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Systematized
Study of the
Spiritist
Doctrine
Portuguese
Spanish |
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Program IV:
Philosophical
Aspect
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Year 2 - N° 62 - June
29, 2008 |
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THIAGO BERNARDES
thiago_imortal@yahoo.com.br
Curitiba, Paraná
(Brasil) |
Translation
FELIPE
DARELLA -
felipe.darella@gmail.com |
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Formation
of worlds and
living
beings
We present in this issue
the topic #62 from the
Systematized Study of
the Spiritist Doctrine,
that is being presented
weekly, according to the
programme elaborated by
the Brazilian Spiritist
Federation (FEB),
structured in 6 modules
and 147 topics.
If the reader uses this
program for a study
group, we suggest that
questions proposed be
discussed freely before
the reading of the text
that follows. If you
would like to study
alone, we ask you to try
to answer the questions
at first and only then
read the text that
follows. The answer key
can be found at the end
of the lesson.
Questions
1. What are the organs
of the living beings
made of?
2. How are mineral
compounds formed? What
about organic compounds?
3. What are germens?
4. How did the living
beings appear on Earth?
5. What does Spiritism
teach about the
formation of worlds?
Text
The structure of the
living beings is not as
simple as the minerals
1. In the worlds like
Earth, besides material
bodies that form Earth
crust, the sea and the
gases from its
atmosphere, there are
beings that show an
existence cycle, it
means, they are born,
grow, develop and
reproduce, get old and
die.
They are called living
beings – vegetables and
animals.
In their bodies there is
no simple and
homogeneous structure of
a mineral, but the
heterogeneity of a
complete organization,
organs that are in
systems, playing their
role in the complex
vital functions.
2. The organs of the
living beings are formed
by specific tissues,
which, result of the
association of tiny
cells. The living beings
are characterized by
their cellular
organization, there are
also those called
unicellular ones, it
means, formed by only
one cell. This is the
vital unity in which
they accomplish, through
cellular specters, all
the functions that
characterize the cycle
of life, since birth
till death. The
formation of living
beings obeys the same
chemical laws that
regulate the formation
of mineral substances,
which means that the
organic substances that
take part in the
constitution of plants
and animals are
constituted of the same
principles or chemical
substances and they
obey, in their
formation, the same laws
that regulate the
constitution of
inorganic substances.
3. It is known how the
mineral compounds are
formed: the elements
combine and obey, first
of all, the existing
affinities among them
and deriving from the
specific structure of
their atoms, and,
secondly, the laws of
chemical combination,
among those stand out
the conservation of
matter (Lavoisier) and
the defined proportions
(Proust).
4. When, in given
conditions, the elements
combine to form a
determined compound, the
matters which took part
keep a record of those
relations. For example:
hydrogen and oxygen show
great chemical affinity
and, in proper
conditions, combine to
form water. As they
combine, their matters
keep themselves an
invariable relation
that, expressed by
numbers, is of 1 for 8.
We could multiply the
examples by the binary
combinations of oxygen
and metals, in which we
have the metallic
oxides, the fluorine,
chlorine, bromine,
iodine, forming
fluorides, chlorides,
bromides and iodides
etc.
The living beings always
derive from a germ
5. What we want to point
out is that the organic
compounds are formed
from the same chemical
elements that enter in
the composition of the
inorganic or mineral
compounds and obeys the
same laws of
conservation and
proportionality. The
organic compounds show
only the particularity
of deriving from carbon,
and then, in order of
importance, hydrogen,
oxygen and nitrogen
[1]
and, then, sulfur,
phosphor, iron and many
other elements. By
saying, though, that the
organic compounds are
made of the same
elementary principles
and obey the same laws,
we refer to them
considering only them,
isolated, or like
individual and specific
substances, not as
participants of the
biological sets, in the
cells, tissues, organs
and in plants and
animals, because then
these substances appear
in a functional
integration to form a
living unity, which
requires, evidently, an
integrating force,
inherent to a subtle
substance that is called
the vital principle. And
this principle
communicates to the
plants and animals the
organic life, allowing
them the exercise of all
vital functions.
6. The living being,
however, never shows
since the beginning of
its existence as we know
it as adult.
Plant or animal, it
always derives from a
germ.
The germs are tiny
organic systems in which
functional
potentialities are found
in latent state, holding
out for proper
conditions of heat,
humidity, environment,
to thrive, determining
the growth, development
and cellular
multiplication, so that
from the germ we have
the embryo, and from the
embryo the being itself.
7. Because of these
germs life appeared on
Earth. In the beginning
all was chaos; the
elements were mixed up
in a state of confusion.
Gradually those elements
settled into their
proper places, and then
appeared the orders of
living beings
appropriate to the
successive states of the
globe. The germs of
these were contained in
the earth itself,
awaiting the favorable
moment for their
development. The organic
principles came together
on the cessation of the
force which held them
asunder, and those
principles formed the
germs of all the living
beings that have peopled
the earth. Those germs
remained latent and
inert, like the
chrysalis and the seed
of plants, until the
arrival of the proper
moment for the
vivification of each
species. The beings of
each species then came
together and multiplied.
Nothing would exist in
the Universe, if it were
not for the Divine Will
8. Once formed from
their germs, the living
beings brought in
themselves, absorbed,
the elements that could
serve for their own
formation and
transmitted them,
according to the laws of
reproduction. The human
species came about the
same way on Earth, where
the germs would be in
the atmosphere itself or
on the crust, as we can
suppose from the answers
given by the Spirits of
High Degree to Kardec,
in the items 44, 47 e 49
of The Spirits’ Book.
9. We know, by
revelation from the
Spirits of High Degree,
that God, as He created
the cosmos or primitive
matter, also established
laws to regulate its
transformations. These
laws are, in fact, mere
diversifications of a
greater law that covers
them all.
All in the universe is
attraction and magnetism.
The universal
gravitation governs the
movement of the worlds,
keeping them in their
orbits, as the gravity
conditions the weight of
the bodies, attracting
them to the center of
Earth. The force of
cohesion attracts the
molecules
[2]
of
the substances, keeping
them united to form the
matter of the bodies,
and the law of chemical
affinity leads the
attraction among the
atoms of different
elements, keeping them
connected, combined in
the chemical compounds.
10. Nothing would exist,
however, not even the
cosmos, if it were not
for the Divine Will,
wise actions that
accomplish everything.
The absolute start of
things, according to
Galileo (Spirit), goes
back to God. The
successive appearances
in the domain of
existence make the order
of perpetual creation.
We cannot advance any
further, only that the
cosmic matter is the
source where God, by His
thought and will, create
the worlds and beings.
The primitive cosmic
matter possessed and
still possesses all
material, fluidic and
vital elements of all
worlds that were formed
and keep on being
formed, because the
creation is endless.
11. Kardec asked the
Spirits of High Degree:
“Can we know how worlds
are formed?” and they
answered: “All that can
be said on this subject,
within the limits of
your comprehension, is
this: Worlds are formed
by the condensation of
the matter disseminated
in space.” The Compiler
also asked if the
worlds, once they were
formed, could disappear,
disseminating in the
space the matter that
composes them, and they
informed: “Yes. God
renews worlds as He
renews the living beings
that inhabit them.” We
can see from that the
worlds have their own
cycle of formation,
evolution – so that they
can turn into proper
place to the ones who
are going to inhabit
them – and
disappearance, when the
condensed matter which
makes them will
desegregate, back again
to the fluidic state and
returning, then, to the
primitive source where
they came from – the
cosmos.
[1]
In
the past, in the time
where the Spiritism
started, they had
another name for
nitrogen, but this is
the commonly used now.
[2]
In
chemistry, a molecule is
defined as a
sufficiently stable
electrically neutral
group of at least two
atoms in a definite
arrangement held
together by very strong
chemical bonds.
Answer Key
1. What are the organs
of the living beings
made of?
A.: The organs of the
living beings are formed
by specific tissues,
which, result of the
association of tiny
cells. The living beings
are characterized by
their cellular
organization, there are
also those called
unicellular ones, it
means, formed by only
one cell. This is the
vital unity in which
they accomplish, through
cellular specters, all
the functions that
characterize the cycle
of life, since birth
till death. The
formation of living
beings obeys the same
chemical laws that
regulate the formation
of mineral substances,
which means that the
organic substances that
take part in the
constitution of plants
and animals are
constituted of the same
principles or chemical
substances and they
obey, in their
formation, the same laws
that regulate the
constitution of
inorganic substances.
2. How are mineral
compounds formed?
What about organic
compounds? A.:
It is known how the
mineral compounds are
formed: the elements
combine and obey, first
of all, the existing
affinities among them
and deriving from the
specific structure of
their atoms, and,
secondly, the laws of
chemical combination,
among those stand out
the conservation of
matter (Lavoisier) and
the defined proportions
(Proust). The organic
compounds are formed
from the same chemical
elements that enter in
the composition of the
inorganic or mineral
compounds and obey the
same laws of
conservation and
proportionality. The
organic compounds show
only the particularity
of deriving from carbon,
and then, in order of
importance, hydrogen,
oxygen and nitrogen [1]
and, then, sulfur,
phosphor, iron and many
other elements.
3. What are germens?
A.: Plant or animal, it
always derives from a
germ. The germs are tiny
organic systems in which
functional
potentialities are found
in latent state, holding
out for proper
conditions of heat,
humidity, environment,
to thrive, determining
the growth, development
and cellular
multiplication, so that
from the germ we have
the embryo, and from the
embryo the being itself.
4. Como apareceram os
seres vivos na Terra?
R.: In the beginning all
was chaos; the elements
were mixed up in a state
of confusion. Gradually
those elements settled
into their proper
places, and then
appeared the orders of
living beings
appropriate to the
successive e states of
the globe. The germs of
these were contained in
the earth itself,
awaiting the favorable
moment for their
development. The organic
principles came together
on the cessation of the
force which held them
asunder, and those
principles formed the
germs of all the living
beings that have peopled
the earth. Those germs
remained latent and
inert, like the
chrysalis and the seed
of plants, until the
arrival of the proper
moment for the
vivification of each
species. The beings of
each species then came
together and multiplied.
5. What does Spiritism
teach about the
formation of worlds? A.:
All that can be said on
this subject, within the
limits of your
comprehension, is this:
Worlds are formed by the
condensation of the
matter disseminated in
space. God renews worlds
as He renews the living
beings that inhabit
them.
Bibliography:
The Spirits’ Book,
by Allan Kardec, items
38, 39, 41, 44, 47 e
49.
Genesis,
by Allan Kardec, items
4, 6, 7, 10, 17, 20 e
22.
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