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We try to live our lives in accordance with our Seven Principles which are:
1. The Fatherhood of God.
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2. The Brotherhood of Man.
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3. The communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels.
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4. The continuous existence of the human soul.
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5. Personal responsibility.
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6. Compensation & retribution hereafter for all the good & evil deeds done on earth.
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7. Eternal progress open to every human soul.
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Spiritualists are not tied to a creed or dogma.
They accept these seven basic principles, which are based on inspiration from the spirit world.
These act as guide-lines for the development of a personal philosophy of how to live ones life.
Below is given a simple summary of the understanding built up by Spiritualists of what these principles mean.
Study and observation of the world of nature, of the planet on which we exist and of the universe,
lead to the inescapable conclusion that there is a force which has both created life in all its
forms and the universe itself, and also keeps existence in a state of balance, allowing expansion,
transformation and creation to take place.
This force we term, for want of a more explicit word, `God`.
God has created life, so we speak of `fatherhood`, and because we all emanate from God we can speak of
`brotherhood`. This brotherhood, of course, embraces all forms of life, not just mankind, and brings
with it rights and responsibilities in our relationships with fellow beings.
Matter cannot be destroyed, it can only change its form. Spirit equally cannot be destroyed,
though its manifestation can and does alter.
The creative force is eternal and so the individual is eternal, going through changes, death being one,
that assist in development and progress.
Death does not break bonds of love and friendship, so it is natural, not supernatural,
for those who have `died` to come back and try to help those they have known and loved while living on earth.
As Spiritualists we are part of the God-force and cannot be separated from it.
There are times when we make decisions which retard our progress, but we are never cut off from God.
Therefore we never need salvation or redemption. Through our own efforts, and with the
assistance
of those who care for us, we learn from all we do (good, bad or indifferent) and thus progress.
We create our own `heaven` or `hell` by bringing about a state for our own mind and spirit which is
happy and forward looking or miserable and retrogressive.
We progress more quickly when we observe the natural laws of truth, justice and compassion,
and less quickly when our decisions are based exclusively on self-interest without caring for the
progress of others.
We are progressing from point A (lets call that `birth`). through point B (`death`, perhaps?)
and on through point C and so on to some far distant point X - and perhaps the greatest challenge
that Spiritualism offers is the idea that point X may well itself be not a constant but a moving target !
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