Spiritualism is a way of life. It combines philosophy, science and
religion. It covers a very wide field, and, therefore, you cannot
expect to understand it without a certain amount of study.
The Philosophical And Religious Aspect of Spiritualism
The primary object of Spiritualism today is to prove the survival of
human personality after death. Death is the doorway to a new
and wider life.
From the day of our birth we each have two bodies, the material or
earthly body, which can be seen, and the spiritual body, which is
unseen during life but is a counterpart of our earthly body. These two bodies are
linked by a cord (often described by OBErs). In similar fashion, before
birth a baby is joined to its mother by a cord. When it is born the
cord must be cut.
When we die, the cord linking our two bodies is severed. The material
body returns to the earth whence it came, and the spiritual body
becomes the vehicle of our spirit. We are spirit here and now - we
don't have to wait until death to become spirit. Death, as a rule, seems like
sleep - there is no pain. When we awake, conditions seem much the same to us as
before we "died". We take with us into the beyond no material
possessions, such as clothes or money - they are no longer needed. But
we do take our character and our individuality. In every way we are the
same individuals immediately after death as before, with all our faults and virtues.
The home that awaits us in the spirit world depends upon the life we
have led on earth. If we have honestly tried to do the best we can,
then we need have no fear of death. We have fitted ourselves for the result
which is automatic, a better, happier life where we are reunited with
our loved ones and friends.
If, on the other hand, there has been more selfishness than goodness
and service in our lives, we will automatically have to pay the price.
This is part of the law of sowing and reaping, which is only another
way of
saying that effect must follow cause. It is perfectly summarised in the
sixth principle (printed overleaf), which says that hereafter there are
compensation and retribution for all the good and evil done on earth.
Acts of service that we have performed will naturally increase our
spiritual status. Sins of omission or commission will just as naturally
retard it. There is however no hell in which its inhabitants are
condemned for eternity. Once self-realisation dawns and the soul is
ready to advance, there are enlightened spiritual beings who will show
the way to progress.
The practical application of Spiritualism is the supreme necessity for
all of us to lead the best kind of life we can on earth, to practice
qualities of compassion and kindness and to give service wherever we can.
The traditional heaven and hell are really states of mind, not
geographical locations. Even here we can live in heaven or in hell, the
choice is ours. The world we inhabit after death is not far away up in
the sky. It is round and about us, interpenetrating the world in which we now live. Those we
have "loved and lost awhile" are not in some far-off, inaccessible
place, seated on pink clouds at the right hand of God and playing
golden harps. Very often, they are close by our side, striving to help and
guide us, and loving us just as they did before passing.
The evidence reveals that love, like life, is stronger than death. It
is love that proves to be the compelling force, striving to break down
the barriers, which humans in their ignorance have created, between this
world and what is called the next, in order to achieve spirit communication.
Often there is grief on both sides of the veil. There are the tears shed over
loved ones who have died and the grief they experience when they try to
reach us but fail to make their presence known.
There are many spheres of existence that are invisible to us because
they function in a different manner from earth. Millions of vibrations of
sound are lost to us because they are outside the range of our hearing.
And millions of vibrations of sight fail to be registered because they
are beyond the scope of our eyes.
Microphones and radio receivers enable us to hear what is normally
beyond the range of our ears. The telescope and television will bring into
focus what is beyond our vision. The inhabitants of the spirit world
are very real even though we cannot see or hear them.
There are, however, highly sensitive individuals who have developed
their innate natural psychic faculties with the result that they can
tune in to the spirit world and its inhabitants. These human television and
radio sets are mediums. They become the agents through
whom spirit communication is achieved.
There is nothing supernatural about this happening, though it is
supernormal. Everything in the universe is in accordance with natural
laws. They were devised by God and God is perfect. If it was God's will
that we should be ignorant about His/Her natural laws then we would
know nothing about them.
God is not only perfect but all-powerful. God is spirit. Traditional
notions of God being an old man with a long white beard who sits on a
throne in heaven are grotesque. To picture God as male or female human
being is ancient anthropomorphic thinking.
God is not a person but the creative universal spirit. Wherever there
is life there is spirit; and wherever there is spirit there is life. We
exist because a spark of divinity is within each one of us. This is a
divine relationship in which God is our father/mother and we
are all His/Her children.
We can fan this spark into a flame so that our lives
express a greater amount of divinity. The result will be to
sustain, uplift and help us in our spiritual development. And we have
the free will to neglect, reject or ignore the spark of divinity. The
result will be that we fail to make the progress we should and deny
ourselves the beauty that life has to offer.
We do not believe in a vicarious atonement as preached in some orthodox
religions. The idea that someone else may be punished for the misdeeds
of another is ancient thinking, repulsive to anyone with a sense of
justice. We are each personally responsible for our good and evil deeds
and must bear the consequences for them here or hereafter.
We do not claim to know everything - no one does. Knowledge is infinite
and we shall always be learning. What we do maintain is that we have
caught a glimmer of truth. It inspires us to search for more, rejecting
anything that does not appeal to our God-given reason and accepting
that which is logical and uplifting.
What makes Spiritualism unique is the evidence of survival
after death
that is obtainable through mediumship and personal experience. Whereas
most religions preach an after-life as a hope, faith or belief, we
maintain that any reasonable person can prove it for themselves.
We do not ask you to believe what we say. What we do suggest
is that you study the evidence and then investigate yourself.
Spiritualists don't have any fixed doctrines but most agree on the traditional seven principles:
The fatherhood of God.
The brotherhood of man.
The communion of spirits and the ministry of angels.
The continuous existence of the human soul.
Personal responsibility.
Compensation and retribution hereafter for all good and evil deeds done on earth.
Eternal progress open to every human soul.
Originally there were only 6 principles, given to us by Robert Owen
through the mediumship of Emma Hardinge Britten:
The fatherhood of God.
The brotherhood of man.
The immortality of the soul and its personal characteristics.
Proven facts of communion between departed human spirits and mortals.
Personal responsibility with compensation and retribution hereafter for all good or evil deeds done here.
A path of eternal progress open to every human soul that wills to tread it by the path of eternal good.
The Scientific Aspect of Spiritualism
There is much scientific research, that supports the Spiritualists' view of the afterlife.
One of the research objects has been the near-death experience - short NDE. Whoever has experienced an NDE has no doubt about the reality of an afterlife. But even better, shared near-death experiences where bystanders share the near death experience of the experiencer completely destroy the skeptics' argument that NDE's are caused by hallucinations of the dying brain that is starved of oxygen. Dr Raymond Moody and Paul Perry's book "Glimpses of Eternity" deals with such shared death experiences. Here is a more indepth website dealing with NDEs:
International Association for Near-Death Studies.
Another aspect is "Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC)" - contact between the living and the "dead" by means of telecommunication devices. See for instance:
The following site combines the various areas of investigation and draws the conclusion that the afterlife is a scientific fact:
Lawyer Victor Zammit on the scientific proof for Life after Death
