Spiritualist seem to be a different breed of cat.Some are god believers and some are not. My fathers second wife was heavy into it and I attended a few seances where the MEDIUM supposedly communicated with the dead.ALL BS as far as I am concerned.
I experimented with spiritualism for a few years, it is bollocks, cold reading, desperation and self delusion are all that keeps it going
Greater World Christian Spiritualism have their own prophet, a dead Jewish elder who goes by the nom de guerre of Zodiac who claims to have known Jesus and has channeled several (very expensive) holy books from beyond the grave which the members of the NSA follow slavishly.
They even have their own symbol, a cross with a letter z wrapped around it
In this Greater World Christian Spiritualism is far worse than the United Spiritualist Church (who are pretty much universalist and don't even claim to be Christian) and the The National Spiritual Alliance (who have local branches in most countries that don't advocate stoning them to death)
Yes. There a few of those. Don’t know of Zodiac. Where is their temple based. A big one in UK in 80’s & 90’s was White Eagle. I went to their lodge in Hampshire once which was quite impressive. Lots of money in that one but the people were lovely. I guess you pays your money and makes your choice or don’t get involved at all. If it helps people get through without being indoctrinating why not.
Ohferpetessake, discredited over 100 years ago, and lately, nobody claimed The Amazing Randy's offer of $1 million dollars by offering any proof whatsoever.
Plus, ever see any mediums winning the lottery?
You don't see psychics winning the lottery for the same reason you don't see faith healers in hospitals.
I believe spiritualism is just more bullshit.
I don't believe in it any more than I believe in gods or religion.
I also think that being "spiritual" is bullshit, as well.
I won't even apologize for thinking anyone who claims they are "spiritual"
is an idiot.
Sounds like the beginnings of a belief system there!
@Geoffrey51 Not in this lifetime.
@KKGator Hahaha. Glad to here it. Enough out there at the minute!
I actually enjoy and respect some aspects of it, others not so much. For instance, the brand of spirituality some of the Native North Americans had (the kinds that didn't demand war and sacrifices) seem pretty benign, and even useful in many instances. Spirituality is also often not evangelistic, which is one of the things that annoys me most about religion. Still, there are some pretty far out, and decidedly unhelpful brands of spirituality circulating. Especially those that undermine science and reason.
I am spiritual.
Spiritualism has nothing to do with religion. It's ALL about mind, body, soul energy.
It's the idea that you have a soul that people have a problem with. If you just get hit in the head your whole personality can change, therefore I reject the claim that we have souls.
@nastynifty if you crash and damage your care you can still drive it if it’s not written off. Perhaps a lot of it’s functions might not work though. Still driveable, just not as efficiently as before the crash
Spiritualism -- [spir-i-choo-uh-liz-uh m]
n
Glad to see that empiricism, using an unbiased scientific method is still being employed by some. The technical terminology is also quite insightful.
@Geoffrey51 Admittedly, my patience with people who embrace nonsense is pretty much non-existant now. I was more tolerant in years past but those days are gone.
Everything is a result of a physical interaction between atoms, therefore nothing can be beyond that. Unless your version of spirituality is compatible with this, it's not real.
Perhaps explore basic quantum mechanics from the 80’s and before.
Well... I feel like the basis of all religions are pretty much the same.
With spirituality I guess I get that they feel that there’s some sort of interconnectness with humanity.
We have come from the universe and that’s pretty magical in itself
Why would you call yourself atheist or even agnostic if you are going to make something else up?
I'm new here, so perhaps this sort of question is more common than I'd have thought. Personally I put belief in magic, however it's labeled, as beyond the scope of rational belief. That said, I guess one cannot prove some sort of quantum entanglement might result in something that appears magic? I include "agnostic" in my list of self-descriptors on this site (also named agnostic.com) because while I'm 99.9% sure there's no higher power(s) out there, I certainly cannot prove there's not.
All that needs to be said about spiritualism is that it was a movement/religion begun in the middle of the nineteenth century by Kate and Margaret Fox who reported that they spoke with the spirit of a murder victim. A lot of people attended their sceances, and believed that the were really mediums. Later the sisters admitted it was all a hoax, but that didn't dissuade their believers.
If it gets someone through what’s the problem? You don’t have to get involved!
Some responses here seem to be confusing spirituality with spiritualism. Spiritualism is the belief in communicating with the dead via mediums. As I see no way to obtain information about supernatural beings and realms, it falls into the same category as gods ... no knowledge claim, and therefore no supportable belief, can be embraced in the total absence of data.
As in two comments above, I think it's the idea that we have souls that is off putting to most people who reject spirituallity.
Spiritualism is made of the same concept as religion. To me, we're brains, minds, inner world, no spirit. When there's no more life, there's no more what we call spirit...no more us.