Читать книгу Kardec's Spiritism: A Home for Healing and Spiritual Evolution - Emma Inc. Bragdon - Страница 5

In the Spring of 2001 I visited a Kardecist Spiritist Center, called the Casa de Dom Inacio, in Abadiania, Brazil. It was my first experience of "Kardecismo"a spiritual community center patterned after life principles compiled by Allan Kardec (1804 -1869), from channeled teachings. His books are written to help us live by principles that accelerate personal spiritual evolution and healing.

David Hess, an anthropologist, professor, and author, wrote two books^l about Kardec's Spiritism. He sums it up this way: Kardec's doctrine includes beliefs that we associate with esoteric traditions (the astral body, vital fluids, and spirit communication through mediums), East Indian philosophy (reincarnation and karma), reformed Protestant theology (the interpretation of heaven and hell as psychological states), Catholicism (emphasizing spiritual hierarchies who gain position through their stage of spiritual purity), social reformism (emphasizing equality, progress, freedom of thought and education); as well as modern science (parapsychology, metaphysics, the new physics, and the study of subtle energy applied to healing).

A wonderful outline of the philosophy, but Hess did not fully acknowledge the way it has been translated into action. In the following pages you will read about the effectiveness of Kardec's centers. The healing being done, charity being given, and education for life being shared, all of which suggests ways we can improve our own system for health management.

Some Centers have kept general records summarizing how many people have been helped with each service provided and what the success rate is in helping people recover from drug or alcohol addiction. A hospital administrator who teaches classes at the Brazilian Spiritist Federation in San Paulo claims they have a 95% success rate in helping addicts recover from dependency on drugs or alcohol². When you read about Centro in Chapter Seven, you will read that 87% of people attending that Center claim to receive measurable healing of physical conditions ranging from minor pain to cancer. 70% report great improvement, or a cure. This information was published in a nationally circulated Brazilian magazine, Planeta, in April, 2002³. Of course, these statistics are very meaningful and encourage anyone interested in health and healing to take a closer look at what makes Kardecismo so effective.

Approaching my first visit to a rural Kardecist Center in Brazil, the Casa de Dom Inacio in Abadiania, I expected to encounter some archaic rituals. Things that, while they may be interesting, could also be difficult for a Westerner to identify with. Since I don't speak fluent Portuguese, I also expected I would have some difficulty in understanding what I was seeing.

What I saw was clear and simple. It also amazed me-this center is not only addressing the universal needs of today, it is more successful, in many ways, than the resources for health management we have in the "first world." People were healing from cancer and AIDS as well as from psychological diseases, like schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder-illnesses that modern mainstream medicine is not always capable of curing⁴. In addition, the consultations and surgeries that resulted in this healing at the Casa are free. The treatments are, for the most part, non-invasive, pain-free and generate no infection. While not every individual experiences a full remission of symptoms (perhaps because their degenerative disease is too far progressed), most visitors have profound spiritual experiences. That means, they have what can only be described as an experience of communion with Powers, such as God or angels, that brings comfort and peace of mind.

After publishing "Spiritual Alliances: Discovering the Roots of Health at the Casa de Dom Inacio" to document the work of John of God, I continued to visit Brazil, exploring other centers, and meeting more people who have been healed.

In October, 2003, I met Beth, a lawyer from Brasilia. She had been fully healed of two medical problems at a Spiritist center in Palmelo. I was especially impressed by her story of cure from ovarian cancer. The healing took one week of rest and seclusion in an inn, where she was from time to time given spiritual healing by visiting mediums. Her brother, unable to function in normal life, diagnosed in his twenties as schizophrenic, also came for treatment to the same center. Now, more than twenty years have gone by. Since being treated this man has no psychotic symptoms, maintains a healthy, stable, intimate relationship with his wife, enjoys sharing parenting their children, and works fulltime. These kinds of healings rarely occur in the USA.