The following article was submitted by Carole McEntee-Taylor of the Spiritual Workers Association, talking about why the organisation was named Spiritual rather Spiritualist.
Spiritual or Spiritualist?
As there seems to be some confusion about our title I thought it might be useful to explain why we chose that title and the reason behind it. When we set up the Spiritual Workers Association we made a deliberate decision to be Spiritual rather than Spiritualist. There were two main reasons for this.
First and foremost we all firmly believe that we should always look for the common ground between us rather than the differences. One of the many things that attracted me to spiritualism was its philosophy with its emphasis on individual free choice and SELF control. Whilst other religions often seem to be concerned with controlling others for earthly reasons, Spiritualism is about making our own decisions, being responsible for our own choices and following our own individual pathway. It is this personal responsibility and our willingness to give others the freedom to do the same that will help us evolve and it is this emphasis on SELF control that separates Spiritualism from other religions. Spiritualism has no need to control others because this would prevent us making our own decisions and therefore interfere with our spiritual evolution.
Sadly, Spiritualism has now become almost as divisive as many of the other religion/belief systems. Instead of showing the world a better way and working together to bring love, light and healing to the world, many spiritualist organisations have allowed themselves to be distracted by earthly concerns and seem to have forgotten their true purpose.
By denying people the freedom to choose and the freedom to make their own rules through discussion and consensus they have effectively removed personal responsibility. This not only affects the individuals’ earthly existence but also their spiritual development. We decided that there had to be another way. Hence the Spiritual Workers Association is a member led organisation with the independent individual members drawing up the guidelines that they will choose to adhere to. We emphasise independent because many of our individual members belong to other organisations and as such will adhere to their own organisations’ rules. These guidelines also do not apply to the SWA Partnership Organisations who are totally autonomous and who have their own rules and regulations. The only exception to this is for those members who take out the SWA insurance. At £20.50, the insurance covers all spiritual healing including Reiki, spiritual ministry, spiritual teaching, all forms of mediumship, including tarot and is dependant on adhering to the Code of Conduct – which has been drawn up the members.
The second reason we called ourselves spiritual is that many of our independent, individual members may not consider themselves to be spiritualist, some because of the problems already mentioned and others because they have a different belief system. But the thing we all have in common is that we all consider ourselves to be spiritual in some way. We may define our personal spiritual beliefs in many different ways but these differences in interpretation are irrelevant. It is the shared belief in our individual and collective spiritual identity that transcends all religious boundaries and that has bought us together. As a spiritual workers association we are totally inclusive. We can and do welcome members from all other faiths, belief systems and ways of life: in fact anyone who considers they work in light, love and truth or who is interested in bringing some spiritual light back into our beautiful world.
For more information on how you too can make a difference please visit www.theswa.org.uk
email: info @ theswa.org.uk (remove spaces)
or phone 01621 869567
Alternatively click contact submitter below:-
Carole McEntee-Taylor
General Secretary SWA
Visit website for more info:
www.theswa.org.uk
Post Article:
Submit Your Own Article