Anthropology of Consciousness
September 1, 2016
Carlos Teodoro José Hugueney Irigaray, Pierre Girard, Maíra Irigaray et al.
6 citations
The current environmental crisis can be understood as a civilizational crisis. Alternatives for human transcendence are identified in the Inca civilization to address this malaise. The multicultural use of Hoasca (Ayahuasca) in Amazonian countries, particularly by the Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal (UDV) in a religious context, may help reconstruct 'buen vivir' (sumak kawsay, or complete wellness), a principle of pre-Columbian civilizations. The State now confronts constitutional principles of buen vivir, religious freedom, and cultural heritage protection. The implications of the crisis and ways to overcome it are approached from deep ecology and the doctrinal vision of the UDV.
ACTA Geográfica
September 8, 2021
Julien Marius Reis Thévenin, Talita Benaion Bezerra Thevenin, Carlos Teodoro José Hugueney Irigaray
2 citations
The relationship between social groups and nature is shaped by religious and philosophical systems. The trajectory of urban-industrial society, driven by profit, has led to serious environmental problems, including deforestation of the Amazon. This article examines how perceiving the sacred in nature relates to environmental ethics and pro-ecological behaviors. Based on bibliographic-documentary research, direct observations, notes, and semi-structured interviews with members of three Daimista centers, one Barquinha center, and twenty-seven local branches of União do Vegetal—religions that ritually use ayahuasca tea in Rondônia, Brazil—the results indicate that as individuals spontaneously recognize the sacred in nature, their environmental awareness and ethical stance toward the environment gradually expand. However, these attitudes depend not only on individual adherents, some of whom lack ecological behavior, but on institutional arrangements that guide sustainable territory management.