Por uma espiritualidade das vivências: autores e atores no palco da existência

Abstract

Spirituality must be understood as a qualifying exercise of existence, beyond its religious or conceptual reductions. This dissertation assumes that spirituality is not restricted to beliefs or dogmas, but rather constitutes a hermeneutical, relational, and transformative practice, capable of articulating the search for meaning with the concrete reality of life. The research engages with Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot, who recover philosophy as a way of life and as a spiritual exercise, and with Viktor Frankl, who emphasizes the search for meaning as an essential dimension of the human condition, particularly in contexts of suffering and finitude. The study was carried out through a bibliographic review and the autoethnographic method, which values the researcher’s experience in his role as a hospital chaplain and in his daily contact with palliative care patients. This methodological approach allows the inclusion of narratives and experiential accounts in which spirituality emerges as a horizon of meanings, openness to the other, and a possibility of existential resistance. By integrating philosophy, lived experience, and clinical encounters, the thesis argues that spirituality is not a mere abstract category, but a concrete practice involving corporeality, memory, writing, and relationality. It thus articulates philosophical, ethical, and cultural dimensions in dialogue with contemporary challenges of human existence. In conclusion, the spirituality of lived experiences is presented as a fertile path for rethinking the human condition, since it allows individuals to reinterpret their trajectories, to find meaning at the threshold of life, and to cultivate ways of being that are more authentic, ethical, and life-affirming.