Leonardi/Environmental Spirituality,7. How it is Going the Marriage of Heaven and Earth? Spirituality, Wellbeing and Environment in Brazil

Inspired by the metaphor of the Marriage of Heaven and Earth, we shall attempt in this presentation to describe some psycho-sociocultural aspects of the relationships between spirituality, wellbeing, and the environment in Brazil, from a phenomenological perspective. Firstly, we shall try to put into historical and contemporary context the indigenous cosmology in Brazil and its implications for the relationship between human beings and nature. Secondly, we shall explore the impact of the influx of immigrants to this country on the indigenous people’s lives, cosmology, relationships with nature, wellbeing, and health in general. We then propose to explore five aspects involved in this complex journey: a) the role of religion, religiosity and spirituality in this process; b) the psychological mechanisms involved in the specific features of the spiritual and religious systems that may have positive and/or negative impacts on the global environment in general, and this country in particular; c) the specific impacts on the relationship between indigenous people and health professionals based on the researches whose results illustrate the conflicts between indigenous cosmology and medical science; d) the challenges for and the impacts of this situation on health policy for indigenous people in Brazil, and for the population in general, relating to the cultural identity, physical and mental health, and the environment; e) the implications for educational/training of future social and health professionals.