What is Spiritualism...
Spiritualism’s main focus is to promote an individual’s personal
experience with God.
Spiritualism is a religion that is not based on a relationship
with a particular savior. It recognizes all prophets that have
come to humankind throughout the ages, not setting one above the
other. Rather, it is based upon the idea that we are all to form
our own relationship with God, and to obtain guidance and accept
responsibility for our actions based on our interaction with
that personal guidance. We are able to have that instant and
personal communication directly with God through no
intermediary; hence the reason that we do
 not
give anyone a fixed idea of God, only that there is a God.
Any attempt to personalize the
idea of God only limits the totality of that Intelligence, which
is the reason that Spiritualists sometimes refer to that idea of
God as “Infinite Intelligence” or “Infinite Spirit.”
Another
significant difference is the belief of survival of the
personality after death, meaning that we still think of
ourselves the same after death as during our physical life.
This is proven by Mediumship,
the bringing back of loved ones in evidential form who have gone
through the change called death. Belief in the survival of the
personality also removes grieving when it is realized that our
loved ones are still around us from time to time, are able to
communicate with us and still care about us, and can be
communicated with. Mediumship, when done in the true sense, will
produce a real understanding of this existence and level of
interaction to and from the spirit realm.
Another
major difference is that we believe that the nature of humankind
is to be good, not evil. We do not believe in sin and
repentance, only spiritual progression by natural law. Nor do we
believe in vicarious atonement, which means we believe that you
are responsible at all times for your actions, here and
hereafter, and must compensate in some fashion for them
yourself, not through a savior of some kind.
The
basic philosophy of Spiritualism does not say it is the only
way, but feels that all religions can produce enlightenment, and
believes that Jesus, as well as all other saviors and prophets,
was a real person.
Our
feeling is that your purpose here is to evolve spiritually and
then use that to be of service to others as you continue to
evolve.
You
need not aspire to be a medium or healer to be a Spiritualist.
Spiritualism is a science, philosophy and religion:
-
a
science
because it investigates, analyzes, and classifies facts and
manifestations of Spirit;
-
a
philosophy
because it studies the laws of nature both on the seen and
unseen side of life and bases its conclusions upon present,
observed facts;
-
a
religion
because it strives to understand and comply with the
physical, mental, and spiritual laws of nature, which are
the laws of God.
Co-development is the methodology we use for enacting everything
mentioned above: For our guidance, we draw from those around us,
from our own minds and experiences, and from spiritual
inspiration.
The
philosophy and movement of Spiritualism, when put into practice
in your life, will truly change it and produce true freedom and
confidence in you. Through your example, you can lead others to
seek what you have.
We are
not a religion of conversion. We do not proselytize. We spread
the truth about Spiritualism only by example, through
self-evolving, and teaching those who come seeking answers.
See the
Declaration of
Principles and Definitions
Recommended
Books:
H. Gordon
Burroughs. Becoming a
Spiritualist,
National Spiritualist Association of Churches. Lily Dale, NY.
1999
Spiritualist Manual.
The National Spiritualist Association of Churches http://www.footenotecomputing.com/NSAC/bookstore.htm
Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle. The History of
Spiritualism
http://www.amazon.com/History-Spiritualism-Complete-Arthur-Conan/dp/1406823066
See the
Declaration of Principles and Definitions
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