Ethical and spiritual resistance
16
Feb
Ethical resistance, or the resistance of the spirit
that Edgar Morin speaks of, is the recognition “of a return to dogmatism and fanaticism, and a crisis of morals while hatred and idolatries spread,” said the philosopher.
It is not possible to establish ethics by breaking the most elementary rules of ethics than respect for the dignity of the Other, it is not possible to strengthen morality if we spread all types of immorality from politics to customs and it is not possible to speak of spirit if what exists is only pure idolatry, in many senses, from culture to religious.
It is no longer just about wars, which in themselves are already a catastrophe, but “the qualities of our civilization have deteriorated and needs have increased, particularly in the development of selfishness and the disappearance of traditional solidarities”, said Morin in an interview with Italian newspaper La Reppublica.
The appeal to political fanaticism has polarized society, those who defended democracy attack it with the most arbitrary forms of power, in the religious field those who defend religious practices and rites forget to do good to others and to respect different faiths, everyone is right in their own way, according to their own morals and the result is moral scandals.
Like that Pharisee who practices fasting and makes shady deals and mistreats his employees, or like those who, despite knowing the religious precepts, try to justify their faults with arguments or factual and non-contextual religious reading.
An asceticism that does not include changes in attitudes and behaviors, a resistance of the spirit to everything that seems justifiably immoral and spiritually dubious, must be a path to a true asceticism that involves a true resistance of the spirit.
The temptations of Jesus in the desert, in which he was offered honor, glory and power to give in to evil, more than an allegory is a path for achievements to be made in a modest, fair way and without offending those who are for some reason dependent on us for sustenance.
Appeals to wealth, power and luxury in the name of religiosity are the clearest idolatries and the reverse of any resistance of the spirit or moral resistance to civilizational decadence.
Wars are nothing more than the temptations of power and oppression for peoples, groups or cultures that will be subjugated by brute force, humiliation and even the death of innocents.
The hope for peace, morality and ethics lies in maintaining resistance of the spirit.
Morin, E. The resistance of the Spirit, Italy: La Reppublica, 01/24/2024.
