Antonio Cesar Perri de Carvalho:

"At the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, we will re-launch
an old campaign: 'Begin from the beginning' or in other words, the works of Allan Kardec"

Based in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, Cesar Perri has been
preparing for his new challenge as the coordinator of the
Brazilian Spiritist Movement

(Part 2 and final)

	Antonio Cesar Perri de Carvalho (photo), president of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB), was born in Araçatuba (São Paulo state) and lives in Brasilia. He has a long history in the Spiritist Movement, from his days as the founder of the Youth Movement in his hometown to his post as mimer of the  Executive  Board  of  the  International Spiritist
Council (CEI).

In this interview, whose first part was published in our last edition, Cesar Perri talks about the challenges he has just begun facing in Brazil, including the publication of controversial books written through automatic writing, or psychography: 

The works written by the Spirit, André Luiz, and, most of all those signed by the Spirit, Emmanuel, have been rejected by some segments of the Spiritist Movement. What is your opinion about that?

We need to respect such trends, as well as the right to different opinions, but I have profound admiration for the two spiritual authors. I rate Emmanuel as the best commentator of the New Testament. He has nine books published – five of them by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) – with analysis and comments of the New Testament in the light of Spiritism. His historic novels, such as Paul and Stephen and Renuncia are of huge value, bringing up facts and dates that are being researched by fellow Spiritists. His description of Paris in the XVII and XVIII centuries, as described in Renuncia, match records from the time. How could the great medium, Chico Xavier, who only attended primary schools and lived in a small Brazilian town in the 1930’s and 40’s, without any access to other sources of information, would know all that? Emmanuel left us stupendous literature. As for André Luiz, not only he provides great detail about the links between the material and immaterial worlds in all their dimensions. His books, from the first one, Nosso Lar – Our Home, bring us scientific and technological information ahead of his time. Much of the technology he mentions in his books, written in the 1930’s and 40’s, would only be develop on earth from the 1950’s. I have profound admiration for the work of André Luiz and Emmanuel and I am able to set a clear link with the work of Allan Kardec, which is the most important point. 

 Can you identify in the work of the early Christians disseminating the Gospel through the foundation of “churches” and the letters of Paul of Tarsus an organized movement for the arrival of Spiritism nearly two thousand years later? 

The work of the early Christian is indeed an inspiration to all Spiritists. You need to put it in perspective, but there are parallels between the movement of the early Christians and that of Spiritists. The Teachings were given to us just over 150 years ago, and that is a very short period of time. Spiritism is described as Reborn Christianity and the Promised Consoler, which would reestablish the truth and add other teachings. Paul of Tarsus travelled around, visited many people interested in the teachings of Christ, provided advice to them and worked with mediumship. In his letter to the Corinthians, he talks about the need of “order in the service”. That is very similar to the advice given to mediumship groups, that you need discipline. When his mission was coming to an end and he realized he would not be able to visit everyone, Paul was inspired by the Spirit, Stephen, to do minutes of the letters. In other words, he encouraged direct contacted but acknowledged there were long distances to travel. We see in that much of what we do now with Spiritism. His main aim was to give support and guidance to the first Spiritist groups, including on how to be charitable, in the true meaning of the word. There was great solidarity amongst those Christians, in the same way we find in the Spiritist Movement, with a crucial difference: there was no hierarchy in those days. No organization was above any other one. That came much later. That is why it is so important to look back at the life of the early Christians, reflect and learn in order to guide the Spiritist Movement of our days. 

Allan Kardec says in item 334, chapter XXIX, of The Mediums’ Book, that the formation of a great Spiritist Family would one day gather men and opinion around one single feeling: fraternity. Would Allan Kardec be referring here to an eventual unification of the Spiritist Movement through institutions such as FEB and the International Spiritist Council? 

Allan Kardec worked on that idea of unification and talked about its pillars, which is the common link through fraternity. But we also notice that in his Posthumous Works he provides guidance about how those institutions should work. He recommends the creation of a committee, not built around one person, and I believe that idea was the basis of the model we have now. I notice the presidential approach that we have in Brazil and in Brazilian Spiritist groups often leads to an authoritarian approach. Allan Kardec suggests the main decisions be taken by a collegiate, a group, that ideas be discussed and debate before their implementation. And that is what I have been doing at FEB since I took over as interim president in May 2012. We all profit from that experience, which makes decision-making easier and avoid the predominance of individual opinions over the collective. 

What are the main challenges ahead for the Brazilian Spiritist Movement? 

We are facing many challenges. Attempting to disseminate Spiritism and remain faithful to its message is a great challenge. Allan Kardec warned us several times that there would always be a natural tendency to over-value individuals. In the introduction of The Gospel According to Spiritism, he explains why he preferred not to mention the names of the mediums alongside the messages. There was only the name of the Spirits, the city where the message was received and the date. For Kardec, the message was more important than the medium. And unfortunately that is not what we see these days. People want to know the name of the medium who wrote the message before reading the message. The great challenge is to look for and value messages that are harmonious with the principles of Spiritism and the works of Kardec, rather than glorifying such or such medium. 

It is clear that the model of the Spiritist Movement in Brazil – with the federation of each state represented – was conceived by superior minds, higher Spirits. But it is inevitable that, as the Movement spreads, the message gets distorted, and many Spiritist Groups begin to resent the role of the central bodies. What do you intend to do in order to get the Brazilian Spiritist Federation closer to the Spiritist Centres across the country? 

I will go back to an early experience of mine in the Spiritist Movement. I was very young when I became the president of the União Municipal Espírita of Araçatuba, in São Paulo state – the union representing Spiritist Groups in the town. There were difficult issues at the time, as the unification of Spiritism (the Golden Pact, of 1949) was only 20 years old. Spiritist leaderships were still confused about what role the unifying body would have. Many feared it would control and watch us closely. When I took over, the meetings dealt only with administrative matters. I changed that and opened up the debate to new proposals and ideas. We began meeting every time at a different Spiritist Group in the town, getting everyone involved. That is the idea I still follow, in a scenario of much bigger proportions now. I have been trying to maximise the time of our meetings to discuss issues concerning the development of Spiritism.

We cannot forget that Jesus was always close to the poor and those who suffered. To those in need, He gave the best evidence of his immense love. Considering that and the fact that there is so much hope and expectation concerning FEB, what are your plans to get closer to those who lack the education and the financial resources, after all they represent such a great part of the Brazilian population?

That is a concern we all have and for which we are looking for a practical solution. Three years ago, I began a project called “interiorisation”. It aimed at encouraging directors and all of those closely involved with the management of FEB to pair up with one of the federations in any Brazilian states and go to the interior, to small towns. That is how I got to visit two small towns in the Amazon. To reach one of them I travelled by boat for two hours. One of the Spiritist Groups I went to had no access to electric light. For the special occasion, they lit up a bonfire. They usually use candles at their meetings.

I had other ideas and projects after that, but I came to realise that they were not realistic, as they were costly and bureaucratic, albeit well meaning.

I then began to work on a project to give shelter to the homeless and the poor and to back up Spiritist Centres in poor areas of the country, with limited resources, to carry out those actions. We are moving forward with that project. The campaign has a brilliant poster, designed by a fellow Spiritist. It shows a little ant and makes reference to a message by Fenelon in The Gospel According to Spiritism: “Aren’t those little animals (the ants) strong enough to lift the soil?” The message here is to praise humble, persistent, collective work. And that is the message we need to get across. 

Your final thoughts… 

I encourage fellow Spiritists to make the most of these phase of our planet. We are going through a period, in the words of Emmanuel, of checking our values. This is a very sensitive and difficult moment, as we have to face the consequences of our past mistakes as individuals and as groups. As for the Spiritist Movment, it is very important to bear in mind that our work must be centred on union, agreement and benevolence to one another. Those are the feelings and principles that we must have guide us in our work with the Spiritist Movement and in life in general.