WHILE GROWING UP in São Paulo, Brazil, I didn't practice any particular faith. I rejected the only religion I knew, passed down from my parents, because I couldn't believe the church's teaching that man was born a sinner.
So, as a teenager, when I became interested in finding solutions to human suffering, God didn't seem to me to be a factor in that solution. But after my family moved to Rio de Janeiro, my desire for answers led me to study psychology in high school. I thought this science could resolve all of humanity's problems.
Years later, I became a psychologist and developed an active practice. But after about five years in that field, I realized that psychology hadn't given me definitive answers to my probing questions about life. I thought there must be something more, something that could explain why we're here and how to alleviate suffering. I started to read books on spiritually and religion, investigated many faiths, including evangelical and eastern religions, and attended seminars on spirituality and different churches.
