an interesting dialogue
– Ah, você é Espírita? Que legal. Frequenta algum centro?
– Sim, frequento um perto da minha casa.
– E o que vocês fazem lá?
– Ah, a gente assiste palestra sobre o Evangelho, depois toma passe… Aí a gente faz algumas preces, e vai embora. Tem também a evangelização infantil.
– Aaah… Então é tipo uma igreja católica.
– Não! Porque o Espiritismo não tem ritual.
- Huh?! But it's just the same. At church, you arrive, there was a sermon on the Gospel, then you receive the host, then you pray, and you leave. Children participate in catechism.
– Não, mas…
- Admit it, it's the same. Even evangelization, which I know has a positive aspect, is done in this kind of imposing way, isn't it? But what surprises me is that I've already studied a little of Spiritism, but I've never attended a center... And, from what I've studied, there wasn't any of that in Spiritism. For example: do you evoke Spirits to help them?
– Não, não pode evocar Espíritos, porque você pode terminar obsedado.
– Nossa! Quem te disse isso?
– Ué?! Todo mundo do centro! A própria FEB diz isso!
– Ah, a FEB… Mas… Se o próprio Kardec evocava Espíritos para aprender com eles, Espíritos até de suicidas, e muitas vezes terminava ajudando-os a refletir?!
– Ah, but that was in a controlled group, and these Spirits were already calmer. And it was Kardec.
– It wasn't what I read. And it wasn't just Kardec who evoked. Did you know that, at that time, people practiced studies, with evocations even of disturbed spirits, in their homes, in small groups?
– Nossa, e eles não ficavam obsedados, se sentindo mal, por esses Espíritos inferiores?
– Look, we are all inferior in relation to the most advanced spirits. And no, they weren't obsessed or sick. In fact, they often helped these Spirits while learning from them.
There is an evocation, for example, of this suicide, which was just a few days after his death, and he appeared to be in full disarray. Kardec asked some questions, trying to understand what was going on with that Spirit, and with these questions, he understood something. Then he asked for prayers and said goodbye, because he didn't want to talk anymore. I agree that seriousness and control are needed, but Kardec never mentioned any of the mediums becoming obsessed while trying to learn, with the analysis of the situation of Spirits like this, and even murderers!
– Assassinos?!
- Yes! There is an evocation of Assassin Lemaire, look for it in the Spiritist Magazine of 1858, it is very interesting.
– E você disse que evocavam DIAS após a morte?
– Sim. Algumas vezes, horas depois!
– Hours?! But I've always heard that, in addition to not being able to evoke, you have to wait patiently for that Spirit to gain the light and come to communicate of its own accord.
- This is not true. It all depends on the purpose. As the intention was to analyze these Spirits psychologically, there was no problem. Furthermore, it is clear that they respected the will of the Spirits. Many times they did not want to talk about their sufferings. There is another problem there: Kardec has always shown that being available to any Spirit brings the danger of purposeless, often misleading, communications.
But then you don't do evocations in the center?
– Não. Até tem uma reunião de médiuns, mas é fechada para o público.
– Ah, natural. Mas lá eles evocam, então, para aprender e ajudar?
- No no. They are available to any spirit that wants to communicate. These days, they received communication from the Apostle John!
– How do they know it was John, and not another? Did they later question the guiding Spirit of the group?
– Spirit guide? No, the Spirit SAID that he was John the apostle and spoke of Jesus and the need for much prayer because the deadline is coming.
– Ah… Mas… E se esse Espírito estivesse usando o nome do apóstolo e palavras bonitas para passar ensinamentos errados?
– Ah, mas…
– E em casa, vocês praticam o Espiritismo?
– Como assim, praticar?
– Estudar, evocar Espíritos para fins de aprendizado com a análise das situações deles…
– If we don't evoke it even in the center, do you think we're going to evoke it at home? Get out! Will a Spirit decide to stay there?
– Como assim, “ficar por lá”? Os Espíritos estão por toda parte. Com certeza tem alguns aqui agora mesmo.
– Valha-me Deus!
- Yes of course! And they are attracted by affinity of thoughts. If the evocation is done with serious intent and with knowledge, there is no problem. The wrong thing is to evoke it as a joke or lightly. If the evocator is proud, for example, a frivolous spirit can appear and say things that feed that pride. There, without studying, and willing to cultivate his own pride, the subject enters the spirit and ends up fascinated. This is the danger, but this can happen even through intuition, indirectly.
– Nossa, não sabia disso. Eu já tinha ouvido que, se evocar um Espírito perturbado, ele “cola” em você.
– Não, claro que não. Depende da intenção e do preparo. Bom, mas pelo menos existe estudo nesse centro? Tipo, estudar as obras de Kardec, a Revista Espírita…
– Spiritist Magazine? What's that? No, we study works by Chico and Divaldo, because we know that Kardec's works are outdated in many points, right?!
– Outdated? My friend, I know that there are even beautiful and correct things in these mediumistic works, but they were the result of uncontrolled communications. How, without studying Kardec, do they recommend the study of mediumistic works? Spiritism is science!
– Ciência? Não! Espiritismo é religião!
– Não era o que Kardec demonstrava. Você já leu A Gênese?
– Wow, I already took a leaf, but very difficult and, as I said, outdated! Imagine they believed there was life on the moon!!
– But, my friend, that was part of the human science of the time. But there is the part of the spiritist science.
– Ciência Espírita?
– Yes, what was developed by the methodological study of Kardec, with the use of reason and with the need for universal confirmation of the teachings of the Spirits. But then, if there is a group of mediums in the house, how did it form?
– Ah, eles são médiuns bem antigos da casa, e o grupo é fechado.
– Mas e a mediunidade das outras pessoas?
– Ah, se aparecer algum médium “bom” por lá, ele tem que passar por um curso de 5 anos de Espiritismo!
– Mas que curso, se não estudam Kardec?
– Não, aí, lá, tem umas cartilhas da FEB, onde aborda Kardec…
– Pelo menos alguma coisa!
– And then there is the complement with mediumistic works. Have you seen the works of Ramatis, about mediumship??
– Meu Deus…
– Quê?
– Amigo, Ramatis é um pseudossábio.
– Pseudo o que?
– It means that he pretends to be a wise man, but there are several absurdities in these works. We don't even know, in fact, if it's just a Spirit, because anyone can use that name.
– Mas eu já vi algumas coisas dele, pareciam coerentes
– Consistent? Well, being a Spirit, it is clear that something or other will be true... But the problem is that they accept what this or these Spirits say without even reasoning! These works are mystic, not doctrinal.
– How are they not doctrinal? The same thing he says, many others also say. It's not that?
- Not only that. It is necessary to submit this to reason, which demands knowledge. What is already established by this process can only be undone by the same process, that is, it is not enough to say the same thing everywhere, when there is no control, no method, no rationality. For example: Ramatis talks about seven spiritual bodies, which is mystical – you know those things about biblical, kabbalistic numbers? Then!
Kardec has already demonstrated, through studies with the Spirits and in a scientific way, that what exists is the perispirit, formed by the universal cosmic fluid. Just that. This story of seven bodies, after all, is materialistic.
– Friend, I don’t understand anything anymore! You mean everything I've been told is wrong?
– Not all, but most of it. When Spiritism was disseminated in Brazil, the Spiritist Movement was already worn out and weakened, due to an adulteration of principles after Kardec's death.
Well, the question is this: do you want to study, or are you comfortable with what you experience in this center?
– Ah, eu me sinto bem, e é tão difícil tentar entender Kardec!
– Really, there are things difficult to understand in Kardec. But the dedicated study of the Spiritist Magazine, from 1858 to 1864, helps to understand a lot! Also, there are many study groups, and I myself participate in one. But, you see, these are study groups. There is no professor, nor is it a course.
Give it a chance, study it, and your reason will lead you, with the intuition of good spirits, along the path that best suits you.
– É… Vou pensar…
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I didn't want to title this text. We don't need to give exhaustive names. It is enough that we understand the distance that exists between the Spiritist Movement and Spiritism. This distance needs to be overcome through dialogue, through facts, but only by those open to dialogue and learning. It's no use fighting the recalcitrant.