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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling case for 'alternative medicine', December 29, 2004
This review is from: Kardec's Spiritism: A Home for Healing and Spiritual Evolution (Paperback)
This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in modern day's spiritism, spiritual healing, or in closing the gaps between regular medicine and complementary medicine. Gaps that are created and maintained by thinking habits preventing to see evidence and truths that do not fit a certain scheme thinking model.
Not only does it provide a concise, accurate introduction to the spiritist philosophy as originally codified by Allan Kardec, or 'principles to live by' as she calls it. The book also shows how spiritism in Brazil is a living practice in Brazil, having a significant impact on health and healing of a lot of people. And thirdly, the book provides ample eye-witness, reporter-style descriptions of the organization and functioning in four spiritist centers in Brazil. With a lot of impressing stories.
In the book, chapters one to four describe the basic views and historical context of the spiritist philosophy in the line of Allan Kardec's writings, as it has developed in Brazil. Chapters five to eight describe the functioning, social context and healing practices of four spiritist centers in Brazil, which were visited and studied intensively by Emma Bragdon. Furthermore, chapters nine to eleven dig deeper into the organization of the spiritist centers, and show how knowledge on spiritual healing and mediunic capacities are developed in the communities of the spiritist centers. Finally, the book has a glossary explaining terms, a bibliography, and an excellent index.
The book is far more than an introduction to the spiritist philosophy and the healing practices based on the philosophy. Emma Bragdon points to limits of the Western world's medical science, that is based on a bio-chemical model of human health and illness. In this model, illness is a problem that can be countered by either surgery or allopathic therapy. From this perspective, concepts of health, illness and healing diseases that are not based on the bio-chemical approach, have to be rejected. And they are being rejected, mainly because of ignorance or because of research and industry lobbies that are not interested to look for remedies that cannot be patented in the form of drug formulas. Which is a bit surprising in view of the fact that the effects of regular medicine leave much to be desired. The book provides evidence saying that the US health care system is the most expensive in the world, yet ranks 37th in terms of cost-effectiveniss ratio. And the very health care system is said to be the third cause of death in the US.
However, Emma Bragdon brings together evidence that compellingly invites to look beyond the bio-chemical model of health and curing. First of all by showing that regular medicine itself is developing a promising interest in bio-electromagnetical medicine, a discipline originating within the field of regular medicine. And secondly, by pointing to changing concepts of consciousness, the human mind, and the impact of spiritual illness on physical health in the field of psychiatry, as introducted by David Hawkins, MD, Ph.D., co-author of two-times Nobel laureate Linus Pauling.
These developments in energy medicine and psychiatry have many parallells with spiritist philosophy. Spiritist healing practice as they are common in Brazilian spiritist centers use 'energy passes' as a means of healing, and the energy passed by spiritist mediunic healers can be measured by bio-electromagnetical devices also used in regular medicine.
And the insights of David Hawkins have a lot in common with spiritist views on conciousness and development of the human mind. Emma Bragdon shows, in clear and non-academic language, that it is too simple an approach to reject any alternative and complementary medicine, only because regular medicine does not have the capability to fully explain and understand complementary medicine such as the spiritist healing practices. Looking at the facts, the gaps between regular and complementary medicine are smaller than they appear at first sight.
All in All, Emma Bragdon's book offers lots of food for thought, both from the spiritist/spiritual perspective and from the medical perspective.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Informative, Intriguing, Inspirational, November 12, 2004
This review is from: Kardec's Spiritism: A Home for Healing and Spiritual Evolution (Paperback)
Allan Kardec's classic,"The Spirits' Book," has long occupied a special place in my library. Among the hundreds of metaphysical books I have read, I consider it one of the two or three best at explaining the spirit world. While I knew that Kardec, a French psychical investigator who left the material plane in 1869, has a big following in Brazil, I was not aware of the extent of his following and influence until I read this book.
Bragdon points out that an estimated 32 million Brazilians - about 20 percent of the population - attend Spiritist activities, and that there are more than 6,500 Spiritist centers throughout the country. "Enjoying both health and religious freedoms, Brazilians try to combine the best of what is available to them," Bragdon writes. "While consulting doctors versed in the mainstream bio-chemical model of medicine, many go to mediums for healing and herbal remedies; while maintaining nominal membership in the Catholic Church, many choose to attend Spiritist classes and participate in Spiritist healing sessions."
A resident of Woodstock, Vermont, Bragdon began visiting Spiritist Centers in Brazil during 2001 in order to better understand the spiritual and physical healing that took place there. She introduced "John of God" to the world through an earlier book, "Spiritual Alliance: Discovering the Roots of health at the Casa de Dom Inácio," published in 2002. She is the author of two other books, "The Call of Spiritual Emergency" and "A Sourcebook for Helping People with Spiritual Problems."
Brazilians, according to Bragdon, look upon Spiritism more as "a way of life" than a religion. It evolved from Kardec's research with mediums. Sometime around 1850, Kardec (a nom de plume for Leon-Denizarth-Hippolyte Rivail, a French educator) began investigating two sisters with mediumistic abilities. While the messages coming through the two young women were generally in harmony with their worldly and somewhat frivolous dispositions, the communication turned to very serious matters when Kardec was present. He was informed that spirits of a much higher order were communicating expressly for him and that he was to put the teachings in book form. "Even though they were written one hundred and fifty years ago, Kardec's writings are still very relevant today," Bragdon offers. "They reflect universal and timeless truths."
The primary difference between Kardec's Spiritism and the Spiritualism of Great Britain and the United States, Bragdon points out, is that Spiritism openly embraces reincarnation and is more unified and action oriented. "The philosophy of Kardec's Spiritism was built on the laws of cause and effect, and reincarnation," Bragdon states, calling it "a path of practical Christian Spirituality." The appendix to the book gives a detailed account of how reincarnation was expunged from Christian dogma and doctrine, offering quite a bit more than the oft-cited Council of Nicea and Justinian history.
The author discusses the history of Spiritism in Brazil, including many of the prime movers, such as Chico Xavier, Hernani Guimaraes Andrade, and Elsie Dubugras. She explains the nature of energy healing, as practiced in various Kardecist centers, and presents a number of cases in which patients were healed. "Energy healing is only one part," she writes, pointing out that the nurturing community with its positive environment and brotherhood must certainly be part of the success she has observed during her trips to Brazil.
The organizational structure of Kardecist centers, the training of mediums and healers, the education of patients, models of Spiritist centers, and the first steps toward creating a center in your town, as well as suggestions for implementation are also discussed.
Before reading this excellent book, I had imagined Kardecist Spiritism as being not much more than a simple faith healing practice appealing to the uneducated and impoverished, but Bragdon paints a very different picture. It appears to be a sophisticated, well-organized, and effective energy medicine model, one that alternative medicine leaders in the United States might do well to consider.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enlightening and Informative, June 2, 2006
This review is from: Kardec's Spiritism: A Home for Healing and Spiritual Evolution (Paperback)
It's amazing to see the functional structure created in Brazil to address the spiritual, emotional and psychological crises of people. Emma Bragdon does a tremendous job of compiling information and conveying to the reader how these spiritual centers function and how they could also work in the U.S.
At a time when health care has become a luxury afforded only by the rich, this book offers an alternative solution which treats the individual as a mind-body-spirit unity, for free!!!
Awesome book!
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