Tony dos Santos, from the Brazilian city of Limeira, in São Paulo, has been a Spiritist since the age of 27. He is an engineer, teacher and lecturer, having worked as director in schools and universities for the past 33 years. He is the president of Nuvem Mestra, a Premier partner of Google for Education in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. He gave us this interview as he prepared for his talk on the Internet and its tools at the São Paulo State Spiritist Congress.

The emergence of the Internet has made the dissemination of Spiritism a lot easier. Do you think we have used it properly? Why?

We still have a lot to do concerning the dissemination of Spiritism. Fortunately, the great names of Spiritism, such as Divaldo Franco, Haroldo Dutra Dias, Rossandro Klinjey and others, have provided the social media with material of great relevance. You cannot deny that the growth of the Internet has irretrievably transformed the development of human relations. The dissemination of Spiritism, therefore, may be done inside Spiritist Centres but we also need to use the technological resources to help us. I believe the skills of younger Spiritist workers could be better utilised, as they are very familiar with how to use the social media in their daily lives.

What can we expect in the near or long-term future?

We can expect an increase in the number of searches on Spiritism. We are all more and more deprived of knowledge and the inner reform we need access to good quality Spiritism content to achieve the inner reform we long for. Only serious and qualified Spiritist Centres are able to share that information with us. Ninety-seven percent of the planet’s information is already on the Internet. Every day, 3.538.453.522 Google searches are carried out. All the content of Spiritism will be digitalised soon. That is really impressive.

What was the gist of your talk at the recent Spiritist Congress?

We had a chat about the changes that are going on in companies, families, in the workplace and education centres. Spiritist Centres, as education centres, will have sooner or later to make the transition from analogical to digital culture. They will need to provide for the requirements of the public concerning a new way of seeking information. I will illustrate with an example. Many people who attend courses in Spiritist Centres fail at the end of the term because they miss classes. But many people have other commitments, at work for example, and need to travel. I understand that people need to show some commitment and attend the courses. But the tools available now, such as the Hangout application, enable people to follow the course while they are away. They can take part, share information and contribute, using the technological tools available at Google, for example. That should be taken into account.

Which Google tools do you advise to be used for that purpose?

The tools available are many. Distance learning is the current form of learning, without borders, with easy access and without borders. Many courses could be created with tutors, with some real time classes and others accessed on demand. We also have e-books now, digital books, which are more and more popular. There are tools that enable books to be read through hyperlinks. Another idea is to use a Google application called Form, where many authors can write books, texts etc. sharing the same document at the same time from different parts of the world. Each Spiritist Centre could also create their own Youtbue channels with Spiritist talks and debates.

With your vision and experience, what do you think we could do to raise awareness in the Spiritist Movement to the resources and tool already available?

There are 207 million people in Brazil and 208 million mobile phones. About 50% of the world’s population, including poorer countries, has mobile phone and it is estimated that by 2020 that figure will have risen to 80%. Seventy-three percent of social interactions take place on the Internet, and 87% of them are done through smartphones. If we want to be part of that transformation in human relations we will need to adapt our teaching methods. How about carrying out a big campaign in each Spiritist Centres and check who would like to work as volunteers to join the Dissemination Department and design strategies to help spread the Teachings.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

The Internet and its technological tools must be used in moderation, common sense and discretion. Before we make any verbal or written statement we must consider:

-      Is the information is in accordance with the information passed on to us by Allan Kardec?

-      Would the content be good enough to be published on the Spiritist Review?

-      Am I mentioning the principles of ethics and Christian charity?

Is there anything else you would like to add?