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Spiritualism. Does spiritualism provide evidence for the existence of a soul?. What is spiritualism???. Communication between the spirit world and the living through messages from the departed spirits. This communication is usually achieved through a medium.
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Spiritualism Does spiritualism provide evidence for the existence of a soul?
What is spiritualism??? • Communication between the spirit world and the living through messages from the departed spirits. • This communication is usually achieved through a medium. • Communication can be achieved through Ouija boards and séances.
How is spiritualism credible? • Spiritualism can be seen as credible because some information received as a result of spiritualism has been accurate. • This is despite being known to the medium – this could support the existence of a soul. • E.G. Derek Acorah from most haunted TV who uses his psychic ability to gain information from departed spirits. • Regression to past lives under hypnosis is another form of spiritualism and seems to be believable as the subject gains memories of a past life they could not possibly have gained through other means. • Psycho kinesis is the ability to move objects with the power of the mind – this is another example of the paranormal as the spirits of the dead could affect/move physical objects in this world (However, this whole area has been rife with fraud).
Counter-arguments against spiritualism: • Mediums could just have some form of telepathic access to the minds of the living. • People who claim to have received messages from departed loved ones could have been influenced by wishful thinking. • As there is no empirical evidence to prove the existence of a spiritual afterlife, it is not possible to communicate with such a presence.
If an afterlife existed, then in what form would the departed survive after death ? • CHRISTIAN VIEW • The general Christian view of life after death is that before judgement day the body and soul are separated and judgement is immediate. • On judgement day Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. • Catholics bury dead bodies so that upon judgement day they can be raised and changed into a glorified spiritual body which rejoins the dead person’s soul.
If an afterlife existed, then in what form would the departed survive after death ? • SCHOLARS • Plato would argue that the soul is the only part of us that survives after death – it returns to the world of the forms where it originated from. • Hick would argue that we undertake a bodily resurrection on another part of this world after death. • Descartes argued that when an individual died, their soul is able to continue after death with God as the same individual, which existed in a physical form on Earth.
The Conclusion: • It is hard to accept the concept of spiritualism as fact when there is little to no empirical evidence. • It seems that people believe in an afterlife because they do not want to accept the fact that there might be nothing after we die. • It is impossible to completely rule out a life after death because humanity is still unable to explain the paranormal events in this world.