Santo Daime - Urban
Communities
José Murilo C. Carvalho Jr.
The Doctrine
It all began with an almost
unlikely character, a very tall and strong black teenager from the State of Maranhão in
Brazil, who at the age of 18 decided to take the route of the rubber extraction soldiers,
heading west into the Amazonian rainforest. It was early 20th century, and young Irineu
worked in the rubber extraction until he became a frontier soldier, having then access to
the foreign lands neighboring the Brazilian Amazon region.
 While in Peru and Bolivia, some
friends acquainted him with the beverage known in the region as ayahuasca. He heard
it was a research instrument into the realm of spiritual energies, the path of the shamen,
having its healing powers but also bringing about physical and psychic torture. In fact,
Irineu became interested in getting in touch with the ayahuasca, which he learned
to be translated as "the soul’s wine."
The experience turned out to be a
divine revelation directly assigning Irineu to found a spiritual doctrine, which would be
centered around the consecration of that immemorially used beverage within the context of
the Christian culture and symbolism and taking advantage of the American Indian,
Brazilian, African, and Eastern transcendental wisdom. Such encompassing syncretism was
born in the Brazilian city of Rio Branco, Acre State, where Irineu finally settled and
started his saga as a spiritual leader.
In the course of the century, as
from the mid nineteen thirties, Irineu was acknowledged as Master for his assisting,
helping, and conducting all of those who became interested in his spiritual work. He
naturally began to deal with spiritual healing, mainly approaching the cases in which
medicine was fruitless and suffering met no relief. Irineu was the "sheltering
tree" for many, even for prominent people - politicians and farmers - who would seek
his help in times of severe pain.
Around this period he started to
channel messages from the spiritual dimension which came to him in the form of simple
chants, hymns, making up hymnals (collections of hymns), the doctrine’s guiding
principle. The Santo Daime worship movement grew up around Irineu Serra, and for those who
know its power it is not hard to figure out the spiritual caliber required for performing
such a herculean task.
In 1970, when he passed away to
the spiritual dimension, Master Irineu was already the "Chief Empire", the
monarch of a lineage ready to spread out for the task of "indoctrinating the whole
world," as it is said in one of his hymns. However, it is worth mentioning one of the
first commandments the Master received as the doctrine was revealed to him: inviting is
not allowed.
Although we are not supposed to
invite others into the doctrine, we can speak about it. And the very urge to speak about
the doctrine and to truly live according to its teachings moved Sebastião Mota de Melo,
one of Master Irineu’s direct disciples, to take up his master’s mission after
his passing away. His charisma and reliance on the spiritual dimension and the doctrine
led him to guide a group through the accomplishment of a communal project founded on the
simple teachings disclosed by the hymns.
It was a question of
re-establishing a living Christian fraternity, now imbued with a modern awareness
suggesting we should turn back to nature and reminding us of simple but nearly forgotten
values. Rainforest community, down-to-earth ecological consciousness, Amazonian region -
the world’s lungs, Brazil. "Padrinho" Sebastião, as his many
"godchildren" began to call him, opened the way into the forest, and, after some
initial ventures, founded the Vila Céu do Mapiá, Amazonas State.
Two days away from the nearest
village by canoe into the "igarapé" (natural waterway between two islands or
between an island and the mainland) tracks, the Céu do Mapiá began to be visited by
Brazilian and foreign followers, having become an outstanding place of pilgrimage. With
about 700 inhabitants and a great floating population of visitors, it faces today the
challenge of getting ready to play its role as the worldwide headquarters for a spiritual
mission whose high quality is widely recognized.
But those who visit Mapiá go back
to their places carrying the seed of a transformation proposal. The tools for
accomplishing this proposal are translated into a sacrament, hymns to be communed by a
current of spiritual awareness, and the required space and infrastructure for holding the
sessions. Now that the formula is there, it is simply a matter of planting the seed in
urban communities by getting the individual capacities together.
This is the reality of a living
doctrine, which takes place within each of us and reveals its results on an everyday and
down-to-earth basis. This is going on in several cities around the world nowadays, and so
it is in Brasília, in the Céu do Planalto community. My purpose here is to point out
some of the interesting insights we have had in the course of our spiritual experiences
and to share them with our readers.
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