TV personalities Nicete Bruno and Paulo Goulart chose our Christmas message

Home and art

From Umbanda to the Kardec Doctrine

The future: our day care center

The logic of maternity in reincarnation

And many Other themes in this interview with two of our greatest artists

(Text by Marlene Rossi Severino Nobre)

As I write these pages, my eyes fall on the soft tones of the rose that I am offered at the Goularts’ residence.  In the delicate texture of the flower, linger the moments of serenity absorbed in this grayish spring morning in São Paulo, so full of contrasts.

We went to meet Nicete Bruno and Paulo Goulart, knowing deeply in our hearts that we would receive blessings of peace.  The mental clichés filed away over time, through the different interviews given by the two artists, came to my memory, like fleeting rays of optimism and serenity.  They truly convey a deep sense of peace and joy, work, and hope.  In their loving home, they built a solid foundation of praise and dedication to art, to the cultivation of beauty, in its most legitimate expression.

In this interview, you will see this remarkable summary by Emmanuel, our spiritual benefactor: “Pure art is the highest spiritual contemplation on the part of human beings.  It signifies the deepest externalization of the ideal, the divine manifestation of that ‘beyond’ that polarizes the hopes of the soul.  The true artist is always the ‘medium’ of eternal beauties, and his work, at all times, has been to pluck the vibrating strings of human feelings, raising it from the earth to the infinity and opening, in all paths, the yearning of hearts for God, in His manifestations of beauty, wisdom, peace and love”.

Folha Espírita – How was your first contact with Spiritism?

Paulo – We had two very distinct phases in our knowledge of Spiritism.  The first contact was the most common, the one that occurs with most people: through Umbanda, in Rio de Janeiro.  Then we came across spiritualist phenomena.  Later, in a second phase, through the Brazilian Society of Spiritist Studies, in Curitiba, with Dr. Maury Rodrigues da Cruz, we had the complete Spiritist initiation.  We began to study Kardec’s Doctrine and only then were we able to understand how mediumistic phenomena occur on different planes and why they occur.

Nicete – We lived in Curitiba from 1962 to 1966 and, during our stay there, we maintained very close ties with this institution.  Here in São Paulo, we have a Spiritist Center connected to the one in Curitiba: the Experimental Center for Spiritist Studies of São Paulo.  We offer mediumistic development, healing by hand imposition, and we try to provide more direct support to the everyday Spiritist practice.  In the future, we will have a daycare center – which I would rather call a home –, a Transitional Home, an outpatient clinic.  The Spirit of Dr. Leocádio José Corrêa will provide all the services.  There are several similar centers in Paranaguá, Recife, Anápolis, Rio de Janeiro, and, of course, Curitiba.

Fulfillment of women

FE – Nicete, we were deeply impressed by the interview that the Spirit of Humberto de Campos conducted at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood with the Spirit of Marilyn Monroe, psychographed by Chico Xavier.  By saying that the theory of deliberate suicide is not true, she clearly implies that if she had had children, her life and death conditions might have been very different.  What can you tell us about motherhood, since you are such a devoted and conscientious mother?

Nicete – The question moves me deeply.  Being a mother is the only time a woman truly finds fulfillment.  And at this moment, I think of many people who cannot have children, and I would very much like to convey to all of them a message of great optimism.  I would remind those who cannot be mothers biologically that true motherhood can be felt, as long as they become aware of the true meaning of maternal love.  There are many children who need maternal affection, they are the sad children who are abandoned and forgotten.  I have three children, but I intend to have many more with the construction of the daycare, which we hope will be, above all, a home for many children, for the other children we will have.

Nicete Bruno and Paulo Goulart

FE – Paulo, you’ve already told us that you found it easy to absorb all the basic principles of Spiritism.  How did you react to the concept of reincarnation?

Paulo – I believe it was just a logical fit with what we actors feel.  We live multiple lives as actors, and this predisposes us to a constant logical and intuitive understanding of reincarnation.  It was just a logical match for this intuitive knowledge, a confirmation of what we experience.

Family, Religion, and Work

FE – We feel that since 1960, the spiritual atmosphere of our planet has changed significantly.  It seems that something very different and very serious is happening…

Paulo – It’s the approach of the New Age.  There is a greater awareness among everyone about the era we are living in.  The youth and children are in a hurry; everyone is trying to achieve things very quickly.

FE – And youth, especially, is very interested in putting everything in its proper place.  Their strong sense of justice often leads them to harsh paths because they don’t find answers to many of their doubts.

Paulo – We are the sandwich generation, the intermediaries between the older and younger generations.  We have to understand the difficulties of the older ones and assist the younger ones, smoothing the edges as much as possible.  The world was built on certain false or misleading foundations, and the youth long for justice and freedom, consequently rejecting these false boundaries.

Nicete – The awareness of the truth will set people free.  The youth seek freedom as Christ taught.  The more experienced ones must understand this longing and try to help.  Many parents are aware of this responsibility.

FE – And where does religion fit into all of this?

Paulo – As the young person becomes aware of certain values and sees that they cannot change certain structures, religion is a support for them to accept the fact that change is not immediate, but a consequence of individual actions toward society.  The tripod of home, religion, and work is so important.  When the young person doesn’t find the necessary support at home, he seeks it elsewhere.  At school, he encounters other imbalances and often turns to drugs or creates new, harmful values.  The core of positive values lies within the family; religion follows a person until death, even for the atheist, and work ensures stability in everything.  Young people need coherent actions from those around them.

Nicete – Exactly.  When parents say one thing and do another (“do as I say, but not as I do”), it’s this incoherence that is unacceptable.

Paulo – Let me make it clear, we are not making dogmatic religious statements; we are simply saying that young people need coherent actions from those around them.  Dissonance is very disturbing.  The language of actions is much more fruitful.

Atoms and the Message of Hope

FE – Nicete, when you chose to be an actress, did you feel it was something from past lives?

Nicete – I have no doubt about it.  Since I was little, theater came into my life very naturally.  You see, I believe that in our family, everything happens according to a higher determination.  The formation of our home, and now our children following the path of theater, without any influence from us.  With positivism and coherence, we live everything we feel.  It’s the public emanation of this experience without anything being didactic.  And all this in a very difficult period like the one we are living in…

FE – Indeed, we observe with immense joy the presence of three generations on stage.  In “The Effects of Gamma Rays on Field Daisies,” the play you are presenting, we have the participation of your dear mother, Mrs. Leonor, and your little daughter Bete, and you give us an extraordinary message of cohesion.  I would like you to say something about the play.

Nicete – On stage, we live exactly the opposite of our reality, which is the disconnection of generations.  For me, the message is mainly one of hope from the young person amidst all that decay.  The girl who wants to be a scientist discovers that all humans are made of tiny atoms that came from the Sun, and her hope is concentrated precisely in the certainty that everything will be changed, giving thanks to God for the strange strength that comes from the atoms.  It almost seems like the author had a greater awareness that the soul sleeps in the stone, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal, and awakens in the human.

Contact with Other Worlds

FE – In 1974 the Nobel Prize was awarded to two English astronomers for interpreting radio messages from distant worlds.  Paulo, do you think we will achieve greater contact with other worlds?

Paulo – Here on Earth, we are at a much lower evolutionary level than other worlds, so I think it is difficult to establish deeper contacts due to our inability to interpret.  We are not able to absorb the different stages of life and their manifestations.  The values of life on Earth differ from the values of life on other planets.  Many of them are far more advanced in their evolution than ours.  Many of them develop in states of matter we cannot detect.  But one day, we will get there…

Joy, Power, and Knowledge

FE – We feel in your presence a great sense of peace and joy. How does one achieve peace in a world like ours, so turbulent?

Paulo – We find peace in the simpler people who resemble children.  When we intellectualize, we start to confuse theory and practice.  The struggle for life, for survival, is a very strong call, and man begins to feel anguish.  Only through religion can he find peace.  This doesn’t mean I become alienated from the problems, it just means I don’t worry, I try to overcome them.  No matter how anguishing those problems are, they do not take away my peace, because I believe in God and in people.  Our belief in reincarnation and in survival after physical death gives us the certainty that even if someone tries to destroy our physical integrity and succeeds, they cannot alter our sense of inner peace, because we will have awareness of what we are, what we have done, and the message we’ve conveyed through our actions.

Nicete – Indeed, we feel that people complicate things. We must consider here a second tripod: joy, power, and knowledge.  It’s necessary to acquire the joy of living.  If you are determined to reach your goals, you succeed, you find the strength to achieve, and this achievement is realized with knowledge.

Paulo – It’s important to note that all these elements carry the same weight.  You have to know that, to reach your goals and acquire knowledge, you must have confidence and joy.  Power is subjective.  It in no way has a totalitarian or absolutist meaning.  See, there’s a big difference in the American formula of how to succeed in life, because they leave aside the fundamental values of existence.  What matters to them – in their case – is rising at any cost, no matter whom they may step on or hurt.

Nicete – The danger lies there.  Many injustices are committed with this philosophy of life.

Paulo – We don’t get carried away when things are going very well, for example, when we are enjoying artistic success at a particular time, nor do we get disturbed when unpleasant things happen, because we are prepared for all contingencies.  To enjoy success, you have to go through many failures.

Nicete – But that doesn’t mean we stop living everything intensely.  We simply seek the necessary balance to receive everything with serenity and understanding.

Paulo – We are connected to all events.  We just try not to exaggerate them, giving them the exact proportions so that we can maintain our inner balance.  When someone wins or loses an election, it’s the same thing; it’s necessary not to exaggerate the proportions.  There must be a lot of balance in this political turnaround for it to have better outcomes, not worse ones.

Christmas Message

“May Christmas and the New Year bring realizations of evangelical truths, lucid, and evolving expressions. May peace, love, and faith increase in your life, as well as in all your loved ones.  We have a great mission to fulfill.  We will succeed in God, for God.  May Christ bless and illuminate us, placing His love in our hearts.”

With this message chosen by Paulo Goulart and Nicete Bruno, we wish all readers the best wishes for peace and spiritual realizations this Christmas of Jesus.