Happy Birthday, Modern Spiritualism!

[Left Behind]

In late 1847, the Fox family, including daughters Margaretta and Kate, moved into a wooden house in Hydesville, New York, not far from the city of Rochester. From the time of their arrival, the family was plagued with strange and frightening rapping and tapping sounds in the walls. The Fox family attributed these nightly disturbances to spirits.

On the night of March 31, 1848, the daughters began to clap their hands in imitation of the sounds they were hearing. To their surprise, whatever was responsible for the sounds started producing them in imitation of the girls' clapping.

This evolved into an alphabetic code. The family learned that the raps and taps were being made by one Charles Rosa, an itinerant peddler who was lured into the house by a previous occupant, murdered for his money, and buried in the cellar. Decades later, a human skeleton was unearthed from the cellar. :icon_eek:

Spiritualism generally regard the events of March 31 as being the first known systematic communications that occurred between this world and the next, in modern times.

It has also been reported that today, March 31, 2012, the 164th anniversary of Modern Spiritualism, the planets are aligned in exactly the same manner as they were on this date in 1848.

Jim

[deepsea]

What a lovely thought,Jim.

May there be many more 'birthdays' as Spiritualism grows through the forth coming years.

:angel7:
Deepsea

[Left Behind]

Thank you, Deepsea, beautiful sentiments there. :hug2:

Spiritualism WILL go on forever. It must, because spirit is eternal.

Those of us who are Spiritualists during our sojourn on earth learned that lesson sooner than the others.

They will learn it when they get to spirit. :smile:

Jim

[deepsea]

One of these days,mark my words,there will be headlines in the papers,telling the world that Spiritualism has been proved.
That there is a life after death.
:smile:
Deepsea

[mac]

One of these days,mark my words,there will be headlines in the papers,telling the world that Spiritualism has been proved.
That there is a life after death.
:smile:
Deepsea

Spiritualism has no need to be proven - it's there and has its adherents.

Perhaps you're meaning survival?

[mac]

Spiritualism (Modern Spiritualism) is a current movement, a current religion and philosophy, which may, or may not, survive in its present form into the future.

The spirit is eternal and the message of survival is one of its most important ones. How that message survives into the future remains to be seen but the spirit can never be constrained and will be there just as it always has - recognised or unrecognised.

Maybe we'll be around to see what happens?

[deepsea]

Spiritualism has no need to be proven - it's there and has its adherents.

Perhaps you're meaning survival?

Ok Mac,I will take the word 'Survival'.
Survival to me is a strong word.
As though we were running from danger.
Depends what kind of life we had last in the physical world.
:confused:

[mac]

Ok Mac,I will take the word 'Survival'.
Survival to me is a strong word.
As though we were running from danger.
Depends what kind of life we had last in the physical world.
:confused:

And for me it simply means we don't disappear as individuals when the bodies we live in at present fail us or eventually wear out if we're that lucky.

We live on. That's 'survival' for me, no running from any danger or the outcome of any previous lives.

[deepsea]

Good point,Mac.
:smile:

[Left Behind]

One of these days,mark my words,there will be headlines in the papers,telling the world that Spiritualism has been proved.
That there is a life after death.
:smile:
Deepsea

I hope so, Deepsea. :smile:

But the probtlem - if problem it be - is that most people are so caught up in the here-and-now, that even if they intellectually accepted this (I refrain from saying "believed", because that's a stronger word), I doubt that it would have much motivation for them.

Most people have problems today. And most people today greatly exaggerate the extent of their problems (it wasn't so long ago in the history of mankind that literally staying alive from one harvest to the next was something that a lot of people failed to accomplish, and it's still a problem for many in the world today).

But people in the Western world are so caught up in their distrations from their problems that what happens after they die is just not a big thing in their lives.

I think that belief in Spiritualism - or survivalism, or life afer death, whatever you prefer - is not going to be a big thing in the lives of most people.

Jim

[Left Behind]

Spiritualism (Modern Spiritualism) is a current movement, a current religion and philosophy, which may, or may not, survive in its present form into the future.

The spirit is eternal and the message of survival is one of its most important ones. How that message survives into the future remains to be seen but the spirit can never be constrained and will be there just as it always has - recognised or unrecognised.

Maybe we'll be around to see what happens?

Study if the near-death phenomenon is bearing some fruit. So is the electronic voice / instrumental transcommunication phenomenon?

"God's word for a medical science age"?

"God's word for a technological age"?
:D

Jim

[mac]

I hope so, Deepsea. :smile:

But the probtlem - if problem it be - is that most people are so caught up in the here-and-now, that even if they intellectually accepted this (I refrain from saying "believed", because that's a stronger word), I doubt that it would have much motivation for them.

Most people have problems today. And most people today greatly exaggerate the extent of their problems (it wasn't so long ago in the history of mankind that literally staying alive from one harvest to the next was something that a lot of people failed to accomplish, and it's still a problem for many in the world today).

But people in the Western world are so caught up in their distrations from their problems that what happens after they die is just not a big thing in their lives.

I think that belief in Spiritualism - or survivalism, or life afer death, whatever you prefer - is not going to be a big thing in the lives of most people.

Jim

Great points which I've made myself in the past. I agree totally with what you've said, Jim.....

[mac]

Study if the near-death phenomenon is bearing some fruit. So is the electronic voice / instrumental transcommunication phenomenon?

"God's word for a medical science age"?

"God's word for a technological age"?
:D

Jim

I'm not persuaded by either the phenomena or their attribution.

[deepsea]

I think you have a point there,Jim.
I used to have the conviction that once the public knew about life after death,there would be or could be many suicides to end lives to gain entry into the spirit world.
(being told how marvellous that world is).

Now thinking anew about this subject,I wonder if knowing about such a world,would encourage the public to live their physical lives in full and to the supreme end of those lives,knowing there would be a heaven of sorts waiting for them.
Just another alternative if the truth about the spirit world was ever proved.
:smile:
J

[Left Behind]

I don't think that a widespread belief in the greater glories of the spirit world would increase suicides, Deepsea. Probably the opposite: both mainstream Christianity, and Spiritualist and near-death revelations, are strongly opposed to suicide, and speak of negative consequences of it in the next world.

I DO think, however, that a widespead, deep and serious interest in the afterlife COULD be a bad thing. It depends upon the person, though.

I'm at the point in life (age 60) where by far the quantity and quality of my life experiences are behind me. My wife is in spirit, as are my parents and grandparents. I have no children. I'm retired from my job. The economy is in shambles. I'm starting to experiencd the the health problems that come with aging. I'm now recuperating from a serious leg injury, and it remains to be seen whether I will ever fully recover.

Now. . . for that person I just described: does this world really hold a great deal of fascination or opportunities? For me, to focus on the Great Beyond indicates indicates neither depression nor despondency, nor it is going to result in my wastinf my life here on earth.

Were I a healthy 21 year old recent college graduate with my adult life beginning to unfold: such would be a different matter.

Jim

[Left Behind]

I'm not persuaded by either the phenomena or their attribution.

I don't know. Mac: some pretty serious scientific types, MD's and PhD's galore, are devoting their careers to the study of the near-death phenomenon. What these studies are revealing is fascinating, and corroborates what Modern Spiritualism has been saying for decades.

I admit that I don't know a great deal about EVP / ITC, but I understand there's a ton of evidence that can't be explained as "static" or such.

Jim

[deepsea]

Do you know what I think,Jim?
it's just plain curiosity as to whether we live again or death is the final event.

Investigation has been going on for a long time now.
Bit by bit,we discover small facts about spirit and the 'other' world.
Little titbits are thrown to us by spirit to keep us going.
I still say there is 'something ' but where the devil is it?
:smile:

[mac]

I don't know. Mac: some pretty serious scientific types, MD's and PhD's galore, are devoting their careers to the study of the near-death phenomenon. What these studies are revealing is fascinating, and corroborates what Modern Spiritualism has been saying for decades.

I admit that I don't know a great deal about EVP / ITC, but I understand there's a ton of evidence that can't be explained as "static" or such.

Jim
I must be failing to express myself clearly.

I don't doubt the phenomena. I do doubt a significance in line with that you'd suggested.

I don't doubt that NDEs occur but maybe like the current apparent increase in autistic spectrum disorder (on all the news bulletins out here recently) maybe they've always been around at a similar level. Better detection - folk taking notice! - can give the impression of an increase in the incidence level. If NDEs lead on to a wider acceptance of life after corporeal death then I'll be happy. For the moment it's rather like physical mediumship where folk are often more interested in the phenomena than in the message they should convey.... Folk are fascinated by the ND Experiences but are they interested in what's behind them or just in the vivid accounts?

EVP and ITC have been around for quite some time but have yet to make much impression. I'm not saying they won't but in the digital age of crystal clear communication, the scratchy, uncertain sounds have a long way to go....

And I'm not a disbeliever, Jim. This stuff is old and familiar for me.

[Left Behind]

I must be failing to express myself clearly.

I don't doubt the phenomena. I do doubt a significance in line with that you'd suggested.

I don't doubt that NDEs occur but maybe like the current apparent increase in autistic spectrum disorder (on all the news bulletins out here recently) maybe they've always been around at a similar level. Better detection - folk taking notice! - can give the impression of an increase in the incidence level. If NDEs lead on to a wider acceptance of life after corporeal death then I'll be happy. For the moment it's rather like physical mediumship where folk are often more interested in the phenomena than in the message they should convey.... Folk are fascinated by the ND Experiences but are they interested in what's behind them or just in the vivid accounts?

EVP and ITC have been around for quite some time but have yet to make much impression. I'm not saying they won't but in the digital age of crystal clear communication, the scratchy, uncertain sounds have a long way to go....

And I'm not a disbeliever, Jim. This stuff is old and familiar for me.

I can't say anything about autism, one way or the other.

As for the NDE's. . . I think they always occurred, but not to anywhere near the extent they do now. It's only in the past 40 or so years that medical technology has reached the point that so many of these people are able to return to corporeal life. Prior to that, you could have scratched the "near" from their experience.

Social pressures also undoubtedly played their part as well. In a more traditional and conventionally religious era, such phenomena were more likely to be regarded as diabolical, or the experiencer regarded as mentally ill.

EVP communications? Well, we're still talking about something that's cross-dimensional, nor just long distance. This could account for the poor quality of the reception.

Jim