The three S's...Spiritism, Spiritualism and Spirituality

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“So what religion ARE you, again?”
“I’m Spiritist.”
“Um, ok, so you are Spiritual?”
“Well, yes, in order to be Spiritist, I must be a spiritual person to understand that there is more to life than just material things, and to believe in the exisitance of God.”
“So, you are a Spiritualist?”
“Yes, I am a Spiritualist, but more specifically I am a Spiritist.”
“So…what exactly IS the difference among the three ‘S’s’?”

The 3 S’s…

Although Spiritism, Spiritualism and Spirituality might, at first glance, appear to be very similar in meaning to those not familiar with the concepts, there are actually clear distinctions among the three terms. In the Introduction to The Spirits’ Book Allan Kardec eloquently summarizes the three concepts as well as defends the need for the differing terms.

When new matter arise, new words regarding them are needed for the sake of clarity of language in order to avoid the confusion inherent in the multiple meanings of various terms. For example, the words spiritual, spiritualist and spiritualism each have a well-defined meaning. To give each of them a new meaning in order to apply it to the Spirits’ Doctrine would be to multiply the already numerous causes of ambiguity. Strictly speaking, spiritualism is the opposite of materialism and everyone who believes there is something within them that is more than matter are spiritualists; however, it does not necessarily follow that they must therefore believe in the existence of spirits or in communications with the invisible world. Therefore, instead of the words spiritual and spiritualism for designating this latter belief, we have coined and employed the words Spiritist and Spiritism.

These two terms reflect their origin and their fundamental meaning, and they therefore have the advantage of being perfectly understandable. We will leave spiritualism to its own signification. Hence, we will say that the principle of the Spiritist Doctrine or Spiritism is based on the relationship between the material world and the invisible world, the latter being inhabited by beings known as spirits. The adherents of Spiritism will be called Spiritists.

In a specialized sense, The Spirits’ Book contains the Spiritist Doctrine; in a generalized sense, it is linked to spiritualism and represents one aspect of it. That is why we have inscribed the words on the title-page: Spiritualist Philosophy.
 

If we use Kardec’s definition of the three words, we can say that many people of differing religions of the world are Spiritual. A smaller number of people practice religions that go along with Spiritualism and Spiritualistic beliefs, as they accept the belief of a person having a soul and that there is a greater power over us all. A handful of people follow the Spiritist Doctrine, consider themselves to be Spiritists, and accept concepts such as reincarnation, spritual progression and mediumship.

Myself, I am a practicing Spiritist, a believer in the greater concept of Spiritualism and a very Spiritual person. Which of the 3 “S’s” are you?

Questions regarding Spiritism? Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions you might have about this article, or Spiritism in general. I would love to hear from you. Contact Tonia at: spiritismwriter@yahoo.com.