Spirits and Spirit?s Consciousness in a Latin American Religion

GUSTAVO ANDRÉS LUDUEÑA

New Haven

Conferencia; Annual Meeting and Conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness; 2008

Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness

After Catholicism, Spiritism is historically one of the most extended religions in Latin America. In this paper, I will explore and analyze the notions of spirit and spirit?s consciousness in a singular group of Argentinean origin: the Escuela Científica Basilio (Basil Scientific School). In particular, the work will be focused on the composition of the spirit (i.e., liberty, fluid, and consciousness) and its differences with the human mind. In order to do this, and more broadly, I will explain the idea of spirit according to this institution, and its classification (i.e., kinds of spirits and spiritual particles) and relation with human biology. We will see that consciousness holds a spiritual character more than psychological. Finally, I will introduce two of the consequences about this global conception of spirit and spirit?s consciousness. On the one hand, the BSS assumes a sociability with ?real? entities and not solely numinous (i.e., spiritual) ontologies. On the other hand, the social reality ?as it is understood by phenomenology? is an epiphenomenon of the spiritual ?and, therefore, invisible? world; this point shows, specifically, the most esoteric sense of Spiritism.