The Power of Spiritism

The power of Spiritism is not done by their government officials, celebrities who share this belief or the height of the dome of the Spiritist temples; its power comes from our example

Once, in a Spiritist newspaper of the 90s, we read the following sentence from a writer: "(...) we lost a great opportunity to elect Mr So-and-so federal representative and show the power of Spiritism.”

Is that actually the Power of Spiritism? Does Spiritism as a religion need representatives in the structure of the Republic?

This question always comes around during election time, when we receive emails or see pieces of advertising from candidates who exalt this condition, seeking to broaden its constituency through religious affinity. In addition to seeking Spiritist members of public in their constituencies, some, sometimes, dare to nominate themselves representatives of Spiritism at the political level.

This situation is not one of the simplest and involves several issues.

When we speak of Spiritist candidates, we immediately think of situations in which the image and reputation of Spiritism are not affected if a candidate so-called "Spiritist" is to appear in some unfortunate situations in the media.

On the other hand, political life is healthy and desirable. Politics is present in our daily lives when we need to make choices, build consensus, negotiate, compromise toward a greater good. A Spiritist cannot be an alienated being but a "worldly Man"- there is no point living our life thinking only of the future consolation and suffering.

In recent times we have been filling up the Spiritist Centres with pompous self-help events, art shows, lively lectures and literary innovations. We want to find out what we were in a past life, but give up trying to do good in the present day.

The Spiritist cannot forget that they are also citizens,
men with duties on social issues

Doing good means to bind oneself to social issues, the collective! Accordingly, one should not be negligent. There is a need to be engaged in social struggles, the issues of community, in seeking the common good.

As Bezerra de Menezes, who, by the way, was a Representative Delegate before presiding over the Brazilian Spiritist Federation once said: "(...) for us, politics is the Science of creating the good for all. And in this principle, we shall base upon. "

And in this field one can also do good! Politics is also the divine seed in the sowing of progress.

This permanent intervention of Spiritism in the problems of the world is well presented in Genesis, when Kardec states: "(...) Spiritism works with Education. This is the foundation of the doctrine whereas, in order to put it into practice, one must educate oneself. And Education has a highly political content for it changes our way of seeing the world and of acting on it." It is reaffirmed, thereby, the need for the Spiritists to remember that they are also citizens, people of their time, with duties on social issues.

The need for our participation in social life is, however, different from the situation of presenting itself with a badge with "Spiritist" written on it to ask for votes. "Spiritism is linked to all fields of human activities, not to become deeply embedded in them, but to enlighten them with the lights of the Spirit. Its function is to serve the world through God and not to serve God through the world”, reiterates Kardec in the same work cited above.

We do not think it is a good way to adopt
the slogan "Spiritist votes for Spiritist

Given this, if one plans to dispute an elective public seat, then one should refrain from linking this socio-political crusade to the roles performed within the Spiritist Movement; and as Kardec said, one should illuminate one’s political journey with Spiritism, not the other way around. That's the difference between being a candidate-spiritist and a Spiritist candidate.

As regarding to voters, it seems reasonable enough that each one choose those projects that, according to his inmost feelings, more adequately meet the needs of their community. And, therefore, that they choose their candidates regardless of the beliefs that they profess. For that is the reason why there are political parties to gather our ideas in Politics! There are several ways to obtain space, prestige or power to defend one’s principles, rather than the option of picking out among a large group of Spiritists a representative to run for office.

Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s!

The State is secular. This was this country's great struggle and it is the foundation of democracy. We do not think it is a good way to adopt the slogan "Spiritist votes for Spiritist."This can lead to extreme situations of requests for votes in public meetings or even interventions in the political opinion of the people who frequent the Spiritist Centres which, in our view, would be ethically inconceivable.

The power of Spiritism is not made by their government representatives, celebrities who share this belief or even the height of the dome of the Spiritist temples. The power comes from the example and the hard task of getting the inmost reform which thus makes the good man. That is our challenge!

We should not vote for someone simply because he
brings in his resume the fact of being a Spiritist

To do this we could not discern, honestly, the need to have a representative of the Spiritist segment in any legislative or executive department of the government, as a situation that helps to promote renewal in search of the good man. We are Spiritists and citizens, which are not mutually exclusive things. We would for sure, through our actions, populate with good Men the decision-making instances, be them Spiritist or not.

The greatest risk of such situations in a country with many Spiritists like ours, with a greater number of supporters, is the opportunism of taking advantage of the reputation that Spiritism enjoys, in order to collect votes and for personal promotion purposes during electoral period.

The issue of representativeness is two-way: the candidate represents Spiritism, but Spiritism is represented by his conduct as a politician. If he assumes the title of the representative of the Doctrine, he will end up destroying its image representing it to those who listen to him, even if the Spiritist Movement does not realize it.

Someone’s decision of running for an office is an individual right that must be respected. Political participation should be a conscience, lest we become illiterate politicians, as well advocated by Bertolt Brecht. But we should not simply cast our votes just because the candidate gives out pamphlets saying he is a Spiritist, counsellor, speaker or the like.

The vote must be given according to the history of each one of them, for their proposals and their alignment in the political sphere. Whether or not the voted one is a Spiritist, it should matter little in this context.

Paulo de Tarso Lyra is a Spiritist journalist and columnist. Marcus Vinicius de Azevedo Braga is a pedagogue and one of the co-workers of this magazine.