Spiritualism is a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least two fundamental substances, matter and spirit. This very broad metaphysical distinction is further developed into many and various forms by the inclusion of details about what spiritual entities exist such as a soul, the afterlife, spirits of the dead, deities and mediums; as well as details about the nature of the relationship between spirit and matter. It may also refer to the philosophy, doctrine, or religion pertaining to a spiritual aspect of existence.

Spiritualism is used in English to mean either;

• 1) (Religion) – the belief that people can and do communicate with dead people and the practices and doctrines of people with this belief.
  • Main article: Spiritualism (movement)
• 2) (Philosophy) – In a philosophical doctrine or religious beliefs emphasising that spirits and souls exist or that all reality is spiritual, not material.
• 3) (Metaphysics) – various doctrines maintaining that the ultimate reality is spirit or mind.[11]
  • Main article: Metaphysics
• 4) (Ethics) – the view that spiritual concerns are more important than this-worldly concerns (a kind of idealism or asceticism that is opposed to secularism).
  • Main article: Ethics
• 5) (Epistemology) – another term for mysticism.
  • Main article: mysticism
• 6) (Art) – “Abstract Spiritualism”, a term coined by Gerard Tempest, friend of the renowned surrealist Giorgio de Chirico in the 1950s to describe his “landscapes of the mind's eye.” A recurring theme begun in 1953 and continuing throughout the 1990s