Special

por Rogério Coelho

The four arms
of Eden

Spiritism, in its mission as a Comforter, is the support of the world in this century of the downhill in History; only it can, in its face of revived Christianity, save religions.


“(...) And a river came out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four arms”.
 - Moses. (Genesis 2:10.)


The Mosaic Pentateuch contains more riches and information than our vain imagination can perceive. With the sophisticated prospecting "equipment" offered by Spiritism, after separating the gravel and denim constituted by legends and utopias engendered by human ignorance, we can make - with success and pleasant surprises -, the discovery of these inexhaustible gold veins.

The celebrated guide of the Hebrew people said many things that only now, from the high vantage point of the Spiritist perspective, can we identify and understand. In fact, Jesus had already prophesied such a fact when, mentioning the "Comforter" He said that its notorious characteristic would be the power to remind us of His teachings and would teach us all the things necessary for our definitive spiritual freedom, consequently freeing us after the knowledge of Truth, as recorded in John's record, chapter eight, verse thirty-two.

We understand, then, that Moses speaks of the "protoplasm" prodrome of organized life on Earth, mentioned by Emmanuel, 1 when he said:2 "(...) A steam, however, rose from the earth, and watered the entire face of the Earth." (Genesis 2:6.). And further on, when he says that a river flowed out of Eden and divided into four branches, he was referring to the four great civilizations that arose in the dawn of the Earth: the Egyptian, IndianIndu-European and Chinese civilizations.

In chapters IV to VIII of his extraordinary work “On the way to Light (A Caminho da Luz)”, Emmanuel offers some historical data of these first strands that constituted the prodromes of today's mixed civilization. Let us study some small excerpts from these enriching General History classes by Emmanuel:

THE EGYPTIANS

Among the exiled Spirits on Earth, those who constituted the Egyptian civilization were the ones who stood out the most in the practice of Good and in the worship of the Truth. Moreover, it is important to consider that they were the ones who had the least debts before the court of Divine Justice. Due to their high moral patrimony, they kept in their hearts a more vivid memory of the experiences of their distant homeland. A single desire animated them: to work devotedly to return, one day, to their resplendent penates. An excruciating longing for Heaven was the foundation of all their religious organizations. In no civilization on Earth has the cult of death been so highly developed. In all hearts dwelt the anxiety of returning to the distant Orb, to which they felt bound by the most holy affections. It was for this reason that, representing one of the most beautiful and advanced civilizations of all time, the expressions of ancient Egypt disappeared forever from the tangible plane of the planet. After perpetuating their advanced knowledge in the Pyramids, all the Spirits of that African region returned to their sidereal homeland.

THE INDIANS

Of the Spirits exiled in the Earth's environment, those who grouped on the banks of the Ganges were the first to form the prodromes of an organized society, whose nuclei would represent the large percentage of ascendants of the collectivities of the future. The Hindu organizations have an origin prior to the Egyptian civilization itself and long preceded the Israelite groupings, from which notable personalities would later emerge, such as those of Abraham and Moses...

The exiled souls in that part of the East had received much from the mercy of the Christ, of whose word of love and luminous figure they kept the most moving memories, translated in the beauty of the Vedas and the Upanishads. They were the first voices of philosophy and religion in the terrestrial world, as coming from a race of prophets, masters and initiates, in whose traditions the men and peoples of the future would drink the Truth, emphasizing that also their schools of thought they kept the initiatory mysteries, with the most sacred traditions of respect.

THE INDO-EUROPEAN

If the Hindu and Egyptian civilizations defined themselves in the world in a few short centuries, the same did not happen with the Aryan civilization, which was going to start its evolutionary movements in Europe. Its successive migrations – after many centuries and through the Plateaus of Persia – were normalized. From Iran came almost all the currents of the white race, which would later represent the genealogical trunks of the Indo-European family. The Aryans - who sought the new emotions of an unknown land - were, for the most part, the Spirits revolted due to the conditions of their exile; unaccustomed to the religious duties that, due to the force of circumstances, imposed a discipline of resignation and humility, they did not take care of the preservation of their traditionalism, in their eagerness to conquer a new paradise and thus calm their anguished concerns.

THE CHINESE

China is the oldest tree of terrestrial civilizations. Undeniably, the most pristine focus of all evolutionary surges on the globe is millenary China, with its brave and resigned spirit, but without a certain direction on the roads of general construction.

When the advent of outlawed souls from the Capela system took place, in very remote times, Chinese existence already had a regular organization, offering the most homogeneous and most selected types on the planet, in view of the primitive human remnants. Their traditions had already gone from generation to generation, building the works of the future. Hence, it is inferred that, in fact, China's history goes back to ancestral times, in its multi-millenary past, and that people, who now show a certain stagnation in their evolutionary values, have always been equally accompanied in their march by that infinite mercy that, from Heaven, involves all the hearts that beat on Earth”.

THE "CIVILIZATION" IN CURRENT DAYS3

“(...) Alongside the powerful planes and radiotelephony, and lately the multimedia and the Internet that link all continents and countries today, indicating the imperatives of the laws of human solidarity, we see the concept of civilization insulted by all doctrines of isolation, while peoples prepare for extermination and destruction... This is why, in the name of the Gospel, all absurdities are perpetrated in so-called Christian countries.

The reality is that Western civilization has not yet become Christianized. In France the guillotine, of sad memory, claimed thousands of lives. Also expressive and dramatic were the results of the gallows in England, the ax in Germany, the electric chair and the lethal injection in the America of fraternity and concord (and this to refer only to the “super civilized” nations of the planet). Did not Italy carry out its aggression against Abyssinia in the name of Western Christian civilization? Was it not in the name of the Gospel that the Italian priests blessed the cannons and machine guns of conquest? (?!) In the name of Christ, in these twenty centuries, all the discords and all the bitterness of the world have spread...

However, time has come for a readjustment of all human values. If the painful collective atonements foreshadowed the time of the last “woes” of the Apocalypse, spirituality has to penetrate the achievements of physical man, leading them to the good of all Humanity.

Spiritism, in its mission as a Comforter, is the support of the world in this century of of the downhill in History; only it can, in its face of revived Christianity, save the religions that fade between the clashes of strength and ambition, of selfishness and domination, pointing to man his true paths...

In its source of clarification, it will be possible to drink the crystalline sap of the consoling truths of Heaven, preparing souls for the new age. The times have come when the forces of evil will be compelled to abandon their ultimate positions of dominance in terrestrial environments, and their latest triumphs are the pledge of a reckless and unhappy reaction, hastening the realization of the dark predictions that weigh on the the perishable empire.

Dictators, armies, economic hegemonies, versatile and unconscious masses, inglorious wars, secular organizations, will pass with the vertigo of a nightmare, because the victory of force is a light of fireworks. All reality is that of the Spirit and all peace is that of understanding the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. The third millennium will bring about the division of the sheep from the immense flock. The shepherd's staff will lead the suffering in the painful task of choosing and the pain will undertake the work that men did not accept out of love. A storm of bitterness will sweep across the Earth. The children of Jerusalem of all ages must weep, beholding those showers of tears and blood that will burst from the heavy clouds of their blackened consciences.

Condemned by the irrevocable sentences of its social and political errors, European superiority will disappear forever, like the Roman Empire, handing over to America the fruit of its experiences, with a view to the civilization of the future...

There is now, on Earth, a twilight, which will be followed by a deep night; and the twenty-first century is responsible to bring to an end these frightening events to an end. However, the humble workers of Christ, let us hear His voice in the depths of our souls: “Blessed are the poor, for the Kingdom of God belongs to them! Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, for they will be satisfied! Blessed are the afflicted, the day of consolation will come! Blessed are the peaceable, for they will go to God!” Yes, because after the darkness a new dawn will appear. Comforting lights will envelop the whole regenerated orb in the baptism of suffering. The spiritual man will be united with the physical man for his glorious march into the unlimited, and Spiritism will have removed from its material debris the divine soul of religions, which men have perverted, linking them in the welcoming embrace of restored Christianity.

Let us work for Jesus, even though our workshop is located in the desert of consciences. We are all called to great work and our most sublime duty is to respond to the calls of the Chosen One.

Reviewing the pictures of world history, we feel a biting cold in this painful twilight of Western civilization. Let us remember the Father's mercy and say our prayers. The night does not take long and, in the midst of its compact shadows, let us not forget Jesus, whose infinite mercy, as always, will be the immortal clarity of the future dawn, made of peace, brotherhood and redemption”.

 

Notes:

1 - XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. On the Way to Light (A Caminho da Luz). 37th.ed.  Rio [de Janeiro]: FEB, 2008, Chap. I “in fine”.

2 - Moses, Genesis, 2:10.

3 - XAVIER, Francisco Cândido. On the Way to Light (A  Caminho da Luz). 37th.ed. Rio [de Janeiro]: FEB, 2008, cap. XXV.


 

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

 
 

     
     

O Consolador
 Revista Semanal de Divulgação Espírita