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Spiritualism 101
Scope
The term, "Spiritualism" with a capital
"S," the religion, is generally applied to the belief system that began
with the Fox Sisters. It is this application of the term that is
addressed here. Spiritualism with a small "s," the philosophy of
survival of the personality is also addressed here but only as it
applies to the survival hypothesis. Spiritualism with a small "s" as it
applies to the practice of spirit communication in other cultures or
systems of belief is not addressed here.
As a member of the National Spiritualist
Association of Churches (NSAC), I have written this from the perspective
of the NSAC but with an effort to embrace other views of Spiritualism to
inform and not to compare.
The essential elements
of spiritualism include:
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There is a
creator god that is in all there is. Terms such as "spark of
light in all of us" is an attempt to describe how God is the
source of all things.
NSAC explains this as "By this we express our belief in a
supreme Impersonal Power, everywhere present, manifesting as
life, through all forms of organized matter, called by some,
God, by others, Spirit and by Spiritualists, Infinite
Intelligence."
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The expression of God is spirit.
This is an important point in Spiritualism that can be confusing. The stuff of
reality is seen as spirit. It is manifest as substance in the
physical universe and less substantial expressions of spirit
are generally referred to as "spirit," so being less physical, a
survived personality can be thought of as "being in spirit," which
becomes "being a spirit" as a colloquialism.
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The operation of spirit is governed by Principles of Natural Law.
More commonly "Natural Law," this is the bottom-line concept for why
Spiritualism makes sense as a religion if you accept that religions
are first a system of education teaching people how to live in
accordance with the teachings of that church. Again Principle 7 of
the NSAC: "We affirm the moral responsibility of individuals, and
that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey
Nature’s physical and spiritual laws." I am pretty sure the other
groups have essentially the same concept, with the possible
exception of Christian Spiritualists.
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People are a spiritual Self temporarily in a physical body.
Spiritualists believe that
our personality survives the death of our physical body, and
therefore, we look at the body as a temporary condition, but
important for our education. I make the distinction between this and
the next concept because people often find it difficult to remember
that they are not their body.
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Who we really are survives the death of the physical body.
What survives is
more analytically described as "personality" because we believe that
our self-image continues, and that transition does not automatically
make us saints.
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We "go to" a "different atmospheres and awarenesses" when the
physical body dies. This can be described as heaven, but is thought
of as being many spheres of awareness providing further opportunity
for learning. I like the idea of "In my Father's house, there are
many mansions."
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People on the
"other side of the veil" are able to be aware of people on this
side, and through mediumship, are able to
communicate. The purpose of "spirit greetings" in a Spiritualist
service is to demonstrate the continuity of life. The medium seeks
to convey evidential messages from a discarnate person to a living
one. I have never heard nor given am "enlightening" message in this
way. Almost all of the reasons for seeking a greeting are because a
person in the flesh seeks reassurance that a loved one is okay on
the other side. We find this is true for EVP and almost all forms of
induced and spontaneous after death communication.
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Physical people can act as a medium so that our friends in
spirit can provide and direct healing energy to a second party on
this side. This energy or spirit healing is another demonstration of
the continuity of life because the discarnate entity is thought to
be the source of healing and the physical person is just the medium.
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