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Ademar Faria Junior (photo),
from the Brazilian state
of Espírito Santo, is a
Spiritist speaker and
writer. He became a
Spiritist in 1985 and is
now the vice-president
of a home for the
elderly and a children’s
home in the city of
Linhares. Ademar Faria
Junior is the author of
three books, including
one about dreams, the
main theme of this
interview:
Why a book about
dreams?
I was preparing a series
of speeches about the
theme of “miracles” –
the subject of one of my
books – and was focusing
on cases of
resurrections and
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lethargy, or
apparent death,
I noticed there
was great
interest on the
part of many
people. People
were
particularly
interested in
the analogy I
made between
resurrections
and the
emancipation or
liberation of
the soul, as
mentioned in the
books of Allan
Kardec. At the
end of every
public meeting,
of every speech
or lecture, I
noticed most
questions were
about sleep,
dreams and
nightmares. I
decided then to
carry out
further research
on that
particular theme
and the result
is this book. |
How did you direct your
research?
I began by researching
on the Spiritist
literature – the Kardec
books first – and then
began to look into
technical books that
focused on sleep
patterns, dreams etc. In
a later stage, I
interviewed people who
had vivid memories of
their dreams.
Do you get many people
getting in touch and
asking questions? What
are the main doubts and
questions?
Yes, many, many people
continue to get in
touch, willing to share
the accounts of their
dreams or nightmares.
They are usually
interested in
interpreting their
dreams, trying to find a
meaning to those vivid
images. But as I always
point out it is
impossible to do a
totally reliable
interpretation of
dreams, as they are
subjective messages and
are also influenced by a
number of psychological,
physiological and
spiritual factors.
Have you followed up on
the approach taken by
The Spirits’ Book?
Absolutely! There isn’t
a final word on that
subject. Great sums have
been invested in the
technology of sleep
labs, on the main
research centres. The
hypothesis put forward
in The Spirits’ Book
has allowed us to
broaden the perspective
and assess the issue of
dreams through a point
of view until then
ignored or dismissed:
the images received by
the Spirit in the
Spiritual World may be
the explanation, or an
explanation, for our
dreams and nightmares.
The traditional view is
that dreams and
nightmares are events of
a physiological or
psychological nature
only.
Do you keep getting many
reports of experiences
by people who read your
books or see you speak?
That happens very often
in our public meetings.
People come to me and
tell me what their
dreams are. Many use
email to share their
experiences. The book
has a whole chapter
dedicated to the most
common questions and
answers.
What are your thoughts
based on all those
accounts?
I’ve come to realise
that even though all
human beings, or rather,
all mammals, have
dreams, no one is really
sure of how it happens;
no one is really sure
when dreams will come.
There is no real
knowledge of how
dreaming takes place.
In your speeches and
seminars on that
subject, what techniques
do you use to grab the
public’s attention and
to rise their
interesting in reading
and learning about
Spiritism?
I like to interact with
the public. I prefer to
get close to the public,
to use simpler, more
accessible language and
to explain as clearly as
possible each aspect of
the lecture. In some
cases I also make use of
a multimedia projector.
Is there anything else
you’d like to add?
One of aims of the book
is informing the readers
about the mechanisms of
dreaming, but I would
say the overall goal is
really to let people
know that we have the
opportunity of using our
sleeping time to achieve
remarkable intellectual
and moral improvement.
We should make the most
of this opportunity, of
this period of time when
our Spirit is not
subject to the usual
constraints of our
material body. And we
should really aim at
reaching places of work
and learning in the
Spiritual World during
our sleep.
What are your final
thoughts?
I would just like to
thank the readers of
O Consolador for the
opportunity of present
my points of view and
considerations on such
an amazing subject.
Note:
Ademar Faria Junior
addressed this subject
during a speech at the
Sociedade Colatinense de
Estudos Espíritas on
January 9th
2011. To watch it, click
on
http://amigoespirita.ning.com/video/sonhos-realidade-ou-fantasia?xg_source=activity.
