Author: Gilson Guilherme Miguel Ângelo
GAESEMA Journal | Chapter 10 Production | Year 2025 | Special Issue 10

Abstract:
This article proposes a profound reconceptualization of the economy and development based on the identification of seven essential products of life: food, housing, clothing, health, knowledge, spirituality, and relationships. Inspired by the philosophical worldview of GAESEMA (Guide for Action of Social Structures of the State in Improved Models), the text articulates ancestral and contemporary knowledge to advocate for a new civilizational paradigm centered on care, interdependence, and dignity. More than functional categories, these products form the ontological pillars of human existence and should guide political, social, and productive practices committed to the common good and the regeneration of life.

1. Introduction: A New Development Horizon

The current development model, driven by quantitative metrics such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the logic of accumulation, proves insufficient in the face of social, environmental, and subjective crises marking the 21st century. In this context, GAESEMA’s proposal calls for a paradigmatic revision: what if we produced based on what is essential to life?

Seven products are identified here as non-negotiable foundations of existence: food, housing, clothing, health, knowledge, spirituality, and relationships. These elements are not merely basic human needs — they are expressions of an integral way of being, connecting body, soul, territory, and community.

2. Food: The Foundation of Sustainability and Community Life

Food is the first essential product and the foundation of life. It is not only about subsistence but a deep relationship with the land, culture, and networks of coexistence. Eating is an act involving ecology, identity, and social justice.

In African, Western, and Asian traditions, food is understood not only as energy for the body but also as an element of spiritual and community connection. Traditional African agriculture, which prioritizes diversity and soil care; Western agroecology, which advocates sustainability and regeneration; and Asian agricultural systems, which value the balance between humans, water, and nature, exemplify ancestral and contemporary practices that respect life in its complexity.

Guaranteeing access to healthy food produced with respect for biodiversity and local knowledge promotes the dignity and resilience of communities.

3. Housing: Space of Refuge and Coexistence

Housing, as the second essential product, is more than physical shelter — it is a space of belonging, protection, and coexistence. In different cultures, the home represents an extension of the body and spirit, integrating the individual into community and territory.

In the African matrix, traditional housing involves collectivity and dialogue with nature, reflecting a sustainable way of life. In the West, housing incorporates notions of privacy and functionality but often lacks the community and affective dimension. Asian traditions harmonize architecture with energetic flow and the environment, seeking balance and serenity.

Rethinking housing requires looking at practices that combine safety, accessibility, ecological and social integration, recognizing the fundamental right to a dignified and culturally respectful home.

4. Clothing: Cultural Expression and Protection

Clothing is the third essential product, serving as physical protection and symbolic expression of cultural identity. Beyond covering the body, it communicates belonging, values, and collective histories.

African traditions value fabrics and adornments that express ancestry and spirituality; Western culture developed fashion as industry and individual expression; while in Asian societies clothing is imbued with symbolism linked to social order and spirituality.

Therefore, the production and use of clothing must respect cultural diversity, sustainable processes, and the ethical meaning of the act of dressing.

5. Health: Vital Balance in Multiple Dimensions

Health, in this approach, is understood as a dynamic field of vital balance — a synergy between body, mind, spirit, relationships, and environment. Different from the hegemonic biomedical view, health here is not the absence of disease but vitality embodied in daily life and bonds.

African, Western, and Asian traditions intertwine to inspire this holistic understanding. African medicine, with its community focus and integrated spirituality; Indian Ayurveda, emphasizing the harmony of doshas and connection with nature; and traditional Chinese medicine, which promotes energy flow and yin-yang balance — all converge into integral care transcending the physical body.

This integration of ancestral and contemporary knowledge strengthens community practices, spirituality, and ecological connection. Caring for health, therefore, is also caring for life in its entirety: dignity to belonging, body to collectivity, respecting the cultural particularities of each civilizational matrix.

6. Knowledge: The Invisible Product that Liberates

From GAESEMA’s perspective, knowledge is an immaterial product but of the highest liberating value. Knowledge is power — and all knowledge is situated, relational, and therefore political. It is not enough to accumulate information: knowledge must be transformed into wisdom, justice, and autonomy.

Oral, spiritual, popular, and decolonial knowledges must be valued alongside modern science. The figure of the African griot, the Asian spiritual master, and the Western popular educator exemplify plural modes of knowledge production and sharing, rooted in life, community, and ethics.

Authors such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (Africa), who advocates for decolonizing knowledge and valuing ancestral languages and knowledges; Confucius (Asia), whose philosophy emphasizes ethics, social harmony, and the importance of moral education; and Paulo Freire (West), who inspires critical pedagogy and the protagonism of the oppressed, contribute to grounding this integrated vision.

Thus, knowledge ceases to be an abstract product and becomes a living process, culturally situated and committed to emancipation and social transformation, weaving African, Asian, and Western traditions into a network of wisdom that sustains life.

7. Spirituality: The Invisible Axis of All Production

Spirituality is recognized as a structuring force of existence. Far from being a religious adornment, it organizes time, confers meaning to doing, and guides production with awareness. Whether in African rituals, Eastern meditation, or Western contemplative practices, spirituality appears as an invisible soil nurturing human life.

More than belief, spirituality is a way of living in communion with the sacred, nature, and others. It is presence, rhythm, ethics, and embodied care.

8. Relationships: The Invisible Fabric of Social Production

Relationships are not just affection — they are the infrastructure of social life. The Ubuntu ethic (“I am because we are”), relational Confucianism, and notions of communal love show that the quality of human bonds is the foundation for any just society.

In times of isolation, affective consumption, and social fragmentation, rebuilding ties is a political act of regeneration. Producing is also co-inhabiting the world with respect, reciprocity, and solidarity.

9. Systemic Applications: Towards a New Economy of Life

From the seven (7) essential products of life, a new economic and civilizational architecture is envisioned. This economy of life is not measured by material efficiency but by the capacity to guarantee universal, equitable, and sustainable access to the foundations of existence.

This proposal dialogues with African, Asian, Indigenous, and critical Western knowledges. It incorporates practices such as regenerative economy, buen vivir (good living), commons management, systemic education, and ecological spirituality. Every public policy, budget, and project should be guided by a simple and radical question: are we guaranteeing the seven (7) essential products of life for all?

10. Conclusion: To Produce is to Care, Protect, and Love

Producing, in this new paradigm, ceases to be a fragmented and utilitarian action. It becomes a sacred, relational gesture committed to the continuity of life. The seven (7) essential products are not commodities — they are expressions of human dignity and the ontological conditions for life to flourish with meaning and fullness.

Governing these products justly is more than managing an economy: it is sustaining a worldview. A vision in which true development is that which protects, honors, and regenerates life in all its dimensions.

Because producing, ultimately, is loving.

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