The Magnificent Seven
Article originally from Psychic News

Ask any Spiritualist to give the basic tenets of their philosophy and they will probably quote the Seven Principles:

But do they really do the job? They sound dated and to any newcomer are perplexing and impenetrable. They may be doing us more harm than good and perhaps should be abandoned altogether.

Before becoming a full time medium I used to run an advertising agency. Often our brief would be to formulate a corporate identity to promote a particular brand or business.

Part of this image building would invariably include writing a slogan. The best are always the simplest. You know them by heart: "The real thing," "The World's favourite Airline," "Pure Genius." etc.

Jesus would have made an excellent agency copywriter for an ecclesiastical account. He summarised the Jewish Ten Commandments into two: "Love your God with all your heart and all your might" and "love your neighbour as yourself."

His words and sayings stick because they are short, punchy and to the point. Jesus expressed great truth with a profound simplicity of language.

The Seven Principles: The Fatherhood of God The Brotherhood of Man The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels The continuous existence of the human soul Personal responsibility Compensation and retribution hereafter for all the good and evil deeds done on earth Eternal progress open to every human soul .

Our Seven Principles are quite the opposite. They bumble along in Victorian language and are far from memorable.

Some church congregations repeat them as part of the service; it reminds me of my days at school when we would struggle to repeat and memorise our nine times table.

Even seasoned Spiritualists struggle to recall them instantly and fewer still really understand their meaning.

And what about their content? I believe in God but not in "the fatherhood of God"- at least not in the sense of a fatherly figure sat on a throne in the sky.

Regarding "the brotherhood of man," isn't there a place for women or animals in the cosmic plan? And who are the ministry of angels? People with wings? Also, many may misunderstand words like retribution" as a belief in hellfire.

Clearly, the principles don't intend to imply the above so why not say what we really mean? Many will argue that I'm wrong because the principles were dictated by Spirit. Yes, but through the mind of a Victorian medium remember.

The Seven Principles: The Seven Principles of Spiritualism were communicated through the mediumship of Emma Hardinge Britten in 1871. the communicating spirit was Robert Owen who died in 1858.

As we know, Spirit can communicate the essence but it's the medium's mind that converts the concepts into language. In this case using a Victorian vocabulary and in the style of the King James version of the Bible.

I believe that we can improve and simplify the principles by putting them into modem language without their losing any force.

Here's an attempt at seven Spiritualist beliefs:

God.
The unity of life.
Communication with the afterlife.
An eternal soul.
Free will.
Karma.
Evolution of the soul.

One improvement to the Seven Principles is already under way. They've decided to redesign the poster that hangs in some churches - you know, the one that looks like an old slave poster (let's hope they use a professional design team this time).

Clearly, if we are going to modernise the language of our principles, now is the best time. Every church could then have a modern, bright poster in language we can all under-stand. Newcomers may even read it.

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