Spiritualism as a Religion.

The starting point of all religions is the peak experience - the moment one finds one's ture nature. When the mind turns into and dissolves into its source ie no mind. It all starts with tthe non physical essence

Look at the starting point of Islam, Christianity, sikhism, Budhism and all the other religions. You will find that someone attained to Truth, then people gather around them. The awakened presence is obliged to say the unsayable to help others. Saying only as much as the listener is capable of taking in..His words speak directly to the listener's energy.Then after the Master dies, a whole lot of teaching is put together in form of books. Hence all religions have different set of of does and don'ts. But the essence is absorbed only by only a few. Most get busy with rules and precepts of religion. Because that is easy and convenient, ther is no challenge involves. Then religion becomes a social mechanism- that fulfills hierarchial needs of belongingness, sense of social purpose etc etc. Coffee mornings, charity, jihad- they all come into play.That is religion. When the teachings are conveniet.

Spirituality is the quest of Truth. When there is a living presence. To be open to that presence is spirituality but to follow a book of rules is religion.

Spirituality is not a genre per se. Its not that you believe in Reiki, energy, flow, unconditional love etc etc then you are "spiritual". Although the modern idea of spitituality seem to have become so.
The crux of all spirituality is to find who you trully are-beyond what you think, undersatnd, feel and already know. Sacificing the known for the unknown is spirituality. To go beyond your cherished concepts is spirituality.

Religion can come alive too. but that happens rarely.only if the heart is open, but normally mind tries its best to run away, rebel, pinch its pipes, because living presence is the ultimate challenge. You cannot fool a living master. Look back how challenging even the 12 desciples found it to keep their heart open to a living breathing Jesus. But once he is gone, look at the number of Christians!

Religion is easy. Its all to easy to love/hate religion. The real challenge is to stay wide open. Then spirituality is a burning desire which burns away your separation, until only the flow remains

I like what you have said,Jnani
I think any religion regarding whatever it is,needs proof to survive.
But what proof have we that Jesus lived?
We know a great prophet lived but was he the son of God?

We take all religions on spec,we are taught to believe in this and that religion through sheer faith. That is what spiritualism is about,belief,faith in the fact we live after physical death.

So if other religions can be classed as organised and regular ordained religious groups and appear advertised in telephone directories why can't Spiritualism be the same?
They have their own ministers who are licenced to conduct wedding and funeral services.
No difference to other organised religions.
Thank you,Jnani,I always enjoy your posts.
🙂
Deepsea

There is another thread in this section entitled Spiritualism - a definition? in which Mac states that Spiritualism is classified as a religion in the UK. Is this not the case? I ask out of curiosity, as I think there is some confusion in the wider community about the differences between Spiritualism and Spirituality.

I like what you have said,Jnani
I think any religion regarding whatever it is,needs proof to survive.
But what proof have we that Jesus lived?
We know a great prophet lived but was he the son of God?

We take all religions on spec,we are taught to believe in this and that religion through sheer faith. That is what spiritualism is about,belief,faith in the fact we live after physical death.

So if other religions can be classed as organised and regular ordained religious groups and appear advertised in telephone directories why can't Spiritualism be the same?
They have their own ministers who are licenced to conduct wedding and funeral services.

🙂
Deepsea

Two contraries again belief and faith. Faith has got a bit too muddled as word. Belief is borrowed, but faith is a conviction that crystallizes by staying open within one's heart.
Hinduism has reincarnation at its heart but I can tell you that is not a qualification of spiritual either. Hinduism has qualifies as a world religion due to sheer number of people following it and masses of books. But it is essentially a way of life. What you are describing as is also a way of life. Believe in what you like. Why is there a need that your beliefs should be more widely accepted? Whose acceptance is so important? What does that do you? You are born free. Do what you like. Most people are doing wedding ceremonies, funerals etc in their own unique spiritual way.
The established religions and their followers - what have they achieved socially, which is so enviable that spiritualism should rush to get classified as a religion?
Besides, everyone has a unique way of being "spiritual". some are vegans some eat meat. The whole range of lifestyle fits into it. Because spirituality has become a lifestyle these days.

Yet another concept, yet another set of things one believes/knows/has learnt- just a different set of labels.
How is one label better than the other? Why is there a need to have it registered?
When you wade past all these labels/ rules /concepts etc etc the boundaies between mundane and spiritual fade away.
All entertainment of the mind-something to muse about

The starting point of all religions is the peak experience - the moment one finds one's ture nature. When the mind turns into and dissolves into its source ie no mind. It all starts with tthe non physical essence

Look at the starting point of Islam, Christianity, sikhism, Budhism and all the other religions. You will find that someone attained to Truth, then people gather around them. The awakened presence is obliged to say the unsayable to help others. Saying only as much as the listener is capable of taking in..His words speak directly to the listener's energy.Then after the Master dies, a whole lot of teaching is put together in form of books. Hence all religions have different set of of does and don'ts. But the essence is absorbed only by only a few. Most get busy with rules and precepts of religion. Because that is easy and convenient, ther is no challenge involves. Then religion becomes a social mechanism- that fulfills hierarchial needs of belongingness, sense of social purpose etc etc. Coffee mornings, charity, jihad- they all come into play.That is religion. When the teachings are conveniet.

Spirituality is the quest of Truth. When there is a living presence. To be open to that presence is spirituality but to follow a book of rules is religion.

Spirituality is not a genre per se. Its not that you believe in Reiki, energy, flow, unconditional love etc etc then you are "spiritual". Although the modern idea of spitituality seem to have become so.
The crux of all spirituality is to find who you trully are-beyond what you think, undersatnd, feel and already know. Sacificing the known for the unknown is spirituality. To go beyond your cherished concepts is spirituality.

Religion can come alive too. but that happens rarely.only if the heart is open, but normally mind tries its best to run away, rebel, pinch its pipes, because living presence is the ultimate challenge. You cannot fool a living master. Look back how challenging even the 12 desciples found it to keep their heart open to a living breathing Jesus. But once he is gone, look at the number of Christians!

Religion is easy. Its all to easy to love/hate religion. The real challenge is to stay wide open. Then spirituality is a burning desire which burns away your separation, until only the flow remains

I know I'm now just a reader but wasn't the original posting about Spiritualism - not about spirituality?

" I ask out of curiosity, as I think there is some confusion in the wider community about the differences between Spiritualism and Spirituality."

between Spiritualism and spirituality....

spot the difference? 😉

must get back to being a reader!

Why is Spiritualism not regarded as a religion?

I would have thought that it is. It has a public face and is therefore more than simply personal belief. (I mean no hierachy by 'more than simply...' - hard to find completely neutral words sometimes.) One could, if one wished, find a Spiritualist Church. We can certainly find 'Spiritualism' on the BBC Religions pages. And although it isn't listed as an option on the UK Census, along with many other religions, it is counted if written in under 'other' (32,000 on the 2001 Census).

[Of course, the whole Census count is slightly artificial. I guess if you are a Roman Catholic you can just tick RC and be done with it, but otherwise you have to know what is counted. For example, if you wrote 'Heathen' on the 2001 Census, you were counted as "no religion", whereas, if you wrote "Pagan" you were counted as Pagan (31,000).]

I feel as if there is a thin line drawn between other well known religions and Spiritiualism.
Like when hubby was in hospital one time,he filled in the form for entry for hospital.
Where religion is he put 'Spiritualism' and was asked by the nurse 'What kind of religion is that?'

:rolleyes:

I feel as if there is a thin line drawn between other well known religions and Spiritiualism.
Like when hubby was in hospital one time,he filled in the form for entry for hospital.
Where religion is he put 'Spiritualism' and was asked by the nurse 'What kind of religion is that?'

:rolleyes:

I don't think the 'thin line' is between Spiritualism and the rest. There are bound to be more well known and less well known religions. And the ignorance of one nurse doesn't mean that Spritualism isn't recognised.

I have had exactly the same reaction to putting 'shamanism' on forms and have several times noticed 'pagan' being misinterpreted as 'atheist'. Most people do not take a huge interest in such matters and will have heard only of the most common of religions.

Hi Silver,

Spiritualism is definitely a recognised religion nowadays. You should be able to find it under 'Spiritualist Churches' in the Yellow Pages, or it may begin with the town that the church is in, for exmaple ' Hounslow Spiritualist Church.'

Best,
Patsy.
xxx

Hi Silver,

Spiritualism is definitely a recognised religion nowadays. You should be able to find it under 'Spiritualist Churches' in the Yellow Pages, or it may begin with the town that the church is in, for exmaple ' Hounslow Spiritualist Church.'

Best,
Patsy.
xxx

I must have missed this....:eek:
Thanks Patsy.
I do believe that Spiritualism was not recognised as a religion many years ago.
it was a case of asking around where the nearest spiritualist church was located.
Which was surprising on how many spiritualist churches there were in those days.
Plus Spiritualism was very popular in days gone by. Though many a meeting was held mostly in private homes.
🙂
Joan xx