Editing Spiritual evolution (section)

====Spiritualism====
{{Further|Spiritualism (movement)}}

Spiritualists reacted with uncertainty to the theories of [[evolution]] in the late 19th and early 20th century. Broadly speaking, the concept of evolution fit the spiritualist thought of the progressive development of humanity. At the same time, however, a belief in the animal origins of man threatened the foundation of the immortality of the spirit, for if man had not been created, it was scarcely plausible that he would be specially endowed with a spirit. This led to spiritualists embracing spiritual evolution.<ref>Janet Oppenheim, The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914, 1988, p. 267</ref>

In the 19th century, Anglo-American [[Spiritualism (religious movement)|Spiritualist]] ideas emphasized the progression of the soul after death to higher states of existence, in contrast to [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritism]] which admits to reincarnation.

Spiritualism taught that after death, spirits progressed to new spheres of existence. According to this idea, evolution occurred in the [[Spirit world (Spiritualism)|spirit world]] “at a rate more rapid and under conditions more favorable to growth” than encountered on earth.<ref name="Janet Oppenheim 1914, p. 270">Janet Oppenheim, The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914, 1988, p. 270</ref>

The [[biologist]] and spiritualist [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] (1823–1913) believed that qualitative novelties could arise through the process of spiritual evolution, in particular, the phenomena of life and mind. Wallace attributed these novelties to a [[supernatural]] agency.<ref>Debora Hammond, The Science of Synthesis: Exploring the Social Implications of General Systems Theory, 2003, p. 39</ref> Later in his life, Wallace was an advocate of spiritualism and believed in an [[wikt:immaterial|immaterial]] origin for the higher mental faculties of humans. He believed that evolution suggested the universe had a purpose, and that certain aspects of living organisms are not explainable in terms of purely materialistic processes. In a 1909 magazine article entitled ''The World of Life'', which he later expanded into a book of the same name<ref>{{cite web|last=Wallace|first=Alfred Russel|title=World of Life|url=http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S669.htm|publisher=The Alfred Russel Wallace Page hosted by [[Western Kentucky University]]|access-date=2011-03-23}}</ref> Wallace argued in his 1911 book ''World of life'' for a spiritual approach to evolution and described evolution as “creative power, directive mind and ultimate purpose”. Wallace believed [[natural selection]] could not explain [[intelligence]] or [[morality]] in the human being so suggested that non-material spiritual forces accounted for these. Wallace believed the spiritual nature of man could not have come about by natural selection alone, the origins of the spiritual nature must originate “in the unseen universe of spirit”.<ref>Martin Fichman, An elusive Victorian: the evolution of Alfred Russel Wallace, 2004, p. 159</ref><ref>Edward Clodd, Question: A Brief History and Examination of Modern Spiritualism, p. 300</ref>

[[Robert Broom]] in his book ''The Coming of Man: Was it Accident or Design?'' (1933) claimed that "spiritual agencies" had guided [[evolution]] as [[animals]] and [[plants]] were too complex to have arisen by chance. According to Broom there were at least two different kinds of spiritual forces, and [[psychics]] are capable of seeing them.<ref>Reconciling science and religion: the debate in the early-twentieth-century Britain, Peter J. Bowler, 2001, pp. 133–134</ref> Broom claimed there was a plan and purpose in evolution and that the origin of [[Homo sapiens]] is the ultimate purpose behind evolution. According to Broom "Much of evolution looks as if it had been planned to result in man, and in other animals and plants to make the world a suitable place for him to dwell in.<ref>Bones of contention: controversies in the search for human origins, Roger Lewin, 1997, p. 311</ref>

The Anglo-American position recalls (and is presumably inspired by) 18th century concepts regarding the temporalization of The Great Chain of Being. Spiritual evolution, rather than being a physical (or physico-spiritual) process is based on the idea of realms or stages through which the soul or spirit passes in a non-temporal, qualitative way. This is still an important part of some spiritualist ideas today, and is similar to some mainline (as opposed to [[fundamentalist]]) [[Protestantism|Protestant Christian]] beliefs, according to which after death the person goes to "summerland" (see [[Spirit world (Spiritualism)|Spirit world]])