar, retroceder. Nos fuerza a renunciar a muchas cosas. Nos afecta a todos.
Te odio, te quiero en "Libros" No hay dos relaciones parecidas: Todas las relaciones son complejas. Los hijos aman a sus padres, y los padres aman a sus hijos, casi siempre. El Movimiento Feminista ha abierto puertas y ha impulsado cambios -sobre todo de tipo social-. Se trata de descubrirla.
Tanto para aquellos que entran en esta senda como para aquellos que salen, Vipassana. El Zen es, ante todo, una experiencia. Un experiencia no verbal inaccesible desde medios puramente eruditos. Simposium sobre la tierra en "Libros" J. Panikkar y otros Compendiado y comentado por A. Encuentro con la sombra en "Libros" Carl G. Jekyll y un Mr. El poder curativo de las crisis en "Libros" Ronald D.
Corazones inteligentes en "Libros" Corazones inteligentes presenta un estudio ameno, riguroso y muy completo sobre las emociones y sus aplicaciones en distintos campos. La mujer eunuco en "Libros" Best-seller mundial, traducido a multitud de idiomas, La mujer eunuco es un punto de referencia imprescindible en la historia del movimiento de las mujeres. Otros ya no viven sino para el juego.
Adictos a internet o locos del sexo: La convivencia no les lleva a crear lazos materno-filiales, ni mucho menos. Marrakech en "Libros" Miguel J. Tanto han calado sus cuentos, que varias culturas lo identifican con un pedazo de su historia. Uno no dice estas cosas a la ligera, pero realmente este es un libro santo. Boomeritis en "Libros" Boomeritis es una fascinante y nueva apuesta de Ken Wilber para presentar sus ideas. A mitad de camino en "Libros" Sobre A mitad de camino se ha escrito: El mundo interior necesita su propio vocabulario.
Controversia sobre la muerte de dios en "Libros" Thomas W. Tiempo, espacio, hombre en "Libros" Jean E. Conversaciones con los escritores en "Libros" Editado por G. Hablan los escritores en "Libros" Editado por G. El falo es una cosa de la que nunca se habla. Falo ausente es el falo que la sociedad convencional, por tenerlo tan presente, decide ignorar. Los 8 nombres de Picasso en "Libros" Con dedicatorias de Picasso.
Que el lector decida por su cuenta y riesgo. Se trata de una querella generacional: Sin embargo la vida le depara una cruel sorpresa cuando su mujer muere de tifus. El licenciado en "Libros" En este relato del famoso ciclo Malgudi, R. El Licenciado gira en torno a lo universal de la experiencia humana, pero en las circunstancias muy particulares de la India colonial. Maitreyi en "Libros" Calcuta, Diecinueve rosas en "Libros" Se vive siempre bajo la amenaza de perder nuestras libertades.
Castaneda a examen en "Libros" T. El lenguaje del cuerpo en "Libros" El cuerpo humano nunca miente. Su actualidad no hace sino crecer. Ensayos sobre el desorden en "Libros" La denuncia de un medio social y cultural degradado por el poder lleva a pensar que la defensa de este medio no depende de un orden mejor, sino de un orden menor.
El trip de la muerte en "Libros" Timothy Leary ha muerto. El genio de la india en "Libros" La India obsesiona a Occidente, y se comprende. Los jainistas defendieron la no-violencia. Todo comienza en Lumbini, cuna de Siddharta, durante el plenilunio de primavera. La segunda, en los libros de Marx y Nietzsche. La tercera, en la psique del hombre europeo. Cultura y modernidad en "Libros" R. Bernstein y otros Los ensayos reunidos en este libro constituyen un acontecimiento intercultural de primera magnitud.
Una verdadera encuesta sobre las principales corrientes de la postmodernidad. La posmodernidad en "Libros" J. Como trasfondo, el tema general de la crisis: Conversaciones en Madrid es un documento de lectura imprescindible. Steiner La crisis de la pareja es una crisis de crecimiento. Un libro sobre psicosexualidad que habla desde un nuevo paradigma y desde un nuevo concepto de feminismo. Hall, Paul Watzlawick, Albert Scheflen El comportamiento sexual no puede separarse de la personalidad del individuo, por lo que tampoco puede modificarse sin los correspondientes cambios en su personalidad.
Se plantea entonces la pregunta: La diosa lo es todo menos un libro abstracto. No es esto lo que ocurre en los cuentos agrupados y glosados en El despertar de la princesa. Vaughan, psicoterapia y espiritualidad son dos aspectos complementarios en el desarrollo humano. La luz del yoga en "Libros" La luz del Yoga del famoso B. Las enfermedades son un lenguaje del cuerpo. El tiempo y la eternidad en "Libros" En El Tiempo y la Eternidad Ananda Comaraswamy reanuda, desarrolla y recapitula consideraciones fundamentales ya expuestas en trabajos anteriores.
Las cosas, como los mitos, sencillamente son. El problema planteado es el siguiente: Mito y realidad en "Libros" Para el gran historiador de las religiones, Mircea Eliade, el mito es "una realidad sagrada". Un libro que articula la unidad que subyace en todas las grandes tradiciones religiosas. Este desajuste ha causado no pocos problemas y tragedias. A pesar de nuestro orgullo por la libertad y la individualidad, Occidente parece haber recorrido un largo camino hacia la pasividad y el conformismo.
En ellos yace la esperanza. El sufismo es una manera de trascender nuestras limitaciones. Sobre la vida y la muerte en "Libros" Escribe Krishnamurti en Sobre la vida y la muerte: Comprender esto requiere la claridad del amor. Sobre Dios en "Libros" Se ha dicho que leer Krishnamurti es enfrentarse con uno mismo desde una asombrosa frescura matinal. Libertad total en "Libros" J. En las relaciones calibramos si existe o no eso que llamamos amor.
De la calidad de las relaciones depende la calidad de la propia vida. No se trata de creer en la verdad, sino de vivirla. La gran carcajada que suscita la experiencia directa del Zen. El autor plantea la pregunta: En Instinto, inteligencia y angustia se estudian las paradojas de la autoconciencia. En cierto modo, su testamento. Todo lo que viene a ti es el regreso de todo lo que ha salido de ti.
Sus libros, traducidos a todos los idiomas, son a la vez profundos, amenos, incitantes, iluminadores. Salir de la trampa pertenece a dicha serie. Era como si hubiese nacido en aquel instante, sin mente, inocente de cualquier recuerdo. En el Zen no hay nada que comprender. El presente libro contiene, aparte los textos directamente relacionados con el tema central, infinidad de aspectos relacionados: Resurgen fuerzas de barbarie, pero un sentimiento nuevo de solidaridad mundial.
Gaia en "Libros" G. Ensayos retroprogresivos en "Libros" Se habla hoy mucho de postmodernidad, nuevo paradigma, sociedad informatizada. Se discute sobre determinismo, azar, inteligencia artificial, reforma educativa, cambio. Ciencia, conciencia y luz en "Libros" Ciencia, conciencia y luz es un ensayo imprescindible para entender la naturaleza de la conciencia. En La totalidad y el orden implicado, el profesor Bohm propone nada menos que un nuevo modelo de realidad.
Espejos del yo en "Libros" Carl G. La salud emocional en "Libros" D. La obra abraza el enorme espectro de campos desgranados por Ken Wilber: Viven en Langley, Washington. Kluge por una vida dedicada a las ciencias humanas, y antiguo presidente de la Academia Americana de Artes y Ciencias. King en "Autores" Karen L. Beyond Myth and Tradition. Es autor de varias novelas y de otros libros sobre espiritualidad. En la actualidad, es asiduo colaborador de la revista Cuadernos de Budismo.
Annemarie Schimmel en "Autores" Annemarie Schimmel fue profesora de cultura indomusulmana en las universidades de Harvard y de Bonn. Es historiadora especializada en escritura creativa. Iyengar en "Autores" Geeta S. Es autor de Seven Spheres. Posee el portal Wilber http: Vive y practica en Italia. John White en "Autores" John White ha sido director de numerosos centros de desarrollo personal en los Estados Unidos. Szasz en "Autores" Thomas S. Desde entonces, ha viajado por todo el mundo impartiendo cursos y conferencias sobre el tema. Claude Steiner en "Autores" Claude M.
Ha viajado extensamente por Oriente y conoce a fondo el pali. Sobel en "Autores" David S. Mario Satz en "Autores" Mario Satz es poeta, narrador, ensayista y traductor. Louis Proto en "Autores" Louis Proto es escritor. David Peat en "Autores" F. Luis Pancorbo en "Autores" Luis Pancorbo fue enviado especial durante la guerra de Vietnam y desde entonces ha viajado extensamente por Oriente. Daniel Noel en "Autores" Daniel C. Entrevista con el autor: Narayan en "Autores" R. En obtuvo la medalla A.
Terenci Moix en "Autores" El demandante, Terenci Moix, es un enfant terrible de las letras catalanas: Thomas Merton en "Autores" Thomas Merton , fue monje trapista, poeta y pensador estadounidense. Gael Lindenfield en "Autores" Gael Lindenfield es psicoterapeuta. Frank Lawlis en "Autores" El doctor C. Johnson en "Autores" Robert A. Iyengar en "Autores" B. Iyengar es una leyenda viva.
Eline Snel: “Hay escuelas en Holanda en las que los niños practican ‘mindfulness’ a diario”
Harding en "Autores" D. Guenther en "Autores" Herbert V. Goldstein es autor de The Experience of Insight. Robert Gerzon en "Autores" Robert Gerzon es psicoterapeuta y escritor. Ferrer en "Autores" Jorge N. Yoka Daishi en "Autores" Se dice que el maestro chino Yoka Daishi - se hallaba en un estado de perfecto reposo tanto si andaba como si estaba de pie, sentado o acostado.
Chinen en "Autores" Allan B. Es autor de numerosos libros de autoayuda, muchos de ellos best-sellers. Ramiro Calle en "Autores" Ramiro A. To them she entrusted her visions and raptures, her moods, the ascetic practices with which she hurt her body, such as cilices, flagellations, as well as spiritual torments and pains of the soul. Mystical experiences in Latin America today? Apart from historical curiosity, what interest can these texts have in the 21st century? Anyhow, these texts where Hadewijch, Gertrude, Teresa, Anne Marie, Jeanne and Francisca Josefa expressed their experience of encou- nter and union with God in a language that can make you blush, pose a few considerations and a few questions.
In the first place, that each of these women lived and expressed the experience of encounter and union with God in their historical cir- cumstances. And all of them, although they were forced to obey to their confessors, dared to disobey the patriarchal order and considered them- selves free to turn this experience into written language. Is it because women seek intimacy as the experience of love? Thirdly, I found that in these mystical women the experience of intimacy —communion with God— appears in their writings charged with eroticism.
Thus, when Hadewijch confesses that she had intensely lived the experience of com- munion with Christ, she writes: Or when van Schurmann and Guyon speak of the pleasure of the despoilment and the annihilation they mean the pleasure of surrender. And when Josefa describes the climax of her mystical experience, she simply writes: Fourth, I wonder if in our century the experience of communion with God can be lived and how women express it.
If the erotic language of marital symbolism that appears in the writings of women mystics of earlier centuries is still used and if 21st century women are more demure when it comes to express this experience. But what I do believe is that the experience of communion with God can and must occur because Christian life, which is baptismal life, is life of communion: And in the fifth place I ask myself what kind of mystical experience and what kind of language to express it corresponds to our century and to Latin America.
Or what is the diversity of experiences and languages. I think it is experience of communion that turns into service for those who expect that we move to their needs in active contemplation of the marginalized and oppressed ones that reveal us the presence of Christ, sacrament of the poor ones. It is experience of communion that mobili- zes us in effective solidarity with them, in whom Christ is sacramentally present.
Quoted bibliography See the bibliography in the original Spanish version, in the pre- vious pages. A social and cultural pattern is, for example, the division between public and domestic spaces that considers silence is feminine becau- se it belongs to the domestic world while knowledge and words are masculine because they belong to the public world. And since these social and cultural patterns are a social construct, they can be deconstructed. She was accused of heresy and was arrested because she belonged to the beguine movement, a group of women who lived a religious life outside the convent.
In the monastery she received classical education —the trivium and the quadrivium— before professing as a nun. But her most important work is Eukleria , where she proposes her mystical itinerary Cf. Also, for this reason, she was several times imprisoned between and We know about her early years through her autobiography, where she evokes her birth, the illnesses she suffered in her youth, her family and the practices of devotion. It is possible to identify in her writings the influence of the Spanish mystics: Interreligious Studies, edited by Frans Wijsen and Jorge Castillo Published by the Chair of World Christianity at Radboud University Nijmegen Latin American theology is associated with liberation, ba- sic Christian communities, pri- macy of the praxis and option for the poor.
The present volu- me shows that Latin American theologians added new themes to the previous ones: This volume summarizes the three first ones of the series of five volumes. Why have I singled out these groups? Not because they are more important than others, but because today they are reveling a set of values that are no longer under the privilege and control of religions.
These women are not denying religions but are suggesting that there are other ways to live spirituality beyond those of organized religions. They are advocating for a renewed interpretation of values that go beyond those prescribed under traditional male guidance. They are aware that this is a difficult moment where they cutting them- selves off- and most likely their children as well-from an old tradition in order to give themselves over to searching for a freedom and meaning that can permeate their daily lives.
They do this without expecting to leave a new set of beliefs for their children or promote another sacred written tradition. They are only intent upon discovering what it means to be human and to live out their humanity as fully as possible. We are living in a very challenging time—one that invites us to reflect more critically about how to deal with the difficulties surrounding spiritualities and resistance movements.
We know how much religions and spiritualities have been and still are compatible with every sort of conduct, condoning both good and bad forms of resistance. One of the most exciting and ambiguous challenges of the XXI century concerns the pluralistic meaning of words. Up until the last cen- tury, words such as spirituality and resistance were more likely unders- tood following the logic of Aristotle, which was adopted in large part by Christian theologies. This logic holds that concepts can express human experiences with a degree of certitude corresponding to real situations.
In spite of differences, equivocations and mistakes of all sorts, these con- cepts can touch on what is deemed the Truth. It means that words and concepts are based in reality, an essence linked to its historical existen- ce. Here as well, we see some aspects of Platonism, still very present in Christian culture. Today, however, concepts and words regarding the human being and human behavior are seen within the horizon of diversity.
Meaning depends on different situations, ideologies, moments, persons and inter- est groups. In one sense, we are all owners of the words we employ. At the same time, we are not owners, and have to explain frequently their use and what they mean for us. This is part of our social interaction and of our human condition of living together. As a result, today we often feel insecure with words to express ourselves and at the same time, we know we have only words and gestu- res to do so.
We inherit them and we recreate them as something that is essential to our very identity. This ambiguity and complexity has to do with the fact that words are linked to the materiality of our body, our history, our values, emotions and feelings. Words are material symbols; they reflect the materiality of our relationships expressed in those spaces where we can convey our multilayered desires, feelings, experiences and dreams.
Materiality was traditionally understood from a dualistic point of view or from a dual location, including moral behavior. On the one hand, some people have been considered ideologically good, while on the other, ideologically bad; on the one hand, monotheistic people believed that they were following the will of God and building His Kingdom, while at the same time these beliefs allowed them to seek profit and oppress people. They were recognized as institutions for the common good. Those insti- tutions have their foundations in the ideas of a founder or in the Bible or in other religious traditions.
For instance, the Bible, which is considered as a revelatory text, has its foundation in God and God does not need foundations. God became a kind of last answer for all questions, a kind of limit beyond which we could go no further. It seemed perfectly logi- cal that the world of human relationship should be obedient and simply submit to this concept of God. The dualistic way of understanding our relationship with others and with the world is changing. A dualistic understanding of episte- mology, ethics, politics, emotions and spirituality is now no longer a homogeneous dual space among us, although we still feel its presence.
Traditional religious foundations are being stormed by the winds of ratio- nal critique, by insights coming from the sciences, by the irruption of the right to diversity in democracy, which includes feminist movements. In recent times, the globalization of economics and culture has imposed a new worldwide order of living together; as a result, new ways to approach human life and the many different forms of life are emerging.
It is within this perspective that we can also think about spirituality and resistance. On the one hand, spirituality has always been understood as the best manifestation of our humanity—as that positive dimension that can improve our lives through good ways of living. On the other hand, resistance has been understood as the capacity to resist evil or to fight against all sorts of oppression. Today we question those clear definitions and challenge our former spiritual certitudes in light of the diversity we discover in our historical and contextual relationships.
This means that our beliefs must be re-examined within the present movement of destruc- tion and reconstruction of our world and of ourselves. In this same vein, we must submit our understanding of resistance to a critical and historical analysis with regard to the consequences of what we call resistance has brought about. Why is it that killing many people to protect the power of an ideology is also called resistance? Spiritualities and resistances are nuanced and plural concepts and not always directed to the common good of human groups. Today they have become objects of suspicion.
Words are our way of being. We humans need words to tell us who we are. But they can also entrap us, box us in. Because of that we are also suspicious about words. It may be because we are not satisfied with what they are conveying about the meaning of our lives--about our beliefs and their foundations, about our insecurity in our ability to nurture life and keep our daily relationships intact. Suspicion about words is a suspicion about ourselves and our great capacity to destroy one another and to destroy the planet through the use of beautiful words.
Suspicion about words goes hand in hand with the growing awareness that for some of us the traditional ways of dealing with religious myths and political ideologies and principles are no longer working to enhance wholesome relationships among us. They are used to keep power from others, to benefit themselves and to destroy the dignity of people by using words like good and God. In past years, for instance, when speaking about the left and right in politics, we could observe differences between both sides.
Now, nothing is clear. Sometimes there is convergence of points of view, in spite of the divergences. Words like right and left in politics are no longer adequate to explain what is going on today. Sometimes individual interests take precedence over collective ones. The corruption and political scandals present everywhere lead us to question our understanding and use of political language, once again revealing the inadequacy of our words.
That is why words have to be explained again and again with regard to personal actions and social behavior. A new searching for coherence in order to build a common sense of wellbeing must become at least a minimal reference for our lives. And it is here where feminism as a social movement is trying to re-understand, re-visit, re-interpret words and ideas to reorient the direction of our relationships. It is a very complex process full of contradictions and fragile certainties.
The same alienating process happens with the word liberation within the Christian context of the 20thcentury. It was employed espe- cially by theologians of liberation; it marked leftist political and religious groups thinking and acting in Latin America. It was the strength of His Spirit that held us together to resist the social and political forms of evil. But this liberationist spirituality never accepted the critique of Christian feminists regarding the limited, oppressive and invasive presen- ce of God the Father. Despite their coherence in a past contextual situation, those mea- nings are now challenged by the winds of the human right to democratic diversity, to feminism and to a pluralistic understanding of justice.
Today, words and meanings have become the private property of a variety of groups. They seem to have lost the collective dimension of expressing those deep aspects of our life. This is neither good nor bad. But officials and authorities of different churches are not aware of that and want to keep their power. They still impose a kind of sweet violence on the lives of believers; they enjoin upon them the same concept of God, of Jesus, of church, of ethical life and so on, in order to save the unity of their church and probably their own power and privileges.
Having experienced the traditional process of domination in the past, imposed by churches and political parties, we can say that today we are experiencing a different moment of fragmentation and new forms of domination, observed by the use of words. There is a new authorita- rian way of using them that imposes and confirms old forms of a new fragmented totalitarianism in a globalized world. Today we are aware that globalization globalizes words and gives them power and a multiple usage that has to be explained again and again.
Words are products of the international market and a manifestation of the current imperial power that uses religious words and religious experiences to exercise their power of domination. Religious language has become part of capitalistic society. Because of this, we have to acknowledge the complexity of the present moment, as well as the difficulty in providing adequate analyses and word usage from a very clear political and religious perspective.
We are moving in unchartered territory…. We have to walk and dis- cover, day by day, the steps, the path that can be taken. How to find light and love for today? How to discover and welcome the hidden beau- ty of this moment? How to share it deeply in order to nourish our lives today? First of all, I have to explain briefly what I mean by spiritual change.
Spiritual change is a moving state in our embodied soul; it is an experience we have of ourselves as we try to re-understand our life; it is a perception of the mutability of life, taking into account above all our own history and experiences. It is a way to learn to read the history of our own context from our own life. I am not conforming to the traditional distinction between body and soul but only using these words in a new meaning. Soul means, here, an experience from the deepest part of ourselves that allows us to say that something is changed or has to change because we can no lon- ger endure the present suffering or the present nonsense or the present oppression in our daily lives and in the world.
We have to change and we are changing. In the process, we perceive ourselves and our relationships in another way, with new lights as well as shadows. We have to do something because inside of us something has changed, something has been born—most likely because of an injustice committed against us, or from sadness or loss or maybe from love. What is born is the awareness that we do not want to be an accomplice to, or object of injustice.
- Starting Out with Alice.
- Communication Networking: An Analytical Approach (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking).
- .
- Archaka (Littérature Française) (French Edition).
- Sexo, Ecologia, Espiritualidad : Ken Wilber : !
- Collecting food and drink books!
- Krimi 004: Im Feuer liegt Wahrheit (German Edition).
This means that in the deepest part of our being, of our desire, symbolized by the word soul, we are alive and want to live with dignity, we want to stop the present suffering, and we need to breathe in a different atmosphere. We are conscious that we are not obliged to accept violence and oppression in our daily lives and from the inside out we decide that change is possible and that a new relationship can be tried both today and tomorrow. Spiritual awareness is like a deep encounter with ourselves pro- voked by internal and external problems and challenges.
It is like an intimate command that I recognize in myself to stop oppression and suffering in me as well as in others. It is a kind of personal decision to try to live in another way and a personal decision to give a helping hand to others and to struggle with them in solidarity. It is like a small candle glowing in the lived obscurity of oppression. Spiritual change is not necessarily something that comes in the same way for all.
Because of that, I want to stress that a spiritual change opens up a particular perspective of social and personal struggles for justice. It is a concrete change evolving from specific situations. We know that some people believe that spirituality should not change. For them, it is that stable part of life identified with traditional religious values. But in the perspective I am presenting, spiritual change is lived as an historical reality in the image of our dreams for justice and right relationship.
It is a constant and renewed breathing, a searching for the meaning of our lives and our collective freedom. It is a renewed alliance with Life, with myself and with others. It is a new, intimate logic and passion prompting us not to accept injustice or oppression in our lives. It is an envisioning of new situations and an attempt to live them even as they are being born. It is that experience that makes women diffe- rent when they decide to struggle for a piece of land; it is that experience that makes women denounce domestic violence; it is that experience that makes women demand an equate care in public hospitals; it is that expe- rience that makes women theologians dare to say a word different from the masculine tradition.
We have plenty of examples here. We know that what we want will never be exactly as we want it. This is our human condition. Unpredictability is part of our spiritual change. We can accept that we do not have the last word about common events and about us, but we have a word to say now and we want to express it, in spite of possible mistakes. I want to stress this aspect in the process of the journey to spiri- tual change. It is a real spiritual change in the lives of so many women, change observed from different social movements in Latin America.
Spirituality is no longer linked to membership in a church or a religion but to membership in the larger community of people doing their best to live together with dignity. It is an experience beyond institutional reli- gious boundaries. As we know, for a longtime the word spirituality was linked to institutional religious membership. From this perspective, spirituality is not directly involved with Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or African faith and traditions, but goes beyond them.
As a result, we can ask about a new, larger mea- ning of spirituality. For some activists and for some groups who have a precise social and cultural goal of transformation to accomplish, there is no exact answer to this question. Some groups never use the word spirituality. Generally speaking, however, we can say that spirituality has to do with nutrition, with spiritual food or symbolic food that helps us to nourish our life and conduct it in the direction that makes us feel better individually and collectively. This symbolic food nourishes and gives strength to our inner life, which is intimately connected with our external life.
That is why spirituality has to do with the set of symbolic nutrients we choose for ourselves and for others in order to be prepared for our journey. The symbolic nutrients are diverse and are linked to the personal and cultural preferences of each person. A shared meal, a shared garden, a book, certain music, a dance, a conversation, a walk together, a quiet meditation, reading the Bible, a poem, talking with a friend, pla- ying with a child, painting a picture, watching a film, a small victory in some social struggle, being silent… These examples and many more can nourish our spirituality and help us to go further.
Symbolic nutrients are also material nutrients because we are not a separate spiritual body—we believe that all is connected. All is in all. It is so simple and at the same time so complex… Most women are reconnecting with spirituality in their own lives. They are rediscovering the roots of their bodies and thoughts. They belie- ve that religious institutions directed by men no longer have the power to control their bodies and their souls. They want to participate in building their own lives.
A new path for liberation is opening. This visibility includes a different way of being visible and of being the protagonists of our own rights. We no longer want to be visible in the traditional patriarchal way, but as citizens creating new relations from our sense of justice and based on our own needs, desires and possibilities. We want to be citizens in dialogue with others. What does that mean? Who is resisting whom? Resistance is an internal and external movement inviting women not to accept a pre-established concept of who they are.
Because of that she can be subject to all sorts of violence. I want to share some examples to make my point. In spite of their membership in a larger peasant organization Via Campesina that gathers together different rural movements in Latin America, women have taken up their own local initiatives. Two years ago , more than one thousand women invaded the laboratories of a multinational Aracruz and went off with small plants of eucalyp- tus. As we know, eucalyptus trees absorb lots of water and need wide expanses of land.
What moved those women to do what they did? It was their need of living life with dignity; it was concern about their own lives and the lives of their families; it offered them a taste of freedom for themselves and for others; it was a struggle against a social organization that promo- tes first of all profit for an elite and forgets about poor people, especially women; it was the desire to be full citizens and have the possibility to decide and act by themselves; it fostered loving care for the earth and the ecosystems; it showed a love and respect for their own lives; finally, it was a spiritual experience that arose from their deepest being in search of freedom.
This is a challenging question for women everywhere in the world. Indeed, they spoke about oppressed bodies in a general and masculine way. For them, economic oppression is not linked to cultural and sexual oppression against women. Nor is political domination linked to sexual domination. Feminists and feminist theologians have opened the window on this way of thinking in order to show that economically-oppressed bodies are also sexually-oppressed bodies. And they stress that the reality of that oppression has different ways of manifesting itself and that it is also present in the lives of those men who struggle against it.
Economics is also a cul- ture and our cultural background colors other masculine and patriarchal characteristics. Since a new conflict has appeared inside Christian Churches over discussion about bodies and sexuality, as introduced by feminist theologians.
As a result there has been an urgent necessity to rethink traditional Christian theologies, to re-imagine our religious traditions and symbols in other ways and to express them in a more inclusive way. Feminist theologians have opened a provocative discussion that has been rejected by different churches. These church groups are convinced that they are the gatekeepers of doctrine, as well as the protectors of the truth about God. From their experiences they are molding new expressions and concepts.
They are aware of our multicultural reality, which so defines our different countries. Spirituality has become an important factor to keep workers and employees doing what the masters of capital want them to do. Of course there is respect and searching for the well being of every one, but at the same time the larger objective is to forestall dis- satisfaction in daily work and produce harmony so capital can continue to grow.
Sometimes we are not sure if people are really more valued than the goods being produced. The international market promotes an infinity of desires; globalization pressures us to renew our possessions and fosters our need to possess what they propose as the supreme good or happiness for NOW. It is a new totalitarian domination of technological materials and consumerism that burrows deep into our desire.
At the same time, in spite of the huge diffusion of information, most of us feel disconnected from a sense of living in an historical moment and live our lives only for the immediate present. Most people are convinced that a new global force commands everything and that they must simply accept living their own private, narrow lives, spending their capital for their own benefit. They can use different religious doc- trines—which are often taken out of their original context—to maintain a minimum sense of happiness and tranquility. Others are struggling to find a common objective under a kind of democratic diversity and try to propose an ethos where each is respected.
They want to act differently and build together a multicultural, multi- gendered, multicolored, multi aged, multi ecosystems world. Diversity and the right to be different are a possibility in an ethical democratic society. They believe that human beings are diverse and it is from this lived diversity that we can be disciples to one another, learn and teach from our common and different roots.
It is from our nuanced human condition that we can build equality, which is not sameness or the repe- tition of a subtle new imperialistic order. Equality means equal access to land, to food, to education, to respect, to rights, to well-being, to identity, to pleasure, to thoughts and so on. Those people are aware that equality can be explained as an idea but has to be built every day through hard dialogue. This is the big challenge that different movements, including the feminist movement, are daring to believe and build in Latin America.
This democratic diversity is not only an ideal. The secret is learning in our small groups how not to reduce the other to my own experience and take my experien- ce as the norm. The secret is admitting that respect for diversity means learning to negotiate our necessities vies a vies those of different groups.
Most people are convinced that changes begin with small initia- tives in spite of grandiose utopias or international political decisions. But it is a cru- cial and complex inspiration because it challenges us to understand and express what love of myself is and how loving myself could be a criterion to love others.
From this biblical perspective we are always asked to reinterpret the meaning of loving our neighbor, our enemies, foreigners, those who disturb me by their presence, by their difference, by their accents and ways they present themselves. Taking this biblical call or this piece of human wisdom seriously is accepting the complexity of human ethical behavior. It is an invitation to enter into the urgent necessity to forge new relationships aware of our fragility. To love himself or to love herself is not evident. How to find the way to perform acts of justice or love?
How to build a world for all? The answer is only a kind of hope, a kind of desire, a kind of emotional utopia that lives and moves in us. From these feelings we can say that a plurality of actors can try to build a unity of respect for each other if they accept the constitutive diversity of life. It will not be a symmetric unity but an asymmetric, renewable and complex one. The task is to begin and continue everyday knowing that sometimes we will be tempted to abandon it. If we dare to believe in love or in the respect for others in their diversity as a form of loving myself, of loving the other and loving the planet, we are on the way to improving the wisdom of living together.
Speaking about wisdom is speaking about something that is sometimes present and sometimes absent among us because it is entertaining a uto- pia without the final piece or without the happy ending. Each day we have to find the appropriate step to help us to go back and forth, down and up in the dance of life. Each day, we must listen again to the music of our world and adjust our paths in a creative way because the dance and the music we hear are coming from our own world.
Spirituality and resistance means that we believe that human beings nurture seeds of hope inside our biological and emotional lives. Not only do we have hope in something good for us, but we ourselves are hope and because of that we can be our neighbors, our friends and lovers. This is an experience of transcendence where we can find in our personal lives and in the lives of different people a com- mitment to preserve their dignity and the dignity of our planet.
A few words to conclude In this very brief conclusion, I would like to stress a few ideas linked to the responsibility of churches or religious institutions regarding the present moment. As we know, churches and religious institutions define themselves as institutions to serve people and their needs. They have become repetitive, dogma- tic, powerful and bureaucratic institutions.
Today the new challenge faced by religious institutions is to be more and more aware of the diversity of claims and the diversity of those searching for solutions. The role of reli- gious institutions is first of all to listen to the questions, to be perceptive to the sorrows and oppression of people, and particularly to the way they are dealing with their problems and finding solutions. Religious institu- tions do not have the responsibility of offering solutions, which some- times come from old institutional and patriarchal recipes.
Rather, they should help people by providing new possibilities for formation, creati- vity, discussion, mutual confirmation and solidarity. Institutions exist for people and not people for the institutions. Some of them are no longer serving as they should and need to disappear. Institutions are necessary only if they are flexible to the challenges coming from the world and from local communities. Their rich tradition could be renewed by adop- ting viewpoints more in keeping with the current reality of the world.
People can solve most of their problems by themselves. What is needed is a spirituality that believes that power, wisdom and love are spread out among different persons and groups and not only in the leaders of those institutions. This was the spirituality that led to a healthy resistance to patriarchal power, which gradually is being changed by a democratic and collective power shared by a variety of groups.
I am aware of the difficulties and of the negative resistance coming from institutions. Again, this means a conversion, a spiritual change beyond the esta- blished rules of institutions. Finally, the Sabbath was created for human beings and not the opposite. I try to be realistic. I try to notice alternatives and think about them, always aware of the surprises in our global and individual histo- ries… Who knows what tomorrow will bring! What keeps me going in this search for a better life is this: For example, in informal conversations it is felt that men treasure autonomy, and it is said that women establish more bonds.
What happens among persons has to consider many factors in everyday life, and take into account scientific inquiries. There is a growing concern for the per- sonal, historical, wholistic meanings of masculinity that include feminity in men's existence. A major goal today is 'being human in relationships'. There are plenty of inmediate connections, but few real bonds. Individuals and communities are often placed against each other. Personal characteristics unravel in local and global settings.
Contemporary techno- logy often turns us away from cultural roots and spiritualities of the Earth. A huge distance appears between others and me. However, there is a bridge…: It is painful how each 'I' is unable to acknowledge and encounter others. Whoever is different usually is discriminated. Moreover, many males feel their feminity is not meaningful, rather that it is threa- tening.
In general terms, we are jailed to patterns of western masculine superiority. In ethical terms, androcentrism and anthropocentric beha- vior is a widespread sinful attitude. The I-You dichotomy seems to sup- port masculine aversion towards the feminine in each human being.
Thoughout this brief essay, gender concerns are seen according to my particular experience; everyday patterns are questioned; the feminine and masculine are re-examined. These concerns have a goal: In terms of methodology, one common difficulty is being unilateral and unable to engage with other hermeneutics. Some researchers fall into conceptual traps: Our opinions are framed by stereotypes: Other difficulties are to see all of feminism as one reality; or to only consider machismo and to neglect major obstacles such as patriarchy, kyriarchy, androcentrism.
As it happens in other realms, masculine and feminine dimensions require plenty of critical and constructive dialogue 2. One has to ack- nowledge ambivalence, subordination, structural injustice, forms of social and religious evil and even of idolatry. On another part, human well- being happens through sexuality, relationships, pleasure, responsibility and power from below, masculine and feminine gender.
A constructive approach also includes spiritual, political, ethical, dimensions of living out the Gospel and of church renewal. My points of view arise from mas- culine and heterosexual understandings. Its focus is not gender per se, but rathe paths towards freedom and towards being human in harmony with the Earth. All know that there are other valid approaches. Each per- son speaks from experienced frameworks, and hopefully from concrete care for life. When one interacts with women who exercise their rights and capabilities, and have strong iden- tities, one has to accept facts.
At the same time, in an explicit or mostly an implicit way, men appreciate global expansion of women's rights and leaderships. Often it becomes like an earthquake. One is disestablished and unsecure, and is removed from situations of priviledge. For many men it is painful; and for some of us it is also cha- llenging and liberating. One begins to draw away from patriarchal status quo.
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Most men belong to marginal social-cultural strata, and so have their particular experiences and reactions, in comparison with those of us who are in the middle class or in affluent levels of power 3. Some begin to ask gender-questions. This helps men to cease acting as in charge of everything, and to no longer claim ownership over other persons. One can leave aside phantasies of control over the world. In a positive way, latinamerican men are moving towards reciprocity, collaboration, tolerance with different kinds of persons. Some are able to step down from pyramids of power.
These changes include transforming simple tasks, everyday rituals, and even religious traditions. Here I mention three types of changes, that include healing expe- riences, where several pesons and also myself have been involved 4. During several years, men and women, married and single, indigenous and mestizo, have been developing workshops so as to rediscover gender roles and spiritualities. Each one of us has been shaken in convictions and in forms of correlation.
Moreover, in terms of daily tasks, our insti- tution decided to no longer have a woman-secretary nor a person to do cleaning, preparation of coffe breaks, etc. As men, it has been a healing experience to rediscover compa- nionship with the prophet of Galilee and not pretend ownership of truth and morality. These and other experiences have disestablished many of us, and have allowed a healthy attitude towards oneself and others. It has also opened up wholistic sensibilities and actions. Therefore, significant transformation has not been due to ideas; rather it comes forth through reciprocity and not competition among men, personal experiences, correlation with women who have gender strategies and disrupt the status quo.
Neither femininity nor masculi- nity are unmovable essences. Rather a person wishes to be free with others, interacting in the midst of different realities, and having an open approach towards gender 5. One becomes uneasy when there is supe- riority of one over others, and when dualistic patterns become sacred.
A challengin process of disestablishment allows men to be more humanly healthy, and also to interact with the 'otherness' of feminity. This includes unraveling prejudices about what is 'feminine' in the human condition. Correlation and collaboration are certainly challenging goals. Concerning feminity within ourselves, what happens?
What often stands out are everyday tasks such as fathers taking care of children, cooking, concrete social responsibilities, collaboration with women in leadership roles, sharing with a woman-partner in a family. Decent communication and interaction is a starting point; the general goal is correlation in society, at home, in church and educa- tional contexts.
Correlation takes place in private and public spaces, bet- ween different kinds of persons with specific gender contributions and limitations. The socio-economic dimension of interaction goes together with emotional and spiritual correlation. In these areas, as a man one has to honestly examine the impact of patriarchal and androcentric evils.
Moreover one has to avoid rhetoric 'others are machistas, but not me, since I help at home' , and avoid lack of accountability. This implies a type of asceticism, which goes into the deeper layers of consciousness and of relationships. One disagrees with hegemo- nic forms of being macho, one is a rebel, and confronts violent cultural forms. A person develops new attitudes, and experiences loving recipro- city. In terms of the Gospel, one goes through a conversion experience, a metanoia, and is thankful as a new creature within the body of Christ.
We have in mind how Jesus dealt with both men and women, drawing them away from the idolatry of power. Therefore, being today disciples of Jesus is quite demanding. As men and women were touched and freed by the prophet of Nazaret, so today we are called to be more human and faithful to the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit is the source of correlation, reciprocity, unconditional love. The Spirit moves us so that all -and primarily the poor- may have life in abundance.
Obviously this means moving away from oppressive forms of masculinity. What is most importante is a daily and institutional positive reconstruction of mascu- linity. This includes acceptance of feminine dimensions. It is like being born again. Masculine arrogance is left behind, and the road ahead is one of correlation and unending learning of what is different.
Thus, in terms of gender, persons walk with the Risen Lord. It is often reduced to emotional categories, to stereotyped and subordinate roles, to what the media introduces in our imagination, to the complexity of personal interactions with women. It certainly benefits everyone to move beyond stereotypes and unilateral analysis; and to be able to see both feminity and masculinity in terms of sico-social experiences that are open to many understandings.
Significant steps are being taken by some men. Feminine characteristics are being examined by literature, anthropology, psycho- logy, politics, economics, theology. Insights and research done by these and other experts have to be highlighted and sincerely thanked. One becomes aware of being theoretically ignorant, and discovers new questions in the open fields of gender. There is a need for unceasing interdisciplinary reflection.
Epistemological knots need to be untied. One has to address discrimination and aggression towards women; which often goes hand in hand with homophobia. Prejudices also need to be resolved; for example, focusing on charicatures such as being 'where they belong', 'pretty and non conflictive', 'doing what women have to do'. Erveryone is aware that masculinity and feminity are framed by culture, sexuality, age, social standards, family upbringing, local and regional context, subjective and emotional paradigms.
Moreover it is easily seen how feminity belongs mostly to women, and that masculinity is mainly present in men. Therefore, essential categories masculinity per se, feminity per se seem unreal. What is evident is the existence of dominant forms in each context, marginal manifestations, and also resis- tance to the status quo and liberating forms.
These and other phenome- na require constant discussion. Here more attention is given to feminity within men and to understandings of masculinity. It would also be good to examine aggressive jokes and stereotypes about women and men; this is not done here. Since the focus is on masculine understandings of gender and on feminity as a positive and challenging dimension, how is it acknowled- ged among church people and among theologians? How open are men to questions about patriarchy and homophobia? In each context, how are dehumanizing factors confronted by tasks of justice and peace?
In terms of gender, what is today's meaning of liberation? These and other ques- tions are often not taken care of. It can be honestly acknowledged among us. These difficulties are present throughout my life; something similar may be happening in other men. This essay focuses not only on dominant phenomena, but also on alternative roads.
It is unacceptable whate- ver endangers our machista superiority, and whatever makes us loose control over others. Contemporary mythology overemphasises the 'I', a masculine ego that is rationalistic and in charge of the world. This of course draws us apart from fellow men who lack power that few of us have , alienates us from the natural environment, and harms feminine characteristics. At the beginning of this essay, Pedro Casaldaliga reminded us that 'You' and 'I' are segregated because of an egocentric approach to life.
Deep down in contemporary phantasies there is an absolute 'I', and a radical distance towards the other. This requires disestablishmente, and conversion to reciprocity, so that 'others' are meaningful and loved. A Jungian perspective is an eye opener. In men and women archetypes have different impacts. Heloisa Cardoso explains cultural and unconscious factors: These hypothesis of anima and animus are very helpful; they are not essences.
On another part, Walter Boechat con- sidrs that Jung mainly considers such principles in terms of gender, and not in terms of 'individuation' 7. One can also add that such realities are neither unchangeable nor ahistorical. Such theoretical contributions provide us with keys that open doors into subjective, interactive, and spiritual realities that are often concealed and marginalized 9. Let us now move into another area: One regrets that sensuous and corporal dimensions are usually left out of male rationality.
This often happens within mainline Christianity and in its socio-cultural activities. Thus, it is important to be renewed by our faith tradition in the Incarnation and the Resurrecion of the Body, and to listen anew to what the Spirit says to the Church. Christian renewal is rooted in Jesus' person and message that give priority to concrete bodies of humanity. This priority is manifested in the Beatitudes and in numerous healing narratives. As it is well known due to biblical work throughout the world and also in Latin America10 , the rabbi of Nazareth, in his interaction with male disciples made no room for superiority and hegemony over other human beings.
Rather, Jesus insisted on healing bodies and did not take care of 'souls'. The prophet of Nazaret was a pilgrim on the road and not a landowner, a servant and not a master, and was among the 'little ones' of the Kingdom of God Mc 9: The gospel message is lived out with feminine qualities and mea- nings, such as table fellowship, healing of suffering, trust in God, love beyond power structures.
Transcendence is present through images and interactions: God is a savior through mercy; and this benefits the down trodden, the sick, the excluded like children, women, foreigners, pagans, 'sinners'. This shows forth feminine wisdom that promotes inclu- sivity, tender correlation, option for justice.
There are many signs that Jesus shared these kinds of wisdom. What happens in masculine understandings of life? They may follow a stereotyped androcentric pattern, or they may be in dialogue with other men and women. Unfortunately, many of us have been trai- ned to distrust feminine intuition and knowledge expressed by women, and partially within men's experience.
A terrible division is often made between either thinking like men or feeling like women. It seems to me that this is a good example of how a man does not incorporate a women into his interests, but rather that masculine and feminine kinds of wisdom are weaved together. In concrete forms knowledge springs forth because of love, and it resolves sufferings from within. Leonardo Boff has carried out many dialogues about these issues.
He underlines that one does not exactly know what is masculine and what is feminine; rather Boff stresses the value of different energies and relationships; and has developed writings with philosophers and social activists Rose Marie Muraro and Lucia Ribeiro Boff explains the com- plexity of being different and being together; how the feminine is present in men and is more important in women; how the masculine is present in women but has greater weight in men. This allows a better understanding of what is predominant, and what is present as a minor reality, of what is within and what is an 'otherness', of the way we think with our bodies, and the way symbols are meaningful.
These are correlational dynamics. However, personal events are not the last word. According to Boff, the thirst for transcendence goes beyond each human being. Another crucial issue is the transcendence of imagination. Unfortunately, when compared with analytical concepts, images and intuitions are sometimes considered negatively.
Reyes adds that the epistemological status of imagination may be considered as important as human reasoning. This help us to be aware that insights, imaginations, historical initiatives of women, belong to a wholistic epistemology. Here I am emphasizing its movement towards being genuinely alive.
It happens among us humans and in positive links with the environment and with sacred entities. These movements or tendencies are thus not towards an I-centerd success, but rather to walk in solidarity, between much darkness and abundant light, towards shared goods. Concerning feminity, it has been said that it is somewhat like a dynamic mostly in women, and partially within men. Here Jungian elements are enriched when meaningfully blended with psychoanalytic studies. Such down to earth interpretations are eyeopeners and also help us to go beyond positivism. However, there are also institutional borders.
One does not only move from within; one belongs to partiular material, political, human scenarios, that offer possibilities of growth, but that also are boundaries which constrain any activity. Thus, one has to face global structures and dynamics that have an influence on what happens within any person and any relationship with others. We are conditioned by economic and cultural events in regions of the world, by inequality and violence of all kinds, by the media and educational institu- tions, by family, by social movements of resistence, by alternatives to the status quo.
All of these function as frameworks for both feminity and mas- culinity; and all of them affect our good wishes for shared humanization. When one is a member of a Christian community, such conditions and such strategies are tested according to evangelical criteria. Becoming more human with a gender perspective and praxis, how is it understood since we are coparticipants of the Body of the Risen Christ? What factors of feminity and of masculinity affect Christian communities in solidarity with all beings, and in a special way with the 'last ones'? According to the Gospel, believers share goods, and persons in need are taken care with tender charity and with justice.
Such justice is due towards all discrimina- ted women, and towards most men who have little or no power. We feel partnership with others and support each other within the Body of the Lord. Thus, spiritual interaction is not self-centered nor is it a religious seclusion.
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Rather, fruitful personal, social, gender strategies become open to actions of the Spirit of Christ, who in mysterious ways is present in all human experience. Because there are theological criteria one confronts any kind of omnipotence; neither men nor women are deities. Rather, faith in the Lord moves us to live among the humble, and also demands us to con- front arrogant and opressive elites and to confront oneself when such things happen within.
Unfortunately being surrounded by unjust powers and patriarchy, some men and women play divine roles pretending to control everyone. One wishes that in us men, feminity may continue as a source of solidarity and freedom. This attitude emerges from being disci- ples of a humble and courageous Jesus who called disciples to be friends of all, and not masters. It also implies dreaming, building networks, taking care of others with tenderness and justice.
Persons are sacraments of God. As Guillermo Campuzano says: Salvation comes from below, from vulnerable people. In other words, being followers of Jesus does not happen in com- plicity with interests and mental frameworks of the powerful; nos is it a product of doctrinal speculation. It is hard for us men to carry all of this out in everyday existence. What does it imply for men vis a vis androcen- trism?
How are we breaking the chains of economic and cultural priviled- ges? The starting point of a masculine journey of faith is the acceptance of vulnerability in the midst of other persons, and of openness to the Spirit of Christ so that relationships are not defined by self-pride, but rather by radical discipleship.
Each man is challenged by relationships that arise out of fragility and out of tendencies towards compassionate power. Any person is easily trapped by hedonism and by other forms of being unilateral and oppresive. Healthy experiences of sexuality and of gender lead to a relational spirituality. It is not like a birth certificate nor like membership in a church. A relational spirituality is not mere tolerance nor feelings with others, one-self, and sacred enti- ties. It implies partnership in building bonds, and in traditional relationships..
Each one is empowered relationally, in so far as there is interaction with personal wishes and needs and rights of others; one enjoys links with persons who are close and often have quite different journeys in life. Such positive discoverys place us at the doorsteps of the mystery of Love. This may be called standing before God, and enjo- ying daily silence before transcendence. Other faith traditions have other languages. What is crucial is encountering the sacred through links with all that happens in the universe.
Bonds -both with other men and with women- are appreciated with eithical criteria. If one follows an ethics inspired in the Gospel of Jesus, the key attitudes are thanksgiving for others and oneself 'love neighbor as yourself' , humility before God, not considering oneself as sacred, and unconditional dedication to needs of one's neighbor and preferentially to the poor. Members of a Christian community interact with others without much speculation. Being genuinly interconnected means neither explicit nor undercover dominion. A true disciple has no ownership over fellow men and obviously one also struggles so as not to control and invade existence of women.
Why this type of ethics? Because God grants a relational freedom to all entities of the universo, and to us men and women. God's people is not religion-centered, but is rather called to unconditional mercy and mutual service. In the case of our communities they are summoned by the Spirit to be at the service of humanitiy's well being.