Jacira Jacinto da Silva

President of CEPA – International Spiritist Association

Dear partners,

I feel extremely honored to be able to present through these lines the WORD OF CEPA, while the lights of our III IBEROAMERICAN SPIRTIST ENCOUNTER - held at the city of Vigo, Galicia, Spain, from the 28^th of April till the 30^TH of 2018 - go off. We’ve had de satisfaction of witnessing the first intercontinental event of CEPA, which has become the International Association in the Congress of 2016 in the city of Rosario, Argentina.

Those days at Galicia have been of extraordinary benefit for the participants of the III Ibero-american Spirtist Encounter, organized by AIPE and CEPA International, whose motto was “Spiritist Culture: A Contribution to Humanity Progress”.

There were 21 presentations, between conferences and panels, all very good and full of knowledge. With reference to these, there follows a brief summary taken from the Assessment presented at the end, to allow readers to have a sense of the ideas and concepts presented and developed during the event.

1. “At the opening conference, under the theme “Justice, ethics and citizenship through the spiritist optic”, it has been proposed that the Spiritist Centre was transformed in an open space in favour of the discussion about diverse subjects, related to human and social coexistence. In special that the Centers could act in terms of ethics citizenship and justice with guidelines strengthen by the spiritist philosophy.

2. The earth, the seed and the tree were used as metaphorical images, valuing the importance of the land prepared to receive the seed, as well as the result of the effort to evolve morally to become that tree that gives fruits that contain seeds, to repeat the cycle and make more and more people enter the circle of those who evolve consciously.

3. From the concepts "uncertainty and ephemeral", which give character to the current society, it was proposed to bring to a conscious level the certainty of the finitude of life, with the purpose of a change of paradigm that will provide us with living the day a day with a greater appreciation towards simple and profound things, formulating that "non-permanence" can bring us closer to spirituality.

4. The individual approach to what is and is not forgiveness, and what benefits it brings, leads to the emergence of questions and intimate responses that make human beings aware of their own emotional wounds. Forgiveness is a personal tool towards the achievement of emotional healing.

5. Given the current challenges of scientific research with a spiritist theme, it is proposed to identify exploration paths by focusing on methodology, an essential basis for high-quality research. From the Kardecist reflections on the method, some methodological instruments are presented - applied in several areas of the natural and social sciences - and their application in Spiritist research. It leaves, as a contribution, some questions and challenges to be deepened by scholars.

6. The idea of reincarnation provides the notion of moral consequences, giving a deeper sense of the individual and existential reality, because due to it and through it the goal of the spirit is fulfilled: its evolution. The ethical and moral concepts that flow from the reincarnationist idea and from the other spiritual laws, as presented by Spiritism, could contribute enormously to the spiritual progress of the Human Being, and therefore, of all human society.

7. It formulates the importance of the historical significance of Spiritism, placing it as one of the frameworks with which humanity counts to work on its own self-knowledge, showing the ascending route of human consciousness and its stages.

8. It is suggested that everything is spirituality, manifesting from the simplest to the most complex.

9. It is manifested that the spirit identifies itself with communication and with the possibility of participating in what is beyond itself, through intelligence, with the ability to question itself and to seek for the human life meaning, being actors and spectators, searching for the meaning of life, connecting with humanity, taking distance from the surrounding reality in a transcendental act of evolutionary freedom.

10. It proposes the creation and development of spiritist centers on foundations that serve as a solid foundation, pointing out clear objectives, priorities, balanced practice of mediumship, highlighting important elements, such as the union between its components, and offering new members according to the ideal exercised.

11. Stresses the importance of Spiritism being incorporated naturally into the lives of children. It also emphasizes that the transmission of the spiritist knowledge is adapted to its understanding, and by means of consensual techniques, the kids can discover the foundations, concepts, and ideas of the spiritist philosophy. It is important to establish experiential learning where the child feels part and can share what he has in common with other children: values such as friendship and joy, which leave in them feelings of happiness, inclusion and appreciation.

12. In the health and medicine area, the evolution of the concepts of mental health and mental illness are analyzed, expressing that Spiritism provides a new conceptualization of health and disease processes with the understanding of the spirit and its immortality.

13. The several dimensions of the suffering of the terminally ill patient and the way in which medicine currently deals with the spiritual dimension are addressed. A reflection is made on its impact on the position of health professionals before the patient at the end of their physical life.

14. The importance of beliefs for the spirit transcendence is formulated, taking into account that in certain occasions they become limiting mental structures. The broadening of consciousness in the search to unlock those structures that inhibit assertive actions is proposed, as well as the therapies that contribute to rebalancing, detecting, modifying and eliminating the erroneous patterns to recover health from a holistic and integral point of view.

15. The influence of thought as a transforming means for human beings and for humanity, its reach and its consequences are stated, proposing different techniques that contribute to this objective.

16. From the approach of today's society, with its complexities, it is proposed the need for updating and evolution of Spiritism, observing, objectively, the difficulty in the motivation of young people to maintain and improve what was achieved by the spiritualists of the nineteenth century and XX.

17. The possibility of using systemic thinking in spiritualism is projected, that is: networks within networks, corporeal life and integrated spiritual life and related to each other, interacting with other systems.

18. The search for the spiritual progress requires the education of the emotional nature, of his intelligence and the necessary adjustment of his free will. Only the holistic use of learning that he acquired in the meanwhile about the rational and emotional intelligence, allows him to reach that integral understanding of his responsibilities, which requires the ultimate development of the spiritual nature of his intelligence.

19. It is stated that happiness is not an objective but is implicit in the evolutionary process, that it is a constant aspiration and repeatedly experienced, since happiness, scientifically defined, is a subjective perception of well-being, and is the underlying root, the intrinsic motivation that encourages and nourishes progress, but which, in turn, recreates and feeds back into the reincarnation process.

20. It states that mediumship is one of the paradigmatic principles of spiritism, and at the same time constitutes the main method of production of Spiritist knowledge. Without demerit of the use of mediumship in the aid of spirits, incarnated or disembodied, in a situation of physical, psychic and moral suffering, mediumship is essential as a method of study, research and updating of spiritism.

21. Art Video - It's not about mediumistic art. Just art, without qualifying adjectives, executed through the vision and feelings, emotions and expressive forces of Spiritist people. Everything vibrates, and when the incarnated spirit makes of his life learning, of his will a tool, and of his evolution an objective, the reached vibration moves a spiritual plane in the same tuning. It is a supportive system of study and realization. Depending on personal states, acquired knowledge and subtle factors of special energetic forces, intuition takes shape, is different in each one, and develops. Because being Spiritist commits and makes one responsible. And this does not mean that all the work produced goes down that path, but that a part of the development of the spirit on that path is consciously committed to the expansion of a facet that results in the benefit of the progress of humanity.”

Vigo, April 30^th, 2018.

Also, there was music at night, evening in which everybody could enjoy of good songs and a relaxation time. The event was closed with the reading of the text above, in charge of Nieves Granero. It was followed by some words from the 3rd Vice President of CEPA - Region of Europe, Juan Antonio Torrijo Latorre; from Rosa Díaz, representing AIPE and also as a special adviser to CEPA, and from the president of CEPA.

The reading of the valuation of the developed concepts suffices to reveal the level of this III Ibero-American Spiritist Encounter in terms of knowledge. In fact, it was a great opportunity for the development of Ibero-American spiritism, in which, the effort of all, adds to the existing trajectory to continue advancing.