Em busca da “Santa Luz”: um estudo sobre a experiência do êxtase místico-religioso na comunidade do Santo Daime

Abstract

This dissertation aims at studying the meaning of the mystical-religious ecstasy manifestations in the community of Saint Daime through the analysis of the accounts collected from contacts to the juizforano daimist center located on Floresta district, in the city of Juiz de Fora. Moreover, we tried to observe the influences ayahuasca and other ritualistic elements have as ecstasy providers during religious ceremonies; that is to say, to what extension these elements potentiate that ecstatic experience. We also tried to understand the senses ayahuasqueiros give to their experiences by means of dissection of their speech production about the mirações, with the intention of understanding ayahuasca use as ecstasy generator, and focus on what practitioners catch as behavioral alterations from these experiences. Consequently, this study used an interdisciplinary analysis of the phenomenon, and made use of the phenomenology because it is a more comprehensive approach whose studies core is the religious experience focus, as well the use of research methodology and relative concepts proposed by anthropology and sociology, besides theological concepts related to this study.