The present economic crisis has humanity at a horrible fork in the road: either we follow the G-20, that insists on reviving a corpse —the present model of globalized capitalism— that has provoked the present world crisis and which, if it continues, can lead us to an ecological and humanitarian tragedy, or we seek a new paradigm, one that places the Earth, life and Humanity at the center, with the economy at their service, following which a new phase of civilization will commence, one that will guarantee greater equity and humanness in all relations, starting with those of production.

We have the sensation that we are now on a blind flight, and anything can happen.

From a reflexive point of view, two basic interpretations of the crisis appear: either it is about the tremors of the throes of death, or we are witnessing the pains of the birthing of a new being.

I align myself with the second alternative, that of the pains of birthing. I refuse to accept that after millions of years of evolution on this planet, we will be expelled from it in future generations. If we look back over the anthropogenic process, we will doubtless see that we have headed towards higher forms of complexity and of orders which are ever more interdependent. The scene would then not be one of death, but of a crisis that will make us suffer greatly, but which will purify us for a new endeavour in civilization.

It cannot be denied that globalization, even in its present iron age, has created the material conditions for all forms of relationships among peoples. In fact, a planetary consciousness has appeared. It is as if the brain had started to grow beyond the cranial box, due to the new technologies, and had penetrated more deeply into the mysteries of nature.

The human being is hominizing the entire planetary reality.  Whether the Amazon remains standing or is destroyed, whether species continue or become extinct, whether the soil and the air remain pure or are contaminated, all of that depends on human decisions. Earth and Humanity are forming a unique global entity. The central nervous system is composed of human brains ever more in synapsis, and endowed with a feeling of ownership and of collective responsibility. We look for multidimensional centers of observation, analysis, of thought and of government.

In times past, starting with the geosphere, there appeared lithosphere (rocks), then the idrosphere (water), then the atmosphere (air), afterwards the biosphere (life), and finally, the anthroposphere (human beings). Now history has matured towards a more advanced epoch of the evolutionary process, the noosphere. Noosphere, as the word itself says, (nous means mind and intelligence, in Greek,) expresses the convergence of minds and hearts, creating a higher and more complex unity. It is the beginning of a new history, the history of the Earth together with Humanity (conscious and intelligent expression of the Earth.)

History advances through trials, successes and errors. We are now witnessing the birth of the noosphere phase, that cannot yet attain hegemony, due to the strength of an excluding and uncooperative type of globalization, which is extremely fragile now, given the systemic crisis.

But we are convinced that, conspiring to bring about this new era   —the noosphere era— are the forces of the universe that always bring about new events. Our galaxy, and perhaps the universe itself, moves as a function of this convergence of diverse emergencies. On planet Earth, a minuscule blue-white dot lost in a derisory galaxy, in a marginal solar system (27 thousand light years from the center of the galaxy), the noosphere is crystallizing for us. It is still fragile, but it brings a new sense of evolution. And it does not exclude the possible existence of other parallel worlds.

The present crisis forces us to seek a way out, and this is the noosphere. Then we would see a communion of the hearts and minds of human beings: among themselves, with the Earth, with all the universe and with the Attractor of all things.

- Leonardo Boff, Theologian, Earthcharter Commission

Free translation from the Spanish by contacto@servicioskoinonia.org, Refugio Del Rio Grande, Texas