Editing Pró-Vida

{{Short description|Occultist organization in Brazil, founded in 1978}}
{{About|a Brazilian Occultist organization|human abortion position|Pro-Life}}
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{{Orphan|date=November 2022}}
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{{Esotericism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}}
'''Pro-Vida, Cosmic Integration''' (or simply '''Pro-Vida''') is an [[occult]]ist organization of [[esoteric]] kind<ref name="DefesaDaFe">{{Cite magazine |last=Rinaldi |first=Natanael |date=1 August 2003 |title=Pró-Vida – A integração cósmica pregada pelo movimento de Celso Charuri |trans-title=Pro-Vida – The cosmic integration preached by Celso Charuri’s movement |magazine=Defesa da Fé |publisher=Instituto Cristão de Pesquisas |language=pt-br |issue=59 |issn=1516-9731}}</ref> founded by [[Gynaecology|gynecologist]] Celso Charuri in 1979.<ref name="SILVA_2004">{{Cite thesis |last=Silva |first=Ricardo Jose Barbosa da |title=A Pró-Vida: razão ou desrazão? uma análise psicossocial |date=6 May 2004 |degree=Master's |url=http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/47/47134/tde-22022009-101503/ |language=pt-BR |trans-title=Pro-Vida: Reason or Unreason? A Psychosocial Analysis}}</ref> It has operated in the [[São Paulo (state)|State of São Paulo]] since its foundation, with its headquarters located in a luxurious, heavily guarded building in an upper-middle-class neighborhood of [[São Paulo]], [[Alto de Pinheiros]]. It also maintains a [[country club]] in [[Araçoiaba da Serra]], with a kind of [[gated community]] where the wealthiest members usually spend their weekends.<ref name="SILVA_2004" />

The organization presents itself as a ‘[[List of philosophies|philosophical school]]’. In courses whose syllabus and content are disclosed only to paying participants, it makes promises of a ‘paradise on Earth’, in a manner similar to cults and churches.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Serpa |first=Dagmar |date=1 November 1996 |title=O Enigma da Pirâmide: por dentro do Pró-Vida |trans-title=The Pyramid Enigma: Inside Pro-Vida |magazine=[[Marie Claire]] |publisher=Editora Globo |language=pt-br |issue=68}}</ref>

== Theology ==
Pro-Vida presents itself as a vehicle that would alter people's consciousness to integrate them into what it calls ‘cosmic consciousness’, a universal harmony that would prepare for the arrival of the [[New Age]] (the [[Age of Aquarius]]). Its theology resembles that of the [[Findhorn Foundation]], that is, it is influenced by [[Theosophy]] and the [[Human Potential Movement]].<ref name="SILVA_2004" /> Its foundations are very similar to other [[Western esotericism|esoteric movements]], such as the [[Rosicrucianism|Rosicrucian Order]] and [[Freemasonry]], but with an updated language that seeks to associate individuals from the [[Economic elite domination|economic elite]], fitting into what are called [[New religious movement]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guerriero |first=Silas |date=29 September 2014 |title=Até onde vai a religião: um estudo do elemento religioso nos movimentos da Nova Era |trans-title=How Far Does Religion Go: A Study of the Religious Element in New Age Movements |url=https://periodicos.pucminas.br/horizonte/article/view/P.2175-5841.2014v12n35p902 |journal=HORIZONTE – Revista de Estudos de Teologia e Ciências da Religião |language=pt-br |pages=902–931 |doi=10.5752/P.2175-5841.2014v12n35p902 |issn=2175-5841 |access-date=17 November 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref>

In the book ''Como vai a sua mente? (How Is Your Mind?)'', Celso Charuri explains the theology of Pro-Vida, a [[syncretism]] between Christianity, [[Kardecist spiritism|Kardecism]], and the [[occultism]] of [[Helena Blavatsky]].<ref name="SILVA_2004" />

The organization collects [[tithe]]s, just like other religious institutions, through what it calls the Central Geral do Dízimo (General Tithing Center). According to its founder, the tithe derives from an ‘ancient law of Christ, promulgated 2,000 years ago,’ but existing since what he calls the ‘[[Adam|Adamic race]]’, at the beginning of the [[Old Testament]], according to which only those who pay the tithe are able to inhabit more evolved places of existence (called the ‘fourth dimension’). Such a law, he claims, would be written in the [[Great Pyramid of Giza|Pyramid of Cheops]].<ref name="SILVA_2004" />

Although it makes use of the name of Jesus Christ, Pro-Vida is considered incompatible with Christianity for completely abstracting the message of Christ, leading its followers to think in a way contrary to Christianity,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bettencourt |first=Estêvão |date=1 March 2001 |title=O cristão e o Movimento Pró-Vida |trans-title=Christianity and the Pro-Vida Movement |magazine=Pergunte e Responderemos |publisher=Edições Lumen Christi |language=pt-br |issue=466}}</ref> such as by advocating [[pantheism]], [[clairvoyance]], [[Levitation (paranormal)|levitation]], [[Psychometry (paranormal)|psychometry]], [[telepathy]], and [[dowsing]].<ref name="DefesaDaFe" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [http://www.provida.org.br/ Official website]

[[Category:Occult]]
[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1970s]]