Note: depending on the number of students, sometimes this class could be split into two, since the method/methodology* involves a lot of dialogue and questioning. The spiritist teacher needs to be patient and analyse the proposed questions together with the adolescents, leading them to the correct understanding, under the light of Spiritism and Jesus’ teachings.

         * Methodology is the art of directing the Spirit in the research of the truth.


         Lesson Objectives: Lead the adolescents to understand that reincarnation is the Spirit undergoing the trial of a new existence. It’s a way for the Spirit to evolve. It proves God’s justice and mercy. It’s a new opportunity that God gives; to return to corporeal life and develop ourselves, correcting our imperfections and working towards its purification.

         Greetings and Opening prayer

         First: pask the adolescents to analyze the phrase spoken by Jesus: "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3).

         Note: the spiritist teacher should not make any explanations at this point.

         Second - Ask them:

          How can a man that’s already old be born again?

          Can he enter his mother's womb to be born a second time?

          How does this process happen?

         Third: talk to the adolescents, based on the resources for the spiritist teacher.

         Click here to view the resources for the spiritist teacher.

         Suggested questions to direct the conversation:

          Are there children that are more evolved morally than adults?

          How would it be for someone who commits suicide, if reincarnation didn’t exist?

          Is it possible to conquer all the virtues taught by Jesus in one single incarnation?

          How can we reach perfection in just one incarnation?

          How could we believe in God’s goodness and justice without accepting reincarnation?

          Would God be fair if the human beings only had a single chance in this life and be born poor, sick; unable to study? Would there be justice?

          Can we reincarnate with spirits that we already know from other incarnations? Could they be our relatives, parents, friends, brothers?

          Fourth: tell the story The Value of Forgiveness.

          Fifth: promote dialogue to analyze the message of the story.

          Sixth - consider the following questions, along with the adolescents:

          What’s the need for us to reincarnate many times? God, in His great goodness and justice, gives to man the opportunity to learn to correct his mistakes through reincarnation. He gives us another chance to start again in a new incarnation.

          How many times do we have to reincarnate? In each new existence, a spirit takes a step forward in the path of progress; when he has stripped himself of all his impurities, he has no further need to undergo the trials of corporeal life.

          Why do we reincarnate under different conditions? This happens due to the law that governs the reincarnations. We have successively incarnated in the most diverse environments: in all social conditions so we could learn various lessons.

          What is this law? Law of Cause.

          What determines this law? Every effect has a cause. Nothing happens by chance; we are responsible for our actions. Each of us has what he/she deserves. What we sow, we reap; that is, whatever we do good or bad comes back to us, in this or in another incarnation.

          Why can’t we remember our previous lives? Through the forgetfulness of his past, a man is more fully himself. This facilitates our new learning experience and enables us to repair our past faults, because we made many mistakes and would feel be ashamed of them if we remembered. It also facilitates our reconciliation with people we don’t like and/or need to learn to love.

          Why do we choose to reincarnate alongside our enemies? Because we regret we harmed our neighbours and ourselves. We asked the superior spirits for the opportunity to reincarnate in the same family with people we hurt in the past. It’s through living close to one another we can correct our actions.

          Do you believe that your life had a plan? If yes, when and who did it? The plan requires the assistance of many spirits who are designated for this purpose in conjunction with the Spirit that wants to reincarnate, in the spiritual world. There’s a place called the ‘department of reincarnations’. The helpers will participate directly or indirectly in the future relations of the reincarnating Spirit. The preparation time is proportional to the educational needs of the Spirit. Such preparations range from parental choice to the physical body the Spirit will use whilst incarnate. We choose the kind of test, death, the main experiences that will occur after birth, who will the Spirit reunite with, diseases he/she will face, what’s the best time to be reincarnated, etc.

         Such experiences occur in a planned level of probabilities. There may be changes, depending on the needs of the Spirit, as well as his and/or other people’s free will. Remember that free will is sovereign and can change the reincarnation plan. The choices that are contrary to the plan will lead to positive or negative consequences to the Spirit. He can expand its planned activities/learning, as well as reduce them.

          What is more difficult, according to you: to construct or to plan an existence on Earth? Justify the answer. To plan an existence on Earth, because we don’t always accomplish what we plan to do.

          Note: we often know how best to act when we plan our lives, but we can’t always apply this knowledge appropriately.

          Why should we plan something that we know won’t go as planned? We are often not able to follow our reincarnation plan through due to our weaknesses and limitations. Imagine if we didn’t programme it at all...

         Man has changed very little since Jesus came to earth. The Spirit would reincarnate spirit unprepared and easier to succumb to temptation without the reincarnation plan. This plan aims to establish goals and behaviours that facilitate the repair of our misconduct, the transformation of revenge and hatred into forgiveness and the general improvement of the individual.

         This plan provides the preparation for a new reincarnation, since each birth in the corporeal life comes from the studies conducted by the Spirit and the spiritual benefactors. The Spirit becomes aware of its weaknesses and limitations; conscious that we will need to answer for all our actions during earthly existence.

          What is more important in a reincarnation plan? Our awareness that we are here to work on our transformation for the better: our inner reform, in order to become better spiritually and morally.

          Can we reincarnate on other worlds more or less evolved than this? We have to untie the knots that bind us to earth to incarnate in a more evolved planet. We can then move to higher worlds. This happens in accordance with our evolution.

         Some spirits reincarnate again in lower worlds in order to expiate faults committed in former existences. They then reincarnate in worlds that are more appropriate for their moral development. This happens because they haven’t accompanied the evolution of the world they last reincarnated.

          Note: the spiritist teacher may cite the example of the "Exiled from Capella."

          Click here to find resources for the spiritist teacher.

          Seventh: ask what conclusion they reached as to the sentence: "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

         "While no one can go back and make a new beginning, anyone can start now and make a new ending."     Chico Xavier.


         Closing Prayer

         Suggested Class suitable for: 3rd cycle (11 to 12 years old) and Youth I (13 to 14 years old).

         Lesson received from Sandra Ramos Medeiros from Spiritist Centre ‘Fé, Amor e Caridade’.

         Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.