Towards a New Spirituality: A Dialogue between Tradition and Modernity
In an era of greater search for meaning, however very dispersed, Alejandro Guerra, founder of Wake up Platform, and Agustín Paniker, director of Editorial Kairós and deep connoisseur of spirituality, trace towards a new spirituality. A dialogue that intertwines ancestral traditions with the requirements of today, a new horizon in which the strict dogmas of religiosity would be left aside to move towards a more personal spiritual practice adapted to this era.
The evolution of this conversation has stellar moments -the great religions have always been the monopolizers of the spiritual, where we have found the flower and dryness of the human experience. The cathedrals, the better half of human experience, emblem of the exalted, as much as the holy war, and the odious history of the religion of power -institution-. But whether by sinister hand or by wiggling, the march of modernity, of the secular, weakens these institutions, and this diminution of their influence offers the vacuum that the new spirituality tries to fill.
Alternative spirituality responds to a West that, while distancing itself from traditional ecclesiastical structures, does not renounce the spiritual dimension of existence. Thus, workshops, courses and psychotherapeutic practices become the new temples where individuals in search of meaning in their lives explore new possibilities. An enriching path, of course, but not without risks! For, as was to be expected, the proliferation of “gurus” and substitutes often leads to the trivialization of the spiritual quest.
Paniker reminds us, from his deep academic and personal knowledge of spirituality, that the human being is essentially spiritual long before any of the religions were, hence the differences between spirituality and religion. One hundred thousand years before, he says, man decorated a tomb with a symbolic painting, our ancestors already pointed out that they were the grotto. And, with this, he comes to tell us that yes, we were art, we were music, we were dance, we were humanity, in short, long before we were religions. And that they explored all these ways, but they also made many paths in the air.
In the dialogue between Guerra and Paniker, the image of a conscious, rooted and current spirituality emerges. The spirituality of the future is not marked by a single practice or belief, but by the capacity of each individual to find his or her own path, integrating in a natural and meaningful way elements of different spiritual traditions. It is a conscious spirituality, which is understood where it is born, in dialogue, encounter and exchange with others. A space of openness, of flexibility, in which any spiritual path is allowed as long as its maintenance is authentic, and its thought, new.
In short, to contemplate a spirituality that, far from closing in on certain dogmas, is called to become greater in the diversity of human experience; to explore with curiosity and courage the endless possibilities through which spirituality can enrich our human experience of the world, and our encounter with the things of life. For on this journey, innovation and respect for tradition are our two best traveling companions.
Don’t believe anything you just read, think for yourself.
Wake up
Wake up!