Gleyson Nunes de Assis: 

“Our main task is to disseminate Spiritism and to put into practice everything we have learned”

Our fellow Spiritist from the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro talks about his work on pro-life campaigns and other issues

	Gleyson Nunes de Assis (photo), president of the Spiritist Centre Casa da Preservação da Vida (Life-Saving Home) in the city of Rio de Janeiro, talks in this interview about the Spiritist Movement and other issues concerning the Teachings codified by Allan Kardec. Gleyson is a member of the Executive Board of the Spiritist Council of Rio de Janeiro,
known by its Portuguese acronym, CEERJ:

How did Spiritism get into your life and what is its importance for you in this incarnation? 

It all began when I was nine years old. A neighbour gave my mother a copy of The Gospel According to Spiritism, by Allan Kardec. I saved that moment in my mind, especially the image of the man on the cover, Kardec. Ten years later, my then girlfriend – now my wife – began talking to me about Spiritism and the Spiritist Centre she attended. She mentioned the book and the memories of that old book came up to my mind. I found it all dusty in an old family trunk and began studying Spiritism in order to find the answers to my questions concerning our life in this world. 

Tells us about your work in the Spiritist Movement now. 

I will be 35 in February 2015. I am the president of the Spiritist Centre Casa de Preservação da Vida and member of the Spiritist Council of Rio de Janeiro and I have a number of other administrative jobs within the Spritist Movement. But the main job for me is the opportunity of working on behalf of Jesus and of carrying out a tough daily battle to change the old man, full of vices, into a new regenerated man. I will achieve that one day. 

Tell us a bit about the Spiritist Centre Casa de Preservação da Vida and its standing on pro-life issues. 

The founders of this Group had opened a bookshop, Ibirajara, in the Ilha do Governador area of Rio de Janeiro in 1990, not far the International Airport. Their plan was to open an orphanage in the near future. In 1991, a Spiritist public speaker, Nércio Antonio Alves, was invited to give a talk on the first anniversary of the Group. He suggested that instead of opening an orphanage the Group’s founders should set up an organisation to give support to pregnant women, especially single moms, who might be considering abortion (– illegal in Brazil). That is how the Campaign in Defence of Life began. The Spiritist Centre was founded in 1993. In 2000, we opened our new, expanded premises. 

Life is a blessing and an opportunity that has been dismissed and destroyed by so many. What can Spiritists do to deal with issues such as abortion, death penalty, euthanasia and suicide? 

The best course of action when facing extreme acts of ignorance, selfishness and pride such as those mentioned by you is to focus on Christian morality and reason. Life must be seen as a great opportunity for the Spirit to improve and to continue progressing at each new incarnation. That is why God allows us to enjoy “life and life in abundance”. In the 21 key books of Spiritism we find the intellectual and moral resources to help us understand the value and importance of life.  

On the classic Spiritist book written by the Spirit, Humberto de Campos, through the mediumship of Chico Xavier in 1938, it is explained that “Brazil is the heart of the world and the land of the Gospel”. But we have seen shocking incidents of violence in Brazil in recent years, including cases of lynching that got public support in the social networks. What can Spiritism do to help Brazil achieve its Spiritual destiny? 

That book has inspired all of us. We are all citizens of the world but we were born in Brazil. However, Spiritism explains that we are individuals and that our Spiritual development is also an individual and gradual process. Free will is a key part of the process. Hence, the land of that will put Christian values into practice and where a society based on intellectual and moral principles will flourish will become a reality only when incarnate and discarnate Spirits are able to break away from their lower habits and begin living for love. That is the path Christ has been inviting us to follow every single day. 

You have also campaigned for people to read all the works of Kardec. Tell us about that. 

The 21 core works of Spiritism are not as widely studied among Spiritists as they should be. The least studied part of Kardec’s work is the Spiritist Magazine. The reasons are many, including geographical and historic factors and problems with translation and printing. But one of our main objectives is indeed to disseminate Spiritism and, bearing that in mind, all Spiritist Centres should study in depth the 21 works of Allan Kardec. 

Is Kardec out of date? Are the books he wrote, the Codification of Spiritism, sacred? How do you answer that using the principle of reasoned faith? 

The more I study with fellow Spiritists at the Centre where I work as a volunteer the more I realise that Allan Kardec is always up to date and profound. That is because he codified the Third Revelation from God, announced by Jesus Christ as the Promised Consoler. If we go back to look into the origin of profane and sacred, we will find out that profane was described as everything linked to vices, to pride and human selfishness, while sacred was everything that came our should come from God. Therefore the 21 key books of Spiritism, codified by Allan Kardec, are sacred in the sense that they come from God. 

As a young Spiritist leader, could you leave a message for our brothers and sisters engaged in the Spiritist Movement? 

We need to understand that our main task is to disseminate Spiritism and, with all our physical, mental and moral forces, put into practice all that we study in Spiritism, having Jesus Christ as our model and guide. The official titles we have in the Spirist Movement are no more than jobs we accept as a result of our involvement and commitment with the unified Spiritist Movement. My message is: study hard, carry out your inner reform, work hard and seek peace.
 

Note from the editor:

To find out more about the Instituição Espírita Casa de Preservação da Vida click on http://www.preservacaodavida.org/.