The thought above is by Carla Vieira Gonçalves Abreu (photo), who is our guest this week. She is from the Brazilian capital, Brasília, where she began at the age of 13 working as a volunteer at the Grêmio Espírita Atualpa Barbosa Lima (GEABL), one of the oldest Spiritist Centres in the city. She became a Spiritist as a child and has since become an active member of that Spiritist Centre, coordinating study groups for decades now:

How important are the arts among the activities of a Spiritist Centre?

From my experience, I can say that the arts are much more than a means of communicating and expressing yourself in a Spiritist Centre. It attracts people into Spiritism and it allows everyone to be included. I see Spiritist art as a way of engaging people, especially the youngest. It was like that when I was young and to this day we never miss an opportunity to sing along, to dance, to recite poetry and to act.

Please tell us about the history of the Department of Studies of the Grêmio Espírita Atualpa Barbosa Lima.

The Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) launched in 1983 its nationwide programme to tech Spiritism, which became known as ESDE [for the Portuguese acronym of Systemised Study of the Spiritist Doctrine]. We implemented it in our Spiritist Centre in 1989. Three years later, I took over the task of overseeing our study groups and I’m still in charge of that area, with the agreement of my fellow directors and the Spiritual Benefactors who guide our efforts.

Along the years, we have created new tools and new possibilities to study and meet the demands of those who attend and work at the Spiritist Centre. In 1997, we set up a study group focusing on the works of André Luiz, the Spirit, and later we began to hold a mediums’ group too. In the same year, we felt the need to open an Art School, which would run at the same time as our study group. Most people there needed to engage our children in another activity during those hours, to keep them busy while we studied. That’s how our art group began on Saturdays, to keep the kids busy and interested.

Is there anyone in particular in your journey that you would like to mention?

To talk about my journey is to remember, as I do now, the incredible moments I have experienced since joining this blessed Spiritist Centre. I was brought up as a Catholic and found Spiritism at the age of eight, as a result of the blessed mediumistic faculties I was displaying then. For absolute lack of information on that, I was taken to doctors, who couldn’t help, and eventually to a Spiritist Centre, which helped my family understand what was really going on. My mother, Pureza Maria Vieira Gonçalves, introduced me then to Hilpert Doellinger Viana, founder of GEABL, who became a guardian angel and benefactor in my Spiritist journey. As a member of GEABL, I grew up, got a degree, got married, had four wonderful daughters and have met many people who became like brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces in my heart. My childhood and teenage friends are still with me on this journey and my special thanks go to them: Biana Vieira Gonçalves, who is also my sister, Edivaldo Peçanha de Oliveira, Lucimar Vieira Gomes, Daisy Castellano, Sandra Maria Cortêz, Solange Vaz dos Santos, Alexandre Bittencourt, Catharino dos Anjos, Paulo de Tarso Pereira Viana, Fernando Viana, Luiz Afonso, Carolina Gonçalves Abreu, Cláudia S. O. Topan and all the other volunteers who make the study groups happen at the Atualpa. I must also express my gratitude to the president of GEABL, Lenira Pereira Viana, and other directors for their confidence in me, giving me the opportunity to work for Jesus.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would like to mention the words of Joanna de Ângelis, the great Spiritual Benefactor: “The essential aim of our lives is to conquer our inner god, who’s lying inside us, waiting.” Let’s not miss the essence of life. Without a shadow of a doubt, the wisdom and knowledge we gain by studying puts in contact with that inner god. It makes every second of our existence worth living. “Let’s study now,” I say now, as I always do after we do our prayers in our groups and get ready to start.