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By Leonardo Boff When we love, we care; and when we care, we love. That is why the ethos of loving is complemented by the ethos of caring. Caring is the key category of the new paradigm of civilization that is struggling to emerge all over the world. The lack of caring for scarce resources and the way nature is treated - the absence of caring in relation to the power of science and technology, which has built weapons of mass destruction, of devastation to the biosphere and to the survival of the human species itself - is bringing us to an unprecedented impasse. Either we care or we perish. Caring serves both to prevent future damage and to repair past damage. Caring has the faculty to reinforce life and watch over the chemical, physical, ecological, social and spiritual conditions which allow for the reproduction of life and its subsequent evolution. The political term that corresponds to caring is ’sustainability,’ which tries to find the proper equilibrium between a reasonable profit from the Earth’s potential and its conservation for ourselves and for future generations. Perhaps by remembering the fable about Care preserved by Hyginus (17 AD), librarian to Caesar Augustus, we will better understand the meaning of the ethos of caring. One day, Care took a piece of clay and molded it in the shape of a human being. Jupiter appeared at that moment and, at the request of Care, blew spirit into it. Care wanted to give it a name but Jupiter prohibited her because he wanted to name it himself. They began to argue and at that moment Earth appeared, alleging that since the clay was part of her body, she had the right to choose the name. A general argument without solution ensued. They all agreed to call Saturn - the ancient ancestral god - to arbitrate. He pronounced the following sentence which was deemed fair: ‘You, Jupiter, who gave it spirit, will receive the spirit back when the creature dies. You, Earth, who gave it its body, will receive the body back when the creature dies. And you, Care, who were the first to form the creature, will accompany it as it lives. And since you have not come to a consensus on the name, I will decide: It will be called ‘human’ because it comes from humus, which means fertile soil.
This fable is full of lessons. Care came before the spirit breathed into it by Jupiter and before the body loaned by Earth. Therefore the body-spirit concept is not the origin. The origin is Care because she was the first to form the human being. Care did it with ‘caring,’ zeal and devotion and, as such, with a loving attitude. By being in the forefront, it was the ontological precondition which allowed the human being to emerge. These dimensions came into the formation of the human being. He is not human without them. This is why it was said that ‘Care will accompany the human being while he is alive.’ Everything that he does with caring will be well done. The ethos that cares and loves is therapeutic and liberating. It heals wounds, brightens the future and creates hope. Rollo May, the psychoanalyst, rightly says that ‘in the current confusion of rationalist and technical episodes, we have lost sight of the human being. We should humbly return to simply caring. The myth of caring, and that alone, enables us to resist cynicism and apathy - the psychological ailments of our time.” Leonardo Boff, considered to be the father of liberation theology, is active as a lay priest in Base Christian Communities in Brazil. This translation from the Spanish was provided by
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, and was done in Arlington, VA, in cooperation with Refugio del Rio Grande, TX.
Original content by: http://www.inwardoutward.org/?p=226.
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