Gino Villa Verde (photo) is the vice-president of the Casa Esperança Spiritist Centre in the city of Guarujá. A civil engineer and lawyer, he became a Spiritist aged 13, in 1970. He is well known in the Brazilian Spiritist Movement as a researcher of the Gospel and Spiritism, and that is the main subject of this interview:

It all began when I was 13 years old and my evenings and nights were filled with horror: I could hear steps, strange noises and could see in the dark people I judged to be thieves. My parents came out regularly to check and of course never found anyone. They saw me as weak and impressionable and said I was having nightmares and hallucinations. That made me even more anxious. Eventually they stopped even coming to check and I had to suffer alone.

Things began to change when an old lady who lived next door, Maria Matin Garcia, a Spaniard from Barcelona, mentioned The Spirits’ Book and said I would be able to find the explanation there. I bought the book the day after and was hooked by the rationality of the explanations and by a loving feeling that took me up towards the sublime. I studied and have continued to study all the works of Kardec. And the Spirits responsible for the steps and noises that made me so scared approached me and continue to this day to help me understand the logics of Chrstian Spiritism. Now when they go away I miss them.

What is the main attraction of historic research?

I see it as a remarkable tool to clarify the studies and make the learning process a great deal easier.

How about your research on the Spiritist Teachings, which include of course the Spiritist Magazine?

There is a special link between Kardec’s books and the Spiritist Magazine, published monthly during his lifetime, that helps understanding the Teachings. I would compare it to a theoretical class and some time in the lab, or seeing a film ready and then going back to the backstage, the editing process, or even taking your driving licence and then having experience on the road. One complements the other in a way that is difficult to put into words. Also, the Spiritist Magazine reveals a great deal about Kardec’s challenges: his battles, illnesses, the accusations against him, and aspects of his life, life routines, travelling. It is an amazing travel back in time. It gives you a 3D dimension and drives you straight back into the process of codifying Spiritism at the time.

You have paid visits to the Holy Land, the sites where Christianity began. Did that help you in your reflections and studies?

Yes, it helped me a lot.

What aspect of your research and travels would you like to draw particular attention to?

I would like to say that being where things actually took place makes it easier to visualise the more superficial information you get on paper, in films etc. One thing is to show someone getting wet in the rain, another experience is to go out there and get wet. And that place is unique in the world! The Dead Sea (some 400m below sea level, very salty water); Gennesaret (some 200m below sea level, fresh water); the river Jordan flowing down towards the Dead Sea and Gennesaret; Jericho, the oasis, in the desert, with so many stones around, a sharp drop, mount Tabor with a great panoramic view, archeological excavations, ruins, hills, some traditions mentioned in the Commandments still preserved and a lot more.

To study the Gospel where it was actually born conveys a strong emotional impression, especially when backed up by the information and insight provided by Kardec’s Spiritist Codification, the works of Chico Xavier and others.

If you take into account the historic perspective of Christianity, then the spread of the Gospel and much later the Codification of Spiritism, what would you say is the most remarkable aspect? And why?

God’s mercy. We are Spirits taking part in a process of development with our free will, but destined to relative perfection. When we reach that stage we will enjoy supreme happiness. We look back at the billions of years of work by the Creator and His more developed children on the Earth, which is a planet for learning, with Jesus bringing us an invitation for a party in His Kingdom. The invitation continues to be rejected, however, by the largest part of the humankind, who remains indifferent, rebellious and violent, staying away from our Celestial Father. That reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son, who wastes his father’s assets until pain reminds him of how well he felt back home. As he goes back, still far away, his father sees him and, moved by compassion, runs to meet him, embraces him and fills him with love and kisses. The most remarkable aspect of the whole process is God’s mercy!

What is your view on the old matter of cultural differences, which seem overwhelming in such a diverse planet, with many languages, climates and historic traditions?

We read in the Gospel of Luke that a certain man had a fig tree planted in his plot, but he was not allowed to waste anything planted in his Lord’s field, and therefore he had to share all the fruit of his tree. We are all in the field of the Lord. It has many different trees but all of them must produce their fruit. Emmanuel, the Spirit who wrote so many memorable books through the medium, Chico Xavier, shows us in A Caminho da Luz (Pathway to Enlightenment) and O Consolador how to work Lord’s field.

(1) The 12 volumes of the Spiritist Magazine were the object of a methodical and chronological study in this publication on editions 37 to 208. This link will take the reader to the beginning of the study:
http://www.oconsolador.com.br/37/estudandoasobrasdekardec.html