More articles

Pedagogy of Affection and Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy

As a tribute to all valuable educators, I bring some reflections I presented to the faculty of the Legion of Good Will’s (LGW) schools, which were partly published in the Correio Braziliense newspaper, of the Brazil’s capital city...

Defense of All of Us

Renowned American educator Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)—first president of the legendary Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University), in Alabama State (USA), who dedicated himself to creating better...

Human Machine and the Oil of Feeling

Education, a theme always on the agenda. It is urgent that it be disseminated and looked at by all of us as a safe path that shortens the distance among social classes. Education is also an efficient antidote against violence, criminality, diseases...

Education

Education with Ecumenical Spirituality

Source: A Reflection of Goodwill taken from the book “Sacred Spiritual Guidelines of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit,” volume 1 (2017). | Updated in November 2018.
Reprodução BV

Gandhi

The absence of Solidarity, Fraternity, and Generosity has created a huge gap between material progress and spiritual and moral maturity. That is the reason for our fraternal warning: it is time to placate our passions. Just for the sake of argument, if planet Earth does not evolve, the biggest losers will be its inhabitants. Besides, it is always time to overcome resentment. There will be no Peace, however, as long as cruel discrimination and criminal social inequality caused by greed persist, which we must fight against through efficient Education with Ecumenical Spirituality. If we do not choose paths similar to these, we shall be condemned to experience the reality that was denounced by Gandhi (1869-1948): “Unless big nations shed their desire of exploitation and the spirit of violence, of which war is the natural expression and the atom bomb is the inevitable consequence, there is no hope of peace in the world.”

   

The solution lies with God

When individuals loyally make an effort, a good result can always be reached. This has meant that civilization, at least what we are seeing as such, miraculously has survived its worst times of madness. The wisdom of the Talmud gives us a practical message: “Peace is to the world what yeast is to dough.”

Precisely!

Arquivo BV

Martin Luther King Jr.

There are those who would rather refer to the religious spirit, exalting the pathological deviations that have occurred over the millennia. (In no way do I include in these comments historians and analysts who have good sense.) I believe that this belligerent behavior, which has stained History with blood, needs to be urgently distanced from our hearts by way of righteous deeds, inasmuch as greater are the reasons that must make us join efforts than the ones that only serve to incite resentment. Hatred is a weapon aimed against those who hate. This warning, then, is very timely from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), who did not deny his own life for the ideals he defended: “We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”

In fact, the miracle that God expects from spiritual and human beings is that they learn to love one another, so that they do not go insane, as in the research into the use of antimatter for warlike purposes.

The best altar for worshipping the Creator is His creatures. Humanity urgently needs to be more humane.

José de Paiva Netto (1941-2025), a writer, journalist, radio broadcaster, educator, composer, poet, the President Emeritus and Consolidator of the Legion of Good Will, and Spiritual Leader of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. He was an effective member of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI) and the Brazilian International Press Association (ABI-Inter), a member of the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Union of Professional Journalists of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the Union of Writers of Rio de Janeiro, the Radio Broadcasters Union of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC), and the Academy of Letters of Central Brazil. He became an internationally recognized author in the defense of human rights and in his concepts of Ecumenical Citizenship and Ecumenical Spirituality, which, in his own words, represent “the cradle of the most generous values that are born of the Soul, the dwelling of emotions and of reasoning enlightened by intuition; the atmosphere that embraces everything that transcends the ordinary field of matter and comes from elevated human sensitivity, such as Truth, Justice, Mercy, Ethics, Honesty, Generosity, and Fraternal Love. In short, the mathematical constant that harmonizes the equation of spiritual, moral, mental, and human existence. Now, without the understanding that we exist on two planes―not only on the physical plane―it will be difficult to build a Society that is truly Ecumenical, Altruistic, and Solidary, since we would still be ignoring that the knowledge of Superior Spirituality elevates the character of creatures and, consequently, leads to the construction of the Planetary Citizenship.”