MERRY CHRISTMAS! FELIZ NATAL!

Mensagem de NATAL 2012

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Message of christmas 2012

View more presentations from SONIA SILVA .

CHICO XAVIER, THE BEST BRAZILIAN OF ALL TIME

Momento comemorativo do Evento


Ontem, 03 de outubro, data de aniversário de chegada entre nós do Apóstolo de Jesus, Allan Kardec, Chico Xavier, com mais de 70% dos votos coletados por uma emissora de televisão, foi consagrado como "O maior brasileiro de todos os tempos".

Certamente que Chico, com sua notória humildade dispensaria mais esta homenagem, atribuindo-a a Jesus e ao Espiritismo - o que seria de se esperar que assim o fizesse, pois ele nunca quis os holofotes da fama sobre si. Sem dúvida que muitos dos demais indicados legaram, com suas vidas inteiras dedicadas a um ideal específico, o seu exemplo que merece o nosso eterno apreço e admiração: Princesa Isabel e Santos Dumont ("concorrentes" de Chico), Tiradentes, Irmã Dulce, Ayrton Senna, além de outros, nas áreas do esporte, da política, das ciências médicas, etc., porém, o que ficou gravado na memória dos brasileiros foi a presença amorosa de Chico Xavier, como legítimo representante do Amor de Jesus de Nazaré e do Espiritismo, a Sua Promessa de Paz e de amor entre os homens.

Chico Xavier, que em 2012 completa 10 anos de Vida Plena nas dimensões extra-físicas, certamente receberá, com muito carinho e o amor de sempre, mais esta homenagem de pura gratidão de todos os que levaram o seu nome e o do Espiritismo à divulgação plena pelos meios de comunicação.

Para nós encarnados, espíritas, a imensa responsabilidade de continuar a bem representar nos corações, na inteligência e nas obras esse legado de paz e de Amor de Jesus de Nazaré, de Allan Kardec, e de Chico Xavier.

Veja em: http://www.sbt.com.br/omaiorbrasileiro/

THE WORLD WE WANT

(Fotos: arquivo Sonia Theodoro da Silva)

Yesterday, July 27th there was the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olimpic Games. More than a competition, there is a feeling of self-overcoming and gathering among the peoples and athletes from different cultures of the five continents; sports as well as music approach people: and both were there in the opening ceremony.

The British performed pieces about the United Kingdom history (of course) appealing to Shakespeare and his union and bravery (King Lear's speech with Kenneth Branagh) but they also showed clearly that they support initiatives related to Peace and Gathering. An example was the presence of Marina Silva, a Brazilian who hold the Olympics rings together with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the Argentinian condutor Daniel Barenboim and Nobel Peace Prize winners.The ex-Brazilian minister is internationally recognized by her job defending the environment. The only contradictory moment of the party was when the ones who were holding the flag representing Peace gave it to the military representatives - with a clear hidden message although explicit that what maintains "Peace" is war; the presence of the presidents’ or their delegates' bodyguards and all the military apparatus in the city can say so.

The Spiritist Philosophy, which came to us in one of the most important moment of our progress, in a country that although had the flag "Equality, Fraternity and Liberty" was almost destroyed in the first World War and soon after that (as it was only signed the armistice in 1917) highlights that this double meaning Peace and war has to be an end. Not only because it is stimulated by the small interests of the main leaders, but also because the human beings still have (the war) inside them.

A great evidence that most people choose for actions in favor of World Fraternization with the support of the Peacemakers was their presence holding the white flag of the Olympic Games, as well as the presence of the brave athletes of the countries which are in war nowadays, emphasizing Syrians and the look of their flag bearer who was at the same time happy as he was there at the party and sad because of the tragedy in his country.

The world we want depends on the respect for Life manifested in all ways. The great Masters' teachings and the greatest of all, Jesus of Nazareth bring always the folowing message: we were made by and to Love - sublime love showed in the gestures as the one we have just watched. But our small everyday gestures reflect our option to the Well; the Well we hope to see inside the others, but that few times we exercise in ourselves for good.

(Please read this article in portuguese at http://filosofandocotidiano.blogspot.com)

Photos: Sonia Theodoro da Silva's files; Images: TV Record, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

3rd. LESSON - THE MYTHICAL THOUGHT

General Objectives
This lesson aims to work on myth in its real meaning as the human thought’s interpretative tool of nature when building his psychological structure.

Descriptive and Reflexive Text
The myth in its purely existentialist- nihilistic concept has been responsible for the perpetuation of a stratified civilization.It is necessary to recognize that myth has been renewed today, as an instrument of propaganda and/or a subliminal language which creates psychological dependence. The human being must get rid of its meanings in order to go in search of his very essence, his spirit: "You know the truth and the truth shall make you free", said Jesus - this is the real underlying message to be worked around the context of the Spiritist Philosophy, and it is Jesus as the quintessential Being mistakenly turned into a mythological deity, disfigured by the cultural habits and customs, by the human misunderstanding and the theological process construction, who returns in Spirit and Truth contemplating humanity through the Doctrine of Light, the Spiritism, which eliminates His divine multiface and shows Him as the One who lives in essence, because His is the evolutionary model that, in the future, all the humanity will achieve. This process is worked on the lessons of the Spiritist Philosophy course, which belongs to the SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES PROJECT. (Sonia Theodoro da Silva).

2ND. LESSON – SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY: THIRD CONCEPTUAL SYNTHESIS - 1st. Part

"EVERY STAGE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION ENDS WITH A SYNTHESIS OF ALL ITS ACCOMPLISHMENTS." (J. Herculano Pires based on Léon Denis)

The authors define, as real masters, the meaning of the first coming of Spiritistism in the current stage of our evolution on Earth, categorized by the Superior Spirits as a transitional period. In the Gospel of Matthew (Mt.13, 24-30), we find the parable of the Wheat and Weeds, which symbolizes the good seed planted by the humans in the fertile soil of their existence, under the auspices of the higher spirituality. The text below reproduces this process; the full text can be found in The Spirit´s Book (Introduction), 100 years anniversary edition – 1957 (Lake Ed.).

"INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF SPIRITS"
With this book, on April 18, 1857, Spiritism becomes known all over the world. The promise of the Comforter, the Paraclete or The Spirit of Truth was carried out. To say this is the same as declaring that The Spirit´s Book is the code of a new phase of the human evolution. And this is exactly its position in the history of philosophy. This is not an ordinary book, which can be read from one day to another and then forgotten anywhere.
Our duty is to read it and meditate about it, it must be studied and again, constantly. A whole building lifts up on this book: the Spiritist Doctrine. It is the cornerstone of Spiritualism, its starting point. Spiritism emerged with it and it was propagated and consolidated around the world. Before this book there was not Spiritism, and this word did not even exist. People used to talk about spiritualism and neo-spiritualism in a general, vague and nebulous way.
The Spiritist facts, that have always existed, were interpreted in many different ways. But after Allan Kardec had published it, “containing the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine”, a new light has shone in the mental horizons of the world.

There is a historical sequence that we cannot forget when we take this book in our hands. When the world was preparing to leave the chaos of early civilizations, Moses appeared as the leader of a population destined to trace the lines of a new world: and from his hands the Bible emerged. It was not Moses who wrote it, but he was the central theme of this first new circle of revelations: the Christian one. Later, when the biblical influence had already molded the culture of that people, and when those people were scattered throughout the Gentile world, and spreading the new law, Jesus appeared and from his words, the Gospel arose, written by his disciples. The Bible is the Code of the first Christian revelation, the Hebrew code that was merged into the sacred principles and the religious legends of an ancient people. The greatest synthesis of the ancient efforts towards the spirit. It is not surprising that it has been presented to the modern men in a frightened and contradictory way.

2ND. LESSON – SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY: THIRD CONCEPTUAL SYNTHESIS - 2nd. Part

The Gospel is the Code of the second Christian revelation that shines over the center of the triad of these revelations, with the image of Jesus of Nazareth as a sun, whose light shines over them, over the past and the future, and establishes the necessary connection between both. But just as in the Bible, the Gospel has already been announced, the prediction of a new code also appeared, the Spirit of Truth, as seen in John, chapter 14. And the new code came with Allan Kardec under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth, exactly when the world was preparing to enter a higher stage of moral development. (...)
"EVERY STAGE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION ENDS WITH A SYNTHESIS OF ALL ITS ACCOMPLISHMENTS." As the Bible is the synthesis of the Ancient times, the Gospel is the Greco-Roman-Jewish synthesis, and The Spirit’s Book is the synthesis of the modern world. But each one does not bring only the results of the accomplished progress, but they also contain the seeds of the future. In the synthesis of the Gospel we have to consider, especially, the presence of Jesus, as a direct intervention from the highest levels of spirituality in order to rearrange the thoughts of humankind. It is thanks to this intervention that the evangelical principles do not need readjustments or modifications in its primitive purity, and passes directly to the pages of this book, as the main support to build a new era. (...)

CARNIVAL OR MOZART? A TIMELESS DIALOGUE

CONVIDAMOS A TODOS PARA A LEITURA E REFLEXÃO DO TEMA ACIMA; LÉON DENIS NOS PRESENTEIA COM O SEU PENSAMENTO ACERCA DA MÚSICA E DAS ARTES E DE COMO ELAS PODEM TRAZER ALEGRIA, E BEM ESTAR.

WE INVITE EVERYBODY TO READ AND THINK ABOUT THE ABOVE MATTER; LÉON DENIS GIVES US HIS BEST WHEN HE TALKS ABOUT ART AND MUSIC AND HOW THEY CAN GIVE US THE VERY BEST FEELINGS!

CLIQUE SOBRE OS GADGETS, OUÇA AS MÚSICAS E CONFIRA !

CLICK ON THE IMAGES (GADGETS) AND HEAR THE MUSICS !

ACESSE O ARTIGO "CARNAVAL OU MOZART? (UM DIÁLOGO ATEMPORAL)" NO BLOG http://filosofandocotidiano.blogspot.com

PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE "CARNIVAL OR MOZART - A TIMELESS DIALOGUE" IN THE BLOG: http://filosofandocotidiano.blogspot.com

PHILOSOPHY AND SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY – CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT ASPECTS - 1st. PART

What is Philosophy?
What is the origin of Philosophy? What is the reason why men desire or need to think philosophically? And putting into practice the act of philosophizing or just thinking, what man really expects to find? Our thoughts tell us that such an uncontrollable impulse is part of human nature. (...) The origins of Philosophy would exist in the first deep thought the first man who first philosophized (...) When God created man, He did not make him of clay, but of thought, so, philosopher. There are many definitions of Philosophy, but there is only one which remains essential: Pythagoras’ Love of Wisdom. (Excerpts from JHPires contained in the Program Booklet of the Spiritist Philosophical Studies Project, fev.2001).

Luc Ferry, philosopher, former Education minister in France, concludes that every definition of Philosophy remains controversial, since most philosophers have been discussed it nowadays without coming to a deal. Among several definitions, we can mention: the formation of a critical and autonomous thinking, a method to meet the main aspects of a rigorous thinking, the art of thought rooted in a wonderment and questioning attitude (FERRY, L. 2006); it is through its methods, more than its subjects, that Philosophy must be distinguished from other arts or sciences (AYER, AJ 2008); Philosophy is the study of fundamental, abstract and general problems since they are concerned to the nature of existence, knowledge, morality, reason and human purposes (Teichman, J., Evans, KC, 2009). No one is absolutely sure about what Philosophy is (...), it can be understood in a traditional way, when dealing with the three Big Questions: What is it? How do we know? What do we do about it? (...) Other thinkers also said that Philosophy is much more defined through a particular method which could find reasons for conclusions and making them clear: finally, some people still say that Philosophy is a kind of attitude or way of life based on Socrates’ teachings (GARVEY, J.; Stangroom. J. 2009).

PHILOSOPHY AND SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY – CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT ASPECTS - 2nd. PART

In the Socratic and after Socratic period in Greece, Philosophy embraces many subjects, when intended to be a method of apprehending reality. In fact, this movement had already taken place with the pre-Socratics and the search for the arkhe (source) of everything. The Western Philosophy, science of the sciences, inquires about the first cause, it is concerned on the “being of things” and about all the latest goals; so, in order to be developed it had to be separated from religion, since it is focused on divine revelation. Its questions about God, the origin of the universe, the nature of being, must be done by the reason itself, detached from any mystical or mythical interpretation.

PHILOSOPHY AND SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY – CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT ASPECTS - 3rd. PART

The Spiritist Philosophy

“This book (The Spirits’ Book) was written by the order and dictation of the higher Spirits to lay the foundations of a rational philosophy, free of the damage caused by the spirit of systems. (Prolegomena/SB)”. By saying that Spiritism is a philosophy, Allan Kardec was not excluding its scientific character, quite the contrary; moreover, as ethics or morality is one of the areas that Philosophy embraces, such denomination did not exclude the moral aspect of Spiritism, which is the essence of so-called spiritist religion. (CHIBENI, S.S. Spiritism’s triple aspect).
Philosophy has much to gain by seriously considering the facts of Spiritism, not only because such facts are the solemn sanction of its moral teaching and by themselves will prove to the most hardened spirits the responsibility of their behavior (...), the detailed study of the consequences deduced from the existence of the soul in a disembodied state (...) the knowledge of the essence of the soul will lead philosophy to know the essence of things and the attributes of God. Philosophy means the search for the answers, meaning, rationality, understanding of things, and Spiritism, by the very nature of the issues it manages, is Philosophy. (PIRES, JH, 1983).
What is the philosophical originality of Spiritism? It was born among the French rationalist heritage (formed in the West since Greek philosophy), it admits the self-identity, as an individual soul researched after death; it admits the intelligibility of the real, yet it admits the effectiveness of human action as a factor of evolution; it accepts the intuition, the possibility to access the spiritual side of life, therefore under this historical and objective reason’s control. (INCONTRI, D. 2004).

In other words, the being, as the immortal Spirit, builds his interexistentiality, his spiritual identity through successive lives. The Spiritist Philosophy, far from being conflicting and unsystematic, assumes the role of conceptual synthesis of all knowledge developed in secure foundations of reason leading to full understanding of natural laws, the divine presence in creation. More than that, it guides the being to a fully identification with his Father, and makes him to know his own religiosity in spirit and truth, so that one day the being might say as Jesus said, I am one with my Father.

PHILOSOPHY AND SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY – CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT ASPECTS - 4th. PART

INTERACTIVE SPACE:
THESE ARE THE FIRST COMMENTED CLASSES FROM THE SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY COURSE OF THE SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHiCAL STUDIES PROJECT – SPSP; AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE ARE MANY CONVERGENT POINTS ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORS ABOVE BETWEEN THE SO-CALLED "TRADITIONAL" PHILOSOPHY AND OUR BELOVED SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY. SO, LET’S GO DEEP INTO KNOWING WHAT THESE CONVERGENT POINTS ARE, BUT ABOVE ALL, POINTS OR ASPECTS THAT DO NOT CONTRADICT OR PUT IN DOUBT THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THE SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY HAS ITS FOUNDATIONS, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES!
ACCORDING TO LUC FERRY, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN PHILOSOPHY IS TO THINK: "THINK ABOUT IT, IF POSSIBLE, WITH RIGOUR AND SOMETIMES IN A CRITICAL AND INTERROGATIVE WAY TOO."
HOWEVER, ANY SCIENCE OR EVEN THE EXERCISE OF PROFESSIONS COULD ALSO LEAD TO REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION. THEREFORE THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT WITH PHILOSOPHY, WE DO NOT DIGRESS ABOUT COMMON SENSE, THAT IS, THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF PHILOSOPHY IS NOT JUST THINK ABOUT PRACTICAL METHODS OF LIFE, FEELINGS ABOUT WAY OF LIFE, OR STILL DIFFICULTIES ABOUT EXISTENCE, ETC.

WHEN WE DO NOT FIND THOSE ANSWERS, OUR TENDENCY IS TO THINK THAT RELIGION CAN IMPROVE LIFE BY ITS REPRESENTATIVES ON EARTH OR EVEN THROUGH SOME "CONTACT" CERIMONIES WITH THE DIVINE. BOTH, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION "THINK" WHY WE EXIST, AND WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF EXISTENCE. BUT THEY FOLLOW OPPOSED WAYS: WHILE PHILOSOPHY REFLECTS THE HUMAN AMBITIONS, DESIRES, EMULATIONS, RELIGION PROJECTS TOWARD THE DIVINE THE SOLUTION OF THOSE PROBLEMS WICH CANNOT BE SOLVED!! SO, WHAT CAN WE DO?
WELL, THERE IS NO PRACTICAL SOLUTION TO SUCH MATTERS! THE ONLY THING WE CAN DO IS TO LOOK FOR THE ANSWERS.

FOR EXAMPLE, THE HUMAN BEING EVER ASKED THE CAUSES OF AN EARTHQUAKE. IN OLD TIMES IT WAS CAUSED BY THE FURY OF GODS; LATER, BY DIVINE PUNISHMENT BECAUSE OF BAD ACTIONS MEN PRACTICED. TODAY, WE KNOW THAT THERE ARE ISLANDS WHICH FORM COUNTRIES AND CONTINENTS, AND THAT BELOW OR NEAR THEM THERE ARE PLATFORMS THAT MOVE AT REGULAR TIMES. AND WHY? BECAUSE OUR PLANET IS NOT A COMPACT BLOCK; IT HAS AN INCANDESCENT CENTER FORMED BY PLATES THAT MOVE TO THE SURFACE; AND THE EARTH IS ALIVE BECAUSE THERE ARE A GREAT NUMBER OF ANIMAL BEINGS DEPOSITED IN THE DEEP SEA AND OVER IT WHICH LIVE WITH US, HUMANS BEINGS. WE ARE JUST ONE MORE LINK OF A HUGE CHAIN FORMING A WEB OF LIFE, FRITJOF CAPRA SHALL SAY.

WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED, THROUGH THE TIME, THE SEVERAL STAGES OF EVOLUTION - AND MUCH MORE THAN THIS, WE HAVE REGISTERED IN OUR PERISPIRIT THE INORGANIC AND ORGANIC PHASES OF THIS PROCESS, ALTHOUGH WE CANNOT CONSCIOUSLY CONCEIVED IT YET, IN AN EFFECTIVE WAY. DEEP INSIDE US, WE SEEK TO RESPOND TO SUCH PHENOMENA DEFINING THEM AS "TRAGEDIES”, AS "DIVINE PUNISHMENT”, OR " REDEMPTION OR ATONEMENT." THE TRUTH IS THAT IT IS THE SAME IDEA WITH DIFFERENT WORDS.
THEN, LET'S PHILOSOPHISE ACCORDING TO THE SPIRITIST KNOWLEDGEMENTS: THE BOOK OF SPIRITS, QUESTION 920, KARDEC WONDERS IF IT IS POSSIBLE THAT A HUMAN BEING HAS A COMPLETE HAPPINESS ON EARTH. ARISTOTLE WAS ALREADY WORRIED ABOUT OFFERING PRACTICAL GUIDANCE ON HOW TO BE HAPPY. LET’S SEARCH FOR IT?
SEE THAT SPIRITIST PHILOSOPHY NEVER OFFERS WAYS OF "SELF-AID”, BUT RELIABLE AND PERFECT WAYS FOR THE HUMAN BEING TO FIND AND LOVE THEMSELVES AND TO RESPECT LIFE AROUND - INCLUDING YOUR FELLOW! ! AND THEN, TO THANK GOD FOR EVERYTHING THAT MIGHT LEAD YOU TO THIS CONCRETE, SAFE AND FULL HAPPINESS.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (1) – Spiritist Philosophical Studies Project

A thorough and comprehensive study of literature to be used in this course is designed in order to lead the students to approach issues concerning Spiritist Philosophy, and also to equip them to the best and known researchers and historians’s works concerning philosophy (2). Equal work was done in order to highlight convergent aspects to the work contained in the Spiritist Codification, as well as the researches and studies of the pioneers of Spiritism in Europe (France, England and Italy) and North and South Americas (United States and Brazil), whose focus include scientific, philosophical and religious aspects. We also have in view to introduce serious spiritists scholars and researchers whose works reflect coherence and competence in dealing with Spiritism, and by any means have brought interpolations of doubtful character defacing this course or even the Spiritist Doctrine.
Educating Men to think in a “spiritist way” means to lead them to the highest level of consciousness, which implies to update their own potential, to develop and expand their intellectual and moral horizon in connection with the High Spirits who lead human destinies. (Sonia Theodoro da Silva).

(1) This course adapted its literature to make the acquisition and/or consultation easier for the students abroad. You can also try to download the books mainly the Spiritist’s ones. The books of History of Philosophy in general can be used – we indicate some of them. Therefore, none of them can be dogmatic or to express religious thinking or even theologies, since they are not applicable for this course.
(2) Although we have sometimes used some philosophical expressions, it is important to remember that Spiritism have already developed its own expressions and conceptual language (see the Lesson of Language and The Spirits' Book, INTRODUCTION I).