Nosso Lar: An Account of Life in a Spirit Colony in the World of Spiritis

After reading Kardec's "Spirits Book" and finding, to my discomfort as a practicing Catholic, that there was a great deal in it that seemed to resonate with me, I decided to test the waters further by reading Noso Lar's account of post-corporeal existence in a higher realm, beyond the Earthly plain. This book is very well done, describing Spiritism's tenets well in context. That is why I rated it so highly. Has it made me a believer? No. After reading and contemplation, I find this book and Spiritist theology have substantial holes.Superficially, Spiritism looks quite good, and even realistic, as a representation of what an afterlife would be like.I suppose my main gripe is the lack of mercy and grace in the Spiritist philosophy. Earning your keep and working for your development is all well and good, but I have known too many people who are utter disasters who will fall through the cracks in the umbral, or Noso Lar, as surely as they have in life. I also have known even more people who are great at "parroting the party line" from 9 to 5 and appearing to be solid citizens, who then conduct the rest of their lives full of all kinds of nastiness. The Spiritist system rewards confidence and energy that makes people "be cool" and able to work productively, and is largely negligent of a person's inner quality. The Spiritist system is just one more way to judge people by outer appearances.There are two points to the system that trouble my sense of justice, and also, perhaps to my discredit, inspire my unwillingness to submit to authority. In reverse order, the oppressing and innumerable heirarchies presented are of questionable authority as much as any such heirarchy in human life; there are entities in control simply because they got there first and know how to play the game, and they may have even set the rules of the game up in their own favor (just like in life) and I just can't accept such "bosses" at face value. And finally, Spiritism is all about expiation and proving yourself, which sounds fair and character-building, but the sins being expiated may not be one's own. You see, Spiritism espouses the concept of karma, and is subservient to it.I just can't seem to put credibility in a karmic system, because karma is like a beam of light in a vaccuum. It shines out from a source (it has energy and particle properties), it moves across space, it is reflected, it is refracted, it is diffused, it is added to, it is bent, it is focused -- all with intention or by accident...and ultimately it hits individuals as it will. Karma has far less intelligence than you imagine, and is analagous to sin in its capacity to taint its surroundings, or alternatively to unjustifiably elevate. ("The rains fall and the sun shines on the just and unjust alike.") I understand "true believers" will strongly disagree with me, but if you look at seminal writings on karma, you will find my description is accurate, and it is only in the last bunch of centuries that Eastern thinkers have tried to put a Madison Avenue spin on karma as a useful means of human development. That gaping hole in the value of karma blows the Spiritist system out of the water.There are numerous specific examples from both Noso Lar and The Spirits Book I can cite in support of my thesis of the imperfection of the Spiritist system to illustrate any of the aforesaid, but it would be best if you read the book yourself and draw your own conclusions.While I understand that there are some people for whom this system works, and there are some elements of it that I enjoy reading and find useful, I promise it will not work for everybody.This book was a good read, and I found it provocative for introspection, but I'm better off just continuing to be a nice guy to the best of my ability, and getting to my church every week to listen and pray, than giving much credibilty to this book's system as a map of my afterlife. We are all curious about the afterlife, and will find out the truth in time. Don't hurry it! We are alive to live.In closing, I recommend this book as a good read for the spiritually curious, but I suggest you take it with a grain of salt.

Lovely 📖 a great narrative explain the spiritual life.Our home the real one.

Is life after death for Christians only? Do all non-Christians simply cease to exist after death, or do they find themselves treated to post-death Christian evangelism, forcible attendance at Christian sermons, to be indoctrinated into a religion which was not their own path in earthly life, by people far below their own level of spiritual development?Such are the questions one has when reading this book, as well as the author's book "And Life Goes On". The author (or, rather, the spirit channeling these books, Andre Luiz) bizarrely depicts the afterlife as a place where one receives "lessons" and "lectures" in Christian living, and lectures about "the Lord Jesus Christ." (Something that seems more emphasized in the book 'And LIfe Goes On').Though there are also passages featuring more non-denominational, and more truly spiritual accounts of experiences after death,and the crux of all life as love, the account as a whole is suprisingly mundane and unimaginative, leaving a person who has a highly rich, deeply spiritual and imaginative life here on earth, to wonder how it could be that life after death would be more mundane and less spiritual than embodied life, where we are to receive "teachers" who are less spiritually developed than ourselves. Surely something is amiss.This may lead one to begin to awaken to a realization that isn't mentioned in these channeled books, which is that just because a person has passed from mortal life, doesn't make them particularly wise, spiritual, enlightened or significant for you. Some spiritual beings can apparently be boring and mediocre, and have things to say that are totally irrelevant for you. Perhaps what is depicted in these channeled books is an afterlife experience that is meant for a particular person, with a particular religious view and a certain limited psychological and spiritual development within that religious context. In such a context, an afterlife environment that is exclusively Christian might make sense, at least for a limited period of time, until that person is called to grow out of all dogmas and doctrines and teachings. For others who have different spiritual orientations here on earth, however, to find the afterlife depicted exclusively in such terms is both offensive, and representative of a distasteful and arrogant Christian hegemony upon many cultures in the world.Unfortunately, there is a lot of simplistic religious indoctrination and little real wisdom in these channeled books. If you want wisdom about this life and they life beyond, look to the books of Carl Jung, who pointed out that God (and try saying God the Mother, as we've all suffered too much from our limited conception of God as Father) is often the opposite of what we ourselves embody.It isn't enough to just receive communication from any spiritual being. What's meant for us is to recieve help from those spiritual beings who are able to help us in particular, whose communication is wise and meaningful for us. Each of us should seek out such guidance.

Excellent knowledge of our work on the other side.

So far, the book is a delightful experience of one of the planes on the other side. I enjoy seeing how an evolved culture looks and acts -- very fulfilling, as we know that is our heart's desire for our lives here on earth. (We will create and are in the incipient stages of creating such an elevating and supportive culture here.)

I’ve been looking for this book for quite sometime and was pleased to find it here. Although the cover is in Portuguese, the entries book is written in English, a nice surprise even though I can speak and read both languages. If you’re furthering your knowledge and understanding of the spiritual world as a subject or if you’re simply curious about it, this is a great reading. I highly recommend this book.

Good

Not sure whether I'm a believer. Thought provoking though. Make up your own mind if you have the time. Amen.

If there is a Hell surely Nosso Lar is it......or almost. I could go into a big detailed review but it's not worth wasting my time on. Obviously Nosso Lar is on a very low plane which I found interesting in a way but the way it's written has let it down considerably.

I think there are many elements of truth in this book regarding our next life. However, it felt too naive and this dude never stops weeping throughout his whole existence in his new realm. Seriously, dude.Not reading this book for a second time any soon. Stafford Betty's books are much more deep and precise regarding afterlife, genuine scientific research without the main character's incessant blubbering I had to endure whilst reading this book.Plus ancient English didn't help either. Did they really speak like that back then? Ugh.

Doctor Andre Luiz dies and passes on to the Lower Astral planes, as he continues his path of understanding and growth their he makes notes and later is able to send these to a medium, Francisco Xavier, who puts them into book form. This book was also made into a film, in Portuguese with subtitles in various languages, well worth watching on Youtube if it is hard to purchase where you live, though Amazon did stock it and it is worth buying.If you wonder about what could happen after life here, our spirit survival, reincarnation and the Laws of Karma and thus Action and Reaction, this is a truly worthwhile read. It is written as a true account but is a good read even if you take it as a simple novel.It will certainly give you pause for thought and may answer some questions while creating others, which is what any good discussion should do.