Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 25 °C, hot and sunny.
It is Corpus Christi, a religious bank holiday, and I do not know what it represents in the Roman Catholic religion, as I am neither Catholic nor very religious.
Traditionally, the Brazilian population was Catholic, with the largest Catholic following outside Italy.
I believe today that the Catholic population has decreased slightly, from 80 per cent to approximately 65 per cent. Many people have migrated from Catholicism to evangelical and Protestant religions.
Protestants and Evangelism have become more and more popular, with people losing touch or not identifying anymore with the Catholic Church, partly because of outdated traditions and the numerous scandals from the church over the last couple of decades.
Faith is a big business and has become lucrative. Evangelical churches in Brazil are masters at packaging and selling it to the masses, particularly those in impoverished areas. These churches provide hope and guidance to people who may not find it elsewhere, either within their families or through the Catholic Church.
Another notable aspect of these churches is their growing influence in Brazilian politics.
The last president of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, is a member of an evangelical church. Additionally, many Brazilian congressmen and senators are also affiliated with these churches, having been elected by millions of evangelical followers.
This gives these churches’ high-profile pastors and preachers significant power, given their captive audience among the ever-increasing evangelical population. It is worth noting that voting is mandatory in Brazil.
The rise of evangelism in Brazilian politics is phenomenal, with even a pastor from an unknown church running for president. Nalva is evangelical, and I also have pupils who are evangelical. I am not very fond of this religion; the truth is that I am not very religious at all.
Religion was made by man, and many things that are from man are bad; human error is in everything, including religion. I am not saying that it is bad, but for me, until now, I have been unable to identify with any specific religion.
The human being has continually been searching for the meaning of life and his or her existence; if a person adopts a particular religion and is happy and comforted by their faith in that religion, then I am so glad for them and for what that religion represents to them.
I have had many Jewish, Catholic, and spiritualist pupils, and all of them are looking for more or less the same answers. My mother is a spiritualist medium and, through her work in faith, has travelled to many places and countries, giving lectures on spiritualism.
She has always said that I have a certain level of spirituality and skills that I have never really developed.
However, what I have noticed about myself is that I can read and understand people extremely easily and quickly in a first meeting, and I can see or forecast certain future situations. Do I believe in this? I honestly do not know. The only thing I do know is that life is much more complex than we would like to think!
The question of whether we have freedom of choice or not remains unanswered. It appears to be a combination of both. We have the freedom to make choices in life, but there is also an inevitable fate or destiny that presents us with opportunities to develop and grow. We can choose to take these opportunities or not.
Often, an opportunity presents itself, but we lack the skills or wisdom to take it. Therefore, our journey in life is a continuous process of learning and improvement.
We are born, and from that moment on, we embark on a journey of progress and self-discovery until we die. Our actions and decisions during this journey determine whether we grow or stagnate. It is something to reflect on.
The bank holiday was a lazy day. We thought about going to Urca, but when it was time to act, nobody wanted to go except me. Nalva cooked a late lunch, and Yasmin had a third birthday commemoration with a friend’s family. Yasmin is close to Iza and her family; she has been out with them on a couple of occasions.
They kindly invited Yasmin out for dinner to celebrate her birthday at a nice restaurant near where we live in the south zone of Rio. They had reserved a table for 7 pm, and she returned at 10, happy as hell.
She said she had thoroughly enjoyed the night; who would not have? It was good for her to have so much attention and be out with people who genuinely liked her.
Her aunts, Nalva’s sisters, will be coming for more celebrations! Ridiculous!
In bed by 10 pm.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
