WHEN SPIRITISM SPEAKS

Transcription

1 THEREZINHA OLIVEIRA WHEN SPIRITISM SPEAKS TRANSLATED BY H. M. MONTEIRO CAMPINAS SP BRAZIL 2013

2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION... 7 CONCERNING SAINTHOOD... 9 What is a saint?... 9 Making Saints...11 Requirements for sainthood How was a saint identified around the 5 th century AD? So how many Catholic saints are there?...14 What happens when the saint is no longer a cultural ideal?...16 Have saints ceased to exist?...16 Saints of our time They, the saints! IN SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS...31 Does happiness exist?...31 What does it depend upon? Its instability Spiritism and human happiness Conditions that we already have SPIRITIST BOOKS AROUSE THE SOULS The Spirits Book The Spiritist Pentateuch The Mediums Book (January 1861) The Gospel According to Spiritism (April 1864)...50 Heaven and Hell (August 1865)... 50

3 Genesis (January 1868)...51 Other works by Kardec Posthumous Works (January 1890) What is Spiritism? Practical instructions on Spiritist manifestations The Spiritist Review Continuators Classification of spiritist books When is a book Spiritist? Good and bad Spiritist literature Why and how do such books appear? Is not there a Spiritist Index prohibitorum? Arousing souls TIME AND US...71 Time and account...71 The duration of life Transmission of the vital fluid...74 The account Measuring time Its value and utilization Time and the Gospel WHERE IS HUMANITY HEADING? Nature and progress How we evolve...91 Social law Intellect and morals Natural law and human law The march of progress Spiritism and progress Contributions of the Spiritists

4 Brazil and the world NOT A DEATH PENALTY, A LIFE PENALTY RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN HUMANITY The religion of our parents The many religions of the world Religiosity and religion What is religion Cultural horizons of religion What characterizes religion How religions started Totemism Animism Polytheism A religion passing through the three initial phases Monotheism Current religious panorama in the world Spiritists versus religions EXAMINING THE FESTIVE SEASON OF CARNIVAL Carnival The early Catholic Church and such festivities Why Carnival? Brazilian Carnival The Spiritist approach Carnival versus Gospel TRANSLATOR S AFTERWORD

5 INTRODUCTION The Spiritist doctrine, with its basic principles, is not merely a proposition for us to deal with philosophically, while keeping reality at bay. It offers us the possibility of examining the most varied themes of social life, seeking a practical application of what it reveals. Not putting our heads into the clouds, but instead keeping our feet on reality and clarifying without any impositions, it allows us to focus on customs and activities, in order to arrive at logical and practical conclusions, which enlighten our under standing and direct our behavior. That is what this book intends to demonstrate, by covering the following topics: what sainthood is; Spiritist literary works; how human progress occurs; the evolution of religious thought in humanity; in what true happiness consists; what time means to us, incarnate spirits; why say no to death penalty; and also, examining the festive season of Carnival. All that with no pretension other than exchanging ideas with you, reader, seeking together with you to understand in order to live. Thanks in advance for keeping me company. Now, shall we read?

6 CONCERNING SAINTHOOD WHAT IS A SAINT? A saint is someone who lives according to the divine law. It is a person with virtues, faith and spiritual powers. A familiar figure in all world religions, saints exist among Buddhists, who venerate their arahants, bodisattvas and, among the Tibetans, their lamas. The Hindus revere an amazing collection of incarnate deities and deified humans, in which they include gurus, their spiritual teachers. Muslims have their awliya Allah (friends of God), and the venerable Sufi masters. In Judaism, among the Israelites, the veneration of human beings, dead or alive, is not encouraged. However they used to have their saints: Those who took care of sacred things, of matters of faith. In popular Israelite devotion we find figures such as Abraham, Moses, varied martyrs and, even today, disincarnate rabbis and other tzaddikim (righteous individuals). It is in this sense, perhaps, that we find mentions of saints in the Gospel accounts, in which Jesus is called saint, and so is John the Baptist. And in the Book of Acts and the Epistles, often we hear about saints who ought to be listened to, respect-

7 10 WHEN SPIRITISM SPEAKS THEREZINHA OLIVEIRA ed, heeded, and helped in their needs. They must have been those who, like the apostles, gave themselves entirely to the work of practicing and spreading the Christian faith. Being helped in their needs does not mean that they lived at the expense of others; for each disciple of Jesus had a trade, like all Israelites. Several apostles were fishermen and Paul was a weaver. Therefore help was in assisting them with whatever else they needed to carry out their selfless labors in the Christian harvest field. All religions have their saints, but in Brazil, whenever one talks about saints, the Roman Catholic Church promptly comes to mind, because of its great influence and predominance all over Latin America. It would almost seem that saints are only those found on Catholic altars: Those whom the Catholic believe in and venerate, to whom they pray, plead requests, and cherish their relics as treasures, also giving their names to their own children and temples. Other churches linked to Christianity, besides the Catholic one, also have devotion to saints. Such is the case of the Russian Orthodox Church, which venerates especially its first priests and martyrs. Rarely adding new saints. When it does, those are usually from the ranks of monks or bishops. In the field of the Reformation, Protestants or Evangelicals cultivate latria, the worship due to God and Christ, whom they take as God. To the saints they give dulia, veneration, and repel the idolatry of people; so the cult of saints has disappeared from most of their churches. Yet they respect and revere the prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament. Anglicans and Lutherans still keep holy days and a calendar of saints.

8 IN SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS DOES HAPPINESS EXIST? At the movie theater entrance, the name of the movie stood out: I Want to Be Happy. It depicted the human thirst for happiness; a state of perfect joy, perfect luck, complete contentment, total satisfaction. Then I recalled poet Vicente de Carvalho, in his sonnet Velho Tema ( Old theme ), speaking bleakly to us: A slender hope at most, throughout one s life, Conceals the pain of living, nothing more; And so this brief existence led in strife, Is just a higher hope collapsed and sore. However, there are those who flaunt happiness, translated in their laughs and smiles, such as television hosts and artists. Well, maybe they only do it as a chore, to please the audience, and so have a place in the sun. As Raimundo Correia said, in Mal secreto Hidden evil ): So many people who maybe laugh with themselves, Within carry a monstrous hidden foe, Like an invisible cancerous wound! So many people who laugh, perhaps exist

9 32 WHEN SPIRITISM SPEAKS THEREZINHA OLIVEIRA Whose only joy consists In seeming joyful to others! Then happiness does not really exist? Turning back to Vicente de Carvalho, we learn: Indeed there is, however set afar, Because it s always there whereat it s placed And never placed by us whereat we are. Would happiness then be in our way of understanding and feeling? Like that boy who got the bicycle he asked for, for Christmas, but then was unhappy, seeing that it was blue and not red as he wanted... Meanwhile, a poor boy, finding a bit of dung beside his pallet, remarked happily: Santa Claus got me a little horse for Christmas. Only it s outside now, walking around. Oh, but that boy was not really happy, he was deceiving himself, as there was no real cause for him to rejoice... Could it be that happiness is just an illusion? WHAT DOES IT DEPEND UPON? There must be actual basic conditions for happiness. What are they? MATERIAL POSSESSIONS? One tells that, when a man who felt entirely happy was found, after exhaustive searches, they asked him to

10 IN SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS 33 lend his shirt, so that their king, who was sickly sad, could also feel well. But what a bewildering surprise! The happy man had no shirt... While some people say that money does not bring happiness, others inform, but it sends for it, whereas others affirm, I d rather be miserable rich. And there really are unhappy rich people, as those who do not enjoy health and, although they can buy the tastiest foods, cannot have them, when limited to restricted diets, sometimes without salt or sugar. WOULD HAPPINESS BE IN HAVING GOOD HEALTH? Being healthy certainly brings pleasant sensations, and allows us to better enjoy our bodily life. However, how many healthy people there are that feel tremendously unhappy! MAYBE HAPPINESS IS THE HERITAGE OF YOUTH, WHO KNOWS? A certain news story reported that two young college students from Paraná, Brazil, aged 21 and 19, and studying in another Brazilian state, left a letter in which they acknowledged that despite coming from wealthy families, they were dissatisfied with the lives they led. The two women were young, not poor, nor sick, and yet felt so discontented that they committed suicide.