As I said before, Allan Kardec's books were well accepted in Brazil's society, but another man made Spiritism the one of the most popular religions in that country. His name is Francisco Candido Xavier.
Chico Xavier, born Francisco Cândido Xavier (April 2, 1910 - June 30, 2002) was a popular medium in Brazil´s spiritism movement who wrote numerous books, ostensibly using a process known as "psychography".
He was born in the city of Pedro Leopoldo, State of Minas Gerais and is popularly known as "Chico Xavier" (Chico is the Brazilian nickname for Francisco). His hand was said to be guided by spirits that wanted to leave a written message, or sometimes entire books. Xavier's spiritual guide was called Emmanuel.
Some of his books are considered by Brazilian spiritist followers to be fundamental for the comprehension of the practical and theoretical aspects of Allan Kardec's doctrine. As reported by Xavier, his spiritual guide Emmanuel specifically warned him that if any teaching seemed to be in contradiction with Jesus Christ's or Allan Kardec's teachings, that he should stay with Jesus Christ and Allan Kardec. Xavier believed that the message of Spiritism belonged to the world. He often stressed the point that none of the abilities attributed to him were really his, but that he was only a channel for the work of the spirits; that he was not able to produce any miracle, such as healing people, and he could not contact someone that was dead, unless that person was willing to be contacted.
His appearances on TV talk shows in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped to establish Kardecist Spiritism as one of the religions professed in Brazil. Xavier's popularity remained unchanged in Brazil throughout his life. Despite his health problems (general weakness as a consequence of old age), he kept working up to his death, on June 30, 2002 in Uberaba.
Chico Xavier wrote more than 400 books inspired by spirits in a wide range of subjects, and in several different literature styles. Poems, novels, scientific work, and more.
He became an icon in Brazil's Spirituality and History.
Peace!
quinta-feira, 15 de julho de 2010
quarta-feira, 9 de dezembro de 2009
Spiritism
Let me explain about Spiritism.
Once upon a time, there was this man called Hyppolyte Leon Denizard Rivail, an educator and professor in France, who was invited to research about spirit-tapping phenomena. In the mid eighteenth century, communication with spirits was fashionable. At any social gathering, you could see someone receiving messages from the dead just for entertainment purposes. Mr. Rivail, who was raised as Catholic and absolutely skeptical about the seances, accepted the offer to research those phenomenas. However, despite his skepticism, he ended up not only believing those communications were true, but also compiled his research in five books that became the foundation of the new religion.
Mr. Rivail traveled the world visiting mediums of all ages and social status. In the seances, he would make questions and the spirits would answer his questions through the medium. What he came to realize was that the answers were the same wherever he was, even in different parts of the world. That could only mean they were genuinely coming from spirits.
The five books: The Spiritist Book, The Mediums Book, Gospel According to Spiritism, Genesis and Heaven and Hell became the basis of a new philosophy, and Mr. Rivail named it "Spiritism", because "new ideas deserve new names". He published those five books under the pseudonym Allan Kardec to differentiate them from his previous work as an educator. Allan Kardec, he came to find out, was in fact his own name in a previous life.
Basically, those books teach us about Life and Death, where we came from, where we are going to, the purpose of life on Earth, our mission here, God, Jesus, Reincarnation and much more. Science is extremely validated in his whole work.
Those books became popular in Europe, except in England, because the English elite refused to accept we could be born again in a less privileged condition, for example that a white and rich man could be born again as a slave, and vice-versa. However, his books continued to sell in Europe and finally came to Brazil, where they were very well accepted in the high society. What happens next, I will tell in my next post.
Peace!
Once upon a time, there was this man called Hyppolyte Leon Denizard Rivail, an educator and professor in France, who was invited to research about spirit-tapping phenomena. In the mid eighteenth century, communication with spirits was fashionable. At any social gathering, you could see someone receiving messages from the dead just for entertainment purposes. Mr. Rivail, who was raised as Catholic and absolutely skeptical about the seances, accepted the offer to research those phenomenas. However, despite his skepticism, he ended up not only believing those communications were true, but also compiled his research in five books that became the foundation of the new religion.
Mr. Rivail traveled the world visiting mediums of all ages and social status. In the seances, he would make questions and the spirits would answer his questions through the medium. What he came to realize was that the answers were the same wherever he was, even in different parts of the world. That could only mean they were genuinely coming from spirits.
The five books: The Spiritist Book, The Mediums Book, Gospel According to Spiritism, Genesis and Heaven and Hell became the basis of a new philosophy, and Mr. Rivail named it "Spiritism", because "new ideas deserve new names". He published those five books under the pseudonym Allan Kardec to differentiate them from his previous work as an educator. Allan Kardec, he came to find out, was in fact his own name in a previous life.
Basically, those books teach us about Life and Death, where we came from, where we are going to, the purpose of life on Earth, our mission here, God, Jesus, Reincarnation and much more. Science is extremely validated in his whole work.
Those books became popular in Europe, except in England, because the English elite refused to accept we could be born again in a less privileged condition, for example that a white and rich man could be born again as a slave, and vice-versa. However, his books continued to sell in Europe and finally came to Brazil, where they were very well accepted in the high society. What happens next, I will tell in my next post.
Peace!
quinta-feira, 5 de novembro de 2009
About me
I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 2nd 1968, on a Tuesday, at 1 pm, right after a summer storm. My mother didn't make it to the hospital, so she delivered me with the help of a mid-wife, a fat and old lady from the neighborhood.
My mother has been a Catholic and my father was a Jehovah Witness. How did that happen? My father converted to JW after marriage, and my mother, although respectful to his choice, refused to give up on her belief on saints and Mother Mary. My father, also respectful, accepted the fact she wouldn't change her mind. I am extremely grateful for having such loving parents who did not allow their personal spiritual choices disrupt their marriage. They lived happily together for 52 years.
So, I was raised by a Catholic mother and a Jehovah Witness father, and I really got the best of the two of them. I learned from my mother about faith and acceptance, and I learned from my father the teachings of the scriptures. However, maybe because of the ambiguity there, I grew up with a lot of questions. I remember praying to God when I was a teenager and asking Him to show me the right path, because Catholicism and JW were not quite satisfying to me at that time. I had my mother and my father as teachers, but at young age, I had my own way of seeing things in a way that I couldn't explain in words at that time. I could only feel it, sense it, and be anxious about it.
In a search for the right path, I went to Buddhism meetings for a while, and I went to Christian meetings for a while (called Evangelica in Brazil). In the meantime, I was baptized catholic at age 16, and I married in a Catholic church. I couldn't quite quit Catholicism, probably out of guilt.
But after one year of marriage, my daughter was 1 year old, a phenomena happened that changed my life. My baby started to see things that we couldn't see. She was just a baby, but she could see and point with her finger to something or someone invisible to the rest of us. She used to be scared to the point she did scream and cry a lot. It was so disturbing that we couldn't sleep at night. People told me to take her to a Spiritist Center, and I immediately refused the idea. However, I could not see my baby suffering every night like that, pointing and screaming... That used to give me goose bumps. Rather reluctantly, we decided to take her to one place we knew that could (apparently) help her.
The first seance was scary! I was extremely fearful about those things, spirits that could come and haunt us... that was kinda crazy. Although spiritism and the communication with spirits in general is well accepted and practiced in Brazil, I was still afraid and with my heart full of pre-judgments.
What happened next was very surprising though! The second seance we went with my baby, the spirit that was disturbing her was helped and taken to the right place in the spiritual realm. I came to learn that sometimes spirits can be lost and they get attached to others with no intention of doing any harm. That spirit, who was a relative of mine who had passed away months earlier, was still confused and lost, and thankfully to that humble place, he was helped and taken care of. After that, my baby never saw spirits again, and we all had peace in our house from that day on.
I could not just ignore what happened to all of us. I felt I should give all that some thought. I came to realize that there is a place where we can go and deal with the unknown. I came to realize that there is a lot I could learn and maybe have a lot of my questions answered. That was when I started to read about Spiritism and it didn't take long for me to join a Spiritist Center for study.
I will talk about it some more, but I just want to add that Spiritism is not only a religion, but it is science and philosophy altogether. It is a lesson of Love and Forgiveness.
I am happy with its teachings.
Peace!
My mother has been a Catholic and my father was a Jehovah Witness. How did that happen? My father converted to JW after marriage, and my mother, although respectful to his choice, refused to give up on her belief on saints and Mother Mary. My father, also respectful, accepted the fact she wouldn't change her mind. I am extremely grateful for having such loving parents who did not allow their personal spiritual choices disrupt their marriage. They lived happily together for 52 years.
So, I was raised by a Catholic mother and a Jehovah Witness father, and I really got the best of the two of them. I learned from my mother about faith and acceptance, and I learned from my father the teachings of the scriptures. However, maybe because of the ambiguity there, I grew up with a lot of questions. I remember praying to God when I was a teenager and asking Him to show me the right path, because Catholicism and JW were not quite satisfying to me at that time. I had my mother and my father as teachers, but at young age, I had my own way of seeing things in a way that I couldn't explain in words at that time. I could only feel it, sense it, and be anxious about it.
In a search for the right path, I went to Buddhism meetings for a while, and I went to Christian meetings for a while (called Evangelica in Brazil). In the meantime, I was baptized catholic at age 16, and I married in a Catholic church. I couldn't quite quit Catholicism, probably out of guilt.
But after one year of marriage, my daughter was 1 year old, a phenomena happened that changed my life. My baby started to see things that we couldn't see. She was just a baby, but she could see and point with her finger to something or someone invisible to the rest of us. She used to be scared to the point she did scream and cry a lot. It was so disturbing that we couldn't sleep at night. People told me to take her to a Spiritist Center, and I immediately refused the idea. However, I could not see my baby suffering every night like that, pointing and screaming... That used to give me goose bumps. Rather reluctantly, we decided to take her to one place we knew that could (apparently) help her.
The first seance was scary! I was extremely fearful about those things, spirits that could come and haunt us... that was kinda crazy. Although spiritism and the communication with spirits in general is well accepted and practiced in Brazil, I was still afraid and with my heart full of pre-judgments.
What happened next was very surprising though! The second seance we went with my baby, the spirit that was disturbing her was helped and taken to the right place in the spiritual realm. I came to learn that sometimes spirits can be lost and they get attached to others with no intention of doing any harm. That spirit, who was a relative of mine who had passed away months earlier, was still confused and lost, and thankfully to that humble place, he was helped and taken care of. After that, my baby never saw spirits again, and we all had peace in our house from that day on.
I could not just ignore what happened to all of us. I felt I should give all that some thought. I came to realize that there is a place where we can go and deal with the unknown. I came to realize that there is a lot I could learn and maybe have a lot of my questions answered. That was when I started to read about Spiritism and it didn't take long for me to join a Spiritist Center for study.
I will talk about it some more, but I just want to add that Spiritism is not only a religion, but it is science and philosophy altogether. It is a lesson of Love and Forgiveness.
I am happy with its teachings.
Peace!
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