Rational Spirituality has its roots firmly planted in the fertile soil of modern evidence from fields of research such as near-death and out-of-body experiences, spontaneous past-life memories in both children and adults, and past-life and interlife regression. By contrast traditional religions tend to rely heavily on faith in ancient scripture and modern interpretations of it. It is also dynamic, changing as new evidence is placed on the table or if previous evidence is discredited.

The motto 'evidence not faith' is intended to convey this fundamental difference in approach. But that is not to say that faith, or perhaps better trust, does not have its place. Total trust in the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the universe is fundamental to a Rational Spiritual worldview. Nor does it underestimate the power and majesty of transformative spiritual experiences, or underplay the ultimate spiritual message of universal, unconditional love.

Perhaps most important of all, in contrast to many traditional religions, Rational Spirituality does not attempt to provide a definitive moral code. Instead it merely encourages us to take personal responsibility for applying its framework of understanding to our own lives.

It can be summed up in the ten theoretical propositions and ten practical propositions below. It is, surely, an idea whose time has come...

On this website you will also find details of IL's Books of the Soul and Spiritual Novels which are the primary sources of further information for a Rational Spiritual worldview, and various supporting discussion papers, videos and further reading. You may too be interested in the feedback we have received about how Rational Spirituality has affected and helped people, or in more information about why it is different and how it has changed over the years.

we reincarnate to gather experience so we can grow

This is by far the most common message from interlife subjects. It means that even when we play out repetitive patterns from one life to the next, these are usually complex and cannot be sensibly analysed by a simplistic karmic model. Above all they will usually represent a further opportunity to work on an emotional lesson we have not yet mastered, and should not be regarded as in any sense backward or abnormal.

So is having a life of financial and emotional comfort a sign of an experienced soul? Not necessarily, because such a life would present us with few real tests. What about disabled people; are they paying a price for past mistakes? Of course not. The more severe the disability, the more likely it is that a relatively experienced soul is giving themselves a difficult test to accelerate their growth.

Meanwhile, when we review our past lives in the interlife

the only judgment after death comes from ourselves

Despite all this, is there such a thing as hell? It seems that the idea of a fiery place of perpetual punishment was an entirely human embellishment designed to keep the masses under control.

But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the basic idea may have come from fleeting out-of-body experiences of aspects of the intermediate realm. Although nonphysical, this is the next most 'dense' plane to earth, in which unfulfilled spirits who retain intense emotions of anger, pain, regret, jealousy, fear and so on, and who continue to be attracted to the physical world, can remain trapped. It is apparently not a pleasant place to linger.

we are responsible for all aspects of our lives because we plan and choose them

Interlife evidence suggests that, before we return for our next life, at the very least we will be given some idea of who our parents will be, what their circumstances are like, and where they live. But we may also see detailed previews of major events in that life, or we may even be shown several potential lives and be asked to choose between them.

So when we face difficult circumstances we would do well to accept responsibility for them, because not only did we choose them, but we did so to allow ourselves to grow. And we will not achieve this by attempting to put the blame on other people, a capricious deity, or blind chance.

But does this mean our lives are predetermined?

we always have free will to deviate from our life plan

This is because the previews that we see in the interlife merely represent major probabilities and lesser possibilities. And we have complete free will to stray from our most probable, chosen life path, because a totally predetermined experience would provide no opportunity for growth.

How long does all this go on for? It seems that we continue to reincarnate in the physical plane until we have gained the full balance of experiences it can offer.

So what happens after that? Interlife evidence suggests that there are myriad other ways in which we continue to experience and grow, either in the light realms themselves, or in other less physical realms. So finishing with the 'earthly round' is only the end of the beginning.

we are all One and all God

There is no God in the sense of a separate entity, but there is plenty of evidence that we are all part of one, interconnected whole. So how do we reconcile this with the evidence for individual soul survival?

soul consciousness is holographic, and represents the part and the whole all at the same time

This does not mean that soul individuality is in itself an illusion, because the principle of the hologram is that the part contains the whole, and yet is clearly distinguishable from it.

So what is the ultimate point of all this? Why does the universe even exist in the first place?

the aim of Source is to experience all that is and can be

That is why it diversifies into all the billions of individualised soul aspects of itself that operate in the various realms throughout the universe. So as individualised aspects of the Source who have chosen to reincarnate on this planet, we are merely fulfilling a small part of that objective by gathering a balance of all the experiences available here.