The Seven Principles a discussion on their creation

mac wrote:

hiorta wrote:Silver Birch had said that the label, 'Spiritualist' was applied by anyone who realised that Life is governed by the Natural Law that Life is deathless. Physical death cannot change us in the slightest except for being freed from bodily restriction.

That's a fine simplification but, sadly, rather more words of explanation are often needed in forum work.

I agree Mac. If Silver Birch is to be quoted then it would help if the exact quote and its source was given.

I believe it was Churchill who opined, when asked why Spiritualists were not treated equally to other religions, that 'Spiritualists are a rabble and must learn to organise themselves'.

Hiorta then wrote:

The source of this is my memory to which I am unable to provide a hard-copy link.

Unfortunately memory is notoriously unreliable. I do not recall Churchill making any such statement about Spiritualists.

Just a bit of an update on this and a reminder of some of the issues about changing or varying the principles.

One of the biggest questions is whether the principles remain relevant. I remember an interesting article about that in Spirit of PN http://spiritofpn.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/are-the-seven-principles-still-%E2%80%98fit-for-purpose%E2%80%99-2/


It seems strange that the Principles of Spiritualism seem to be regarded as unalterable nature and this may be a cause of future concern. I am well aware from comments at meetings that, in the same way that saying the Lords Prayer, which some Spiritualist Centres, not just Christian ones, do, can immediately alienate people who have rejected Christianity the Victorian Paternal aspect of the 7 principles can alienate people, especially female attendees.

However, there are two issues about changing them.

• 1. That traditionally the SNU has become entangled in the incorrect history of how the 7 Principles were received, miraculously, by Emma Hardinge Britten, from Robert Owen, at Cleveland Hall on Sunday 30th April 1871. A detailed discussion of this is at https://www.spiritualismlink.com/t131p15-the-seven-principles-a-discussion-on-their-creation . The medium and daybreak report from 1871 is here http://www.ehbritten.org/texts/primary/ehb_creed_of_the_spirits_medium_and_daybreak_1871.pdf . There is also a one penny brochure Emma produced, I got my copy from the State Library of Victoria but you can download it here http://www.ehbritten.org/texts/primary/ehb_creed_of_the_spirits_1871.pdf both courtesy of Marc Demarest

• 2. That attempts to change them have often proved less than successful because of conflicting ideas among the compilers. The change by the Victorian Spiritualist Union in Australia, which Lis wrote about in Psychic News some years ago, is a case in point, particularly as it says on the website, despite the complete re write of all 7 principles, that "The principles were originally received through the mediumship of Emma Hardinge Britten"

The VSU principles are
THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITUALISM
:: The creative divine spirit of the Universe whom we call God
:: The unity of all created beings
:: The communion of spirits and ministering guides
:: The continuous existence of life beyond the veil of death
:: Communication between incarnate and discarnate spirits
:: Personal responsibility for all our actions whilst on earth
:: A path of eternal progress open to all souls
As you can see they bear little resemblance to Emma's 7 Principles

The American principles have been changed and added to over many years There current version is
1.We believe in Infinite Intelligence.
2.We believe that the phenomena of Nature, both physical and spiritual, are the expression of Infinite Intelligence.
3.We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression and living in accordance therewith, constitute true religion.
4.We affirm that the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death.
5.We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.
6.We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
7.We affirm the moral responsibility of individuals, and that we make our own happiness or unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature’s physical and spiritual laws.
8.We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any soul here or hereafter.
9.We affirm that the precepts of Prophecy and Healing are Divine attributes proven through Mediumship

In the end, instead of a long detailed theology we have a simple list of ideas by which to try to live our life.