To be spiritual means to have an appreciation of spirit. Spirit in this sense being the appreciation of what is for the good of humanity. The spiritual person is the person who cares about their fellow being. The little old lady next door who bakes the neighbours a cake. A spiritual deed, a deed of caring. Spiritual means to be unselfish and to truly be manifestation of kindness for all humanity as a whole.
A Spiritualist, on the other hand, is someone who goes to a Spiritualist Church. In this sense a Spiritualist is someone with a particular creed, philosophy and belief in the creed of a Spiritualist Church.
The Spiritualist Church basically have seven main principles.
- The fatherhood of God
A source outside of our perception of the cosmos. A creator. The uncaused cause.
- The brotherhood of man
Unity. The oneness of every living thing.
- The ministry and hierarchy of Angels
A divine plane with different entities with different positions of responsibility.
- The eternal life of the soul
Re-incarnation. The body dies but the soul lives forever.
- The communication with spirit
The ability to commune with all entities within the divine plan of God
- Eternal progress to every soul.
Flexibility in each path of enlightenment. Moving up the hierarchy.
- Retribution and reward.
Karma. You reap what you sow.
In a nutshell, if you do not agree with one of these principles then you can not really call yourself a spiritualist. (in the context of the Spiritualist Church)
