Amidst the debate about whether we are experiencing a growing secularization or a return of the sacred, Josep Otón invites us to escape simple schemes. Doctor in History, secondary school teacher, and professor at ISCREB since 2002, he has dedicated much of his career to studying interiority and spiritual experience, with a special attention to the thought of Simone Weil.
According to Otón, rather than a revival of religious faith, “we are witnessing a profound transformation of the way of believing: a more personal faith, more experiential, that circulates through the new cultural areopagus and that questions both institutions and the believers themselves.” We spoke with him about this mutation of contemporary spirituality.
Question. He often asserts that we do not experience as much a return of the sacred as a shift in religious paradigm. What, in your opinion, are the main features of this new paradigm?
Answer. I am more inclined to understand the continuity of the sacred adopting new forms. I think that the longing for transcendence is not only a cultural dimension, but it is part of the anthropological condition of human beings. It is an intrinsic element that individuals can live in different ways and with different intensities, but that remains present in human interiority and is expressed through the cultural forms of each moment.
Q. Does this transformation also affect the way faith is transmitted?
A. In our context, the religious dimension is detaching from transmission structures to adopt a more experiential character. I no longer believe because I learned it in my family or at school, but because I have a personal experience. It is not so much a sociological consequence as an intimate discovery.
A. This erodes the monopoly of conventional religious institutions in the management of faith. Religious content crosses the borders of groups that defend a particular creed.
Q. What is the role of new digital spaces here?
**R.** This more personal religiosity finds in social networks a new space of interaction. Music acquires great prominence, intensifies experiences, and spreads them beyond temples and moments of worship. Cyberspace becomes a new agora open to dialogue with spirituality.
**P.** In several texts you speak of the “re-enchantment of the world” in dialogue with Weber. In what ways does this current re-enchantment differ from the one we could observe at the end of the 20th century?
R. I am aware that oversimplifying betrays a rigorous analysis of reality. Nevertheless, I would venture to say that towards the end of the 20th century, coinciding with postmodernity, disenchantment with the world lost its validity. There was a certain disenchantment with the grand metanarratives that gave meaning to history, and new forms of spirituality emerged, often inspired by religions of the East or by pre-Christian forms.
P. And what has changed in recent years regarding that moment?
**R.** That re-enchantment didn’t show too many sympathies towards Christianity, perceived above all from its more institutional and dogmatic side. Now, from the second decade of the 21st century, it seems that a rediscovery of Christian and Catholic spirituality is taking place. The longing for transcendence is no longer so reluctant to traditional forms; on the contrary, they are attractive because they evoke the dimension of Mystery.
**P.** Figures like Rosalía use a language full of spiritual references. Is it just cultural aesthetics or do you detect a real search for transcendence?
R. I have enough reasons to trust Rosalía’s authenticity in this case. I don’t think it’s a commercial strategy. I think it doesn’t add anything to her career to include religious references. In 2017 she released the video Aunque es de noche, a complete tribute to Saint John of the Cross, which I recommend seeing.
P. Would you say this visibility is a symptom of normalization?
R. We were accustomed to the religiosity of folk singers or footballers of Latin American origin. Now spirituality is becoming normalized in other cultural spheres. Religious references are no longer confined to sacred or confessional art. They are part of the human condition, and artists must echo that.
P. When you quote Simone Weil and the phrase “love is not comfort, it is light,” what corrective do you think it offers to the superficial way we understand love today?
R. It’s a very important sentence. Weil had taken refuge in southern France, fleeing the Nazis, and was about to go into exile. In this desolate context, it evokes the destruction of Carthage and of Troy. When barbarity seems to overcome civilization, it is difficult to perceive the beauty and, consequently, the love of God.
P. How does love make its way, then?
R. Weil finds inspiration in the parable of the good Samaritan. Love is capable of grasping a hidden beauty behind suffering. It is not an idyllic state alien to pain; it is a way of illuminating reality beyond the gloom. And the emblematic example is the cross of Christ.
Q. He warned of the danger of turning pastoral care into a “theme park” of emotions. How can the affective dimension be integrated?
A. We risk going from one extreme to another. Very often celebrations are cold, they seem like protocol acts that do not claim inner complicity. We think that a voluntarist or rationalized faith is more mature.
A. However, faith involves the whole person: thoughts, decisions, emotions, and experiences.
Q. Where would you place the limit of sentimentality?
R. It is true that we can fall into short-term emotionalism. Crying or getting emotional are not sufficient criteria to guarantee a God experience. We must find balance. Sometimes, an apparent austerity hides that we have lost our first love. But we must not seek a spiritual sensationalism that loses us in subjectivism.
P. In a secularized society, you say that faith becomes more of an adventure than a security. What exactly do you mean?
R. Sometimes it is said that in times of uncertainty, faith is a refuge. I don’t think that’s exactly right. Faith is an intimate experience that transforms our lives. It’s like falling in love. Perhaps you will continue to do the same things, but in a different way.
P. So, does faith more disturb than reassure?
R. Faith challenges, shakes up. It doesn’t tranquilize the conscience or is an opiate. It is a challenge. It invites us to delve into the depth of existence, to flee superficiality and to be more authentic.
P. Social networks and the culture of image appear as the new Areopagus. What can Christianity bring?
R. Christianity has centuries of experience incarnating itself in diverse cultures. It has always been open to transmitting the message through music and images.
P. And what is the main risk?
R. Confusing the form with the content is a kind of idolatry. We must be attentive so that cultural formulations do not hijack the message. They invite us to glimpse the Mystery: they are the finger that points to the moon.
P. Many contemporary creators express nostalgia for the absolute, even though they do not declare themselves believers. How do you interpret this tension?
R. It is a fact present in all of Christian history. We often confuse faith with adherence to a specific collective. Many people yearn for something more than the physical-biological dimension.
P. Are we at a new moment to channel this search?
R. They seek a “god unknown,” but are wary of closed formulas. Perhaps we are at a moment of creativity to find new routes that convey this search for the absolute.
P. Do you think that ecclesiastical institutions are prepared to accompany these spiritual searches?
R. There are very positive initiatives. Sometimes, however, we fall into the seduction of innovation as if it were a magic wand. We must preserve what works; we should not reject what has borne fruit for centuries.
P. What attitude do you consider essential?
R. We must open ourselves, explore, try, and above all, be willing to learn from so many seekers of spirituality, even if they are not from our reference group. Saul was not well received at first, and yet he opened fertile paths.
P. If you had to send a message to young people who are approaching faith today, what would it be?
R. I think there’s a great longing to feel loved. We live in a very competitive society, and that affects relationships. Love is the intimate conviction that we are not alone.
P. What does faith offer in the face of this need?
R. Sometimes, to escape loneliness, we buy connections, as is done with followers on social networks. It’s a deception. Faith proposes a relationship with a God whose love we don’t have to earn. And from that love, we can love others in a new way. That is fascinating.
Josep Otón / Xavier Pete
Religion Digital
English version translated with AI