Antonio
Cesar Perri de Carvalho:
"At the Brazilian
Spiritist Federation, we
will re-launch
an old
campaign: 'Begin from
the beginning' or in
other words, the works
of Allan Kardec"
Based in
the Brazilian capital,
Brasilia, Cesar Perri
has been
preparing for
his new challenge as the
coordinator of the
Brazilian Spiritist
Movement
(Part 2
and final)
|
Antonio Cesar Perri de
Carvalho (photo),
president of the
Brazilian Spiritist
Federation (FEB), was
born in Araçatuba (São
Paulo state) and lives
in Brasilia. He has a
long history in the
Spiritist Movement, from
his days as the founder
of the Youth Movement in
his hometown to his post
as mimer of the
Executive Board
of the
International Spiritist
|
Council (CEI).
|
In this interview, whose
first part was published
in our last edition,
Cesar Perri talks about
the challenges he has
just begun facing in
Brazil, including the
publication of
controversial books
written through
automatic writing, or
psychography:
The works written by the
Spirit, André Luiz, and,
most of all those signed
by the Spirit, Emmanuel,
have been rejected by
some segments of the
Spiritist Movement. What
is your opinion about
that?
We need to respect such
trends, as well as the
right to different
opinions, but I have
profound admiration for
the two spiritual
authors. I rate Emmanuel
as the best commentator
of the New Testament. He
has nine books published
– five of them by the
Brazilian Spiritist
Federation (FEB) – with
analysis and comments of
the New Testament in the
light of Spiritism. His
historic novels, such as
Paul and Stephen and
Renuncia are of huge
value, bringing up facts
and dates that are being
researched by fellow
Spiritists. His
description of Paris in
the XVII and XVIII
centuries, as described
in Renuncia, match
records from the time.
How could the great
medium, Chico Xavier,
who only attended
primary schools and
lived in a small
Brazilian town in the
1930’s and 40’s, without
any access to other
sources of information,
would know all that?
Emmanuel left us
stupendous literature.
As for André Luiz, not
only he provides great
detail about the links
between the material and
immaterial worlds in all
their dimensions. His
books, from the first
one, Nosso Lar – Our
Home, bring us
scientific and
technological
information ahead of his
time. Much of the
technology he mentions
in his books, written in
the 1930’s and 40’s,
would only be develop on
earth from the 1950’s. I
have profound admiration
for the work of André
Luiz and Emmanuel and I
am able to set a clear
link with the work of
Allan Kardec, which is
the most important
point.
Can you identify in
the work of the early
Christians disseminating
the Gospel through the
foundation of “churches”
and the letters of Paul
of Tarsus an organized
movement for the arrival
of Spiritism nearly two
thousand years later?
The work of the early
Christian is indeed an
inspiration to all
Spiritists. You need to
put it in perspective,
but there are parallels
between the movement of
the early Christians and
that of Spiritists. The
Teachings were given to
us just over 150 years
ago, and that is a very
short period of time.
Spiritism is described
as Reborn Christianity
and the Promised
Consoler, which would
reestablish the truth
and add other teachings.
Paul of Tarsus travelled
around, visited many
people interested in the
teachings of Christ,
provided advice to them
and worked with
mediumship. In his
letter to the
Corinthians, he talks
about the need of “order
in the service”. That is
very similar to the
advice given to
mediumship groups, that
you need discipline.
When his mission was
coming to an end and he
realized he would not be
able to visit everyone,
Paul was inspired by the
Spirit, Stephen, to do
minutes of the letters.
In other words, he
encouraged direct
contacted but
acknowledged there were
long distances to
travel. We see in that
much of what we do now
with Spiritism. His main
aim was to give support
and guidance to the
first Spiritist groups,
including on how to be
charitable, in the true
meaning of the word.
There was great
solidarity amongst those
Christians, in the same
way we find in the
Spiritist Movement, with
a crucial difference:
there was no hierarchy
in those days. No
organization was above
any other one. That came
much later. That is why
it is so important to
look back at the life of
the early Christians,
reflect and learn in
order to guide the
Spiritist Movement of
our days.
Allan Kardec says in
item 334, chapter XXIX,
of The Mediums’ Book,
that the formation of a
great Spiritist Family
would one day gather men
and opinion around one
single feeling:
fraternity. Would Allan
Kardec be referring here
to an eventual
unification of the
Spiritist Movement
through institutions
such as FEB and the
International Spiritist
Council?
Allan Kardec worked on
that idea of unification
and talked about its
pillars, which is the
common link through
fraternity. But we also
notice that in his
Posthumous Works he
provides guidance about
how those institutions
should work. He
recommends the creation
of a committee, not
built around one person,
and I believe that idea
was the basis of the
model we have now. I
notice the presidential
approach that we have in
Brazil and in Brazilian
Spiritist groups often
leads to an
authoritarian approach.
Allan Kardec suggests
the main decisions be
taken by a collegiate, a
group, that ideas be
discussed and debate
before their
implementation. And that
is what I have been
doing at FEB since I
took over as interim
president in May 2012.
We all profit from that
experience, which makes
decision-making easier
and avoid the
predominance of
individual opinions over
the collective.
What are the main
challenges ahead for the
Brazilian Spiritist
Movement?
We are facing many
challenges. Attempting
to disseminate Spiritism
and remain faithful to
its message is a great
challenge. Allan Kardec
warned us several times
that there would always
be a natural tendency to
over-value individuals.
In the introduction of
The Gospel According to
Spiritism, he explains
why he preferred not to
mention the names of the
mediums alongside the
messages. There was only
the name of the Spirits,
the city where the
message was received and
the date. For Kardec,
the message was more
important than the
medium. And
unfortunately that is
not what we see these
days. People want to
know the name of the
medium who wrote the
message before reading
the message. The great
challenge is to look for
and value messages that
are harmonious with the
principles of Spiritism
and the works of Kardec,
rather than glorifying
such or such medium.
It is clear that the
model of the Spiritist
Movement in Brazil –
with the federation of
each state represented –
was conceived by
superior minds, higher
Spirits. But it is
inevitable that, as the
Movement spreads, the
message gets distorted,
and many Spiritist
Groups begin to resent
the role of the central
bodies. What do you
intend to do in order to
get the Brazilian
Spiritist Federation
closer to the Spiritist
Centres across the
country?
I will go back to an
early experience of mine
in the Spiritist
Movement. I was very
young when I became the
president of the União
Municipal Espírita of
Araçatuba, in São Paulo
state – the union
representing Spiritist
Groups in the town.
There were difficult
issues at the time, as
the unification of
Spiritism (the Golden
Pact, of 1949) was only
20 years old. Spiritist
leaderships were still
confused about what role
the unifying body would
have. Many feared it
would control and watch
us closely. When I took
over, the meetings dealt
only with administrative
matters. I changed that
and opened up the debate
to new proposals and
ideas. We began meeting
every time at a
different Spiritist
Group in the town,
getting everyone
involved. That is the
idea I still follow, in
a scenario of much
bigger proportions now.
I have been trying to
maximise the time of our
meetings to discuss
issues concerning the
development of Spiritism.
We cannot forget that
Jesus was always close
to the poor and those
who suffered. To those
in need, He gave the
best evidence of his
immense love.
Considering that and the
fact that there is so
much hope and
expectation concerning
FEB, what are your plans
to get closer to those
who lack the education
and the financial
resources, after all
they represent such a
great part of the
Brazilian population?
That is a concern we all
have and for which we
are looking for a
practical solution.
Three years ago, I began
a project called “interiorisation”.
It aimed at encouraging
directors and all of
those closely involved
with the management of
FEB to pair up with one
of the federations in
any Brazilian states and
go to the interior, to
small towns. That is how
I got to visit two small
towns in the Amazon. To
reach one of them I
travelled by boat for
two hours. One of the
Spiritist Groups I went
to had no access to
electric light. For the
special occasion, they
lit up a bonfire. They
usually use candles at
their meetings.
I had other ideas and
projects after that, but
I came to realise that
they were not realistic,
as they were costly and
bureaucratic, albeit
well meaning.
I then began to work on
a project to give
shelter to the homeless
and the poor and to back
up Spiritist Centres in
poor areas of the
country, with limited
resources, to carry out
those actions. We are
moving forward with that
project. The campaign
has a brilliant poster,
designed by a fellow
Spiritist. It shows a
little ant and makes
reference to a message
by Fenelon in The Gospel
According to Spiritism:
“Aren’t those little
animals (the ants)
strong enough to lift
the soil?” The message
here is to praise
humble, persistent,
collective work. And
that is the message we
need to get across.
Your final thoughts…
I encourage fellow
Spiritists to make the
most of these phase of
our planet. We are going
through a period, in the
words of Emmanuel, of
checking our values.
This is a very sensitive
and difficult moment, as
we have to face the
consequences of our past
mistakes as individuals
and as groups. As for
the Spiritist Movment,
it is very important to
bear in mind that our
work must be centred on
union, agreement and
benevolence to one
another. Those are the
feelings and principles
that we must have guide
us in our work with the
Spiritist Movement and
in life in general.