ABSTRACT
In the late 1980s, at the Institute for Studies on Religion (ISER), the author coordinated an anthropologically oriented research project on what he decided to call the 'new religious consciousness'. The very idea of conservation is valued, since predatory devastation is the enemy and environmental balance is the object, as Octavio Paz reminds author. The body is inextricably associated with the spiritualized psyche, and health presupposes qualities extrinsic to the autonomous functioning of the human machine, such as adhesion to values, patterns of attitudes, relationships with others and nature, as well as with spirituality itself and nutrition. If one maps the universe of emerging and 'alternative' religions in Brazil and Rio de Janeiro in particular, one is bound to come across Santo Daime. This chapter examines the reasons to understand why Santo Daime occupies a central position. Master Irineu was the founding prophet of the religion, according to standard histories. There are several Santo Daime communities in Brazil.
