Espiritismo

Espiritism

Last night I was invited to go to a Spritism (Espiritism)  Meeting! Spritism is a common religion in Brazil, it is a unique mix of catholicism (where they celebrate the common catholicism holidays) Buddism with meditation and personal and spiritual growth, they believe in reincarnation, karma, and yin and yang ideals. A usual meeting consists of people coming together and reading the book called " o evangelho segundo espiritismo" by Allan kardec which was written by people who have "the gift" which is the ability to talk to the spirits and they wrote this book which is a guide of how to grow spiritually. Their goal is through out their lives (reincarnation) your soul grows and learns and you have spiritual growth. They really focus on your mind, state of mind, way of thinking, and ultimately a way of doing and living. They believe that mental illnesses are when your mind is not in the correct natural place and they work to get there (mental illnesses like depression, obsession, fear, sadness, etc.) It is a very beautiful religion, they are focused on happiness, balance, patience, and self-growth and continuous learning and improvement. The religion also promotes knowledge and not taking anything with out questioning it (like Aristotle ideals).

So the meeting starts usually with everyone sitting around a table with a white table cloth, in the center there were two books the " o evangelho segundo espiritismo" by Allan kardec  and the "otimismo todo dia" also a pitcher or water is placed in the center of the table with little plastic cups for all the people sitting around the table. In the meeting I attended last night there were 6 people, 5 women and 1 man. The leader of the meeting was a woman in her 40s who has experience with the religion and has studied the practice of being a Median. In Brazil it is called "mediana" and the study  is called "medianismo" (or something like that) The study is for people who have the gift and want to practice and strengthen it and become closer with the spirits in order to help more people. The spiritualists believe that those who have the gift received it for free, so it is their duty to use it and help others for free as well. The leader turned on some soft relaxing music and lead the rest of the members in a prayer in portuguese, I am not sure what they said but I understood different words like help, strength, thankfulness, and spirits so I think they were thanking the spirits for their lives and family and asking for help in hope to be better people (but I am not 100% sure). Next a member in the group picked up the" o evangelho segundo espiritismo" by Allan kardec book and opened it to the page where they left off. In each meeting they read from this book and then discuss what it says. In the passage they read yesterday the book was teaching that the gifts are spread all over the world so that way people all over the world will have access to medians and can help themselves with spiritual growth. It also talked about how knowledge is important to understanding people and sharing ideas, but you need to alway be critical to what you read and hear, always do your own research and form your own opinion. The people in the meeting discussed these ideas for a while then continued to read. They read for about a half hour and discussed in between. During one of these discussions I asked the leader about Deja vu, and how they explain that phenomenon in their religion and she said that Deja vu is a mix of mental and spiritual encounters. The feeling of Deja vu can mean you were in that place in a past life (a very strong recessive memory of another life) or it can be you feeling familiar with a place you have been in your future or in your dreams.  After reading the passages and discussing them, the group asked me to do the honor of reading a passage from the "optimismo todo dia" book. What you do is hold the book and ask for happiness for the week and ask for a passage that will help you with something you need help with for the week. Also while these passages are being read, the water on the table is being purified by the spirits in the room and the good energies are channeled into the water and after the meeting all the members drink the water which gives you properties of things you are missing for the week ahead (for example to be calm and relax and making good decisions, or to be patient with your children, or what ever it is you are missing) So I took the little book and held it in my hands, and asked for a passage that would help me in the week to come and then opened the book to passage 62, I read it out loud in Portuguese and from what understand about the passage it was saying that sometimes you can get overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety and nervousness and it is important to get your mind back into a better state, to calm down, and then optimism will come and you will live a more relaxing and fulfilling life of peacefulness in your mind. I really liked the passage, I feel like it was good advice for what I am experiencing right now. Then were discussed the passage and moved on to the median part of the meeting. The leader of the meeting lead another prayer and then turned the lights down. Then she started to say different things in portuguese, I could  not really understand everything she was saying because she was speaking in portuguese really fast, but she was calling to the spirits to give us advice about how to continue to grow, and she made contact with a man who reaffirmed what I read in the passage and said that is something we all need to work on, being more calm and tranquil and basically "don't sweat the small stuff" and you will have a happier life. Then the leader said another prayer and we kind of meditated in the dark for a while then said another closing prayer and drank the purified water which has all the things you are missing and need for the week in order to keep growing spiritually. Then all the people in the meeting stay and talk and discuss life, and they serve traditional Brazilian breakfast food, with desserts. There was fresh baked bread, with home made jams (strawberry and banana) ham and cheese, brazilian carrot cake with chocolate frosting, coconut cookies, peanut cookies, honey bread, coffee, and  juice. The experience was AWESOME! I am going to try and find the two books in english so I can read them and understand more of the ideas and morals and value in the religion. I feel like the religion is similar to a "self-help" or growth book in the United States with more of a spiritual influence that connects you to the earth and spirits and energy and things like that, which I already believed in (I just didn't know there was a religion that believed in those things as well). I think that there are a lot of people in the United States who actually practice some parts of the Espiritism religion, they just don't realize that it is an organized religion (well organized in the sense that were is a book, rituals, and common beliefs; its not organized like the catholic religion where money is spent on priests and churches, in Espiritism no one asks you for money to support the church, it is all a personal choice to participate and to take the religion as far as you want to take it into your life).