Dear friends and colleagues,
For whom who works with religions, it is
common the frustration with the definitions and the semantics of the word
"religion". What can we do when we talk about buddhism or masonry?
Whos is the correct word to use, for explain
it?
Regarding the most correct position to
promote dialogue in a respect way, and trying to find the common things in
"religions", "spiritualities", "philosophical
ways", etc, in the Department of Religons Studies at Universidade
Lusófona, Lisbon, we are working n the concept of "cosmovision".
We present below the first and brief
reflection that we have published on the use of this concept.
It is the number 3 of the
"Introduction" that we have made for a textbook on religious
diversity.
We present this reflection in English:
"Cosmovisions" - for a concept
1. The
reason for this project
The project for this small book/guide comes
from a long journey taken by the Area of Science of Religions of the Lusófona
University, in constant partnership, both with academic and cultural
institutions as well as with religious institutions and leaders.
This project, as we present it here, had its origin in a proposal
accepted by the ACM - High Commissioner for Migration (ACM, I.P.), in good
time, which was developed at the Lusófona University by the Area of Science of
Religions. Nevertheless,
we had already developed some reflection and description materials which led us
to this presentation, either on the broad definition of
"Cosmovisions" or on accomplishments of the various fields of each
cosmovision.
As we build up this project, we must recall
when, back in 2014, we cooperated with the Lisbon City Council in the
organization of the World Interfaith Harmony Week. As a complement to a group
of debates and exhibitions, in the course of that year, we created the first
files in which, in a synthetic way, we intend to present a vast group of
religions and spiritualities. Two years later, the volume of information edited
by ACM is the maturation that came from the dissatisfaction and the doubts
which assaulted us in that first moment.
Yet, this project is, above all, the result
of the practice of dialogue among academics, researchers, clergy and believers,
which has been the main mark of the scientific work carried out in the Lusófona
University. The texts, the "files" assembled in this volume, are the
result of a dialogue between the research team and the groups mentioned in
those files. Thus, the knowledge we bring also seeks to be a dialogue. It is
not just about literary material that can produce dialogue due to its
knowledge, but it is dialogue in the methodology of building up one's own
knowledge.
And since this building up can - and should -
be dynamic, also in a dialogue between the academy and the religious and the
spiritual groups, we should, at this very moment, thank all those who already
developed this work over the last twenty years and express them our grateful
acknowledgment for the possibility of maturing ideas, proposals and concepts.
2. The
Didactic-Pedagogical Function
Since the closing of the last century we have
realized how fundamental it is to provide our fellow citizens with the tools
that will enable them to adopt a critical attitude based on knowledge and in
positions where prejudice will not prevail.
This book fills that need – a need which has
become increasingly urgent due to the events that have essentially altered our
perception of safety since September 2001. The world of religions has come to
be looked upon with an increasing mistrust by many of the political and social
actors, and it deserves enhanced care on the part of the academy and of the
leaders themselves.
It is due to the risk of developing a society
based on wrong values and misrepresentations, which aren’t constructive at all,
that we increasingly need instruments that in a clear, simple but not
simplistic way will convey knowledge about the religious phenomenon.
This function is further strengthened as we
see this little book as a teaching tool to be used in schools, whether by
teachers and pupils, or even by parents.
Going through the pages of this volume gives
you quick and direct access to validated and objective knowledge in a simple
and accessible language.
3. The
Scientific Role
Finally, this project also has as a didactic
and pedagogical function towards the academic sphere that put it together. The
long maturation around the construction of a descriptive model of realities as
different as Buddhism and the various currents of Christianity compelled us to
question the very notion of "religion", in the most upright and
wholesome scientific dynamic.
Naturally, our reflection also entailed the
most common topics on the difficult definition of 'religion'. Whether in its
etymological origin or in its anthropological and social dimension, the
complexity of this seemingly simple word is a tremendous puzzle for the
researcher.
Our dissatisfaction, however, has prompted us
facing the obstacles of perception and representation that the word
"religion" implies in the most common language, in the common sense
for the most customary reader of this book, uneducated on academic debates.
In our concern not to mislead the reader, we have strayed from the use
of the word “religion”. On
the one hand, the word “religion” does not contain in its entirety the whole
spectrum of meanings, which are of speculative, anthropological or even
psychological dimension. In fact, in some Asian traditions those meanings would
more easily fit into the notion of “philosophy”. But on the other hand, our
main concern has brought us to another aspect: would we use the word
“religion”, the reader could, unconsciously, activate his reading grid, his
daily semantics, what he is most used to seeing behind that word. Along this
line, the dominant religion is prevalent not only in the realms of demography
and culture, but also substantially in the structures of people’s mindset and
in their main expression, the language. To refer to “religion” is to use
previously defined markers of thought, which link us to a reality where the
focus is placed on institutions, on sacred books, on hierarchies, and even on
dogmas.
In dealing with such different realities and
with such distinct geographical and cultural origins, we realize how even the
look at the closest cultural reality may be skewed and hostage to vices of
perception. Avoiding the word "religion" and adding the
word "spirituality", solves a significant part of the categorization
problems. Both Buddhism and Freemasonry cannot be classified as Religion,
although they dialogue with some coherence with the idea of spirituality. Yet,
the spiritual dimension does not cover the whole horizon of problems that arise
when we place in the same project The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints and Confucianism.
As an example, the main function of the Buddhist thought structure lies
neither in revelation nor in truth, much less in the assertion of a divinity or
eschatology. When we look at the traditions born in Asia, we are transmuted
into the field of methodologies, life tools, “ways”. More than beliefs, in an
Asian tradition, these are methods of relating to oneself what the individual
seeks and finds. Thus, the individual is not necessarily a believer, but a
follower.
Obviously, this reflection, which, in the end, is an assertion, has an
immediate relapse in the way of thinking the religions originated in the
monotheisms born around the Mediterranean. The different forms of Christianity
are ‘ways’, even though many Christians have drifted away from a daily life
marked by living methods, whether they be spiritual exercises, prayers, or
other ways of bringing religious knowledge into their day-to-day life.
Therefore, we assumed that what was of utmost importance, since it is an
instrument of didactic nature, was to reach the ways the believers, members or
followers related with the world around them.
Clearly, the definition of belief matters whenever it exists, but it
matters much more to understand how one sees the world and humanity itself. The
bottom line was to collect the elements that would allow the reader to come
close to the tools that can be useful in the dialogue. From this compromise
between knowledge and its transmission emerged the word “cosmovision” as an alternative
for “religion” and even for “spirituality”. A cosmovision is, in practice,
everything that defines the forms of relationship between an individual and
everything that surrounds him, from the notion of creation, through humanity
and the world, stopping in the interdictions and in the ways of organizing time
and space, not forgetting the defining texts for whatsoever, when they exist.
Thus, a grid was born, in order to bring
together some fundamental aspects to help us understand how each group deals
with its environment. And we refer to the 'environment' because the main reason
for adopting the notion of “cosmovision” lies in an ecological dimension of
involvement, complementarity, interaction and complexity. A cosmovision is
ecology, in as much as relationship and integration. The cosmovisions presented here are meant to be a synthesis of the way
in which each group stands before what is important to them. Only from this
standpoint will it be possible to build a dialogue.
Paulo Mendes Pinto
To cite this article:
Pinto, P. M. 2016. "Cosmovisões - para
um conceito", Cosmovisões Religiosas e Espirituais: Guia Prático de
Tradições Presentes em Portugal]". Lisboa: ACM. pp.
8-9.
The complet textbook:
Best regards,
Paulo Mendes Pinto
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