Painful experiences, emotions and misrepresentations

Adriana Mara Freitas Ritti (photo) is a medical doctor in the city of Juiz de Fora, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. She is a volunteer worker at the Ivon Costa Spiritist Centre and at the São Camilo de Lelis Institution, where she works with socially vulnerable people. In the following interview, she speaks about the connections between emotions and pain, based on her work in Spiritism and her professional experience as a doctor:

How do you explain the connections between our emotions and painful experiences?

Our emotions are an immediate reaction that doesn’t involve our thoughts. An easy example is that of a person who gets some good news and reacts immediately with joy. Or someone who gets some bad news and bursts into tears. It’s an instinctive reaction. And depending on the intensity of the emotion, this reaction can remain in our bodies for a longer period of time. But a sensation that can remain with us for years is something very different. That involves a thought process. The person ends up building that type of feeling over the years. Emotions are easy to identify: our heart rate increases and we struggle to breath. A feeling is something deeper, which we are able to conceal from others. 

To keep their bodies healthy and in a good condition, people tend to pay a great deal of attention to what they eat and how much they exercise. But there’s another factor that must also be taken into account, which is emotional health. Fear, anger, joy, sadness and worry are sources of imbalance, which change us and can lead us to the development of physical illnesses. Physical pain is a sign that something is wrong with our body. Pain is a warning sign, it’s the body sending us a message and saying that we must pay attention to something. 

Is there a general rule to be followed by those who want to deal with the physical signs caused by those emotional imbalances?

Yes, and Spiritism is very clear about that when it explains the importance of reasoned faith. What we really lack is confidence in God, Jesus and the Spiritual Benefactors. We don’t trust them enough and most of us don’t accept others as they are, or things as they come. So we spend a lot of our time, every day,  unaware of our actions. We don’t realise how often we show signs of anger, intolerance or become irritable during the day. And we react in anger very often, without even noticing it. We refuse to accept what’s around us, thus failing to understand the true meaning of divine justice. We don’t stop to think that we are reaping what we have sown. And so often we spend most of our days annoyed or angry with something, displaying a high level of intolerance even in our most mundane activities. 

We have noticed in recent times a great deal of misrepresentations and distortions in the Spiritist Teachings, which I attribute to the lack of theoretical knowledge among Spiritists. And many of these misconceptions are now being spread online. What do you think should be done about it?

Many Spiritists, instead of dedicating their study time to the books written by Allan Kardec or by serious mediums like Chico Xavier, prefer to focus on books that contain non-Spiritist content or disturbed mediums. Because they lack the theoretical foundation, they are unable to properly identify the principles of Spiritism in the material they find. I notice within the Spiritist Movement a certain inaction, which allows exogenous ideas to be discussed in Spiritist talks, lectures and study groups. And the same is happening online. I think there’s a misguided concern among those in the leadership about not antagonising those who come to the meetings and events. Spiritist directors in Centres and Federations must bear in mind that the lower Spirits, who are interested in destroying Spiritism, will thrive wherever they find weak or indecisive leadership. I believe those in charge of the Spiritist Movement have been failing to safeguard its true principles and values. 

What should be done to avoid that?

We need to study the work of Kardec, focusing on the core books that make up the Codification of Spiritism. We must encourage those who attend the meetings and events in Spiritist Centres to study Spiritism, to read the main books. Directors and board members in every Spiritist Centre must choose carefully those who will coordinate the study groups and the guest speakers, to make sure that they stick to the Teachings of the Spirits. They must keep an eye on the activities that are being carried out and be brave enough to ban non-Spiritist practices inside Spiritist Centres. Many ideas and practices are being brought in from other religious denominations and creating real damage to the Spiritist Teachings, or the way people learn it. Spiritist healing, for instance, is done with the imposition of hands and fluidified water, not with beds, lights or mantras. We must be careful not to allow the presence of lower spiritual influences in the Spiritist Movement. They are there with the aim of destroying many promising projects. And they have been destroying them.