This thought is by Rossandro Klinjey (photo), a well-known Spiritist speaker and writer. He is a psychologist with a PhD in psychoanalysis, author of the book, Temas complexos: uma abordagem didática (Complex Issues: A Step by Step Approach) and co-autor of the book, Educando para a paz (Educating for Peace).

He was a university lecturer for more than 10 years, before focusing on his role as a Spiritist speaker. He works in several areas: human resources, motivational speeches, leadership, education, interpersonal relations, emotional development, people management etc. as he explains in the following interview:

How did you become a Spiritist?

A brother of mine went to live in Russia when he was about 18. He had studied Russian in our home city of Campina Grande and was selected to live there and improve his knowledge of the language. It was difficult to communicate with him. We didn’t have a telephone and letters were still controlled by the old Soviet Union. My mother became really anxious and was eager for news. A friend of hers told her to go to a Spiritist Centre to try to get news from her son. I didn’t want to go, but she forced me to. I was only 14. I went with her but stayed outside and could hear the talk. I as touched by the power of the arguments and the lightness of the Gospel as it was presented there. And then the information came through a medium: “Your son is doing well, he had a little cold with the first snow storm and he’s a bit annoyed because the people who share the room with him have the habit of frying fish inside the room. But he’s fine and will communicate with you soon.” I thought the whole thing was absurd and didn’t make sense. A few days later a letter arrived: “Mum, I’m fine. I caught a little cold because you know how it is, the first snow storm… I’d never seen snow and wasn’t properly dressed. I’m living with some Koreans who have the awful habit of cooking fish inside the room.” Then I though, wow! It is interesting that before travelling my brother had become very angry with religiosity. When he arrived in Moscow, he wanted to read something in Portuguese and asked if a Brazilian girl who was also living there had anything. She said that the only book in Portuguese she had was The Gospel According to Spiritism. He thought initially it was something from the devil but took the book and could not put it down. When he returned to Brazil, he had become a Spiritist and me too. What really touched me was the fact that Spiritism, unlike other religions, said that what really matters is doing good deeds and becoming another person. You do not need to be a Spiritist to be saved, otherwise this would be unfair with those who did not have the opportunity to find Spiritism during this life.

How has your work as a psychologist been affected by the fact that you are a Spiritist? Have you already suffered any form of discrimination?

From a human perspective, being a Spiritist had a negative effect on my work, as many clients gave up when they found out about it. Many people warned me that I would not be successful as a motivational speaker unless I took down all the Spiritist videos I had in the internet. I said that I would never do that. From an inner perspective, Spiritism has given me a great contribution. Spiritism has enabled me to see human beings beyond their material aspects. By the way, if you compare the suffering and challenges faced in the past by the early Christians and the pioneers of the Spiritist Movement in Brazil, I would say we are now in paradise.

Rossandro, what future do you see for Spiritism in Brazil and the rest of the world?

I believe we have a huge valuable treasure, which offers answers to all human anxieties. But we have not been able to say that to everyone. We need to shout out loud, we need to let people know. As Emmanuel says, the greatest form of charity we can do in Spiritism is to help disseminate its ideas and principles, so that others can be touched in their hearts the way we have. They too need to get the consolation, the feeling of hope to prevent them from entering the current wave of despair, disillusion and nonsense. People need to know that Christ is in the helm of this ship called Earth. He is a loving governor, who is waiting for us, for our efforts towards spiritual progress and development and that understands the need that we have of going through pain in this process.

Dear friend, what are your final thoughts?

The Earth will not reach the stage of Regeneration by itself; that is a job for all of us, for each individual who lives on it. We have a personal duty to carry out the transformations, an especially being ethical in our daily lives, helping changing this country so that it can fulfil the role designated by Christ. We are meant to be the heart of the world and the land of the Gospel. We will need, therefore, to be able to welcome people here and show them the possibilities offered and you live according to the principles of the Gospel. We need to inspire other countries to build a new era, each will not focus on the amount of money we have, the ballistic power we have, but will value instead the desire each one has to love, serve and show solidarity towards one another.