A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

ways and not necessarily passed on in a class room. In this sense broadening
knowledge to include popular wisdom brings us close to the notion
of the ‘common good’. All human beings acquire wisdom over their
lifetimes and this must be a right that requires favourable conditions for
its fulfilment: it implies experience, access to various kinds of education
and its exercise in cultural, daily practice. 138
Crisis of values: returning to spirituality
Spirituality, understood in its emo – tono – psico – biological dimension, 139
in the case of our people has acted as a bulwark of resistance, the support
of social movements for the struggle of both real and symbolic survival
and for equity ([or equality?] and justice. Its religious cosmovision
and practices form the basis of the Afro-Ecuadorian identity and it goes
beyond its diversities. Its cosmogonic universe is nourished by ancestral
African cultures, which are deeply spiritual, from Catholicism, the superstitious
character of Spanish slavery and the indigenous mythical world.
Spirituality is a dimension that penetrates individuals beyond their adherence
to a religion. The Afro-descendant and black population have a
ritual that expresses their total spirituality. This is certainly a common
good that is also a collective right exercised by other peoples of diverse
nations and nationalities. This invisible economy, by giving support to
the common good enables one of the objectives as a principle of integral
harmony because the common good is a renewable good, sustainable
and transmissible, and also as an invisible good.
In our Afro-descendant traditions, asking our elders and our gods to put
wise, precise words into our mouths represents respect for the Other,
the desire to generate collective benefit and for discussions to connect
with the heart.
138 Nevertheless this does not imply that we support illiteracy, on the contrary.
Only those who are thoroughly conversant with the different forms of knowledge
can decide how it should be carried out. It has been proved that the lack of access
to education is what generates unfavourable conditions for its practice and enthusiasm
for learning.
139 We return to this category of the proposals for global systemic theory, in which
the integrality of persons must take into account the emotional, spiritual, magical, as
well as the other elements that are recognized like the body, biological needs, etc.
284