The Seven Principles of Spiritualism

An Interpretation

The seven principles described here were given in the 19th century through the mediumship of Emma Hardinge Britten. They are widely accepted by Spiritualists and Spiritualist organizations around the world. Here I present a personal interpretation of the principles, not as dogma, but to cause others to at least give them some thought.

1 The Fatherhood of God

God is synonymous with Spirit. Spirit encompasses all that exists. The physical realm we inhabit is a manifestation of Spirit. The souls of the living, and all those who have ever lived, are individuated Spirit. Spirit is the totality, the whole. Perhaps a more politically correct way of expressing the first principle is the Mother-Fatherhood of God, since Spirit is genderless.

A key implication is that Spirit means us only good, as we can mean only good for our offspring.

2 The Brotherhood of Man

This follows from our all sharing the same origin, Spirit. When we help another, we help ourselves. When we harm another, we harm ourselves. The manifestation of this principle is healing and other demonstrations of unconditional love.

3 Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels

Through the clairvoyance of mediums, or by simply raising our own sensitivity and awareness, we can open our minds to the reality of Spirit. It is not the job of Spirit to deliver profound knowledge, or to live our lives for us - for that would negate our purpose in being here. Through communion we simply gain assurance that Spirit is real and that, despite occasional hurdles, there is purpose in our earthly existence.

Angels are higher souls, those that have travelled further and experienced more than ourselves. We all have guides, if only we could take the time to become acquainted with them. Guides will not live our lives for us, but they can offer assistance in troubled times. Most usually they manifest through the quiet voice within, but sometimes in more practical terms, eg an unexpected windfall just before a hefty bill falls due.

4 The continuous existence of the human Soul

This really is the cornerstone of Spiritualism. Our souls (ie that individuated part of Spirit we consider to be ourselves) are eternal. Not only do we continue to exist but all our experiences and feelings too. And the living may communicate with those who have returned to Spirit (passed away).

5 Personal Responsibility

We are born to learn. Our purpose is experiential growth in order that our personal experiences may further the evolution of Spirit as a whole. In order to learn and grow we must possess free will. Something inside us is able (within limits) to determine our own destiny. We learn from our choices. We learn when they work well, but we learn even (especially) when they do not.

But with free will comes responsibility. Because we are free we have the power to do wilful harm to other free souls and to our environment. The awareness of the oneness of all reality which comes from an understanding of Spiritual philosophy acts as a powerful restraint on our potential harmfulness.

It is worth mentioning that free will is something that science, for all its theories and equations, cannot even begin to explain.

6 Compensation and retribution hereafter for all good and evil deeds done on earth

We must be careful in our interpretation of this principle as good and evil are extremely nebulous concepts, if they exist at all. To do harm to another or to the world is mistaken, but can it really be called evil?

That is not to say that the ancient “law” of karma does not hold true. If we have a tendency to harm then the most direct way of correcting that tendency is to place us on the receiving end, ie to have harm done to us. We should not assume that all those experiencing difficulties are in some way being punished for the sins of the past. It may be that by experiencing particular difficulty they are making much faster Spiritual progress than ourselves.

If we fail to learn the required lessons of a particular incarnation, we simply come back and do it all again.

If we do good (in Spiritual terms doing good means making rapid progress), eg by serving others, then our “compensation” is to move up to the higher levels where further lessons and experiences await.

7 Eternal progress open to every soul

Not only is eternal progress open to every soul, but it is inevitable for every soul. We are all travelling a one-way street of infinite length. Some may move faster than others, some may temporarily stand still, but ultimately we all progress towards unattainable perfection.

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