Revolution Towards Virtues: Being More Human

By Edu Casão

Casarotto delivers to his reader something really powerful: an opportunity of awareness, self-discovery, and evaluation, capable of enhancing those who already were seeking changes, as well as awakening to the virtues those who were asleep. In both cases, it delivers the state of surveillance with regard to the attitudes we print every day in the universe around us, making us critics of ourselves and aware about how much we need to evolve, which is already worth it. From the day I made contact with this content, many things changed direction, while others became irrelevant. This is a book for who seeks "tiding their closets" by getting rid of everything that has been built up during years of conditioning and addictions and that is heavy, superfluous, takes up space and needs to be disposed of, resting what really matters: a state of lightness capable of enriching the way we see and deal with the other and the world. When we really work hard on this cleaning, what is left is the understanding that we are privileged by the simple fact that we have a life, which is something great and invaluable. Casarotto directs his years of research, studies, and conclusions to people who are humble to recognize that they have a little knowledge, that they have much to learn, and that they will help to build a new world that day by day becomes more necessary and urgent. I hope that they are many.
Ari Nicolosi

• Language: English
• Publisher: CASÃO
• Release date: Sep 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9788591890644

Book preview

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INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered what the meaning of life is? What is the reason why we are here? In this country? In this family? With this body and this appearance? Why do I have the difficulties I do? These are the most important questions you can ask yourself. In this book, I will answer it directly and quickly. The main reason is: we have to evolve, to become less primitive and more human through the development of human virtues. Most importantly, I commit myself to explain how and why!

I found that reason after I asked myself: Which aspects do all religions in the world agree with?. The answer I found out after over 15 years of research was: we are on Earth in order to evolve our virtues. Because of it, every kind of situation happen to our lives. The neuroses and difficulties we have help us towards our evolution. This book is totally dedicated to helping you understand what virtues are, as well as the ways to improve each virtue, which we will call here human skills.

All the problems in the world, hunger, social inequality, racism, environmental issues, war, poverty, and everything else you can imagine, are symptoms of the level of virtues of people who inhabit this planet. Fighting against everyone and everything and reaching a solution seemed the right thing to do. Not that fighting is wrong; on the contrary, but this does not solve the problem. When we became more human, these problems will no longer exist.

People seek happiness in the world, in objects, in social positions, in relationships; however, they still feel empty. What some people haven not understood yet: we killed our happiness at the moment we wish it. The source of our wishes is the search for being approved, or else, in our primitive instincts. This work shows the paths of human evolution towards a full, healthy, complete life.

The search for completeness and fullness, which is known as happiness in most cultures, consists on understanding that we are all one, on living connected with everyone and everything, on feeling that nothing is missing. If we are proud and selfish, we put people away and lose our capacity of staying connected. The search for peaks of emotion is not natural: the human path is the path of emotional stability and balance. The winner seeks to achieve a peak of emotion from the acknowledgment and self-confidence overestimated on himself. However, this peak of emotion has an end, so you need to seek another peak and so on. Happiness is far from that: happiness is fullness and completeness, and this is achieved by connecting yourself to everything in the universe. Happiness is not the search for something; it is the absence of search, the absence of internal and external conflicts.

We are exposed to a cruel system since the moment we are born. The system alienates you from your true SELF, imprisons you by selling you the idea of consumerism and success. You do not have TIME, the time to see yourself and the others, to see the simple things that really bring meaning to life. Meditate, be in contact with nature, listen to relaxing music, and seek self-reflection every day. The first thing that someone who is controlled by the system may think while listening to this advice is: I don’t have time. This person prefers to spend about two hours on meaningless social networks instead of taking one hour of the day for making some self-reflection.

Much has been said about the Evolution Towards Virtues, known by religions as moral evolution. Even if you have heard about it in churches and temples, have you ever asked: How much have I evolved until now? Besides, what and how much is expected for me to evolve? What are the points expected of me? If you have asked yourself these questions, I imagine it has been hard to answer, isn’t it? What is the parameter for making an analysis like that? What, how much I evolved, and how much will I still have to evolve? These questions are not easy. Clarifying them is the main purpose of this work. But, I must say in advance that our evolution can be measured by our good actions.

The fullness of our heart comes in our actions: how I treat the leper, how I treat the dying person, how I treat the homeless. (Mother Teresa of Calcutta, No Greater Love, São Paulo, 2007)

I see people speaking of how evolved they are, but, who told them that? How did they reach this conclusion? What criteria did they use? In this book, you will find a detailed assessment of all points which should be improved in a person so that you can evolve. How can I be sure of what these points are? Our parameters were taken from religious texts of the biggest religions in the world such as Christianity, Kardecism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Hinduism, among others. We took canonic boks as a basis, from the Holy Bible to the Mahabharata. For who do not know this wonderful book, it is the literature’s longest epic poem which narrates the story of a dynastic dispute which ends in a terrifying battle. Written in Sanskrit, it was composed during a period of about 400 years, between II B.C. and II A.D. Some researchers still indicate a more remote period, from about 1,400 B.C. According to the Hindus: If it is not in the Mahabharata, it is not anywhere.

… The composer of the Mahabharata portrayed the actions of the warriors in both a heroic and moral context, and it should be understood as a re-enactment of a cosmic moral confrontation, not simply as an account of a battle. Unlike our Western historical philosophy, which looks for external causes - such as famine, population pressure, drought - to explain the phenomena of war and conquest, the epic bard views the events of the war as prompted by observances and violations of the laws of morality. The basic principle of cosmic or individual existence is dharma. It is the doctrine of the religious and ethical rights and duties of each individual, and refers generally to duty ordained by religion, but may also mean simply virtue, or right conduct. (Mahabharata: retold by William Buck, São Paulo, 2014)

It is undeniable that the greatest religious texts make clear what is expected from us. It is necessary just to pay attention and you will realize that all of them agree with all the points addressed in this book, which we will discuss now. Another guiding principle for this book was my studies on the greatest psychology, psychoanalysis, and philosophy thinkers in several lines such as: Freudian, Lacanian, Kleinian, Jungian, behaviorist, and neurology.

First of all, I have to say that understanding that people are not within the same evolution range is extremely important to grasp human relations. So, I dedicated a good part of my studies on variations on evolution ranges. In other words, what evolution ranges people fit in.

I made this effort because I realized that the search for yourself, that is, what SELF is and is not, is extremely important, since only the individual who is aware of his SELF can live his purpose, and then transcend and connect with the world.

It is very urgent for society to become more human, as a society without mankind will not exist in the future. We all should, as Confucius said, worry about our evolution:

The Master said, That I have not cultivated virtue, that I have learned but not explained, that I have heard what is right but failed to align with it, that what is not good in me I have been unable to change – these are my worries. (Confucius, Analects of Confucius of Confucius, Porto Alegre, 2012)

While reading religious texts, many people even do not realize how great these works are: people just read by opening the pages at random, like if they were consulting a mystical, protective supreme force which will help them open the book exactly on the page where there is the answer for what they need.

This really happens, but these works were not meant to be sources of quick answers for problems in life. We have to study religious texts even more deeply, we have to understand and practice what these sacred works offer us as guideline.

The role of being a father, mother, friend, neighbor, classmate, lover, brother, is actually a great opportunity to train all these virtues. We are still crawling like babies in terms of evolution because we worry about our daily survival and its related issues. Evolution needs to be a priority in our lives. Evolving requires much individual effort; thus, focus and dedication are essential for our development.

In this book, I will bring, besides the quotes taken from religious texts, quotes said by marvelous people like Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Chico Xavier, people who unquestionably made charity works and had much faith. I consider that these quotes are important to the reader so that he knows literally what was said by these wise people!

I wish from the bottom of my heart that this work may bring you all that it intends to. Good reading and good development!

If we undertake to improve ourselves and our own path, we can be sure that the Divine Providence will provide us the best. (Chico Xavier, Paciência, Brasília, 2013)

The mind lies to us So that reality doesn’t kill us I disconnect from the world and I wonder Inside here I can find myself

Human virtues are elements which build and complement the personality of individuals throughout life. Through the construction of values, we learn to grasp behaviors from the morally positive lessons and references within the environment we live in.

Guide them with virtue and align them with li and the people will have a sense of shame and fulfill their roles. (Confucius, Analects of Confucius, Porto Alegre, 2012)

Three fields of study took me to the same conclusion on human development path: this path starts in the Evolution Towards Virtues. The fields are:

•Religious studies (spirit) ;

•Neurological studies (body) ;

•Psyche studies (mind) .

Religious studies have a very simple logic based on the following question: Which points do all religions agree with?. Even that this question is simple, the path to find a conclusion was very hard, starting from the large number of religions in the world: about five thousand.

This study excluded the doctrinal aspects in which religions differ from each other. I tried to focus on the question What is the purpose of man on Earth?. The answer I found was something that all religions agree with: the man in on Earth to evolve his virtues and become a better human being. Then, I made a second more detailed analysis on what virtues are taught on religious texts, that is, what are the virtues and what all religions agree with. The virtues I found on this process are substantiated the fifth chapter of this book, Moral Development Assessment Instrument. With this book, the reader will be sure on what religions really expect of us, and the instrument will be capable of measuring how evolved we are, thereby giving us a direction on what exactly we need to work on our evolution.

It is not man’s duty to develop all his faculties to perfection; his duty is to develop all his Godward faculties to perfection and to suppress completely those of contrary tendencies (Mahatma Gandhi, The Pathway to God, São Paulo, 2014).

Each religion proposes a path to develop these virtues and, so I could conclude on which would be the best path, I tried to substantiate my studies and scientific methods. Neurological studies, especially concerning the frontal lobe, were essential for my research. Even that spiritual world knows much more than what was discovered by science when we find convergence points, that is, when we find out when science and spirituality agree with each other, we feel more safe with the information.

It is important, first of all, to understand a little more in some brain areas so that we understand human virtues more clearly.

We will start from the most primitive brain structures to the most evolved ones. Let’s start with the brain stem, or reptilian brain, responsible for the input and output of afferent and efferent information, and responsible for self-preservation and species preservation behaviors.

That is the origin of our instincts, whereas the four main instincts are: survival, sexual desire, competition, and protection.

Do you think that you are well-evolved and no longer has the instinct of competition? Well, I’ll give you an example… In a parallel with the Oedipus complex and the corporate world, let’s suppose that a father has the primitiveness of competing with his son due to his instinct of competition. Now, imagine what he is capable of doing if he takes on a leading position