Plurality of Inhabited Worlds
Initial prayer:
Objective:
through the exercises the children should understand the we are not alone in our Planet; plus the meaning of Jesus' teachings: "IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS".
First - suggestion: : "Game of the starts" (adapted from apostila da FEB).
The teacher will build a solar system before class; only with the sun and the orbits; do not place any planets on it. You need to split the group in 2 groups. Group "A" needs to choose a planet (which the Teacher should bring ready to the class) that will correspond to a question. This question needs to be adapted from THE SPIRITS’ BOOK (see below).
Each group will need to answer one question, which will lead them to one point if they answer it right. The children will also get one point for placing the planet at the right location within the solar system. If the group comes up with a wrong answer, the point should be awarded to the other team.
The questions asked by the Spiritist Teacher can be a mix related to the planets in our Galaxy and others adapted from THE SPIRITS’ BOOK.
Second:
After the first activity is finished, the teacher should now ask the following:
a) What is Earth’s destiny?
b) Where do the communicating spirits come from?
c) What is the destiny of the spirits who live in Earth?
d) What will happen to the spirits who do not follow the evolution of the globe?
Third:
conclusion - after this debate, the children need to reflect on the message from Christ: IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS. The children might come up with questions related to the different worlds, which could be explored and answered in another class.
Please find here attached some questions from theThe Spirits' Book by Allan Kardec which you could give as a handout to each child
a) 55. Are all the globes that revolve in space inhabited?
Final prayer
Not all worlds are inhabited. If so, there would be a lot of caos in the universe
b) 56. Is the physical constitution of all globes the same?
No; they do not at all resemble one another.
c) 58. Are the planets furthest removed from the sun stinted in light and heat, the sun only appearing to them of the size of one of the fixed stars?
The conditions of existence for the beings who Inhabit the various worlds must be supposed to be appropriate to the sphere in which they are destined to live.
d) 172. Do we accomplish all our different corporeal existences upon this earth?
Not all of them, for those existences take place in many different worlds. The world in which you now are is neither the first nor the last of these, but is one of those that are the most material, and the furthest removed from perfection.
e) 173. Does the soul, at each new corporeal existence, pass from one world to another or can it accomplish several existences on the same globe?
It may live many times on the same globe, if it be not sufficiently advanced to pass into a higher one.
f) 174. Is it necessary to live again upon this earth?
No; but if you do not advance, you may go into a world no better than this one, or even worse.
g) 175. Is there any advantage in coming back to inhabit this earth?
No special advantage, unless it be the fulfilment of a mission; in that case the spirit advances, whether incarnated in this earth or elsewhere.
h) 176. Can spirits come to this world, for the first time, after having been incarnated in other worlds?
Yes; just as you may go into other ones. All the worlds of the universe are united by the bonds of solidarity; that which is not accomplished in one of them is accomplished in another.
i) 177. In order to arrive at the perfection and the supreme felicity which are the final aim of mankind, is it necessary for a spirit to pass through all the worlds that exist in the universe?
No; for there are a great number of worlds of the same degree, in which a spirit would learn nothing new.
j) 178. Can spirits live corporeally in a world relatively inferior to the one in which they have already lived?
Yes; when they have to fulfil a mission in aid of progress.
k) 179. Have all the human beings who inhabit any given world arrived at the same degree of perfection?
No; it is in the other worlds as upon the earth; there are some who are more advanced, and others who are less so.
l) 180. In passing from this world into another one, does a spirit retain the intelligence which he possessed in this one?
Undoubtedly he does; intelligence is never lost.
m) 181. Have the human beings who inhabit the other worlds bodies like ours?
They undoubtedly have bodies, but this envelope is more or less material according to the degree of purity at which each spirit has arrived.
n) 183. In passing from one world to another, does the spirit pass through a new infancy?
Infancy is, in all worlds, a necessary transition; but it is not, in all of them, so stupid as it in yours.
o) 184. Has a spirit the choice of the new world which lie is to inhabit?
Not always.
p) 185. Is the physical and moral state of the living beings of each globe always the same?
No; worlds, like the beings that live in them, are subject to the law of progress.
q) 188. Do the pure spirits inhabit special worlds, or are they in universal space without being attached to any particular globe?
The pure spirits inhabit certain worlds, but they are not confined to them as men are confined to the earth; they possess, in a higher degree than any others, the power of instantaneous locomotion, which is equivalent to ubiquity.
r) What is the one of the least advanced of all the globes of our solar system?
According to the statements of spirits, the earth, as regards the physical and moral qualities of its inhabitants
Class suggested being suitable for: 2nd cycle (9 to 10 years old) and 3rd cycle (11 to 12 years old); it could also be adapted to other cycles, depending on the classes’ maturity and/or conditions
Bibliography:
Kardec, Allan. Gospel According to Spiritism. Chapter III.
Kardec, Allan. THE SPIRITS’ BOOK. Questions 55, 56, 58 and 172 – 188.
Textbook from the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) - 1997 (currículo para as Escolas de Evangelização Espírita)
Textbook from the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (FEB) - Pre-Youth - 5ª unit - 1997.
Teachers: Ricardo and Maria Cláudia
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
