Chico Xavier and the Sacred Experience: a Semiotic and Ethnopsychological Perspective

International Journal of Latin American Religions - Tập 6 - Trang 299-322 - 2022
Maurício S. Neubern1,2
1Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
2Campus Darcy Ribeiro, ICC Sul, Departamento de Psicologia Clínica (PCL), Instituto de Psicologia (IP), Universidade of Brasília (UnB), Brasília, Brazil

Tóm tắt

This article aims to propose and understanding of the Sacred experience in relation to Chico Xavier, an important Brazilian Spiritist medium from the twentieth century. From a theoretical methodology based on semiotics and ethnopsychology, the article initially begins with a discussion on the notion of Sacred and the changes that occurred in Spiritism since its origins in France, linked to philosophy, until its arrival in Brazil, where the religious content became dominant. Then, the article provides two tales about Chico Xavier and their analysis in terms of their relationship with the Sacred. In the first story, about his spiritual mission, topics such as discipline and asceticism are highlighted; in the second, about conversion and healing, topics related to reflexivity, coherence between belief and conduct, and the processes of transformation typical of conversion are emphasized. In the conclusion, some aspects on the specificity of the experience of the Sacred brought by Chico Xavier are noted, such as the character of musement, the need for a language of dialogue, the collective and community content of their diffusion, the need for consensual criteria for legitimacy, along with the problem of psychic power, as something essentially linked to love and future.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Albuquerque T (2015) Chico Xavier e a construção simbólica do Brasil como “coração mundo” e “Pátria do Evangelho”. Caicó 16(36):129–148 Arabi I (2012) Par-delà du miroir. Entrelacs, Paris Aurobindo S (1990) The life divine. Lotus Press, Pondicherry Barbosa E (1983) No mundo de Chico Xavier. IDE, São Paulo Barbosa E (1993) Enxugando lágrimas. IDE, Araras Bergman M (2009) Peirce’s philosophy of communication. Continuum, London Bigheto A (2006) Eurípedes Barsanulfo. Um educador de vanguarda na Primeira República. Editora Comenius, Bragança Paulista Blum D (2006) Ghost hunters. William James and the search of scientific proof of life after death. Penguin Books, New York Calcaterra R (2011) Varieties of synechism: Peirce and James on mind-world continuity. J Specul Philos 25(4):412–424 Carvalho J (1994) O encontro das velhas e das novas religiões. In: Moreira A, Zicman R (eds) Misticismo e novas religiões. Vozes, Petrópolis, pp 67–107 Carvalho A, Rezende G (2013) A espetacularização da figura de Chico Xavier e a doutrina espírita na narrativa midiática. Intercom 36(2):105–134. https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-5844202111 Clément C (2011) L’appel de la transe. Stok, Paris Colapietro V (1989) Peirce's approach to the self. SUNY Press, Albany Colapietro V (2016) Habits, awareness and autonomy. In: West D, Anderson M (eds) Consensus on Peirce’s concept of habits. Springer, New York, pp 297–314 Corbin H (2008) Face de Dieu, face de l'homme. EntreLacs, Paris Csordas T (1997) The sacred self. University of California Press, Los Angeles, A cultural phenomenology of charismatic healing Cusac C (2013) Play, narrative and the creation of religion: extending the theoretical basis of invented religions. Cult Relig 14(4):362–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2013.838797 D’Avila T (1988) The collected works of Santa Teresa of Avila. ICS Publications, New York Deely J (2009) Purely objective reality. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin Deleuze G, Guattari F (1980) Mille lateaux. Capitalisme et schizophrénie, Minuit, Paris Erickson M, Rossi E (1979) Hypnotherapy: an exploratory casebook. Irvington, New York Felitti C (2020) A casa. A história da seita de João de Deus. Todavia, São Paulo Fernandes M (2008) Chico Xavier: um herói brasileiro no universo da edição popular. Annablume, São Paulo Gama R (1998) Lindos casos de Chico Xavier. Lake, São Paulo James W (1987) The varieties of religious experience. The Library of America, New York Jappy T (2013) Introduction to Peircean visual semiotics. Bloomsbury, London Liszka J (1996) A general introduction to semeiotic of Charles Sanders Peirce. Indiana University Press, Indiana Kardec A (2008) O livro dos espíritos. Feb, Rio de Janeiro Lewgoy B (2004) O grande mediador: Chico Xavier e a cultura brasileira. Edusc, São Paulo Merrell F (1996) Signs grow. Semiosis and process. University of Toronto Press, Toronto Monroe J (2008) Laboratories of faith. Mesmerism, spiritism and occultism in modern France. Cornel University Press, London Morin E (2015) La méthode V. Seuil, Paris Nathan T, Swertvaegher J-C (2003) Sortir d’une secte. Seuil, Paris Nathan T (2014) Nous ne sommes pas seuls au monde. Seuil, Paris Neubern M (2016) Iconicity and complexity in hypnotic communication. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa 32:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-3772e32ne217 Neubern M (2018) Clínicas do transe. Etnopsicologia, hipnose e espiritualidade no Brasil. Juruá, Curitiba Neubern M, Nogueira H (2019) Complex hypnosis contributions to clinical psychology. In: Antloga C, Brasil K, Lordello S, Neubern M, Queiroz B (eds) Psicologia Clínica e Cultura 4. Technopolitik, Brasília, pp 71–90 Nöth W (2015) The paradigms of iconicity in language and literature. In: Hiraga M (ed) Iconicity: east meets west. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp 13–34 Otto R (2016) Mystique d’Orient et mystique d’Occident. Payot, Paris Otto R (2017) The idea of the Holy. Pantianos Classics, New York Paloutzian R, Park C (2021) The psychology of religion and spirituality: how big the tent? Psychol Relig Spiritual 13(1):3–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000218 Peirce C (1980) The collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Peirce C (1997) Pragmatism as a principle and method of right thinking. State University of New York Press, Albany Peirce C (1998) The essential Peirce. Indiana University Press, Indianapolis Petrilli S (2017) The self as a sign, the world, and the other. Sage, London Piedmont R (2021) Putting the science back in the scientific study of religiousness and spirituality: a commentary on Paloutzian and Park (2021). Psychol Relig Spiritual 13(1):19–23. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000298 Rambelli F (2013) A Buddhist theory of semiotics. Bloomsbury, London Rambelli F, Reinders E (2014) Buddhism and iconoclasm in East Asia. Bloomsbury, London Raposa M (2020) Theosemiotic. Religion, reading and the gift of the meaning. Fordham University Press, New York Seif F (2019) De-sign in transmodern world. Peter Lang, Bern Sharp L (2006) Secular spirituality. Reincarnation, and spiritism in nineteenth-century France. Lexington Books, New York Silva T, Brunelli A (2016) Pinga-Fogo e Chico Xavier: do ethos à semântica global do Espiritismo Kardecista. Linguagem em (Dis)curso 16(2):213–226. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-4017-160201-1915 Silveira I (1983) São Francisco de Assis. Vozes, Petrópolis Souto Maior M (2003) As vidas de Chico Xavier. Planeta, São Paulo Souto Maior M (2018) Kardec, a biografia. Record, Rio de Janeiro Souza J (2019) A elite do atraso. Da escravidão a Bolsonaro. Estação Brasil, Rio de Janeiro Stoll S (2003) Espiritismo à brasileira. EdUSP, São Paulo Taves A (2011) Religious experience reconsidered. Princeton University Press, Princeton Vilela J (1994) O gigante deitado. Clarim, São Paulo Yelle R (2013) Semiotics of religion. Bloomsbury, London Zir A (2012) A escrita do outro mundo e o outro mundo da escrita: Chico Xavier, o filme. Articiencia 15:1–6