Spiritualism; Modern Spiritualism; Modern Spiritualist Movement; Spiritualist Church

Yet, despite this common ground amongst the world's religions, we have much confusion and controversy over the following points:

ONE: Where is that "somewhere" to which the Spirit goes, following death?

TWO: What type of existence does the Spirit have, once it gets there?

THREE: Is there any contact between those of us here, in bodily form, and those who have passed out of bodily form, through death? What is a Spiritualist?

A Spiritualist is a person who answers these three basic questions as follows:

ONE: At death, the Spirit goes to another realm - dimension, level of consciousness, whatever you wish to call it - of life and existence, known simply as Spirit or the Spirit World (as opposed to the Material World).

TWO: Once the Spirit passes into the Spirit World, he or she continues to grow (not physically), mature, learn, relate with others, evolve spiritually, etc. In other words, what motivates the Spirit while in earthly form continues to motivate the Spirit in the Spirit World. This makes perfect sense, if we agree that life continues, unbroken, sometimes here and sometimes there.

THREE: Yes, there is contact between those of us, here, and those in Spirit. This contact happens primarily - but not always - through mediumship. A Spiritualist - and here is another source of confusion - can be of any faith or denomination. In fact, Spiritualism does not belong solely to Modern Spiritualists, any more than Christ belongs solely to Christians. Christ came to show us all the way back to God, our Father! Spiritualism helps show us all the truth concerning Spirit, Soul, and Body.

Therefore, what is the Spiritualist Religion?

The Spiritualist religion emerged from a philosophical and spiritual movement which commenced -- in a more objective form - in the middle of the Nineteenth Century; specifically, March 31, 1848. This movement is called the Modern Spiritualist Movement.

Initially, it began in pockets of light and mediumistic activity throughout the planet. It proclaimed, in no uncertain terms, the answers to the three questions posed above. And it did so through the demonstration of Spirit communication - or mediumship - both of the physical and of the mental kind.

Was this Movement widely accepted? No, because it threatened the deeply ingrained Victorian sense of Materialism. Yet, if you consider what was emerging through such writers as Thoreau and Whitman, along with such religious movements as Unitarianism and Universalism, the advent of Modern Spiritualism really should not have been such a cultural or theological shock. But, it was! Why might that have been?

The blame must fall, in part, upon Spiritualists themselves. Something happened to detract the Modern Spiritualist Movement from its intended course: the medium became the message! The message of Spiritualism became lost amidst all the phenomena and hoopla surrounding the medium. The medium - and what he or she could do or demonstrate - became, for all practical purposes, the focal point around the Movement and its religion. Or, as so eloquently expressed by Eileen J. Garrett, the mediums became the High Priests and Priestesses of the Modern Spiritualist Movement.