Wetting the roots in our own source

Do The Earth is round.

1.

There's no denying that we are at the center of a formidable planetary crisis. Nobody knows where we are going. It is advisable to consult historians who usually possess a holistic view and a subtle perception of the main trends in history. I cite one whom I consider among the most inspiring, Eric Hobsbawm, in his well-known synthesis book. age of extremes (1994)

Concluding his reflections, he ponders: “The future cannot be a continuation of the past…Our world is at risk of explosion and implosion…We don’t know where we are going. However, one thing is clear. If humanity wants to have a worthwhile future, it cannot be through the prolongation of the past or the present. If we try to build the third millennium on this basis, we will fail. And the price of failure, that is, the alternative for societal change, is darkness” (p. 562).

Darkness may represent the end of the species. homoSomething similar was said by Max Weber in his last public lecture in which (Finally!) refers to capitalism, enclosed in an “iron cage” (Steel house) which he himself cannot break through, therefore, it can lead us to a great catastrophe: “What awaits us is not the blossoming of autumn, but a polar night, icy, dark and arduous” (Cf. M.Löwy, The cage of hierarchy: Max Weber and Weberian Marxism, Mexico 2017). Finally, Pope Francis himself in the encyclical Fratelli tutti (2020), warns: “We are all in the same boat, either we all save ourselves or no one saves themselves” (n. 32).

There is a more or less widespread conviction in the ecological field and among notable analysts of world geopolitics: within the capitalist system that prioritizes the unlimited (and unmeasured) pursuit of financial income, creating two injustices, one social (the creation of immeasurable poverty) and the other ecological (the devastation of ecosystems), there is no solution to the current crisis. Albert Einstein is credited with the phrase: "The thinking that created the crisis cannot be the same thinking that will get us out of it; we have to change."

2.

Since the promising narratives of the past about the future of humanity have been thwarted, they cannot offer us new directions, except perhaps planetary ecosocialism, which has nothing to do with the socialism that once existed and failed. Or a return to the way of life of the original peoples, whose ancestral knowledge or... well live and live together The Andean peoples would still guarantee us a future on this planet. But it seems to me that we have become so entangled within our systemic bubble that this proposal, however suggestive it may be, becomes globally impractical.

When we reach the end of all viable paths and only the horizon is in sight, it seems to me that all that remains is to choose ourselves and unravel unexplored potentialities. By nature, we are an infinite project and a knot of relationships in all directions. We must delve deep within ourselves and water our roots in the originating source that always springs forth within us in the form of inescapable hope, grand dreams, viable myths, and innovative projects for a different path ahead.

When I take the human being as a structuring reference, I am not thinking of an anthropology of anthropologists or of branches of knowledge about the human being, which are always enriching. I am thinking of the human being in their unfathomable radicality that surrounds the zone of mystery, which the closer we get to it, the more distant and profound it appears.

And mystery remains in every piece of knowledge. That was the perception Saint Augustine had of himself: factum sum mysterium mihi"I made myself a mystery to myself." This mystery is an expression of a greater mystery, which is the universe itself, still in genesis and expansion. Therefore, the human being—a mystery—is never disconnected from this process of which it is a part, which surpasses a merely individualistic view of the human being.

It is important to never forget that we are beings of limitless relationships, even with the Infinite. Let us list some facts that belong to our essence, from which we can develop new visions of the future.

First and foremost, it is important to understand the human being as Earth, which at a moment in its complexity began to feel, think, love, care for, and venerate. Thus, in the cosmogonic process, the human being, man and woman, emerges. It is not without reason that it is called... homo ou Adam, both meaning "made of earth, or being fertile and arable land."

Central to human beings is love, which F. Maturana and J. Watson have shown to have a biological basis. As J. Watson says in his famous... DNA: the secret of human life (2005:"Love makes us care for one another; it is what allowed our survival and success on this planet; this impulse, I believe, will safeguard our future; I am sure that love is inscribed in our DNA" (p. 414). There will be no human transformation or revolution that is not imbued with love.

3.

Along with love emerges "care," understood from long tradition as the essence of being human. Since humans possess no specialized organs, it is the care of oneself, of others, and of nature that will ensure our survival.

It was the solidarity/cooperation of eating together that once allowed us to make the leap from animality to humanity. What was true yesterday remains true and essential today, although lacking. As relational beings, solidarity and cooperation are at the foundation of any coexistence.

Alongside the intelligence of the neocortical brain, there is the emotion of the limbic brain, which emerged millions of years ago, the seat of love, empathy, compassion, ethics, and the entire world of excellence. We are beings of feelings. Without an affective bond between us humans and with nature, everything degrades and fades.

Deep within us lies a natural spirituality that is as recognized as intelligence and emotion. It predates any religion, for it is the source from which all religions draw, each in its own way. Spirituality is part of our essence and expresses itself through unconditional love, solidarity, transparency, and everything that makes us more human, more relational, and more open.

Spirituality allows us to perceive that beneath all beings there exists a powerful and loving Energy that cosmologists call the Abyss, the generator and sustainer of all that exists. Human beings can open themselves to this Underlying Energy, can enter into communion with it, and have an experience of enchantment and veneration in its presence. height of the universe and of the one who created it.

Realistically, these values ​​are accompanied by their opposites – we are sapiens and demens – which cannot be repressed, but must be kept within their limits. By watering our roots in this originating source, we can define another future in which love, solidarity, and well live These will be its foundations.