Por uma espiritualidade do morrer: viver a passagem na ótica de Jean-Yves Leloup

Abstract

The background of this research is the theme of finitude and death as one of the most important existential problems of humanity. What guides this is the concept of spirituality. From the perspective of Jean-Yves Leloup, the taboo to be overcome is not the taboo of death itself, but the one of the spiritual dimension that has not been developed, an obstacle to experiencing death as part of life and and passing away as an art. This study consists of three chapters and its foundation is based on the anthropology developed by Jean-Yves Leloup, which follows the Alexandrian style, Eckhart mysticism and initiatory therapy. It starts with the theme of finitude as it is addressed from the idea of fatal death, which is responsible for maintaining a human being in his own condition. The three topics that comprise this stage of the research refer from the passage of fatal death to the Paschal death, then comes the description of the stages of dying prescribed by contemporary clinic in parallel with the descriptions of the moment of death described by Christian and Buddhist traditions, and includes the role of the meditation practice called hesiscasta in the process of dying. And then comes the main part of the research. Dealing with the paradox between awareness of contingency and the transience of life as well as the difficulty in accepting death, Human beings search for the meaning of life, the key that gives access to the spiritual dimension that is not always developed, but that inevitably appears at the moment of death, the subject of the third chapter. The starting point for this stage of the research is the question of meaning, a question that refers to the spiritual dimension. Starting from the question of meaning, two religious traditions — Christianity and Buddhism - are examined from the viewpoint of Leloup. The fundamental question is how the religious traditions that are mentioned here play a role in facilitating the process of dying.