Sacred Terror is an ecopoem inspired by the philosophical work of María Zambrano (1904-1991). The poem starts with the distinction between the concepts of sacred and divine. Reconstructing the history of humanity's spiritual life, the Spanish philosopher argues that it began with the recognition of Nature as a sacred space, that is, a hermetic and unknowable dimension that frightened human beings and was therefore venerated by them. Only later would this sacred space be transformed into a divine space, that is, a dimension inhabited by the gods, which would pave the way for the knowability of Nature.
This ecopoem is a poetic reflection on the ecological implications of the concept of sacred in the philosophical work of Maria Zambrano. The text is divided into two parts: the first five stanzas, which are shorter and have a more intense rhythm, are a sensory exploration of the sacred in nature: hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch; the remaining five stanzas, which are longer, are a reinterpretation of the concept of the sacred in María Zambrano. The video consists of a sequence of natural scenes captured in the Serra de Sintra (Portugal), which are replicated throughout each stanza according to the rhythm of each verse, seeking to be as faithful as possible to the sacred rhythm of nature.
At a time when ecological issues are high on the agenda, it is necessary to understand the reasons behind our ecological crisis. The replacement of the sacred by the divine, of paganism by Christianity, and of polytheism by monotheism is pointed out by most critics as one of the main seeds of this problem. By proposing a return to the beginnings of humanity's spiritual history, this poem seeks to show new ways of thinking about the relationship between humans and nature and new perspectives on the contemporary environmental crisis.
The project is part of the subtheme Symbiotic Futures – Ecopoetics in the Age of Extinction.
Author
Luís Carlos Vicente Ramos
Luís Carlos Vicente Ramos was born in Tunes. He began writing poetry and prose at the age of nine, while still attending Tunes Primary School. It was in the library of Algoz Elementary School that he discovered his love of reading: Camões, Florbela Espanca, Fernando Pessoa, among others. Silves Secondary School revealed his third passion: philosophy. He graduated in this field in 2019 from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon with a thesis on António Aleixo. In 2022, he completed his master's degree in ethics and political philosophy at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto with a thesis on local power and democracy. He is currently attending the doctoral program in philosophy at the same faculty with a thesis on spiritual ecology in Iberian thought. He is a member of the research group Raízes e Horizontes da Filosofia e da Cultura em Portugal (Roots and Horizons of Philosophy and Culture in Portugal) at the Porto Institute of Philosophy. He has just launched the podcast O Cravo de Tunes.
