The Brazilian Spiritist Movement is collapsing

Paulo Degering R Jr
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Look at spiritist centers: they are emptier every day. I myself could cite here, now, at least a dozen spiritist centers that are increasingly empty, struggling to keep their doors open, and you certainly know others like that. Those who are fuller, for the most part, tend to mysticism, which appeals to curiosity.

Every time a mother who lost a child comes in, looking for consolation, and receives a wrong answer, an alleged generic psychographics or even hears the thought that he went through what he went through to be rescuing past debts; every time a person hears that their family conflicts must be endured with resignation, as it is a matter of collective rescue; every time a person hears that if they don't go to the center they won't get better; each time, finally, that the MEB reinforces to the general public the very erroneous idea that the people who died in a disaster were “Nazi soldiers in their previous life, who burned Jews”, the MEB loses, to discredit, people who could be brought back to faith and hope through reason.

Not only that: the MEB also loses when dealing with charity from a purely material point of view. A bag of groceries is handed out, often under a pretty banner that reads "Distribution of the Poor" or something like that, and says "Goodbye, see you next month." It is enough for that person to find a distribution of food closer to his home, and he promptly stops “visiting” the spiritist center. The spiritist misses valuable opportunities to welcome a person and really console him, because you don't know how to do it, because he does not really know Spiritism.

In no way do I accuse anyone of acting in this way on purpose. No. Most of the time, the action is done in the most good will, believing that one is doing good. However, if of our ancestors we could say that the lack of knowledge was due to inability, even, to access knowledge, today we can no longer apologize for this, since all of Kardec's work is about two clicks away from our reach.

Kardec, in the Spiritist Magazine of 1864, expresses himself (emphasis mine):

There is no spiritist center where you have not encountered a more or less large number of these pioneers of the work, these land clearers, these indefatigable fighters who, supported by a sincere and enlightened faith, by the conscience of fulfilling a duty, do not lose heart in the face of any difficulty, considering their devotion as a debt of recognition for the moral benefits they received from Spiritism. Isn't it fair that the names of those, of which the Doctrine is honored, are lost to our descendants and that one day they will be able to inscribe them in the spiritist pantheon?

Unfortunately, at their side, sometimes, are the terrible children of the cause, the impatient ones who, not calculating the importance of their words and their actions, they can compromise it; those who, out of unreflected zeal, untimely and premature ideas, unwittingly furnish our adversaries with weapons. Then come those who, not taking from Spiritism but the surface, without being touched in the heart, give, by your own example, an false opinion of its results and of its moral tendencies.

There is, without contradiction, the biggest stumbling block that the sincere propagators of the Doctrine encounter, because they often see the work they painstakingly outlined undone by those who should support them. It is a verified fact that Spiritism is more hindered by those who misunderstand it than by those who do not understand it at all, and even by its declared enemies.; and it should be noted that those who misunderstand him generally pretend to understand him better than others; It is not rare to see novices claim, after a few months, to be superior to those who have gained for them the experience acquired by serious studies. This pretense, which betrays pride, is itself a proof of ignorance of the true principles of the Doctrine.

KARDEC, Allan. Spiritism is a Positive Science. Spiritist Magazine - Journal of Psychological Studies, Paris, v. 7, no. 11, Nov. 1864. Available at: https://kardecpedia.com.br/pt/roteiro-de-estudos/898/revista-espirita-jornal-de-estudos-psicologicos-1864/5679/novembro/o-espiritismo-e-uma-ciencia-positiva. Accessed on: 28 Apr. 2023.

In the Spiritist Journey of 1862, he expressed the following (emphasis mine):

It is necessary to know that serious Spiritism becomes the patron, with joy and haste, of all work carried out with criteria, whatever the country from which it comes, but that, equally, repudiates all eccentric publications. All spiritists who, from the heart, are vigilant so that the doctrine is not compromised, must, therefore, without hesitation, denounce them, all the more so because, if some of them are products of good faith, others are the work of Spiritism's enemies, who aim to discredit it and be able to motivate accusations against it. This is why, I repeat, it is necessary that we know how to distinguish what is accepted spiritist doctrine from what it repudiates.

KARDEC, Allan. Spiritist Journey in 1862. Translated by Wallace Leal V. Rodrigues. 4. ed. São Paulo: EDICEL, 2010.

Let's be careful, however, not to spend time in unnecessary clashes and to get stuck attacking certain figures, which would be a mistake, as we cannot judge their intentions. We must, rather, act when opportune. Clarify, whenever we can, about a wrong idea; warn of a principle that goes against the doctrine; but, above all, seeking for ourselves the fundamental knowledge, built up over the years, that allows us to do our part, in the most correct and complete way possible, that is, so that, slowly, the error born of opinion and misunderstanding gives way to what the Doctrine provides us. If, in this process, we find individuals or groups that decidedly resist knowledge, let's leave them to their fate, because time, the infallible time, will take care of clarifying them. Wrong ideas isolated and will wither when the majority opinion is supported by facts and knowledge.

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine; otherwise, these will trample you down, and those, turning against you, will tear you to pieces.” the spiritist active, by not studying, throws pearls before swine.

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