Maria Grady A00336571

Individuals in the 21st century looking to rediscover science of the spirit and the soul may benefit if introduced to a community dedicated to spiritual growth and healing. Where all are welcome to explore no matter the religious background, a community where many religious traditions are celebrated through rituals, portraying a higher truth common in many great religions around the world. (ssfns.org). In the early 21st century after the Modern Spiritualist Movement, arose the International Institute of Integral Human Sciences; a remarkably fast growing non- governmental organization, providing education of related interest to society. (iihs.org). From which originated The Spiritual Science Fellowship, the heart of discussion in this paper, and the religious cite recently visited for academia purposes.

The Spiritual Science Fellowship is an inter-faith missionary whose attributes are set in the direction of unity throughout mankind, and the fatherhood of God. (ssfn.org) To provide one with context regarding the essence of this missionary, the understanding of what influenced such persons to initiate development is essential. The Modern Spiritualist Movement initially influenced Marilyn Rossners accomplishments, as co-founder of the IIHS and founder of the SSF. Weisberg provides us with a clear, unbiased understanding of how the Modern Spiritualist Movement first began. In the 1800s, a group of sisters alleged to communicate with

spirits who have passed over, claiming to be Spiritualists. (Weisberg, 2005). According to the Nationals Spiritualist Union Spiritualists are those who believe in a continued future existence, people who have passed on into the spirit world can and do communicate with us. (snu.org). The validity of spiritualism as a religion has always been controversial, originating from the negative image given to those preforming in fraudulent communication with the other side. (snu.org). Benson, H.R states: Fraud on the part of the professors of religion is not enough to discredit entirely the religion itself. For in that case hardly any creed would be immune.(Benson, 1968) helping to place this questionable validity related to spiritualism. Spiritualism as a religion is recent, it is different from the worlds well known religions and it does not consist of a main religious theology, however through rituals and concrete affirmations the SSF believes in a transcendent realm, shared in many other religions and worldviews. (bbc.co.uk.org) Upon personal attendance of the Spiritual Science Service in Halifax Nova Scotia I stand grounded. There is ample and growing support that through symbolic action including prayer, guided meditation and medium ship preformed by the SSF, this religious community conforms to the academic understanding of ritual conveyed in an introductory university textbook dedicated to the study of religion as a compilation of conversations between numerous accredited religious scholars.

Throughout the service many examples of symbolic action were encountered in the form of prayer. Although sometimes left under analyzed in the study of religious theology a well-known scholar beautifully summarized the possession of quality

that prayer holds. Prayer is the very soul and essence of religion (James 1902). The incorporation of prayer in the SSF service is ambiguously classified to fit one of the six types of prayer categorized by Whittington & Scher during a study in 2010 relating prayer to well-being; adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, reception and obligatory. (Whittington & Scher 2010). 10 affirmations are verbally recited at the beginning of the SSF service, although they do not fall into a particular category of prayer, the fellowship is expressing through recitation their concrete beliefs. Using prayer as a tool to open and ritualize the practice. Near the closing ceremonies of the SSF service a well-known prayer in the catholic religion is recited Saint Francis of Assisi. Recitation of such a beautiful literal expression while focusing on important religious figure may encourage a meaningful connection with a higher level of divinity. (Ring et al. 103). By recitation and putting to rest consideration and reflection; leaving behind only silent openness, reading this prayer we can in turn to gradually discover the wisdom and denote the mystery of God. (Zweerman & Vanden Goorbergh .73) This perceived relationship between you, the individual and a higher level of divinity is something peoples of many religious backgrounds strive to experience. It is one of the many functional outcomes of a ritual. (Ring et al. 102).

Religious Rituals open the door for imagining another realm and new possibilities (Ring et al. 99). This ideology of religious rituals ties nicely to a guided meditation participating all attendees present in the sacred space during the SSF service. There are many guided meditations throughout the world varying in color from one

religious community to the next. The particular style encountered in my personal attendance involved the use of lights crystals to strengthen and establish divine connection with one self and the angelic realm. (Schnel). Not only did the experience of this guided meditation function to reveal new imaginative possibilities, it also brought to the surface an understanding of underlying accomplishments one may achieve through completion of ritual practice. Hsun Tzu, a Confucius scholar summarized the function of rituals by expressing individual and social harmony. It is through rites that Heaven and earth are harmonious and the sun and moon are bright, that the four seasons are ordered and the stars are on their courses, that rivers flow and that things prosper, that love and hatred are tempered and joy and anger are in keeping. They cause the lowly to be obedient and those on high to be illustrious. He who holds to the rites is never confused in the midst of multifarious change; he who deviates therefrom is lost. Rites are they not the culmination of culture? (Ring et al. 102). Tzu has drawn a picture, illustrating the potential of ritual to directly benefit the individual, and the surrounding social community. By providing understanding to ones self on both a personal and shared spectrum. This passage relates to what is achieved through ritualistic practice at the SSF. The engagement of all individuals in guided meditation unites members through the release of spiritual energy around the sacred space, blessing the religious family with prosperity.

The final analysis of religious ritualization experiences at the SSF service is encompassed through the practice of medium ship. Alan Bake, President of the

Havant Spiritualist Church states: Medium ship is the ability to link with a spirit, incomplete control of the spirit, contrary to the miss interpreted belief mediums cannot call upon specific spirits.(snu.org.uk). According to the definition of ritual resembling a relationship similar to a bridge, serving a connectivity between what is explained to be profound and sacred (Ring et al. 60) I put forward the claim that through medium ship the SSF is preforming a sacred religious ritual. Mircea Eliade a religious scholar in the early 1900s was one of the first to place on paper the differential understanding between what is perceived as sacred and profane. (Ring et al. 10). Medium ship in this setting is serving a purpose similar to a bridge, linking the material world known to many as profound ground to the spiritual world - a realm of high importance to members of the SSF. Of which lay endless potential opportunities to enhance direction and provide one with answers to lifes complex questions. As defined in a text from a compilation of several religious scholars sacred is a modality of human experience that relates to that which is held to have ultimate importance and to be seen in reciprocal relationship to the profane (Ring et al 10). On these grounds there seems to be no compelling reason to state that the SSF views the spiritual world as sacred. The actions and connections experienced through mediumship link with something holding more wisdom, perhaps relatives. Thus relating again to the function of ritual experience summarized by Hsun Tzu basic writings (Martin, 1995). On another ground a new model of ritualistic understanding based on Durkheim encompasses the essence of the understanding of medium ship as a ritual quite accurately. Ritual practices generate belief, and belonging in participants by

activating multiple social and psychological meanings that interactively create the characteristic outcomes of ritual (Durkheim [1912] 1995) Through personal experience and participation in the practice of medium ship at the SSF, there is potential for generated belief, through retrieval of fairly relatable and or accurate messages from the spirit world. The essence of what is to be achieved from medium ship confirms that this religious action conforms to the ritualistic understanding encompassed throughout this essay.

When attempting to grasp the understanding of an unknown religious community, the ability to maintain an open mind is a tool of great importance, in this case the understanding of the Spiritual Science Fellowship itself is not the main objective, but the understanding of how this community ties many religious ritual practices together. Through the practice of ritualistic actions such as prayer, guided meditation, and medium ship the SSF grazes a path leading to many beneficial motives within the self and in the surrounding social environment. Each ritual analyzed throughout this paper conforms in some way to this functional understanding of rituals. Although every ritual is different depending on its religious context, in some way they are all very similar, guiding us just a little closer to whatever is it we believe as the ultimate understandings of life.

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