Spiritualism: Evolution or Devolution?

Pat Macpherson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

Hypnotic Séance painting by Swedish artist Sven Richard Bergh 1887 (National Museum).

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American Spiritualist pantheist Cora L. V. Scott

Theosophy opposes Spiritualism's interpretation of evolution. It instead teaches a metaphysical theory of evolution mixed with human devolution.

Buddhist sacred texts and Hindu Vedas agree: Humanity is not evolving but devolving, even as some individuals make meditative and karmic progress.

• See the work of the brilliant American Vedic-Hindu Michael "Forbidden Archeologist" Cremo (mcremo.com)
• American Spiritualist medium Cora L. V. Scott rejected evolution, dismissing it in her lectures and supporting a type of pantheistic Spiritualism (Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism: Vol. 2, 2001, pp. 135-136).

Madame Blavatsky was guided by the Masters

Spiritualists do not accept the devolution of the Theosophists.

To Theosophy, humanity (life on the human plane, which refers to an entire plane not just the miniscule portion of it on Earth) starts in a better state, one of presumed perfection (a Golden Age).

This, of course, is not actual perfection. It then falls into a process of progressive devolution -- materialization, density, coarseness, sickliness, shrinking lifespan, and so on -- which is not linear but punctuated by periods of progress and regress, with minor cycles within a much larger samsaric cycle, developing the intellect and losing spiritual consciousness.

Spiritualist Gerald Massey

After the gathering of experience and growth through repeated rebirths, humanity in general regains the original spiritual state (goes back to being like the superior deva plane), as individuals in specific may do at any time, which is one of self-conscious evolution that begins devolving again.

Theosophy and Spiritualism were both very popular metaphysical schools of thought especially in the early 20th century and were always clashing in their different beliefs.

Russian Madame Blavatsky was critical of Spiritualism; she distanced Theosophy from Spiritualism as far as she could and allied herself with eastern occultism (G. Baseden Butt, Madame Blavatsky, p. 120).

British Spiritualist Gerald Massey claimed that Darwin's theory of evolution was not wrong but incomplete (Concerning Evolution, p. 55). More

• An unresolved archeological controversy from 20th century: The discoveries of Rutot at Boncelles, Belgium