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Spiritism

dsaly1969

Member
I follow the teachings of Spiritism which is a specific set of spiritual teachings under the larger "umbrella" of Spiritualism. It has some roots in earlier teachings that were taught by such mystics as Emanuel Swedenborg and others.

Spiritism is the Third Primary Revelation of God (after Moses and Jesus ~ see John 16:13) to the Western world. It has many similarities to Eastern dharmic paths such as Vedanta (Hinduism) and Buddhism. Disembodied spirits all over the world were asked the same series of spiritual questions through various mediums and their answers were correlated and codified in the late 19th Century by Allen Kardec and further clarified in the 20th Century and onwards through other mediums such as Chico Xavier.

The basic tenets of Spiritism are:

1. Love God.
2. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
3. Practice justice.
4. Forgive all who offend you.
5. Make amends for our own wrong doing.

The spirits revealed to us the basic facts of our existence:

1. Your soul is immortal.
2. You travel through multiple lives i.e. reincarnation) as a process to learn to love, be fraternal, and be selfless.
3. The goal of God is for every spirit to one day be pure.
4. There is no eternal hell, it is a temporary waystation for souls who are materialistic and have an excessive love of self.
5. There are many levels of heaven. Heaven is not a place where we have eternal leisure, but one of on-going work to help others.
6. Life on earth is like a school. You are assigned events in your life and how you react and behave will determine your spiritual progress.
7. Becoming more charitable and acting consistently out of a love that does not discriminate will save us from our suffering by helping us to stop causing more suffering, to start redeeming ourselves of our past mistakes, and to fill our hearts with the happiness that comes from a love both given and received.
8. When we make mistakes, we are not actually "forgiven", because God does not condemn us in the first place. Instead, according to the natural law of cause and effect (i.e. karma), we experience the negative repercussions of our errors. Then, sooner or later, in this incarnation or beyond, we come to understand the poor choice or choices that we made. Instinctually, we desire to make amends, and God, in his infinite mercy, gives us endless chances to do so, through the process of reincarnation. Not only that, but He gives us access to various forms of guidance, including the communication with our spirit friends and mentors, by way of our own intuition, as well as the moral instruction from more advanced beings who incarnate on Earth with the role of collaborating in the progress of mankind.
 

Brickjectivity

wind and rain touch not this brain
Staff member
Premium Member
I have a few questions about this. Who is God and how do we know what it is? Why is this revelation for the Western World? How do you equate Buddism with Vedanta?
 

dsaly1969

Member
Yes, there is only One Divine Reality. God is One so the God of Christianity and of Judaism and Islam and Vedanta (Brahman) and Sikhism and Baha'i and the Dharmakaya of Buddhism are ultimately the same (although we being finite creatures are unable to fully comprehend God anyways), whether He is correctly or incorrectly conceived. God is pure Love and Compassion who has sent advanced souls time after time to help us progress in becoming more loving and compassionate ourselves.

BTW, I recognize that Buddhism is specifically nontheistic. But look at the concept of Dharmakaya in Mahayana Buddhism to see it can play a similar function.

Spiritism also applies to the Eastern world but it is worded in terminology recognizable and from a Western Christian Context. You can similar philosophies in the East see especially the Sant Nirankarii Movement which evolved out of Sikhism. Spiritism does not claim that "salvation" is only through its path.

The spirits were asked the same questions through a wide variety of mediums all around the world who did not know and did not have contact with the others. Kardec, who was not a medium himself, compiled the answers where there was great agreement and shared those principles. That, of course, is not "evidence" in an empirical fashion. I do not believe that we can prove supernatural claims given our current limitation on scientifically analyzing such data. Perhaps in the future but not now. People tend to accept the claims based upon their own personal spiritual experiences which cannot be independently verified and should not be pushed onto others.

What I would say though is that the teachings of Spiritism do help people become better human beings. Part of this is probably due to the emphasis on doing good deeds, correct understanding of cause and effect and how these effects impact not just us but others as well, and avoiding an exclusive claim to truth.
 
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