Rodrigo
Félix da Cruz:
“We cannot allow
Spiritism
to remain
restricted to
the Spiritist Centre”
Our
fellow Spiritist from
Brazil’s São Paulo state
talks about the use of
information technology
in the dissemination of
Spiritism
|
Rodrigo Félix da Cruz (photo),
a Spiritist since the
year 2000, is a
volunteer worker at the
Luz Espírita Spiritist
Centre, in São Paulo,
where he was born. He is
also linked to the
Internet portal Luz
Espírita (www.luzespirita.org.br),
which he helped found.
He is the author of many
published books, all of
them available for free
download from the Luz
|
Espirita portal. In this
interview, he talks
mainly about efforts and
techniques to help the
dissemination of
Spiritism: |
What is your assessment
of current effort to
disseminate Spiritism?
We are going through a
period of transition,
with the communication
coming through intuitive
mediums, who are
co-authors of the
messages, rather then
unconscious mediums. The
next stage will involve
the use of Instrumental
Transcommunication to
open up spiritual
exchange.
How does IT –
Information Technology –
can help in that
process?
IT has enabled the
dissemination of
Spiritism to the whole
world through the
Internet, which was not
possible due to
religious intolerance
and distance.
Do you think Spiritists
are still suspicious
about the use of the
latest technology
available?
The development is slow
and gradual and that is
why many Spiritists
still reject the use of
the latest technology.
They fear the new. We
cannot allow Spiritism
to remain restricted to
the Spiritist Centre.
Rather, we must
encourage the
interaction between
Spiritism and society
through Information
Technology (Internet,
cinema, TV, radio etc.)
What are the prospects
for the dissemination of
Spiritism taking into
account all the
development in
Information Technology?
Very soon we will have a
totally virtual
Spiritist Centre. The
Luz Espírita portal is a
pioneer in that work,
offering Spiritism
Courses, library, talks,
counselling and healing
online. We have also had
mediumship meetings in
video conference. I was
one of the founders of
the portal in 2008 and
later began to publish
my books on the site.
Through my work on the
portal, I have made many
friendships both on the
material and spiritual
world, especially at the
Recanto de Irmãos
community, which has
given us lots of
support.
How about your book?
What is it about?
The book, “Information
Technology in Spiritism”,
looks back at the
history of the
transmission of
knowledge and suggests
that we make use of all
the tools available to
disseminate Spiritism.
The book was published
as Brazil is in the eye
of the international
media due to the 2014
football World Cup and
the 2016 Olympics the
country will host. There
are new sites focusing
on Spiritism in Brazil,
there are new books and
films with a Spiritist
theme. Also, more and
more people in the
country are becoming
aware of the
environmental
implications of
publishing books and are
keen on reading e-books.
It all seems to show
that this is the right
moment to disseminate
the Teachings with all
the technology
available. That is the
main message of my book.
Is there anything else
you would like to add?
When I was doing my
research about the use
of IT to disseminate
Spiritism, we asked at
the Spiritist Centre I
attend – Casa Amiga do
Itaim Paulista – for
guidance from our
Spiritual Benefactors.
For everyone’s surprise,
we received a message
from Aniceto, a
well-known benefactor
from Nosso Lar, our
Home. The dialogue is
transcribed in the book.