At the invitation of the Spiritist Federation of the State of Espirito Santo, we developed a virtual lecture on the topic “Actuality of Emmanuel's thought”, although selecting the facts according to the time limit for the presentation. This motivated us to write, at least synthetically, about some of the highlighted texts.

The contact with the psychographic works of Chico Xavier and with the medium himself always caused a clear interest in the books of Emmanuel's work.¹

In order to establish an outline, we selected mainly the first works by Emmanuel.

At first, the information related to the spiritual author himself, in the condition of reincarnations lived as characters in his historical novels. Several episodes reported in Two thousand years ago (edited in 1939) and the identification of Senator Publius Lentulus have already been detected in historical records.¹ Likewise, we have contact with a scholar who researched characters, places and traditions expressed in the novel Renunciation (edited in 1942). There are so many details known today after research in loco and in specialized bibliography that an uncultured young medium would not have access in the 1930s-40s.

Before these novels, when the medium was 27 years old and residing in the little city of Pedro Leopoldo (State of Minas Gerais), the author completed his first book - Emmanuel - in 1937, which was published the following year ²; he addresses analyses more linked to social, political and religious issues.

From Emmanuel, we highlight some of the excerpts, such as the item “Dictatorships and economic problems”: “Strong governments, factors of the spiritual decadence of the peoples, who kept the evolutionary vanguard of the world with them, cannot bring a satisfactory solution to the deep problems that interest you”; in the item “Destruction sentence”: “Communism and fascism, in their ideological oppositions, can only speed it up.” ²

When Chico Xavier psych-graphed that book, it was the time of dictatorships in Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Germany and the Soviet Union, and the latter two specifically referred to Nazism and Communism. These were moments prior to World War II, when mass massacres would occur. Today it is known that they happened mainly in places dominated by the aforementioned ideologies. Therefore, it was extremely courageous, independent records and statements that predicted serious crises that would be resolved, unraveled and even dismantled some time later.

The Spiritual Author's comments on “Spiritual Medicine” were recorded at the end of Freud's life and the beginning of Jung's studies. Only in the following decades did the so-called psychosomatic medicine and even the books that came to be written by the Spirit Andre Luiz become very evident. Here is an excerpt from the book Emmanuel: “Human health will never be the product of pills, anesthetics, serums, and highly artificial food. Man will have to turn his eyes to natural therapy, which resides in himself, in his personality and in his environment. There is a need, nowadays, to extinguish the absurdities of ‘directed physiology’.²

At the end of this work, in the chapter “Evangelical education”, there is a vision about social reforms that differs from the political heat and from a form of political idealism that prevailed at the time: “All social reforms, necessary in your times of spiritual indecision, they have to be processed on the basis of the Gospel. How? - you may object. Through education, we will reply. The pedagogical plan that implies this great problem still has to start from the simple to the complex. It covers multiform and immense activities...” ²

But, in this answer, Emmanuel uses the expression “pedagogical plan” and it is interesting that it only came to become more commonly proposed and used a few decades later. In our country, it was only after the Constitution of the Republic of 1988 and the National Education Guidelines and Bases Act (LDB), of 1996, that the proposal for a “pedagogical project” became more widespread.¹

Soon after the pioneering work, O consolador appeared, where the Spirit Emmanuel answers hundreds of questions related to various areas of knowledge. Historical detail and in order to enhance unpublished positions, we remind you that this work was published in 1940.³

We only point out a few questions on various topics that remain current. In question 73: “Is terrestrial humanity identical to in other orbs? – Considering the physical expression, such an analogy is impossible, given the substantial laws that govern each evolutionary plan; but, let us try to understand humanity as the spiritual family of all the creatures of God that populate the Universe and, examining the issue in this light, we will see the terrestrial community identified with the universal collectivity”; then, in question 74: “Will the scientific man be able to successfully face the possibilities of an interplanetary journey? - At least, as long as their attitude of confusion, selfishness and rebellion endures, terrestrial humanity must not feed any interplanetary travel project.”³ Man only stepped on the Moon thirty years after the writing of this book, in July 1969, and space probes have improved and in recent years they have been carrying out missions on Mars. But, it still seems to be a long way from the possibility of an interplanetary trip.

The issue of the relationship between diseases and the psyche and spiritual components, which were initially dealt with in Emmanuel, reappears, for example, in question 96: “Does every disease in the body have spiritual ascendants? - The wounds of the soul are manifested through the human envelope. The sick body reflects the inner panorama of the sick spirit. Pathogenesis is a set of inferiorities of the psychic apparatus. And it is still in the soul that the primary source of all definitive medicinal resources resides. The pharmaceutical assistance of the world cannot remove the transcendent causes of the morbid character of individuals. The effective remedy is in the action of the sick spirit itself.”³

A few decades after the edition of the book cited, the efforts that led to the creation of Medical Spiritist Association emerged, moreover with inspiration and support from Chico Xavier, initially within the State of Sao Paulo, then Brazil and later internationally. At the same time, health professionals, linked to universities in various parts of the world, are dedicating themselves to this line of research.

A theme present in classical sociology, the relationship between home, family and society, appears in question 110: “What is the best school for preparing reincarnated souls on Earth? - The best school is still the home, where the creature must receive the bases of feeling and character. Educational establishments, from around the world, can instruct, but only the family institute can educate. It is for this reason that the university will be able to make the citizen, but only the home can build man.”³

In fact, the phrase “the best school is still home”, was the campaign slogan initiated by the Union of Spiritist Societies of the State of Sao Paulo in 1980. It was a predecessor and paved the way for the Campaign Live in Family, which USE-SP took to the FEB National Federative Council; it was approved in November 1993, implemented in the following year and with developments to the present day.^1,4

Related to political themes and macroeconomics that are very common in the idealisms that flourished in the 1930s, the context in which the book was prepared, but which is present in political discussions until today, there is a remarkable opinion of the Spiritual Author in question 114: “The economy should it be directed? - With regard to the production technique, the need for distribution and the consumption processes, the direction of the economy is more than just; however, in this sense, any political excess that harms the harmony in the law of exchanges, on which progress depends entirely, is a condemnable error, with serious consequences for the entire structure of the collective organism. Such excesses have given rise to the autonomous government systems of today, where all ideals of economic justice and fraternity seem, due to the errors of vision of bad nationalism. Life depends on unceasing exchanges and any restriction on these high principles of harmony is a gateway to revolutionary destruction, where all the values ​​of life are inverted. That the economy be directed, but that political passions do not penetrate its domains of equilibrium and reciprocity, because, in its nefarious influence, “to suffice oneself” is the sinister ideology of ambition and selfishness, where the leaven of war finds the appropriate climate for its manifestations of violence and extermination.”³

This answer by Emmanuel offers vast subsidies for reflections in our day.

The book O consolador was published in a period of conservatism, with a predominance of exclusiveness and prejudices in some religious environments. That is why question 297 is significant: “Considering that social convention gives priests of Christian sects certain prerogatives in carrying out certain events in life, how to interpret Matthew's words? “Whatever you connect on Earth, it will be connected in Heaven”, if priests are so often not worthy to speak in the world in the name of God? - It is essential to note that the words of Christ were addressed to the apostles and that the mission of his companions was not restricted to the environment of the tribes of Israel, having their divine continuation beyond the earthly activities themselves. Even today, the direct disciples of the Lord have their sacred task, in cooperation with the Divine Master, with Humanity - the mystical Israel of their teachings.

The merits of the apostles could in no way be automatically transferred to priests degenerated by the political and financial interests of certain earthly groups, with the result that the Roman Church, the one that has abused these concepts the most, once again deviated from the lesson of the Christ. However, it is important to remember in this respect the promise of Jesus, that he would always be among those who sincerely met in his name. In these circumstances, loyal disciples must remain on a higher plane than terrestrial conventionalism, acting with their own conscience and with the best understanding of responsibility, in all climates of the world, since, therefore, as long as they develop performance in the good, for good and for good, in the name of the Lord, their evangelical acts will be touched by the sacrosanct light of divine sanctions.”³

At that time, who could have imagined the transformations that began with the so-called Vatican Council II, convened by Pope John XXIII? Currently, exceeding even the limits defined by the Ecumenism resulting from this Council, we count on designated interreligious events, establishing broader and more respectful dialogues with the most different religious aspects.

In 1948, Emmanuel writes and sends to the participants of the unprecedented 1^st Brazilian Congress of Spiritist Unification (Sao Paulo, October / November 1948) the first message on the theme of unification, entitled “In the name of the Gospel” ¹: “[... ] we formulate fervent wishes to guide in the Gospel any principles of unification, around which hopes intertwine” and ahead he urges: “ [...] that the brothers of Brazil become more and more aware of the spirit of service and renunciation , of solidarity and pure goodness that Jesus bequeathed us.”⁵ Interesting that he puts the essence of the text in context:“ The troubled world effectively calls for transformative action” and suggests: “let us unite in the same script of love, work, help , education, solidarity, value and sacrifice that characterized the attitude of Christ in communion with men, serving and waiting for the future, in his example of self-denial, so that we may all be one, in sublime harmony with the designs of the Supreme Lord.”⁵

Emmanuel's statements about the union of Spiritists should inspire profound reflections and even assessments about the directions of unification in our country.^1,5

In the year 1950, Emmanuel writes in a separate message: “The Center for Evangelical Spiritism, however humble, is always a sanctuary of mental renewal towards higher life. [...] A Spiritist Center is a school where we can learn and teach, plant the good and collect the graces, improve ourselves and perfect others, in the eternal path.”⁴ In our day we can affirm that there is a need to reflect on the sense of school expressed by the Spiritual Author, quite different from the formal school and which has to do with the concept of “mental renewal”. Subjects to be further analyzed in the Spiritist environment.^1,4

To complete some highlights of books and themes addressed by Emmanuel in the first decades of Chico Xavier's psychographics, we focus on an excerpt from On the Way to Light.6 This work by Emmanuel was completed in 1938, therefore prior to the start of the Second World War and of a period of many political passions and dictatorial regimes, as we have already noted.

In the chapter “The gospel and the future” of the aforementioned work, Emmanuel has an incisive statement: “The reality is that Western civilization has not become Christianized” and, further on, comments: “[...] the stage of civilizations was modified, undergoing profound renovations in its scenarios, but the actors are the same, walking, in the purifying struggles, towards the perfection of the One who is the Light of the beginning. [...] the 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 must penetrate the achievements of the physical man, leading them to the good of all Humanity.” ⁶

Then Emmanuel repeats Jesus' calls: “Blessed are the poor, for the Kingdom of God belongs to them! Blessed are those who hunger for justice, for they will be satisfied! Blessed are the afflicted, for the day of consolation will come, blessed are the peaceful, because they will go to God! 'Yes, because after the darkness a new dawn will arise. Consoling 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 within the Unlimited, and Spiritism will have removed from its material rubble the divine soul of religions, which men have perverted, linking them in the welcoming embrace of restored Christianity.” ⁶

After the release of On the Way to the Light, the world experienced the horrors of World War II; several other more localized wars and revolutions; the delicate period of the so-called “cold war”; nuclear risks; various expressions of terrorism; the polio epidemic (childhood paralysis); outbreak of AIDS, Ebola, various tropical diseases, flu epidemics; political and social shocks in several regions; more recently, the health tragedy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We emphasize independence, courage and lucidity as the spirit Emmanuel wrote on delicate and foreshadowing themes from various world situations and at the very beginning of Chico Xavier's psychographic work.

And in the midst of so many “woes”, the “welcoming embrace of restored Christianity” may be a reason for welcoming, comforting and orienting the afflicted man of our day.

References:

1) Carvalho, Antonio Cesar Perri. Emmanuel. Spiritual trajectory and acting with Chico Xavier. 1^st.ed. Matao: O Clarim. 2020. 208p.

2) Xavier, Francisco Candido. By the Spirit Emmanuel. Emmanuel. 27^th ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB. 2008. 246p.

3) Xavier, Francisco Candido. By the Spirit Emmanuel. The comforter. 29^th ed. Question 264. Brasilia: FEB. 2013.

4) Carvalho, Antonio Cesar Perri. Spiritist Center. Spiritist and Christian Practice. 1.ed. Sao Paulo: USE. 2016. 196p.

5) Carvalho, Antonio Cesar Perri. Union of spiritists. Where are we going? 1^st ed. Capivari: EME. 2018. 142p.

6) Xavier, Francisco Candido. By the spirit Emmanuel. On the way to the light. 38^th ed. Chapter XXV. Brasilia: FEB. 2013.

Antonio Cesar Perri de Carvalho was president of USE-SP and FEB; and was a member of the Executive Committee of the CEI.