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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents some examples of the ambiguous knowledge-sharing events, in which the Guatemalan Maya meet Czech adherents of alternative spirituality to look for a common ground for building a better environmental future, life and well-being.

Paper long abstract:

The contemporary Maya are witnessing radical changes in their livelihoods and landscapes, as they abandon traditional agriculture and local environmental knowledge to face the challenges of today's globalising world. These transformations find their expression in religion, with Maya traditionalism (centred on living with specific landscapes and particular mountains) being replaced by Maya spirituality (centred on intensifying the relationship with a generalised and universalised Mother Earth).

In recent years, Maya spiritual guides have begun to visit European countries to share their knowledge, in which environmental issues play a substantial role. Such knowledge usually involves selected and reinterpreted indigenous Amerindian as well as Western new age ideas. This hybrid and globalised religiosity, easily recognisable for its vocabulary of Mother Earth, harmony, energy, etc., is frequently described by academics as trapped between worldwide capitalism and local cultural resistance. In what ways, however, does such religiosity understand the changing landscapes and respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene?

In this paper, I will present some examples of the events, held in the Czech Republic, in which the Guatemalan Maya meet the Czech adherents of alternative spirituality and discuss their values of mutualism, respect and commitment. My focus will be on the process of emerging a global spiritual discourse, perhaps "anthropocenic spirituality", and the inherent uncertainties that arise within it.