Sandra Borba: 

“Spiritist institutions need
to become an environment focused on education, due
to the pedagogical nature
of the Doctrine” 

 

institutions exist there?
 

The movement in Rio Grande do Norte is vibrant. Spiritism came here a long time ago since we already had a newspaper circulating in 1875 called O ESPÍRITA (The Spiritist). The first institutions suffered from prejudice and persecutions. The oldest one we have is the Spiritist Federation (FERN) which will complete 83 years in this coming April. We have 130 centres, distributed within 35 cities across the State. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

We have 14 radio and 3 TV programmes in our State. We also host State conferences, congresses, seminars, talks, charity work with the elderly people and children at schools and nurseries. In addition, we also work with prisoners among all activities we have.

O Consolador: What is the most remarkable experience you had as a President for FERN?

I must say I feel honoured to be the President of FERN since April 2003. I am proud to state how dedicated the spiritist workers are. Even though facing prejudice in the countryside, they work creatively, with lack of human or financial resources. These ideas we are all trying very hard to comprehend and practice in our State. The Federation always reinforce the need of inner reformation, and of dealing with the human nature. This represents a learning process with the goal of inner development. The most remarkable experience, therefore, has been this incredible network of people I met through FERN, and the participation in the improvement of society.  

O Consolador: Looking at the difficulty we are faced when dealing with children and youth, can you please tell us your opinion about the spiritist movement in Brazil?

I don’t believe spiritist education for children and youth has been an easy job. I remember from the group of youth I took part on the Spiritist Federation of Pernambuco, I am the only one who still works on the movement. I believe we need to be clear about all problems we face in reality: the anxiety of enjoying every second, individualism, ethics, centres resistant to changes, absent families, and/or parents who are not concerned about the moral education of their children.  If we add to all of this a pedagogical education that doesn’t provide students with interesting topics or open dialogs but dictating norms. I believe this work should be done collectively involving parents, teachers and spiritist leaders.  We need to identify our responsibilities and be aware of mistakes made in the past and assume our task to work on the moral education of future generations.

O Consolador: Do you think we have been preparing our children and youth for the future?

From my own personal experience, I believe young people have more room than they used to in the past, in the spiritist movement. We need to realise teenagers now face high demands for their professional life. A Bachelors degree doesn’t have the same weight as it used to a few years ago. This means young people have less time to focus on the Doctrine and the movement. This is one of the reasons we need to invest on teenagers from the start, since they are at a young age. Let’s always keep in mind our goal to educate our future generations. I thank everyone who said ‘no’ to me when I was younger, and thought me kindness and respect.

O Consolador: Do you believe modern technology, which involves our children and youth playing virtual games and navigating on internet; make the moral educational process more difficult in our spiritist centres?

The spiritist education for children and youth has the strength of the clear and open message Spiritism brings us all. The Doctrine reinforces the formation of our integral personality and the acquisition of values. I believe all educational processes, including at home and at school, are facing challenges. These issues are also seen at the spiritist education department. There are ways to come around these problems such as: meaningful topics to discuss, a methodological approach focused on day-to-day issues children and youth face, a friendly environment, promotion of dialog among the family and to integrate this department with the other activities in the centre. This demands a collective effort, pedagogical formation of the spiritist teacher, planning, creativity, flexibility and openness to change, respect, change of attitude, compromise with the project, etc.

O Consolador: Do you think the philosophical, ethical and pedagogical aspect of the Spiritist Doctrine could be seen throughout spiritist centres?

Yes, definetely! The ethical aspect is present everywhere. Anyone who gets away from it, in or out of the Spiritist Movement, might face disequilibrium and, consequently, moral and spiritual problems. In Brazil, our tradition is very much focused on seeing philosophy as an ‘orientation of life’ rather than seeing the academic aspect of it. It is no different within our movement. Whenever we can, we suggest the inclusion of philosophical and pedagogical themes or approaches within the spiritist centres. The Doctrine provides us with a clear and illustrating language to approach all issues regarding inner development.

O Consolador: How can we motivate leaders, workers and even parents and teachers to pay attention to such an expressive part of Spiritism?

We believe those focus on the study of all aspects of Spiritism can collaborate to disclose the Doctrine. On the 12^th January we had a radio programme from FERN (Estação da Luz – Station of Light) dedicated to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, since it was his remembrance day. We also had the opportunity to record a TV program at Christmas about Education and Spiritism, which had great feedback.

We have been organising a lot of events about the pedagogical aspect within Spiritism. I notice there is an increasing interest from the media, events, etc. It is our duty to approach these aspects, writing and publishing texts to divulge these ideas. We need to stimulate our colleagues, in special teenagers, to research, study and discuss more about it. We already can see many magazines writing about it such as REENCARNAÇÃO, from the Spiritist Federation of Rio Grande do Sul and REVISTA PEDAGÓGICA (São Paulo, Brazil).

O Consolador: Can you please tell us about your experience as a national speaker, who can see the understanding and disclosure of the Spiritist Doctrine throughout the country?

I have had the opportunity to speak for different audiences, different age groups and cultural levels throughout the country. Therefore, the common aspect among all these groups is the expectation of getting a different message across which could be able to reach minds and hearts, and incentivise hope and encouragement. I can see the need of a clear open speech, but at the same time reflecting on basic human questions.

In order to divulge Spiritism in the best way possible, we need to be able to clarify facts based on the Spiritist Doctrine but add a clear and soft language to it, illustrating with good real examples. We need to encourage the audience, respect those who differ from our thoughts and the spiritist ideas, console and clarify. Plus, use all the solid arguments the Spiritist Doctrine provides us with.

O Consolador: How did you get to know Spiritism?

I had the opportunity to be part of two spiritist education centres for children and youth. When I was a child, I used to go to Instituto Espírita Gabriel Delanne, in Recife. When I was a teenager, I would go to the Spiritist Federation of Pernambucano. I started to help teaching within the department when I was 15 and two years later I was teaching the doctrine. This early contact with the Doctrine encouraged me to read and search for more information and expand my knowledge about Spiritism.

O Consolador: How should we face polemic topics within society?

We believe the main goal of the Spiritist Doctrine is to clarify and to console, including when talking about polemic topics. We need to study more in order to present the spiritist thinking in a clear way. This demands us to assume responsibilities towards educating ourselves first, and overcome pride, hate and selfishness. We need to look for the causes of individual and social problems, talk and get to know ways of minimizing these issues and propose different ideas. To set up an example is a possibility to contribute for the Spiritist Movement within the society as well.

O Consolador: what about the progress of spiritist ideas? How is that seen through your professional experience at the University?

There is a lot of prejudice with the academic environment towards Spiritism. I know achievements have been done in other places, such as within Pos-Graduation programmes where research was done and managed to terminate with taboos and prejudice. In the course Science of Religion, from the State University of RN, for example, some theses have been written about Spiritism.

The spiritist ideas are here and a lot of colleagues have been invited to talk about it at Universities, due to their good attitudes and examples. There is still a lot of work to be done, and the correct disclosure of the Doctrine will bring us good results on days to come.

O Consolador: Is there a way to reach the spiritist families and incentivise them to study and compromise with Spiritism?

Spiritist institutions need to become an environment focused on education, due to the pedagogical nature of the Doctrine. We can do that through several activities within the centres, always disseminating these teachings but respecting everyone’s opinion using good sense. We need to focus on an important aspect: the spiritist centre is not a place for workers to meet but a school where our brothers need to stretch friendship relations, including outside the institution.

O Consolador: Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?

I would like to thank for the opportunity this interview offered me to reflect on my own experiences and on what else I could do for Spiritism. All the best things that happened in my existence I own to the Doctrine. For more I try to do, I will not be able to reattribute the values, knowledge and experiences it allowed me to have. I hope some of these ideas can reach positively other minds and hearts, through the world of internet which has been approximating those who vibrate in the same level. Thank you!