The infinity and the
universal space

 
We present in this issue the topic #58 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. How can we define the Universe?

2. Who has crafted the Universe, according to Spiritism?

3. Is the universal space infinite or limited?

4. How can we define time?

5. Can we say that time is, as well as the space, an objective thing?

Text

According to Galileo Galilei, the universal space is endless

1. The Universe is a set of everything that exists and is not man-made. The Universe – according to Spiritism – is work of God and the man is included, thinking being, but is just a creature, son of the Creator. In the Universe we have to consider that space, which is the extension of everything that exists, and, connected to space, we also need to consider time. Space and time, in universal terms and in relation to God, have infinite and eternal dimensions.

2. This is the teaching of the Spiritist Doctrine, as we can read on item 35 of “The Spirits’ Book”: “Is universal space infinite or limited? A.: Infinite. Suppose the existence of boundaries, what would there be beyond them? This consideration confounds human reason; and nevertheless your reason itself tells you that it cannot be otherwise. It is thus with the idea of infinity, under whatever aspect you consider it. The idea of infinity cannot be comprehended in your narrow sphere.”

3. By infinite we can understand “that which has neither beginning nor end; the unknown”, as the Superior Spirits said on item 2 of “The Spirits’ Book”. In chapter VI of “Genesis”, by Allan Kardec, the Spirit of Galileo, through the mediumship of Camille Flammarion, talks about it.

4. On the following lines, summarized, what Galileo wrote about the space and its infinity.

5. Space is one of these words that express a primitive idea, of it, and the various definitions that we can give only mystify it even more. We all know what space is and only want to state that it is infinite.

6. We say that space is infinite because it is impossible to imagine a limit and because, despite the difficulty we have to conceive infinity, it is easier to advance eternally through space, in our thoughts, than to stop at a given point, after having no more extension to go. 

God sowed worlds in every part of the infinite space

7. To figure the infinity of space, we suppose that, coming from Earth to a given point in the universe, at the speed of light ^([1]) , and, after going millions of leagues ^([2])  since we left the globe, we find ourselves in a place where we see it as a pale star. After some more time, always following the same direction, we get to this far away stars that are mere points in the sky from Earth. After some moment, not only Earth is in our sight anymore, as well as the Sun itself.

8. Having always the same speed, in every step we take in this direction, we transpose system of worlds, islands of etherical light, star roads, splendid landscapes where God sowed worlds on the same profusion that He sowed the plants in the huge prairies.

9. It has been minutes we are walking and there are millions of leagues separating us from the Earth, billions of worlds have gone past us and, however, in fact, we have not advanced an inch in the Universe.

10. If we keep going over the years, centuries, millenniums, millions of periods and always with the same speed of light, we will not have advanced either, it does not matter what side we are heading to and whatever is the point where we are going to, from this invisible grain where we left and call as Earth. This is the space!

11. Taking into consideration the account on the space by the Spirit of Galileo, let us now see the time, which, according to Kardec, “is the succession of things” and is connected to eternity, as well as the things are connected to the infinity.  

Time exists because of the celestial movements

12. Time - explains Hermínio C. Miranda – is just a measure of transitional things. Eternity is not susceptible to any measure, in the point of view of length, because there is neither beginning nor end: everything is present.

13. Space exists for itself, but is quite the contrary in relation to time. If it is impossible hypothesize the suppression of space, it is not like this in relation to time. Time, according to Camille Flammarion, is created by the measure of celestial movements. If the Earth does not spin, or any other body, if there was not any succession of periods, time would not exist. It was Astronomy that allowed us to determine it. Suppressed the Universe, space will keep existing, but time will cease, fade away, disappear.

14. Albert Einstein discarded the concept of absolute time – a universal flow, impartial of time, firm, invariable, that runs from an infinite past to an infinite future. Much of the obscurity that involves the Theory of Relativity proceeds from the reluctance of the man to acknowledge that sense of time, as well as sense of colour, is a form of perception.

15. The same way there is no colour without eyes to observe it, an hour or a day are nothing with an event that mark them. As space is simply a possible order of material objects, time is simply a possible order of events.

16. Time would be, then, a merely subjective concept; it would be exclusively dependant on an observer to appreciate it at a given point and, therefore, subject to the relativity of its position to anything else in the Universe that surrounds it.  

Answer Key

1. How can we define the Universe? A.: The Universe is a set of everything that exists and is not man-made and the man is included.

2. Who has crafted the Universe, according to Spiritism? A.: The Universe – according to Spiritism – is work of God.

3. Is the universal space infinite or limited A.: As we learned on item 35 of “The Spirits’ Book”, the universal space is infinite.

4. How can we define time? A.: O Time - explains Hermínio C. Miranda – is just a measure of transitional things.

5. Can we say that time is, as well as the space, an objective thing? A.:  No. Time is a merely subjective concept, dependant on an observer to appreciate it at a given point and, therefore, subject to the relativity of its position to anything else in the Universe that surrounds it. 
  

[1] The speed of light was measured in the century XIX. In vacuum, it is 300k kilometers/s. In water, its speed drops to 225k kilometers/s.

Bibliography:

The Spirits’ Book, by Allan Kardec, items 2, 3, 13 e 35.   

Genesis, by Allan Kardec, chapter. VI.

Stellar Dream, by Camille Flammarion, FEB, p. 97.

Memory and Time, by Hermínio C. Miranda, Edicel, p. 28.