tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3733858696820155774.post724988319765577391..comments2024-03-14T12:06:17.129-07:00Comments on Spirit Communion: Is Spiritualism a Religion?David H. Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08103428561618712158noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3733858696820155774.post-7903445959292292652012-07-25T13:55:25.570-07:002012-07-25T13:55:25.570-07:00Thank you Tom and David for your long and for me e...Thank you Tom and David for your long and for me educational postings.<br /><br />I guess I come originally from a materialists' perspective who has been persuaded otherwise by meditative experience, study of NDE / OBEs, and extensive reading of channeled information. For me the word spiritual points toward the felt personal experience, the word religion toward the social group. With the weakening of religions and the strengthening of workshop-based spiritual education and healing, a question arises. After the healing has occurred and introductory information learned, where is, what can become, the on-going social group of like minded people?<br /><br />MikeMikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3733858696820155774.post-49571388065695191002012-07-09T17:04:31.962-07:002012-07-09T17:04:31.962-07:00My first effort as an author was titled "Meta...My first effort as an author was titled "Metaphysics, a plain English Discussion of New Age Concepts. With "new age" in the title, you can see where my head was at the time. The book is virtually all about survival of personality and the greater reality, but I did not think in terms of isms and especially not of spiritualism (small "s"). I consider myself a "technical metaphysician," which means that I study such concepts as mediumship and the relationship between physical body and etheric personality from the perspective of a cosmology and what is now a survival hypothesis based on understanding brought by transcommunication, psi studies and energy healing research. Today, I refer to that study as "etheric studies." <br /><br />The handbook was published in 1994. Since then, my wife Lisa and I have discovered the NSAC and Spiritualism. The community of like-minded people was just right for us, and we are now ordained, NST, Commissioned Healers and Certified Mediums with the NSAC. Yet, we do not think of ourselves as religious people. The New Age culture has a primarily human potential view of these phenomena while Spiritualism (capital "S") is more of a holistic view in which human potential is developed as something that is focused, not just on abilities and understanding that people can have today, but also on how their understanding today will influence the rest of their existence beyond this lifetime.<br /><br />The motto of the association Lisa and I lead is "Objective Evidence of Survival." That point of view leads us to carefully examine what is actually objective and not true as popular wisdom. In fact, "proof" older then ten or twenty years must be suspect because of our society's improving understanding of how people experience the unknown. Almost every Media Watch Lisa prepares for the NSAC Summit magazine has one or two items about research showing how we fool ourselves--very convincingly fool ourselves. The science of Spiritualism is well founded in modern research and can often be easily verified through persona experience. There is little need for historical "proofs" except to remember out roots.<br /><br />You said, "In my view, spiritualist churches are more like educational institutions than “houses of worship." I have to agree. In a very real sense, it is as if the objective of NSAC Spiritualist churches is to have the entire congregation so knowledgeable and functional in the phenomena of spiritualism that they could hold all of the NSAC certifications--everyone in the congregation ordained, mediums, healers and teachers. The question is what to teach, which is a question I know the NSAC is trying to address.<br /><br />It is a practical thing for spiritualism to be a religion because, without religious freedom protections, our demonstrations proving survival could too easily be forbidden as affronts to the dominant religions. Our claim of science is seen as pseudoscience by the science apologists of the world, and there is clearly a campaign underway to establish pseudosciences as a danger to society. However, the most important service Spiritualist churches provide, other than education, is providing a community of like-minded people. Most churches tend to be small, which helps the sense of community.<br /><br />Religion is not a very good business model but it is a recognizable place for a grieving person to find a friend. Other than as a practical matter of protection under the law, our congregations would probably do better as societies of like-minded people seeking to understand their relationship with the greater reality. I see nothing in the NSAC bylaws that prevents us from having both the congregation and the society; however, without people with the gumption to make that happen, we will certainly remain a religion as it fades to obscurity.<br /><br />Tom ButlerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3733858696820155774.post-12054614129284928432012-07-08T17:44:23.400-07:002012-07-08T17:44:23.400-07:00Dave,
An interesting post with much food for thou...Dave,<br /><br />An interesting post with much food for thought. I think, however, that Spiritualism needs to be better defined. One can be a "spiritualist" (with a small "s") without being a "Spiritualist" (capital "S.") In its broadest sense, a spiritualist is anyone who is not a materialist. To put it another way, one does not have to be a card-carrying Spiritualist in order to be a spiritualist. I consider myself a spiritualist, but I am not sure I would call myself a Spiritualist, since I do not belong to any Spiritualist organization (We don't have any here in Hawaii.) Many of the early researchers, such as Sir Oliver Lodge, were asked if they were spiritualists and they didn't know how to answer because they did believe in a spirit world but belonged to no Spiritualist group or church. <br /><br />Aloha!<br /><br />Michael TymnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com