Espiritualidade e enfrentamento das desigualdades: a inserção da Core Energetics em ações sociais a partir da pandemia de covid-19

Abstract

Spirituality was inserted in humanistic and transpersonal psychology and in the multidimensional concept of health by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1996 and has been recognized in the scientific literature as one of the important aspects of health care. The theme of religiosity/spirituality directly permeates the lives of people who believe or through the beliefs and inheritances obtained. In late modernity, spirituality without religion emerged, within the New Age ethos. In the body psychotherapeutic approach in Core Energetics, developed by the doctor, psychiatrist, and psychotherapist John Pierrakos, it is sought that spirituality can be awakened by helping the subject to better understand the meaning of life and its purposes. The psychospirituality experienced in the body by the therapists trained in Core Energetics is fundamental to assist in their own transformation and that of their clients. Due to the chaotic scenario experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world population experienced several physical, emotional, social, and economic threats. In Brazil, in particular, we were experiencing a crisis overlapping another crisis, given that the country was being governed at that time by a far-right president, a denialist who did not comply with WHO recommendations. The present research aimed to verify whether the therapists in Core Energetics compose the New Era ethos, how the spiritual awakening occurs for those who completed and work as Core Energetics psychotherapists, and the influence of this awakening on their daily professional practice and in their political and social commitment in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. I hypothesized that the professionals who completed training in Core Energetics and have a work practice in this approach experience spirituality in their daily lives and promote social actions in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic periods. To implement this study, I carried out a comprehensive literature review encompassing the works of authors from the fields of religious sciences, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The empirical research followed a qualitative approach. For the construction and evaluation of the semistructured questionnaire used in the interviews, I employed the thematic analysis technique. I interviewed 12 professionals trained in Core Energetics, who were taking the postgraduate course or fifth year of training as body psychotherapists in Core Energetics and conduct their work based on this therapeutic approach, in addition to five professionals who helped me remember the creation and arrival of this approach to Brazil. Additionally, I performed field observations during the postgraduate classes of the 12 participants, investigated the social activities they carried out, and included three more participants. The hypothesis of this thesis was partially confirmed, since I found that the participants experience spirituality in their daily lives through readings as well as therapeutic and spiritual practices. Furthermore, they were sensitive to adverse circumstances, although they did not spontaneously promote effective social actions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic