The Syndrome of Sheep in Search of a Shepherd

 

The Syndrome of Sheep in Search of a Shepherd

 

Marco Milani

 

        The behavior of an individual reflects many conditioning factors developed throughout their own history. From the perspective of Spiritism, we understand that we are immortal beings experiencing evolutionary opportunities to achieve the relative perfection to which we are susceptible. In this sense, we are experiencing situations that will allow us to exercise our intelligence and develop moral aspects, enabling us to know ourselves and understand the reality in which we live, whether we are incarnate or disincarnate. We also know that we are naturally attracted to and attract these situations, in which it is our responsibility to act according to our own knowledge and sense of responsibility.

        Spiritism provides us with an understanding of this evolutionary process and represents progress for humanity in overcoming mystical and irrational conditioning that distorts the perception of reality. The relationships between the physical and spiritual worlds are presented with lucidity and clarity that can surprise those who still appreciate secrets and mysteries typical of past cultural traditions. Spiritism revolutionizes with its rationality and frees consciousness from magical and illusory thinking. However, such overcoming requires individual effort, and it should not be expected that everyone will progress equally. The atavism manifested in some followers who still struggle to free themselves from practices and attitudes recognized as ineffective and without any validity in relationships between incarnate and disincarnate beings or even with God is a fact.

        The progressive march will make everyone advance, but each at their own pace. However, this does not mean that atavistic behavior should be encouraged. On the contrary, it should be respectfully clarified and encouraged to be overcome, and it was precisely in this direction that Kardec and the Spirits who structured the theoretical body of Spiritism acted.

        While on one hand, religious proposals emphasized the need for relevant ethical standards, on the other hand, the conditioning resulting from centuries of training, mysticism, and religious oppression still resonate in a large part of humanity. A striking characteristic of this behavior is fear, submission, and the notion of exchange with the sacred. Certainly, those who claimed to represent God, Jesus, or hidden forces on Earth contributed to the pacification of entire communities and the creation of a dependent relationship with apparently enlightened intermediaries who would intercede on behalf of followers. This dependence on intermediaries or practices supposedly related to the Divine and the mysterious still leads many to seek someone or an institution to place their hopes in, in search of salvation or fulfillment of their desires. They adopt the behavior of sheep in search of a shepherd to guide and provide for them.

        Specifically in Brazil, a country with a Catholic tradition and syncretic influence from different religious denominations, it is understandable that many come to the Spiritist center expressing salvational desires and a strong dependence on intermediaries with the invisible realm. When they come to know and study Spiritism, they encounter an innovative logic for the majority, in which each individual is responsible for their own salvation without depending on the intervention of any person or having to follow rituals, interpret symbols, contribute tithes, or adopt external practices.

        The syndrome of sheep can still manifest in many Spiritist followers, but as they become aware that they were born to be shepherds of themselves, they begin to reduce their dependence on supposed soul guides and increase their self-confidence in pursuit of their own spiritual fulfillment.