Ediciones Exilio presents The Manual of Disenchantment for a Dignified Life, written by Professor Javier Orlando Muñoz Bastidas, an urgent call to rethink existence from authenticity and critique.

At a time when the algorithmization of society tends to automate and standardize even the most intimate processes of individuality, The Manual of Disenchantment for a Dignified Life emerges as an invitation to affirm critical and creative thought. Written by Professor Javier Orlando Muñoz Bastidas, a member of the Comprehensive, Social, and Humanistic Formation Program (FISH) of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the University of Cauca, this thought-provoking work has been published by Ediciones Exilio, an international publishing house based in Colombia and Portugal.

With a direct and reflective style, the text takes the form of a “Manual” that embraces philosophy as a way of life, distancing itself from traditional academic frameworks. It is a profound reflection on the dignification of oneself and of others, through an affective bond in which the individual becomes aware of both what empowers them and what limits them: “Dignity is the capacity to take conscious distance from what prevents an authentic creation of the self,” explains Professor Javier Orlando.

For Professor Javier Orlando, PhD in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Argentina, member of the Latin American Association of Intercultural Philosophy (ALAFI), and of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Research Group, philosophy is not reduced to an explanatory system, but above all, is a way of embracing and understanding existence.

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“Disenchantment makes possible an ethics of excellence, in which the individual dignifies their uniqueness, that is, they understand that they are unique, different, and unrepeatable. It is essential for contemporary individuals to be able to reframe and reconstruct the integral system of sensitivity and thought, so they may always begin anew. Everything must be destroyed in order to create everything in new and superior forms,” he stated.

Thus, more than a philosophical treatise, The Manual of Disenchantment for a Dignified Life is also an exercise in existential healing, aligned with the idea that “a philosophy that does not heal the soul is as useless as medicine that does not cure the body.” Through its pages, the author proposes an inner journey that invites the reader to question the structures that condition their way of living, feeling, and thinking.

From our house of study and regional thought, this publication is celebrated as a contribution to the comprehensive education of new generations, while reaffirming the institution’s commitment to critical thinking, citizenship building, and the cultivation of human dignity in a world that, now more than ever, needs authentic and profound perspectives on existence.

Written by: Communications Management Center