Special

por Wilson Abreu

Social distance and self-knowledge: history repeats itself

The “angelic beings who manage our destiny”, as the Spirit Bezerra de Menezes referred to, in his “Message in Times of Coronavirus” (1), recently brought by the psychophony of the medium Divaldo P. Franco, advise us to charity in favor of the brothers who are about to return to the Spiritual Homeland, and that we offer them conditions of greater ease in the mediumistic exchange, in which they will support us during this period of social distance, according to the following excerpt:

 “Do not worry too much about the pandemic presence of the virus, whose moment will be understood in its reasons, in its origins and in the reason for reaching us now, causing panic and pain. You, who know Jesus, maintain respect for the Laws, seeking the precaution recommended by the health authorities (...) but do not deny the liberating word to those who are preparing to face Immortality. (...) Do not think that you are alone. The heavens send their ambassadors so that the exchange between the incarnated and the disincarnated is made much easier”.

It is like this in the situation of the that same exchange that we go back to the past, in Ancient Egypt, about one thousand and three hundred years before the Christian era, to the city in Pi-Ramesses, the new capital built by Pharaoh Ramses I - in the delta of river Nile (2) - with the slave labor of the Hebrews themselves. This is where we will we find Moses, about to begin the epic return of these people to the Land of Canaan, which was promised to them according to the mediumistic intuition of Abraham, by the Spirits that support Jesus in planetary harmonization, in the name of our Eternal Father. The return to their original homeland, from where the Hebrews had migrated centuries ago for their survival, in search of the food that came in abundance on the fertile banks of that same river, due to the long drought that devastated the Mediterranean Sea basin. The drought was caused by a climatic change that occurred in that region, which cooled the sea waters and reduced its evaporation, causing a severe lack of rain from 3000 BC, with great damage to food production (2).

"I have no more grain on my land", the queen of the Hittites would have written, referring to the situation of Anatolia, today corresponding to the lands of Asian Turkey, in her message sent to Ramses II, the probable pharaoh of the Exodus" (3).

The Hebrews therefore left Canaan, in a condition of forced immigration, to survive the effects of that drought. They arrived in Egypt in a group made up of countless people, led by the patriarch Jacob, son of Abraham, his children, grandchildren and each one’s several wives (3), given the condition of polygamy widespread at that time among the ancient Hebrews. A custom that would later be discouraged by the divine rules received by Moses himself: "Nor will he multiply wives for himself, so that his heart does not go astray." (4).

The drought just mentioned, in addition to the negative effects on food production, caused an impoverishment in the population and a generalized reduction in economic activity. One of the consequences of this social decline was the growth of maritime piracy, which plundered vessels full of grain from Egypt, in the aforementioned Nile valley, and from the plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in Mesopotamia. Above all, the looting of boats loaded with tin, a metal then exploited by the Mycenaeans in the mines of the Greek Peloponnese, and by the Hittites in Asian Turkey (6) and which was used in the manufacture of bronze, the dominant alloy in the production of spears and other armaments that sustained the warlike power of local armies, as well as agricultural tools. The looting carried out by these armed groups, embarked in the Eastern Mediterranean, and known as “Peoples of the Sea”, prioritized the circulation of goods with origin or destination in the place of the greatest concentration of wealth at that time: ancient Egypt (3).

It can be considered that there is a consensus among historians that, in this period in which the Egyptian military forces concentrated on combating piracy, due to the damage it brought to the Empire, an advantageous opportunity was created for small groups of enslaved citizens, anxious for their release, they tried to escape from captivity and return to their homeland, due to reduced surveillance over them. Providence that was intuited by Spirituality Superior to Moses, having been rationally accepted and successfully performed by him, under Divine protection. According to these same historians, due to the confrontation of the plunder of pirates, the Egyptian soldiers themselves were being relocated to defend their coastal cities, and many embarked on maritime policing. This state of affairs meant that many of the fortifications installed on the empire's borders were even unoccupied, due to the priority of the strategy to fight the Peoples of the Sea. In this sense, with the land borders unmanned, it can be considered that other groups equally enslaved in the Egypt, to follow the example of the Hebrews, attracted by the amalgamation of hope and faith radiated by Moses with his own, and seized the opportunity to incorporate the group of these retreatants, in their happy condition of future freedmen. And so, therefore, they decided to choose to be equally guided to learn a new life of freedom, in the exodus to a land that had been promised to an ancestral patriarch, by a Divine Being, Superior, different from the anthropomorphic images object of worship, so common in antiquity. In making such a choice, some of these fugitives could even assume that they would end up gaining Hebrew “nationality”, a few years after being incorporated into these people (3).

Guided by Moses, on the physical plane, the Hebrews continued on their journey, which could have been overcome in a path of about three hundred kilometers in length, had they followed a route of long stretches in a straight line, given the favorable relief of those semi-desert landscapes close to the Mediterranean coast. A path already provided with specific places for resting caravans and journeymen usual in this crossing (7).

However, instead, biblical and Jewish writings record a trajectory that lasted for four decades, as stated in the Acts of the Apostles: "He took them out, doing wonders in Egypt, the Red Sea and the desert for forty years" (8). What were the reasons for explaining such a length of time on this return, which resulted in an average hike of only seven and a half kilometers during an entire year of walking? (9)

On their march through the Sinai desert, the Hebrews had the blessing of receiving through Moses, on Mount Sinai (or Horeb), located on the mountainous relief south of the peninsula of the same name (10), the stone tablets on which they were carved. the ten-fold rules of conduct issued by the Most High for the purpose of guiding them in their relationship with the Creator Father and with their neighbor, and of promoting their spiritual development on the Promised Land. However, it should be remembered that the coexistence of the Hebrews with the polytheistic culture and religiosity of the Egyptian people, during about four centuries of coexistence, required a long work by Moses, during that pilgrimage in an inhospitable place, and even during his long existence, in to guide and instruct them (11) in strengthening their bonds with Divinity, and to consolidate in the heart of each spirit the intimate relationship of innate love that unites us to the Creator, in our condition of immortality. As well as maintaining the ten principles of spiritual empowerment that were then revealed to them.

A work that even required the incarnation of a new generation of spirits, during the long duration of the march back to Canaan, beings previously trained by Higher Spirituality in erraticism, under the guidance of Jesus, to have specific skills with a view to vitalize the monotheistic understanding originally present in Abraham's "covenant" with the Creator, guiding the religiosity of the Hebrew people.

It should be noted that the longest route that was sensed to Moses by the Good Spirits, considered the existence, within the Hebrew community, of a number of spirits who were already accustomed to the social conventions and the way of life with which they got used to live in Egyptian territory. Such spirits were not yet effectively resolved and confident with regard to the conditions in which they would find the original homeland of their ancestors, and about how they would be effectively received on their arrival in Canaan. For this reason, the guidance that was intuited for them on the return route, considered that the shortest and most rational route should not be adopted, endowed with more water and food resources (8), in a route known as the “Caminho da Terra dos Filisteus”, given the possibility of eventual repentance on the part of many Hebrews, for the community decision that had been taken in favor of his return to Canaan.

Such a feeling, according to the perception of some historians, could have been aroused by the very rigors of a trip of this nature, in a procession accompanied by children, the elderly and even by flocks and eventual domestic animals. A route that would not encourage the appearance of a possible favorable decision to return to Egypt, by the way being fulfilled on the return to Canaan, endowed with more facilities and resources. Or, the withdrawal from returning motivated by the fear of a sudden attack by the Philistines themselves during this retreat march, due to the pre-existing animosity between the two peoples.

For this reason, it was decided to take a route far from the most well-known rational paths in northeastern Egypt, so as not to give the group of retreatants any idea of ​​their real location, during the entire route to be followed, thus removing possible thoughts of withdrawal. about returning to Canaan. It was like this that the Hebrews began their march of withdrawal from Egypt towards the east, in order to reach their Promised Land. However, when crossing the Sinai Peninsula, instead of taking the Jerusalem route in the northeast, they headed south and entered the “Sinai Desert”, which dominates almost the entire area of ​​the peninsula of the same name. From there, they made a path in the shape of a large circle inside this desert peninsula, however far from both its west coast, in the Gulf of Suez, bordering mainland Egypt, and from the east coast, in the Gulf of Acaba, bordering with the present Saudi Arabia.

A desert without inhabited areas, without offering the group of retreatants any information about their real whereabouts, in a path consistent with a true social and superior “isolation”, in terms of segregation, to the current condition of social “distance” with which we now live. Condition that kept the Hebrews away from the known routes of returning to Egypt, precisely with the purpose of weakening possible signs of discouragement and purposes of returning to the green Nile valley, from where they had already said goodbye. A route completely disconnected from the rationality of the commercial and military routes known between Egypt and the other peoples of antiquity, and which would distance the Hebrews so far from Egypt, from the starting point on their return. And any thought of giving up the role assigned to them by Divine Providence, in the context of the “Second Revelation”, would be impracticable.

At the end of their epic escape adventure, having arrived in Canaan, the Hebrew “ex-slaves” would probably remind their descendants of the surprising stories about the daily life of their exodus, mentioning the divine blessing in providing them with food support, through the provision of the "manna" made available by Divine Providence, in certain and regular quantities and times, as well as the outcrop of water sources to feed them. They would certainly mention the lectures of Moses, for a better understanding of the Divine Law inscribed on the tablets of the law, as well as the teachings about self-knowledge and the rules of conduct that will be present in the social life of the Hebrews, towards the future, after being reinstalled in the valley of the Jordan River. Or, as suggested by other historians, reports on how they would have crossed a region on foot where they knew that before there was only water, a contingency that could be used to substantiate the episode known as the prodigious crossing of the Red Sea.

The experience of “social detachment” that we now recall in the experience of this people, was beneficial as a stage of knowledge of the Divine Law, progressively being revealed to humanity, and for the opportunity of their long life with an exceptional medium, Moses, a spirit blessed by God, sent “on a mission to make Him known, not only to the Hebrews, but also to the pagan peoples”. According to the first message of the "instructions of the Spirits", in the first chapter of The Gospel according to Spiritism, chosen by Alan Kardec and transmitted by "an Israeli Spirit". Medium possessed of the mission of offering his gifts to Jesus, in his intimate contact with the superior spirits designated by the Master to support him and, in this partnership, transmit the first revelation of the Divine Truth with the earthly humanity.

Holder of the mediumistic mandate to reveal our bond of immortal love with God, according to the greatest commandment of the law, and of how we should love Him: “with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your spirit”. And that is complemented in this second commandment: "you will love your neighbor, as yourself" (11), according to Jesus' answer to the question that was proposed to him by a doctor of the Law. Conditions that drive the Spiritist in the imperative of self-knowledge, brought by Saint Augustine to the contents of the Spiritist Revelation, in his evocation of the precept that the Greek philosopher Socrates inscribed at the entrance to the temple in the city of Delphi: “know yourself”.

These are examples that we now bring to reflection, in accordance with the spiritual partnership for the good use of mediumistic talents, so that the exchange between the incarnated and the disincarnated is made much easier. Our contribution for the Earth to continue on its evolutionary journey with a view to reaching, later on, the evolutionary stage in which the planet Saturn was, as reported by D. Maria Joao de Deus after her visit to this planet, already disincarnated, in first half of the last century. An opportunity in which she delighted us with the report of the condition of "generalized mediumship", in the daily life of the "graceful winged monsters" that roam in saturnine humanity (12), as a consequence of the spiritual evolution conquered by the spirits incarnated there and that, certainly, we will succeed in conquering, by taming our bad inclinations and, at the influx of charity, endeavoring to remain, in Spirit, all closer to our Heavenly Father.

(1)  Held on March 15, 2020, at the 21st State Spiritist Conference, of the Spiritist Federation of Parana.

(2)  “Ancient Egypt”, Sophie Desplancques, Publisher UFRN.

(3)  “Superinteressante”, published on 10/18/2019, “the Real History behind the Exodus”, Alexandre Versignassi.

(4)  Deuteronomy 17:17.

(5)  Exodus 12:37.

(6)  "The Hittites - People of the 1000 gods", Editor Hemus, Johannes Lehmann.

(7)  “The Route of Exodus”, Manu M. Hubner, Master's Dissertation, University of Sao Paulo / 2009.

(8)  Acts of the Apostles 7:36.


Translation:
Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br

 
 

     
     

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 Revista Semanal de Divulgação Espírita