Spiritism: a doctrine developed in Puerto Rico
Since the nineteenth century in Puerto Rico, an expansion of new political, philosophical, scientific, social and religious movements such as pseudosciences have been developed. But these are commonly misunderstood due to the development of false assumptions in society regarding these popular practices, so it is important to apply the scientific research method to understand the historical context, the particularities of popular knowledge subjected to study and understand integrationof this in society. Pseudosciences are characterized, from the perspective of science, by having an anti -scientific essence. Popular knowledge, such as spiritualism, have become important masses of popular knowledge in different regions of the world, and these are distinguished only by the constant traditional practice that develops in biological or symbolic family circles, and the characteristics that differentiate themof other beliefs, such as the importance of the human physicist, the mental and psychological environment, the practices with magical or empirical principles and other rational principles that do not have a concrete explanation. In Puerto Rico, among the set of popular knowledge we find spiritualism, which is defined as the “belief that psychic phenomena are due to spirits that remain interested in human beings and try to come into contact through a medium;that is, a person capable of contacting both worlds ”(Tapia, B., 2018, p. 101). The spiritualist science had its origin in the second half of the nineteenth century through writings of spiritualist knowledge as the book of spirits (1978) of the French philosopher, professor, medical and writer León Hipólito Denizard Rivail, who later became known asAllan Kardec and as the father of spiritualism in Puerto Rico. Denizard in his writings raised his findings when conducting a deep study about modern spiritism, which gave roots in the United States in the mid -nineteenth century. His interest in spiritualism and supernatural phenomena that he involved had emerge when he adopted his pseudonym because he insisted that, through communicators of the astral world known as mediums, it was revealed that in his previous life he was a pastor, which is why hewhich one of the beliefs adopted within the spiritualist doctrine is the belief of reincarnation. It is because of the findings of this scientist that we managed to see the arrival of spiritualist science to Puerto Rico and the effects that this cause on the Puerto Rican population.
The arrival of spiritualism in Puerto Rico caused a lot of problem because at that time of the nineteenth century there was a persecution by laws implemented by a government of Spanish origin that prevented practices that had some link with the spiritualist movement that was recognized at that timeas a revolutionary foundation movement. During this period of Spanish colonization in Puerto Rico, the official and dominant religious doctrine was Catholicism, so spiritism was considered as a malignant doctrine that was against the principles of Christianity and all the Bible Scriptures. Consequently, the spiritualists were forced to face a social marginalization by the government and civil society that based religious rights taking as criteria Christianity. However, the illegalization of spiritualist practices was not a reason for the study of this doctrine, on the contrary, spiritism continues to spread the island through a social stratification beginning with the middle class and the upper class, which whichThey were the intellectual sector since they had access to resources such as education. Eventually, spiritualist science took for the popular sectors of the Puerto Rican class. This last social class expressed a particular interest in spiritualism because they idealized that this popular knowledge was that link towards moral healing that allows the individual to accept the imperfections of his life, thus serving as a healing method of physical, psychological andspiritual for those who found it.
To spiritualism expand through all the social sectors of the island, spiritualism was divided into two branches: scientific spiritism and popular spiritism. In scientific spiritualism, intellectual growth was an aspect of utmost importance, so we can infer that this branch of spiritualism was destined for those individuals who possessed the ability to read, that is, the privilege of education. Scientific spiritualists base their ideals on reincarnation and study of this in centers where scientific research is essential, such as libraries where they manage to conference and carry out literature review that nourishes knowledge about spiritualism. It is important to emphasize that scientific spiritualists reject ideals that belong to popular spiritism, which according to them popular spiritism entails magical practices of evil environment (witchcraft), idolatries and artifacts that are usually used in their rituals such as candles, potions and other types ofingredients. On the contrary, popular spiritualism, which arose once it manifested itself in the sectors of Puerto Ricans of low socioeconomic level, it was practical that had its development in the rural regions of the island. Traditionally, popular spiritism is the best known in Puerto Rico because it is the one that makes spiritual sessions that involve magical practices and empirical remedies that have as its purpose the healing of physical diseases that were caused by a physical cause or psychological factors and psychological factors andspiritual. If there is physical illness due to physical cause, it would have to be resolved by a doctor since it was not caused by any evil spiritual influence. In case it is for a psychological or spiritual cause, it is established that this was the effect of an act or personal thought of negative influence. The medium, which has a therapeutic role in these spiritual sessions, begins the process of therapy with the use of the supername of the affected individual, the constant communication with the spirit that have an influence on the individual through the magnetism of the spirit, the dispossession inWhere the medium makes movements with the use of hands to undo negative influences, consent through trust or faith that the individual assumes on the spiritualist, and finally humorous communication between the two. These types of rituals can also be referenced in literary texts by Puerto Ricans, such as Circomedium (Solo, J., 1994) where the story of a confused girl who could not understand what happened to her and the reason why he managed to see supernatural entities that others failed to see, so he had to seek help from a medium named Juan forsolve your problems.
In the branches of scientific and popular spiritism we find different types of specimers. In scientific spiritualism we find the spiritualist tunist movement, which had emerge through the writings of a Spanish philosopher known as Joaquín Trincado. In trench spiritism, the centers are known as "chairs" and this is where studies are carried out and conferences are carried out to expand the knowledge of spiritism as a moral healer and a doctrine of scientific tendency. Under scientific spiritism we also find Kardecian spiritism which bases its principles on the Scriptures of Allan Kardec, father of spiritualism. This spiritualist movement is differentiated from others by their constant emphasis on books of spiritualist literature, they practice hypnotism, emphasize the rejection of magical practices that use objects in the rituals that represent an image, according to them, ignorant that does not represent the spiritualism established byKardec. Additionally, Kardecianos have as its fundamental principle to reject the practice of spiritism as a movement belonging to religion. According to Kardecian spiritualists, the beliefs and practices that religion entails are the antonym of the principles of spiritualism.
Not only are species with a scientific environment or popular spiritualism, but you can also find spiritualists considered as Christians. Although spiritualism is not considered a movement of religious tendency, Christian spiritism is contradiction. This was founded by Luis Sánchez Vargas almost at the beginning of the 80s. This type of spiritualism is defined by the mixture of philosophical principles belonging to spiritualism and principles that are part of the Christian religious movement. This Christian spiritism is recognized for carrying out its sessions in religious churches such as the Church Disciples of St. Paul Christians. Additionally, it is known that during the sessions in these spiritual churches expressions are used that originate in Christianity such as the word "alleeluya" and refer to undoing ignorant spirits such as "rebuke", which are expressions usually used in religionPentecostal, evangelical and the Catholic. In addition, to take the role of a medium in Christian spiritism, the knowledge of the Bible Scriptures and the ability to be possessed by the Holy Spirit are established as criteria.
The existence of different types of scirites in Puerto Rico is very varied, but an important aspect that is commonly remarkable in the society of the 21st century is the confusion that is usually committed by relating santeria to spiritualism. Santeria can be widely defined as a “religious system of Nigerian origin from Yoruba culture and taken to the Antilles by slaves where it was mixed with Catholicism, spiritism and other African religions."Like spiritualism, Santería underwent changes in its origin by religious movements such as Catholicism. Compared to Christian spiritism, Santería also adopts the principles of the Catholic Church such as the gods. In addition, santeria adopts spiritism the use of medium. In these santeras practices, devotions are made to saints or yorubas (orichas), empirical and ritual remedies with animal sacrifices. Finally, like spiritualism they use artifacts in rituals, but in the case of Santeria they use for their snails, ikines, coconut ceremonies and have a kind of bishop known as "Babalawos". In summary, we can establish that, although santeria has a close relationship with spiritualism, it also has particular characteristics that the difference from other doctrines.
This authorizes to conclude that, spiritualism from its origin in the 19th century until today has adopted different changes in Puerto Rico according to society has been developing new changes that allow them to create a structure organization where social and religious movements have an influenceimportant. When exposing some opinion or detail about some predominant doctrine in society such as spiritualism, it is necessary to admit that literature review is extremely important to avoid the emergence of new false assumptions that convey a false knowledge about the particularities of thedoctrine subjected to exposure and study. We can establish that doctrines such as spiritualism, Catholicism and Santeria influence daily the moral, physical, psychological and spiritual being of each being. These knowledge systems allow human beings to establish fundamental principles for the progress of their daily lives, and without appropriate knowledge they cannot be developed in the duly correct way. Therefore, I emphasize the consultation of different resources of scientific and anti -scientific knowledge that allow the expansion of human knowledge to live in a society that adapted to sociocultural diversity.
References
- Planell, e. (s.F). Spiritism in Puerto Rico. Retrieved on November 7, 2019, from https: // encyclopediapr.Org/en/enyclopedia/Spiritism-in-Puerto-Rico/
- Rivera, e. T. (2005). Spiritism: The Flywheel of the Puerto Rican Spiritual Traditions. Inter-American Journal of Psychology, 39 (2), 295-300.
- Tapia, b. (2018). Social Sciences and other knowledge reforms. In Torres, L., López, h., & Giusti J. (EDS.), Social Sciences: Society and Contemporary Culture (pp. 101-102). Colombia: Editorial Nomos S.A.
Leave feedback