A project in Porto Alegre, Brazil

What do a Brazilian woman, who lives in Colombia, an educator and a doctor, who does research on ethnomedicine, have in common?

Simply, that they all know that a huge part of the human problems, forgetting for a moment economical and cultural barriers, is related directly to fragmentation. Under the aspects related, that of addictions is probably one of the clearest of all. We all carry them, more or less: food, alcohol, cigarettes, work, relations, sports, sex, shopping.

“The addict” is nothing but a frustrated seeker of spiritual richness and the society offers such a person only shallow solutions.

Almost in all cases, one finds the following elements behind addictions:

1) Problems communicating. In developed countries, this problem is more evident. This has to do with the fact, that productivity is associated with a personal state of isolation. According to the role played within the economic scale, a person attains such a state, based on equivalence between time and money.

2) Personal and collective dissatisfaction. Wellness is always a target, but deeper aspects, which could lead to gratification, aren’t considered, so that a state of constant repetitions results in greater dependencies and addictions.

3) Loss of vitality. It becomes clear in habits, for example in nutrition: if there aren’t enough enzymes in the daily food (as is the case in almost all meals), the organism will look for the missing elements. As it isn’t able to get them, obesity is the usual result.

Some other faults like inadequate exercising, breathing and sleeping lead to a need for abnormal stimuli.