Pensar as dimensões política e espiritual na educação: a experiência do Coletivo Girassóis - espíritas pelo bem comum

Abstract

This qualitative study takes place within the context of the Coletivo Girassóis – Espíritas Pelo Bem Comum (Sunflower Collective – Spiritists for the Common Good), which brings together Spiritists and sympathizers with the purpose of fostering political and social participation grounded in Spiritism. The research focuses on the intersections between spiritual and political dimensions present in the narratives of members of the Collective regarding their life trajectories and their involvement with the group. The participants were members of the Committee, the body that coordinated the Collective’s actions from 2018 to 2022 (the time frame of this study), including the author herself. The general objective is to understand how aspects of the political and spiritual dimensions appear in the discourse of Committee members and how their experiences within the Collective are appropriated as educational processes. The specific objectives are: (i) to identify motivations and contexts that guided the articulation, creation, structure, and organizational dynamics of the Coletivo Girassóis – Espíritas Pelo Bem Comum and its activities during its first four years (2018–2022), from the perspective of those who lived the experience; (ii) to observe how aspects of the political and spiritual dimensions appear and intersect in the recollections of Committee members regarding their experiences in the Collective and their personal trajectories; and (iii) to discuss the extent to which perceptions and/or interpretations of being both a subject and a Spirit, as expressed in the narratives of the Girassóis, are articulated as educational experiences aimed at spiritual evolution and the common good. Situated within the field of narrative research, this investigation retrieves lived experience as a source of meaning, focusing on political and spiritual dimensions present in participants’ reminiscences through life stories. Data collection relied primarily on interviews, complemented by document analysis. Additional sources included photographs, the Collective’s social media, personal diaries, psychographic writings, and field notes. The theoretical framework bridges Spiritist theory, organized by Allan Kardec, with Paulo Freire’s educational thought, based on the understanding that both conceive education as related to the lived experiences of subjects—here understood as spiritual beings. The study also engages with authors linked to social thought, Spiritist philosophy and pedagogy, and research on experience in Education. Findings suggest that aspects of the spiritual and political dimensions—ontological to the human being—present in the Girassóis’ narratives about the knowledge derived from their experiences reveal the potential of an education for freedom aimed at human and social emancipation. The Coletivo Girassóis emerged as a space of convergence for expressions stemming from the members’ aspirational territories, fostering hospitality, listening, and openness to dialogue as opportunities for building and strengthening bonds that served as political-spiritual resistance during the dark years of fascism institutionalized under the Bolsonaro government. Furthermore, the narratives about participants’ life trajectories, as well as their reflections on mediumistic experiences, demonstrated the condition of interexistence of the human being, understood here as a spiritual subject. Finally, the study argues that political action aimed at combating social injustices, combined with engaged spirituality, strengthens the construction of a Spiritist praxis whose political project is the common good.