The Secret of Peace in
“The Astral City”

Richard Simonetti was the attraction at the event which has marked the end of the Spiritist Week of Londrina, held between the 10th and 17th of July, and his speech has inspired the following text.
 
When Andre Luiz, after having spent eight years on the lower zones, entered the area designated in his book as being the spiritual city or colony "The Astral City" (or Our Home), a fact has promptly called his attention. The dark environment, dense, devoided of beauty -  characteristics of the region in which he has spent a long time - had been replaced by a beautiful scenery full of peace, blue sky, bright sun, beautiful buildings,even though the city was located in the very same region. 

In "The Astral City" André has learned things which he never imagined existed. His friend Lisias, for instance, said that the lower zone “begins in the Earth’s crust”. It is the shadowy zone for those who, in the world, turned a deaf ear to the call of their sacred duties, which they failed to fulfill, languishing instead in indecision or dragging themselves into the mire of wrong-doings. (The Astral City, ch. 12 pp. 70.) 

“The Lower Zone is a place where negative mental residues are destroyed. It is a sort of purgatory, where the refuse of the illusions acquired by neglecting the sublime opportunity of an earthly life is gradually burned away. Even in the shadows and ordeals of the Lower Zone, divine protection never fails its inhabitants.It is peopled with disincarnated entities and the thought forms of those still on Earth. Every spirit, wherever it may be, is a nucleus o radiating forces which can create, transform or destroy, manifesting as vibrations that Earth science cannot yet understand.” 

How to explain the difference between the environments? Why one place has darkness, despair and revolt, and another one, nearby, has sunshine, peace and harmony? 

The explanation came from Lisias, who said that all the well-balanced inhabitants of the Colony have pledged to avoid emitting negative currents of thought. Thus the effort of the majority merges into an almost continual prayer, hence the atmosphere of peace all around the city. 

If all of us, who are still living on Earth, made a similar pact in which we only think and act in good, surely the scenery and atmosphere of this troubled world would change for the better, this would enable the truly transformation of the Earth, from a world of atonement into a world of regeneration.

After making similar considerations, Simonetti  has said that there is a recipe that can make this idea a real possibility. And he alluded to what he called Auntie’s Grace recipe, an American lady who recorded in her diary a curious guide for people to make their journey on Earth useful and to firm a commitment with the good.

Auntie’s Grace diary is very simple and consists of six points only:

• Every day, do something useful to someone.
• Do something useful also for yourself.
• Do something which must be done, but you have no will.
• Make an exercise.
• Make a mental exercise.
• Thank God for the blessing of life.

This formula, if observed in all  days of our existence,  will surely work,  and - who knows? - May be the tool that has been missing, so we can our part,  and help the earth to climb a new stage in its evolution path.