SPIRITUALITY VS. SPIRITUALISM
Spot the Difference!
What do you mean? You've never heard of either?
Right. Fine. Okay. I will now try to explain what these words mean in general terms and what they do not mean. And maybe spot a few differences.
Let's start with 'Spiritualism'. Spiritualism is a religious movement, part of the Christian tradition of beliefs. Spiritualists or Spiritists, as believers are called, worship God within the Christian tradition and believe in most things that most Christians believe in. Their centres do not use candles, incense, ornaments or any of the ceremonial trappings of some Christian Churches.
There are many spiritualist churches or centres; such centres do not usually have ministers but they do encourage membership of these centres with donations towards the upkeep and expenses of running the Spiritualist centres. The key difference in this Christian tradition of beliefs is that Spiritists believe that life continues after death, that our body may die but not out personality. To this end, a large part of the work of Spiritualist movement is concerned to make contact with departed souls, people who have died and now continue to exist on another plane of existence.
Many spiritualists have developed psychic powers and are able to raise their energy levels to the point where they can contact departed spirits and communicate with them. These people are called 'mediums' for obvious reasons. Fully-developed mediums act as a medium or bridge between this three-dimensional earthly existence and the multidimensional existence beyond this life. Their aim is both to prove the existence of life after death and to bring comfort and solace to those grieving relatives and friends who are left behind after the death of a loved one. They do wonderful work by bringing comfort and hope, enabling the grief-stricken to come to terms with the death of their loved one.
The trained medium works in a spiritualist centre usually before members and non-members in a public meeting. After prayerful dedication of their work, the medium then contacts the departed spirit and brings back messages of love, greetings and information. In this way, the relative or friend know that they will meet again one day when it is their time to cross over to The Other Side.
Sadly, mediums are often met with negative reactions: doubt, skepticism and derision. If you do not believe in life after death, then you will see spiritualists as charlatans and hoaxers who have no scientific evidence for their claims of life after death. Spiritualists do not normally charge for their services as they consider that they are doing God's work of bringing comfort to the bereaved and, besides, doing so does not help their credibility. However, they are often confused with fortune-tellers and clairvoyants who do use their psychic gifts for commercial purposes.
This is not an exhaustive description of spiritualism but it is indicative.
Now then.... Spirituality. Spirituality is a not a religion but it forms the philosophical background to many religions. It is a philosophy. It is a way at looking at life and how we should live it.
Spirituality is concerned with the relationship between the individual and what he or she understands as their God and the way we live our lives for our spiritual growth and for the benefit of the wider community.
Over the centuries, 'God' has been given many names, each reflecting the plethora of religions, formal and native, ancient and current: God, Great Spirit, Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, the Creator, All That Is, the I AM, the Source, The Divine, the Bhagavan, Aka Purakh, Ahura Mazda, Danu and Zeus - to name but a few.
While each religion, of which there are many varieties, represents a set of specific beliefs, spirituality has no specific belief system which must be rigorously followed.
In these modern times when world religions are being questioned and are in some respects on the decline especially in technologically advanced societies, the attraction and growing popularity of the philosophy of spirituality is obvious. It demands no allegiance to a specific and often limiting set of beliefs. It encourages the individual to look within and seek their own understanding and wisdom. It asks for high personal standards of behaviour. It advocates a cosmological view of the universe in which we are all parts of the whole of Creation and thus, being so connected, responsible for our relationships here on planet Earth and our responsibilities to others. It places emphasis on our individual need to understand ourselves,our divine nature , our purpose in life and to practice spiritual values at all times. There are many spiritual values (e.g. appreciation, acceptance, awareness, courage, empathy, joy, justice, peace, hope, compassion, forgiveness, trust and, above all, love combined with service to others.)
People who consciously practice spiritual values in their daily lives are often positive in their relationships, are optimistic, feel in control of their lives and know that their lives have purpose.
It is a very personal philosophy but once which can be shared universally, discussed and enacted for the benefit of the individual and society; Spirituality underscores everything that we do. Arguably, all human progress in terms of expanding human happiness, social justice, the provision of social services such as education, medical progress and scientific progress, has been driven over time by the values of spirituality.
Individuals, acting spiritually, have moved society forward. It is through a shared desire to create a better world in the here and now, to create more happiness and personal fulfillment, to end war and discord, to understand and make allowances for our neighbours and to understand our place in the cosmos that the importance of following spiritual values can be seen.
And now for the similarities and differences... Spiritualists practise, consciously or non-consciously, spiritual values. Most adherents to formalised religions practise spirituality consciously.
However, sadly, not all those who follow certain religions behave in spiritual ways: there is often a low tolerance of anyone who does not do as the religion dictates; there is often a lack of love for others who differ in any way (sexual preferences, racial differences, physical and mental differences); there is often hatred expressed for others.
It has been - and still - is a lack of religious and social tolerance as well as a failure to demonstrate spiritual values in our daily lives which has impeded human progress over the centuries.
But times are changing. With universal education, globalisation, economic improvements, ease of travel and greater understanding of world cultures, we all now think more globally than in times gone by.
Secularism in western cultures is growing as the influence of fixed religious institutions and their fixed beliefs decline. We are concerned to improve our communities, locally and nationally. We are concerned about global issues such as climate change, over-use of our global resources and under-provision of goods and services for the underprivileged and poverty-stricken. We care more. We want justice. We want to remove poverty. We organise more. We walk our spiritual values more.
And my contribution to all this is to explain and encourage the understanding of and use of spiritual values in our daily lives for our own happiness and the happiness of others.
See my book 'Spiritual Insights'. Read and understand. Practise spirituality at all times.
With love and blessings,
Patricia