Chapter 1 of What Is Spiritism? consists of three hypothetical dialogues between Allan Kardec and individuals of different orientations. While reading the dialogues is important, the greatest benefit to you will come from pondering what you know about Spiritism at this point and formulating your own questions. Spiritism is not about dogma but about scientific inquiry. The cutting edge is to ask hard questions that test the validity of Spiritism for you.
Note: What Is Spiritism? is freely available online in Kardecpedia.
Volunteers
I am seeking three volunteers for Lessons 3 -5 to play the role of “Visitor”, either Critic, Skeptic or Priest. On the day your role is featured, you will ask the questions of our invited guest. The whole class will contribute questions — it is not your sole responsibility. You will do the asking on class day. This should be fun! Please think about what role you could visualize yourself in, and send email to Bob. The first person to apply for a role gets it!
All roles are now filled!
- “Critic” : Monica
- “Skeptic”: Flávio
- “Priest” : Aldona
Everyone! Make up questions
Write questions down as they come to you, without at first trying to classify them as to whether they are ones a critic a skeptic or a priest might ask. This list is for your own benefit and to help you when formulating questions for a particular dialogue. Keep on accumulating your questions during the time we are studying Chapter 1. Then, for each particular dialogue, prepare specific questions suitable for either “Critic”, “Skeptic” or “Priest”. The deadline is one week before the class meeting.
Deadlines
- June 8: Priest (DEADLINE EXTENDED)
On Monday before the class meeting I will collect all questions submitted and prepare a master list, grouping together similar questions. I will send the questions to the Volunteer and to the Guest. I will also post them on the website (see the page Intermediate Spiritism – Term 1 for links). The Volunteer will then decide on which questions to ask and the order of the questions.
Guests
Our guests are experienced Spiritists who have kindly agreed to play the role of “Allan Kardec” for one of the dialogues.
- Critic: Daniel Assisi
- Skeptic; Márcia Trajano
- Priest: Sonia Doi
The perspective is from our time, the 21st century, not the 19th century in which Kardec lived. Thus do not feel that you have to imitate the master! Answer the questions to the best of your own knowledge and belief.
I will send the questions from the class to you a few days before the class meeting.
Week Before the Meeting
Everyone in the class: Please read the questions that have been prepared and think about how you would answer them!
Meeting Day
The volunteer Visitor will ask the questions prepared in advance. In addition, people at the meeting can ask new questions that come to them during the discussion or that they have been pondering during the week.
2:30 – 3:30 — Dialogue between volunteer Visitor and Guest
3:30 – 4:00 — Class asks questions of the Guest
Enjoy!
After the Meeting Day
The discussion does not need to end but can continue using the blog feature of our website! See the instructions on Making a Comment and Making a Post. Note that questions are now posted and comments are enabled for the first two dialogues: