Divaldo Pereira Franco (photo), a Brazilian medium known around the world, has written in trance more than 250, 92 of which have been translated into 16 languages. He has travelled to all continents to give speeches in more than 13,000 conferences in 64 countries. In Salvador, capital of his home Bahia state, he began in the 1950s what became a

Divaldo Franco was in the Czech capital, Prague, on June 8^th 2012, taking part in the III Seminar of Spirituality and Health. He spoke in the event about health as the outcome of internal enlightenment and perseveration. At the occasion, he gave us this interview: ⁽¹⁾

You have come regularly in the last 22 to address audiences in the Czech Republic. Why so much care and affection for our country? 

We, Spiritists, believe that Allan Kardec, the great educator born in Lyon, France, on October 3^rd 1804, the codifier of Spiritism, was in a previous incarnation the remarkable Jan Hus, burnt alive due to the religious intolerance of the time in Constance on July 6^th 1415. So we do have a soft spot for the Czech Republic, but not only for that: this is a country of great thinkers, artists, scientists and hard-working, stoic people. I would like to point out that the Spiritist Movement in the country was quite developed before the Second World War. There were several publications that for quite a while debated Spiritism as science, philosophy and religion. And there is another reason for me to come back: my friend Josef Jackulak, who meets me in Vienna and opens his doors to me is a Czech citizen and always brings me to his beloved country. 

There are more and more alternative treatments available. How do you explain the development in this particular area? 

The development of scientific knowledge about the human being, especially in the fields of psychology and medicine, has led to the conclusion that our material body is made up of condensed energy. Most of the conflicts and illnesses are the result of an imbalance between the mind and our emotions, added to our genetic predispositions, which also have an important role in our health.

The World Health Organisation has rightly concluded that there are no illnesses, but rather ill people, i.e., people prone to become ill.

As Spiritists who of course believe in reincarnation we know that we inherit the legacy of our past habits, we inherit the mental and moral framework built by our minds in the past. They transform our new experience in the flesh either in health or illness. The modern therapies manage to reach the internal being, going deep into the causes of the disorder, instead of restricting the action on the effects and symptoms. That has helped people reach a state of total health, not only providing cure to existing illnesses but also closing the doors to new diseases. 

What is the path to achieve total physical and mental health? 

Firstly, I would like to mention the Latin proverb, mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a healthy body). What is says is that our mental balance, our healthy psychological state, depends on the legacy, the memories we bring from our previous existences. Therefore, to achieve full health you need harmony between your thoughts, your feelings and your acts.

Carl Gustav Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and neurologist, proved that we are what we think, what we nurture. Almost all psychotherapists, psychologists and psychiatrists agree with him. Good habits, such as keeping positive, constructive thoughts, respecting oneself, meditation, healthy reading, doing good, forgiving, showing compassion for others, charity and love (even without a religious connotation) are all excellent ways of achieving full health. 

How can we develop our will power in the fight against our ill tendencies? 

The best way to achieve that is by persevering in our good intentions and start again as many times as necessary if we repeat the same error. In our efforts to achieve internal enlightenment we exercise patience, which generates the energy we need to make us strong to deal with the internal negative forces that challenge us. 

How can the exercise of mediumship help the average person? 

The exercise of mediumship provides evidence of the immortality of the Spirit when it detaches from our body. That is a valuable tool in the conflicts that affect all of us, human beings. It frees us from the fears of death, suffering, and bitterness. The phenomena of mediumship provides us with a picture of well-being, health and the joy of living, due to the great internal happiness that mediums enjoy when they help others and when they make use of the bio energy, which has powerful healing properties. 

Do you do healing? 

No, unfortunately not, but I provide the adequate information and enlightenment for individuals so they can get rid of the suffering that disrupt their lives. 

How is the daily life of someone who can see, hear and feel the presence of Spirits? 

It is disturbing in the beginning, when your mediumship appears, as it is usual occurrence. Eventually, as you educate your mediumship, you manage to control the phenomena and achieve a good balance, living a healthy life, thoroughly compatible with what we classify as a normal life, from the mental, emotional and practical perspectives. 

How do you look after the health of the children who are in your social project in Salvador, Mansão do Caminho? 

I apply all the resources made available, including those of conventional medicine. We make the proper provisions towards good eating habits and good hygiene, added to exercises for the mind, through meditation, prayers, reading good and enlightening books, pedagogic discussions, all necessary for a happy existence.  

What message would you like to send to our readers? 

My message is one of peace, full of live and tenderness. Human beings suffer because they block the capacity of loving themselves. As they are not capable of loving themselves, they are not capable of loving, which generates a number of conflicts that make them unhappy.

It is worth loving, even if you are not rewarded for it. Love is no longer in the field of libido or theology. It is rather a psychotherapeutic process that encourages internal harmony in human beings, providing them feelings of well-being and peace, with a positive impact on health.

We should not worry, therefore, when we have enemies, but become vigilant instead, to make sure we do not become anyone’s enemy. All who bear a grudge and keep hatred, resentment and the desire for vengeance in them are carrying mental rubbish with them. That mental rubbish will poison their neurones and make them unhappy.

⁽¹⁾ This interview was done by the Study Groups Allan Kardec of Prague and Vienna and translated into Czech by fellow Spiritist Josef Jackulak, to be published on the alternative medicine magazine “Medunka”, edited by Vera Keilova. The magazine’s website is http://www.mojemedunka.cz/default.aspx.