📚 @audiolibroshispanos 📚 LA REENCARNACION Y LA LEY DEL KARMA POR WILLIAM WALKER AUDIOLIBRO COMPLETO EN ESPAÑOL
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Hoy te presentamos una obra fundamental de William Walker Atkinson, un autor pionero en el campo del pensamiento positivo, la metafísica y la espiritualidad. Prepárate para sumergirte en “La Reencarnación y la Ley del Karma”, un audiolibro que te proporcionará una comprensión profunda sobre estos conceptos y cómo influyen en nuestra vida y evolución espiritual. 🌟📖
William Walker Atkinson, conocido por sus escritos sobre la ley de la atracción y el poder del pensamiento, nos ofrece en “La Reencarnación y la Ley del Karma” una exploración detallada de estas dos creencias fundamentales en muchas tradiciones espirituales. Atkinson nos guía a través de los principios de la reencarnación y el karma, mostrando cómo nuestras acciones y experiencias presentes están conectadas con vidas pasadas y futuras. ✨🔮
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1. **Conceptos básicos de la reencarnación**: Atkinson nos introduce a la idea de la reencarnación, explicando cómo el alma transita por múltiples vidas y experiencias para evolucionar y aprender.
2. **La ley del karma**: Descubre cómo nuestras acciones, pensamientos y decisiones crean consecuencias que afectan nuestras vidas actuales y futuras.
3. **Relación entre karma y reencarnación**: Entiende cómo el karma y la reencarnación están interconectados, y cómo podemos trabajar conscientemente para equilibrar nuestro karma y avanzar en nuestro camino espiritual.
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reincarnation and the law of karma a study of the old new world doctrine of rebirth and of spiritual cause and effect william walker atkinson 1908 chapter 1 the first races by reincarnation we mean repeated incarnation or incarnation in the flesh of the soul or part immaterial of the nature of man, the term metempsychosis is used entirely in the same sense, being the definition of this last term. The passage of the soul as an immortal essence at the death of the body to another living body sometimes uses the term transmigration of souls, using the term in the sense of passing from one body to another, but the term transmigration is often used in connection with the belief of certain undeveloped races who held that the souls of men sometimes passed into the bodies of lower animals as punishment for their sins committed during human life but this belief is discredited by supporters of reincarnation or metempsychosis and has no relation to their philosophy or beliefs since the ideas have arisen from a completely different source and have nothing in common There are many forms of belief many degrees of doctrine regarding reincarnation as we will see as we proceed But there is one fundamental and basic principle that underlies all the various shades of opinion and divisions of schools this fundamental belief can be expressed as the doctrine of that there exists in man an immaterial something called soul spirit inner being or many other names that does not perish at death or disintegration of the body but persists as an entity and after a more or less long interval of rest is reincarnated. From there it proceeds to living a new life in the body more or less unconscious of its past existences but containing within itself the essence or results of its past life experiences that constitute its new character or personality. It is usually held that Rebirth is Governed by the law of attraction under one name or another and that said law operates in accordance with strict justice in the direction of attracting the reincarnating soul to a body and conditions in accordance with the tendencies of the past life that the parents also attract to them a bound soul to them by some ties in the past being the universal law uniform and equitable to all interested in the matter This is a general statement of the doctrine as held Generally by the most intelligent of its adherents e the Walker A well-known English writer on the theme gives the following beautiful idea of the general teachings reincarnation teaches that the soul enters this life not as a fresh creation but after a long course of previous existences on this earth and in other places in which it acquired its present inherited peculiarities and that is on the path of future transformations that the soul is now Giving form affirms that childhood brings to earth neither a blank parchment for the beginning of an Earthly record nor a mere cohesion of atomic forces in a brief personality that will soon dissolve from new in the elements but is inscribed with ancestral stories some like the current scene most of them different and dating back to the most remote past these inscriptions are Generally indecipherable except when they are revealed in their shaping influence on the new race but as the images Invisible photographs made by the sun of everything it sees when properly developed in the laboratory of consciousness will clearly show the current phase of life and will also be stored in the secret vaults of memory for its unconscious effects on subsequent lives. qualities that we now possess in body, mind and soul are the result of our use of ancient opportunities in effect we are the heir of all ages and we are solely responsible for our inheritances because these conditions are accumulated from distantly generated causes by our oldest beings and the future flows by the Divine law of Cause and effect from the gathered impulse of our past impetus there is no favoritism in the universe but everyone has the same eternal facilities for growth those who are now elevated in the worldly station may be sunk in humble surroundings in the future only the inner traits of the soul Are permanent companions the lazy rich man may be the beggar of the next life and the industrious worker of the present is sowing the seeds of future greatness suffering bravely endured now will produce a treasure of patience and strength in another life difficulties will give way to strength self-denial must develop the will the tastes cultivated in this existence will somehow bear fruit in future ones and the energies acquired will be imposed whenever they can by the law of parsimony in which the principles of physics go in reverse unconscious habits uncontrollable impulses peculiar tendencies Favorite hobbies and friendships that move the soul of the present descend from previous activities of Great reach the doctrine of reincarnation metempsychosis rebirth has always been considered a truth by a large part of the human race following the invariable law of psychic changes the swing of the pendulum of thought has sometimes become extinct Apparently in some parts of the world only to be succeeded again by a new birth and interest among the descendants of the same people is a light impossible to extinguish And although its flickering flame seems to go out for a moment the change of the mental winds allows it to be rekindled from the hidden spark And behold what bursts forth again with new life and vigor the renewed interest in the subject in the Western world of which all keen observers have taken note is but another example of the operation of cyclical law it begins to appear that occultists have right when they predict that before the dawn of another century the Western world will have once more embraced the doctrines of the Renaissance, the old and discarded truth once so prized by the race will once again enjoy popular favor and move again toward the position of orthodox teaching perhaps to be crystallized again because of its orthodoxy And again to fall out of favor And fade as The pendulum swings back to the other end of thought but the teaching of reincarnation has never entirely disappeared from The Race in some parts of the world the lamp has remained lit, in fact, at no time in the history of humanity has there been a period in which the majority of the race has not accepted the doctrine of rebirth in some of its various forms. It was like this 1000 years ago. 20,000 and so it is today in this 20th century almost if not two thirds of the race cling firmly to the teaching and the multitudes of Hindus and other oriental peoples cling to it tenaciously and even outside these peoples vestiges of the doctrine are found among other races of the East and the West, so reincarnation is not a forgotten truth or a discarded doctrine but a fully chapter 2 the Egyptians Chaldeans Druids etc. after considering the existence of the doctrines of reincarnation among primitive peoples and its traditional existence among the vanished peoples of the past we find ourselves irresistibly drawn towards that ancient land of mystery the home of the mystics and occultists of the ad the land of Isis the home of the builders of the pyramids the people of the sphinx whether this people are direct descendants of the town of destroyed Atlantis the home of ancient wisdom or whether it is a new town that has rediscovered the ancient doctrines the fact is that in tracing any ancient occult or mystical doctrine we gradually come across the land of the sphinx as the source of that truth hidden lafen is a fitting emblem of that wonderful race. Their sealed lips seem to invite the last questions and one feels that there may be a whispered answer coming from those tightly closed lips towards the ear that is prepared to hear and receive it and so on in our Search for the origin of reincarnation we meet once again with the Egyptian sphinx as we have done so many times before in our search for the truth. Despite its obvious prehistoric origin, many have claimed that metempsychosis has its origin In Ancient Egypt on the banks of the Nile, India disputes this statement, maintaining that the Ganges and not the Nile gave rise to the doctrine. Be that as it may, we will treat the Egyptian conception in this place among the ancient lands that support the doctrine because in India it is not a thing of the past but a doctrine which has its full flowering at the present time and whose flower is sending its subtle odor to all parts of the civilized world, so we shall postpone our consideration of the teachings of India until we reach the present stage of the history of reincarnation herodotus many centuries ago said of the egyptians that the egyptians were the first to propose the theory that the human soul is imperishable and that when anyone’s body dies it enters some other body that may be prepared to receive it and that when it has traveled the Round of all the forms created on earth in the water and in the air then it enters again into the human body born for it and that this cycle of existence for the soul takes place in 3000 years the doctrine of reincarnation is discernible although hidden amid the mass of esoteric doctrine behind the exoteric teachings of the Egyptians which were exposed to the common people while the truth was reserved for the few who were prepared for it the inner circles of the Egyptian mystics believed and understood the inner truths of reincarnation. And although they carefully guarded the esoteric teachings, fragments still fell off the table and were eagerly taken up by the masses as we can see by an examination of the scraps of historical records that have been preserved recorded in the stone and imprinted on the bricks these people not only accepted the doctrine of reincarnation but Egypt was actually the home of the highest occult teachings it is believed that the doctrines and teachings relating to the various sheaths or bodies of man that are taught by occultists of all times and races were taught fully in their original purity on the banks of the Nile and in the shadow of the pyramids Yes even before the days of the pyramids its 40 centuries of history saw many modifications of philosophical and religious beliefs but the doctrine The fundamental principle of reincarnation remained throughout the entire period of Ancient Egyptian history and was not discarded until the decadent descendants of the once mighty race were overwhelmed by stronger races whose religions and beliefs replaced the vestiges of the ancient doctrine the Egyptians held. that there existed K the divine spirit in man ab the intellect or will ati vitality tet the astral body sau the etheric double Isa the physical body some authorities make a slightly different arrangement Corresponding to the various bodies of man as recognized by the occultists of today the ancient Chaldeans also taught the doctrine of rebirth the body of well-known Persian and Chaldean mystics and occultists As the magicians who were teachers of occult wisdom held the doctrine of reincarnation as one of their fundamental truths in fact they managed to educate the masses of their people to a much higher point than the masses of the Egyptians and escaping the idolatrous occult philosophical and pure religious tendencies the magi taught that the soul was a complex being and that certain parts of it perished while others survived and passed away. through a series of terrestrial and otherworldly existences until she finally reached such a degree of purity that she was freed from the need for a new Incarnation. And from then on she lived in the region of ineffable bliss, the region of eternal light, the teaching. He also maintained that just before entering the state of bliss the soul was able to review its previous incarnations, clearly seeing the connection between them and thus obtaining a copy of the wisdom of experience that would help it in its future work as an assistant to future ones. races that would appear on the face of the earth, the magicians taught that like all living things, even more so all things that have organic or inorganic existence They were nothing more than varied manifestations of life and the unique being the highest knowledge therefore implied a feeling of conscious brotherhood and relationship towards and with everything. Even among the Chinese there was an esoteric teaching about reincarnation below the teaching external epochs can be discerned in the teachings of the early philosophers and seers of the race, especially in the work of La oe, the great Chinese laot sage and teacher whose great work The Taote King is a classic taught reincarnation to his inner circle of students. And adherents, at least so affirmed by many authorities, taught that there was a fundamental principle called Tao that is considered identical to primordial reason, a manifestation of which was the creative activity of the universe of the union and action of the Tao and the te proceeded. the universe including the human soul which he taught was composed of several parts including The Good or spiritual principle and the semimeridian pi or vital principle [Music] is immortal is to remain in a painful state of error and experience many calamities because of it know that there is a part of man that is subtle and spiritual and that it is the heavenly portion of himself that has to do with the flesh, the bones and the body belong to the earth, the Earthly to the earth, the heavenly to heaven, such is the law, some have maintained that Laot taught the immediate return of the good high after death, but from the writings of his first followers it is clear that he really taught that the good persisted in individual existence throughout repeated incarnations, returning to the Tao only when had completed his Round of life experience, for example in Cia it is said that the vital essence is dispersed after death along with the body, bones and flesh, but the soul or knowing principle of the self is preserved and does not perish, there is no absorption immediate expression of individuality in the Tao since individuality persists and manifests itself. According to the law and Chan, it was said that death is nothing more than the beginning of a new life. The first Taoists also taught that the good and bad actions of the present life would bear fruit. in future existences in addition to the orthodox heavens and hells in which the Chinese believed and of which they had a great variety adapted to the demands of the degrees of Saints and sinners whose minute details of the places were described with that attention to the little ones details and particularities peculiar to the Chinese mind the later teachings according to which the soul of the ancestor dwelt in the hall of the ancestors etc. were a corruption of the ancient teaching other Chinese teachers taught that the soul is composed of three parts the first is the which has its seat in the belly and which perishes with the body, the second is the in which has its seat in the heart or chest and which persists for some time after death but which finally disintegrates and the third or good which has its seat in the brain and which survives the disintegration of its companions and then passes on to other existences. Strange as it may seem to many readers not familiar with the subject, the ancient druids, particularly those who lived in ancient Gaul, were familiar with the doctrine. of reincarnation and believed in its principles, these people, generally considered ancient barbarians, actually possessed a high-level philosophy that merged into a mystical form of religion. Many of the Romans, upon conquering Gaul, were surprised by the degree and character of the philosophical knowledge that they the druids possessed and many of them have left written records of them, especially in the case of Aristotle Caesar Nucano and Valerius Maximus, the Christian teachers who succeeded him also testified to these facts as can be seen by reference to the works of Saint Clement Saint Cyril and other early Christian fathers, these ancient barbarians had some of the highest spiritual concepts about life and immortality, the mind and the soul. Reinaud has written about them, basing his ideas on a careful study of the ancient beliefs of this race. If Judea represents in the world with its own tenacity the idea of a personal and absolute God. If Greece and Rome represent the idea of society, Gaul represents in an equally particular way the idea of immortality. Nothing characterized it better, as all the ancients admit, that mysterious people. He was considered the privileged possessor of the secrets of death and his unwavering instinctive faith in the persistence of life never ceased to be a cause of astonishment and sometimes fear in the eyes of the pagans. The Gauls had an occult philosophy and a mystical religion. which were destroyed by the influence of the Roman conquest. The philosophy of the Druids had a notable resemblance to the internal doctrine of the Egyptians and their Successors. The Greek mystics. The traces of Hermeticism and Pythagoreanism are discernible. Although the link that united them has been lost to history the legends among the druids connected their order with the ancient Aryan creeds and teachings and there seems to have been a very close connection between these priests and those of ancient Greece as there are accounts of offerings sent to the temples of Greece by the priests of Gaul and it is also said that on the island of Delphi there was once a druid tomb in the form of a monument that is believed to have been erected over the remains of the druidic priestesses Herodotus and others speak of a secret alliance between the priests of Greece and those of the druids some of the ancient legends maintain that Pythagoras was the instructor of the druid priests and that Pythagoras himself was in close communication with the brahmins of India and the hermeticists of Egypt other legends say that the druids received their first instruction of Zolis who had been a slave and student of Pythagoras in any case the correspondence between the two philosophical schools is notable much of the druidic teachings have been lost and it is difficult to reunite the fragments but enough is known to indicate the aforementioned relationship with the school Pythagorean and the firm dominance of the doctrine of reincarnation over the druids. The preserved fragments show that the druids taught that there was an immaterial spiritual part in man called a bird that came from a Universal spiritual principle of life. They taught that this bird had animated the forms. inferiors of vegetal and animal mineral life before incarnating as man in those conditions he was entangled and imprisoned in the state of abysmal circle called anfu from which he finally escaped and entered the circle of freedom called abr or human incarnation and beyond this state of abret includes life in the various human races of this and other planets until finally a new liberation of the ven occurs which then passes into the circle of bliss or winfeed where it dwells for the children in a static state of being but even beyond of this transcendent state there is another called the circle of infinity or se gant which is identical to the union with God of the Persians and the Greek mystics or the mirvana of the Hindus, a form of philosophy quite advanced for the barbarians, it is not like that about all if compared to the crude mythology of the Roman Conquerors The Gauls were so advanced in the practical phases of occultism that they gave every condemned criminal a five-year respite after the death sentence before execution so that he could to prepare for a future state by means of meditation, instruction and other preparations and also to prevent an unprepared and guilty soul from being introduced into the plane of the deceased. The advantages of this plan are evident to every student of occultism who accepts the teaching. relative to the astral planes The reader will understand Of course that the degree of Advancement in spiritual and philosophical matters evidenced by the Galos was not due to the fact that this people were in general so advanced with respect to their neighbors but to the fact that they had been instructed by the druid priests among them tradition says that the original druidic priests came to gaul and other countries from some distant land probably from Egypt or Greece we have talked about the connection between their teachings AND those of the Pythagoreans and there was undoubtedly a strong bond of relationship between these priests and the occultists of other lands. The druidic priests were well versed in astronomy and astrology and the planets had an important part in the teachings. It is said that a part of their ritual It has correspondences with the first Jewish rites and cults Its favorite symbol Mistletoe was used to indicate rebirth, mistletoe being the new life that arises from the old typified by the oak The druids traveled to ancient Britain and Ireland and can still be found there many traces of their religious rites not only in the form of stone places of worship but also in many curious local customs among the peasantry many things from English folklore many strange Irish fantasies about fairies and similar things symbols of good luck bses and the little people They honestly came to this town since the days of the druids and from the same source come the numerous stories whispered between both races about the birth of children who seem to have memories of previous lives on earth memory that fades as they grow among these towns. there is always an undercurrent of mystical ideas about souls returning in some way Mysterious that is not fully understood is the heritage of the druids chapter 3 the Romans and the Greeks a stranger to the subject would naturally expect the ancient Romans to be very advanced along the lines of philosophy, religion and spiritual speculation judging by the omnipotent influence exercised by them over the affairs of the entire known world. Especially when considering the relationship and connection of Rome with ancient Greece it would seem that the two peoples must have had much in mind. common in the world of thought But this is not the case, although the exoteric religions of the Romans resembled those of the Greeks from whom they borrowed or inherited them, the original thought of the Romans in matters of metaphysics, religion or philosophy was little or none . It was probably due to the fact that the whole tendency of Rome was towards progress and material achievement paying little or no attention to questions relating to the soul the afterlife etc. Some philosophers of Rome advanced theories about the future state but beyond a vague cult the ancestors the masses of the people took very little interest in the subject cicero it is true he uttered words that indicate a belief in immortality when he said in Scipio’s dream know that it is not you but only your body that is mortal the individual in Its totality resides in the soul and not in the external form, learn For you are a God, you are the immortal intelligence that gives movements to a perishable body just as the eternal God animates an incorruptible body Pliny The young man left writings that seem to indicate his belief in the reality of ghosts and Ovid has written verses that would indicate his recognition of a part of man that survived the death of the body but in general Roman philosophy treated immortality as something possibly existing but not proven and that should be considered rather as an expression poetic of a longing that as an established Or at least well-founded principle of philosophical thought But Lucretius and others of his time and his country protested against The madness of the belief in the survival of the soul held by other nations said that the fear of eternal life Should be banished from the universe disturbs the peace of humanity because it prevents the enjoyment of any security or pleasure and Virgil praised and praised the philosophical attitude that was able to see the real cause of things and therefore was able to reject the unworthy fear of a world beyond and all the fears derived from such a belief but even many of the Roman philosophers Although they denied immortality, they believed in supernatural powers and beings and were very superstitious and childish in many aspects so that their philosophy of non-immortality Survival was evidently more the result of temperament and the search for material things than a height of philosophical reasoning or metaphysical thought, so the Romans are distinguished of the majority of ancient peoples in regards to the belief in reincarnation. Although there were individual mystics and occultists among them it remains a fact that the majority of the people did not have such a belief and in fact the masses did not have clearly defined ideas with Regarding the survival of the soul, this is a strange exception to the general rule that has attracted much comment and attention among thinkers of this line. Among the Romans, there was a vague form of ancestor worship, but even this followed the line of survival. collective of the ancestors and was free from metaphysical speculations and ordinary religious dogmas. Broadly speaking, Roman belief can be expressed by the idea of a less material or more subtle part of man that escaped disintegration after death and that somehow Mysterious way it began to combine with the ancestral soul that Pia, the collective ancestral deity of the family whose peace and pleasure were considered sacred duties by the descendants, making sacrifices and offerings for this purpose chapter 4 the Jews the Sesenians and the first Christians the people Early Jew had an internal teaching that encompassed certain ideas regarding reincarnation although the masses of the people knew nothing of the doctrine that was reserved for the internal Cs of a few. There is much controversy regarding the early beliefs of the Jewish people about immortality. of the soul the best authorities seem to agree that the early beliefs were very crude and indefinite and consisted mainly of the general belief that after death souls gather in a dark place called Sheol where they dwell in unconscious sleep. It will be observed that the first books of the ancient test have very little to say on this subject, however little by little a growing belief can be observed in certain states of deceased souls and in this the Jews were undoubtedly influenced by the conceptions of the peoples of other lands with which they came into contact, the stay in Egypt must have exerted an important influence on them, especially on the cultured thinkers of the race, of whom there were, however, very few due to the condition in which they were kept as slaves of the Egyptians. Moses however due to his education and training among the Egyptian priests must have been fully initiated into the mysteries of that land and Jewish legends would indicate that he formed an inner circle of the priesthood of his people after they escaped from Egypt and undoubtedly instructed them fully . in the occult doctrines which, however, were too advanced and complicated to be taught to the mass of ignorant people of which the Jewish race of that time was composed, the lamp of knowledge among the Jews of that time was kept lit only by very few priests among them. There has always been much talk and legend about this internal teaching among the Jews. The Jewish rabbis have had much to say about it and some of the early fathers of the Christian church were of the opinion that such a secret doctrine existed. Scholars have observed. that in important passages of the Jewish Bible three different terms are used to refer to the immaterial part or soul of man these terms are nema rogu chinees respectively and have been translated as soul spirit or breath in various senses of these terms many good authorities have held that these three terms were not applied to a single Conception but on the contrary they referred to three different elements of the soul related to the conceptions of the Egyptians and other primitive peoples who maintained the Trinity of the soul as we have shown a little further back some scholars Hebrews maintain that nema is the ego or intelligent spirit rwatch the lower vehicle of the ego epes the vital force vitality or life. Scholars of Kabbalah or secret writings of the Jews find in it many references to the complex nature of the soul and its states. futures as well as undoubted teachings relating to reincarnation or Future existence in the body the Kabbalah It was the book of Jewish mysteries and was largely symbolic so that to those who were not familiar with the symbols used it was read as if it had no meaning or meaning. But those who had the key could read in it many pieces of ultimate doctrine. It is said that the Kabbalah is veiled with seven covers, meaning that its symbolism is sevenfold so that only those who have the interior keys can know all the truth it contains. Although even the first key opens many doors to dream another secret book of the Jews. Although of origin much later than the Kabbalah, it also contains a large part of the internal teachings relating to the destiny of the soul, this book clearly recognizes and declares the triple nature of the soul mentioned above and treats the nema, the ruach and the nepes as different elements of the same teaching. also that when the soul leaves the body it goes through a long and tedious process of Purification in which the effect of its vices fades away through a series of transmigrations and reincarnations in which it develops various perfections, etc. This idea of achieving perfection through through repeated rebirths instead of the rebirths having the nature of a punishment as Plato teaches, it is also taught in the Kabbalah showing the agreement of the Jewish mind in this detail of the doctrine. The essence of the Kabbalistic teaching on this subject is that the souls are reborn repeatedly after long intervals of rest and purification in complete oblivion of their previous existences And with the purpose of advancing, developing, purifying, developing and achieving dreaming strictly follow this teaching although with extensions the following quote from dreaming is interesting as it shows the teaching On the subject in a few words he says the following: all souls are subject to the tests of transmigration and men do not know what the ways of the Almighty are, with respect to them they do not know how many transformations and mysterious tests they must undergo how many souls and spirits come to this world without Returning to the palace of the divine King the souls must re-enter the absolute substance from which they have come, but to achieve this end they must develop all the perfections whose germ is sown in them and if they have not fulfilled this condition during a life They must begin another a third And so on until they have acquired the condition that enables them to reunite with God the Mystical sect that arose among the Jewish people during the century preceding the birth of Christ and that was at the height of its influence in the At the time of birth the cult sect or order of the Essenes was an important influence in directing the spread of the truths of reincarnation among the Jewish people. This order combined the earlier Egyptian mysteries with the mystical doctrine of Pythagoras and the philosophy of Plato was closely related to the Jewish therapists of Egypt and was the main Mystical order of the time Josephus the eminent Jewish historian writing about the Essenes says among them there is an opinion that bodies are indeed corrupted and their matter is not permanent but that souls They continue to be exempt from death forever and emanating from the most subtle ether, they unfold in the bodies like prisons to which they are attracted by some natural spell, but when they detach themselves from the bonds of the flesh, as if they were freed from a long captivity, they rejoice. and are carried upward In the new international encyclopedia volume 7 page 217 there is an instructive article on the Essenes in which it is stated that among the Essenes there was a certain opinion regarding the origin, present state and future destiny of the soul that was considered pre-existing trapped in the body like a prison etc. and in the same article the following statement appears. It is an interesting question to know how much Christianity owes to the scene itself. It seems that there was a definitive contact between John the Baptist and this brotherhood. His preparation time was spent in desert near the Dead Sea his preaching of righteousness toward God and justice toward one’s neighbor was in keeping with the scene itself while his insistence on the baptism was in accordance with the Essene emphasis on the aons. This very conservative statement shows the intimate connection between the Essenes and early Christianity through John the Baptist. Some maintain that Jesus had an even closer relationship with the Essenes and the orders. allied mystics but we will not insist on this point since it is outside the ordinary channels of historical information. There is no doubt, however, that the Essenes who had a Taner influence on the early Christian church were closely allied with other mystical organizations with which they coincided. in fundamental doctrines especially that of reincarnation and thus we have taken the story to the early Christian church at which time we will continue it we have left the phase of the subject that belongs to India for a separate consideration because in India the doctrine has had its home main theme in all ages and the theme in that requires special treatment that there was an internal doctrine in the early Christian church seems to be well established and that a part of that doctrine consisted of a teaching of the pre-existence of the soul and some form of Rebirth or reincarnation seems quite reasonable to those who have made a study of the subject. There is a constant reference to the mysteries and internal teachings throughout the epistles particularly those of Paul and the writings of the early Christian fathers are full of references to the doctrines secrets in the first centuries of the Christian era there are frequent references to the mysteries of Jesus and there is no doubt that there was an inner circle of advanced Christians dedicated to mysticism and little-known doctrines Celsus attacked the early church claiming that it was an organization secret that taught the truth to a select few while transmitting to the multitude only the Crumbs of the half-truth and popular teachings that veiled the truth origins student of San Clemente responded AC elso stating that although it was true that there were internal teachings in the Christian church that were not revealed to the people, yet the church by following that practice was merely adhering to the established custom of all philosophies and religions that gave esoteric truths only to those who were prepared to receive them at the same time as giving to the general mass of Followers the exoteric or external teachings that were all they could understand or assimilate among other things in this answer origins says that there are certain doctrines not made known to the multitude that are divulged after the exoteric ones have been taught. It is a peculiarity of Christianity only but also of philosophical systems in which certain truths are exoteric and others esoteric. Some of the followers of Pythagoras were content with sups xit while others were secretly taught those doctrines that were not considered suitable for be communicated to profane and insufficiently prepared ears, furthermore, all the mysteries that are celebrated everywhere in Greece and in the barbarian countries, even if they are celebrated in secret, have no discredit, so that it is in vain to strive to slander the secret secrets of Christianity. Since he does not correctly understand their nature in this quote it will be noted that not only does Origin positively admit the existence of the internal teachings but he also mentions Pythagoras and his school and also the other mysteries of Greece showing his knowledge of them and their comparison with the Christian Mysteries which he would not have done and his teachings were repugnant and were in total disagreement with those of his own church in the same writing origins says but on these topics a lot could be said and of a Mystical type in line with what follows is good to keep the secret of a king so that the entry of souls into bodies is not thrown before the common understanding dozens of similar quotes could be cited the writings of the first fathers of the Christian church are full of many allusions to the current internal doctrine of the preexistence and rebirth of souls particular origins has written extensively about these things John the Baptist was generally accepted as the reincarnation of Elijah even by the people who considered it as a miraculous event while the elect considered it simply as another case of Rebirth under the law the Gnostics a Mystical order and school of the The early church taught reincarnation in a clear and open way, which earned them many persecutions from the most conservative, others supported some form of teaching. The disputes between them mainly referred to points of doctrine and details, admitting the main teachings. The origins taught that the souls had fallen from a high state and were striving to return to their state and glory Lost through repeated incarnations Justin Martyr speaks of the soul dwelling in successive body with loss of memory of past lives for several centuries the early church It welcomed into its fold many fervent defenders of reincarnation and the teaching was recognized as vital even by those who fought it. Latinus at the end of the third century maintained that the idea of the immortality of the soul implied its pre-existence. Saint Augustine in his confessions makes use of I did not see these remarkable words in another body before entering my mother’s womb. This expression is even more notable because Augustine opposed origins on many points of the doctrine and because it was written as late as the year 415 of our era. However, the various councils of the church did not look favorably on these outcrops of the doctrine of reincarnation and the influence of those who rose to power in the church was directed against the heresy in several Syrians. The teachings were rebuked and condemned until finally In the year 538 after Christ Justinian had a law passed declaring that whoever supports the mythical presentation of the pre-existence of the soul and the consequent wonderful opinion of its return should be anathema speaking of the Jewish Kabbalists an authority Affirms like origins and others Fathers of the church, the Kabbalists used the justice of God as the main argument in favor of the Doina doctrine of metempsychosis, but the doctrine of reincarnation among the Christian races did not die at the orders and mandates of the councils of the Christian church. Burning under the The mantle of opposition and persecution remained alive until it could once again raise its flame towards the sky and even during its suppression the careful student can see little flashes of the flame little garlands of smoke escaping here and there veiled with mystical phrases and adorned with poetic figures many allusions can be seen between the writings of the centuries and During the last 200 years the revival of the subject has been constant until at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th we once again find the doctrine preached and openly taught to thousands of avid listeners and secretly held even by many orthodox Christians chapter five Hindus Although reincarnation has been believed and taught in almost all nations and among all races in times past or present we are still justified in considering India as the natural mother of the doctrine since he has found a particularly favorable spiritual and mental environment in that land and among its people the date of his birth there has been lost in the clouds of ancient history but the tree of teaching is still in full bloom and continues bearing abundant fruits as the Hindus proudly claim while the current dominant race was still in the wild, Cave-dwelling and stone stage of existence and while even the ancient Jewish people began to lay the foundation stones of their religion from which the current Christian religion is but an offshoot the great Hindu religious teachers and philosophers had long since firmly established their philosophies and religions with the doctrine of reincarnation and the accompanying teachings that had been accepted as truth by the great Aryan race of India already. For 40 centuries or more this race has held firmly to the original doctrine until now the West returns to seek in it the light on the great problems of human life and existence and now in the 20th century many careful thinkers consider that in the study and understanding of the great fundamental thoughts of the vedas and the upanisads the west will find the only possible antidote against the virus of materialism that is poisoning the veins of western spiritual understanding the idea of reincarnation is found in almost all philosophies and religions of the race at least in some period of its history among all peoples and races but in India we find the doctrine in its maximum splendor not only in the past but in the present since the first times of The Race in India reincarnation in some of its various forms has been the accepted doctrine and today it is accepted by all the Hindu people with their many divisions and suraz with the exception of the Hindu Mohammedans, the millions of inhabitants of India live and die in full belief in reincarnation and for them it is accepted without any doubt as the only rational doctrine about the past the present and the future of the soul nowhere on this planet is found such adherence to the idea of the life of the soul the thinking Hindu always considers himself as a soul occupying a body and not as a body that has a soul as many Westerners seem to consider themselves and for Hindus the present life is truly considered as a step on the ladder of life and not as the only material life that precedes an eternity of existence spiritual to the Hindu mind eternity is here with us now We are in eternity as much in this moment as we always will be and the present life is but one of a number of fleeting moments in eternal life the early Hindus did not possess the complicated forms of religion that now exist among them with their various creeds ceremonial rituals cults schools and denominations on the contrary their original form of religion was an advanced form of what some have called nature worship but which was much more than what the The Western mind usually understands by the term their nature to be rather a nature spirit or a single life of which all existing forms are but variable manifestations. Even at this early stage of their religious development they held the belief in the reincarnation of the soul from one form to another while for them everything was but a manifestation of the one life the soul was a differentiated unity emanating from the one life and destined to work its way back to unity and oneness with the divine life Through many and varied incarnations until finally merging again with the one from this early beginning arose the many and varied forms of religious philosophy known to India today but clinging to all these modern forms lies the fundamental underlying idea of reincarnation and final absorption with the one Brahmanism was the first, starting from the simple and reaching the complex, gradually emerging a great priesthood that surrounded the simple original religious philosophy with ritual ceremonies and abstractions and theological and metaphysical speculations, then Buddhism arose that to some extent it was a return to the primitive idea but it in turn developed a new priesthood and religious organization but the fundamental doctrine of reincarnation permeated us all and can be considered as the great common center of Hindu religious thought and philosophy the books Hindu religions are full of references to the doctrine of reincarnation the laws of manu one of the oldest sanskrit writings that exist contains many mentions about it and the upan and the vedas contain innumerable references to it in the bagat hita krishna says arjuna should know or prince of pandu who never There was a time in which I nor you nor any of these princes of the earth were not nor will there be a time in the future in which any of us will cease to be like the soul wearing This material body experiment the stages of childhood, youth, maturity and old age, so also in due time it will pass to another body and in other incarnations it will live again to move and play its role these bodies that act as enveloping covers for the souls that occupy them are not more than finite things things of the moment and not the real man at all perish like all finite things that perish he who in his ignorance thinks I kill or I am murdered babbles like a child without knowledge the truth is that no one can kill no one can be murdered take this truth in your inner mind or prince in truth the true man the spirit of man is neither born nor dies He is not born he does not die he is Ancient Perpetual and eternal he has endured and will endure forever the body can die be murdered be destroyed completely but the that it occupies it remains unharmed asterisk asterisk asterisk as a man gets rid of his old clothes replacing them with new and brighter ones so the inhabitant of the body having left his old mortal frame enters into others that are new and newly prepared for him many have been my births and rebirths Oh prince and many have also been yours but between us there is this difference I am aware of all my lives But you do not remember yours in the mahabarata it is said like when he gets rid of an old dress the man dresses with new clothes, thus the soul, shedding the worn-out body, takes on a new body, avoids the fatal paths that lead to hell, works for its salvation and proceeds towards Heaven. The bradar nicopan, one of the ancient Hindu writings, contains the following: how the caterpillar reaches the end of the straw moves away after finding a resting place in advance so the soul that leaves this body and finds another place in advance moves away from its original abode as the goldsmith taking little by little of the Gold expands it into a new form so in effect this Soul leaving this body makes a new and happy abode for itself but attempting to cite passages relating to the Incarnation from Hindu books would be like compiling a many-volume library. The sacred writings of the East are full of references to reincarnation and if these were removed The latter would be like the work of Hamlet with Hamlet omitted. We cannot enter into a description of the various schools of thought and Hindu religious philosophy in this work because to do so would be to expand this small volume into several larger ones, so extensive is the theme but underlying the many divisions and subdivisions of thought may be found the fundamental idea of an original emanation of or manifestation of a divine being power and energy in innumerable differentiated units atoms or egos whose units embodied in matter are unconscious of the spiritual nature and adopt a consciousness corresponding to the form in which they are incarnated then follows a series of incarnations from the lowest to the highest in which there is an evolution or development of the nature of the soul in which it rises to increasingly higher planes of being until finally after the children of time he enters into union with Nirvana and the divine Nirvana is the state of eternal joy. The great difference between Hindu and Greek thought is that while the Greeks considered life repeated with joy as a means of expression each Hindus, on the other hand, consider that life is nothing more than a period of affliction and pain, the only light being the expectation and hope of finally leaving the region of materiality and illusion and recover true existence in the spirit, Hindus almost all agree that this material life is caused by greed or ignorance on the part of the soul of its own nature and being real, which is why it does not recognize that this material life is mesh or illusion, they maintain. that wisdom consists in the soul recognizing its true nature and perceiving the illusion of life and material things and striving to free itself from the bondage of materiality and ignorance the main differences between the various Hindu schools of religion and philosophical thought arise from their different views on the nature and constitution of the soul on the one hand and on the means of attaining liberation and freedom from material Incarnation on the other hand the doctrine of karma of the spiritual cause and aspect which we will consider in another chapter as well. found in all the different conceptions Hindu doctrines and theories without considering the question of differences of opinion between the various schools as regards the nature and constitution of the soul we can say that all schools are practically agreed that the constitution of man is something complex That comprises a series of envelopes, bodies, covers or elements from the crudest to the most spiritual, the various envelopes being discarded as the soul advances on its path towards perfection, there are disputes between the various schools regarding terminology. and the precise disposition of These principles but the following classification will serve to give a general idea of the Hindu views on the subject always subject to the conflicting statements of the various schools the classification is as follows going from smallest to largest one physical body or material or rupa two vitality of the life force or pran jiva three etheric double astral body or linga sarira four animal soul or cama rupa 5 c human soul human six spiritual soul or bu seven divine spirit or atma from the beginning the tendency of the Hindu mind was to resolve the universe of forms, figures and changes back to a single underlying principle from which the entire phenomenal world arose, a single infinite energy from which everything else arose, emanated or evolved, and the early Hindu mind actively engaged. of the solution of the problem of this unique being that manifests a becoming in many just as the Western world today is actively engaged in solving many material problems, ancient India was engaged in solving many spiritual problems just as the modern West strives to discover the How ancient India strove to discover the Why And from that struggle of the Indian mind arose innumerable schools of religious and philosophical thought many of which have disappeared but many of which persist today the problem of the relationship of the human soul with the unique being and the secondary problem of the present and future life of the individual soul is one of the most vital for all thinking Hindus today as in the 40 centuries or more of their philosophical history for the Hindu mind all material investigation is of minor importance, the truth being important to discover that which once known everything else is understood but as we have said despite the numerous religions, schools and phases of teaching among the Hindus, the only fundamental Conception of reincarnation is never lost sight of. is questioned in any of the forms of philosophies or religions ignoring the subdivisions of Hindu philosophical thought we can say that Hindu philosophies can be divided into a few general classes several of which we will now quickly consider so that you can glimpse the variety of philosophy Hindu speculative in its relation to the soul and its destiny by its assumption you will understand that we cannot do more than mention the main features of each class since a careful consideration would require volumes for each particular school we will consider first the philosophy of Canada generally known as the teaching baica that leans towards an atomic theory AF end to that formulated by the Ancient Greek philosopher Democritus according to this teaching the substance of the universe is composed of an infinite number of atoms that are eternal and that were not created by God but are contemporary with him These atoms combining and forming figures, shapes, etc. are the basis of the material universe. However, it is maintained that the power or energy by which these atoms combine and thus form matter comes from God. This teaching maintains that God is a personal being who possesses omnipotence omniscience and omnipresence essence it is also held that there are two more substances or principles higher than the energies or material substances namely manas or mind and atman or spirit manas or mind is considered something like a mental matter from which all individual Minds are constructed and that mental matter is considered eternal atman or spirit is considered an eternal principle from which the selves souls are differentiated the atman or spirit or self is considered much higher than the mind which is its tool and instrument of expression this philosophy teaches that through progression through reincarnation the soul advances from Inferior states to higher states on their path to freedom and perfection Another great school of Hindu philosophy is the Capilla philosophy generally known as the Sania system. This teaching opposes the atomic theory of the Baica system and maintains that atoms are not indestructible nor eternal but can be resolved into a prime substance called prakriti. Prakriti is considered a universal and eternal energy or an ethereal substance. Something similar to certain Western scientific conceptions of a universal ether from this eternal and universal energy capilla held that all the universe had evolved all material forms or manifestations of energy are nothing but manifestations of prakriti but the sanan system is not Materialistic as one might assume at first glance because together with prakriti it offers the principle of purusa or soul or spirit from which all individual souls They are atomic units, the principle of purusa being a unity of units and not an undivided One. The purusa, that is, its individual units or souls, is considered eternal and immortal. Prakriti is devoid of mind but has an active vital energy and is capable of producing material forms and manifestations. by virtue of its inherent energy and its laws, thus producing what the Hindus call mesh or material illusion, which they consider lacking in reality since the forms constantly change and have no permanence. This philosophy maintains that prakriti, through the enchantment of its manifestations of Maya, attracts to the individual souls or purus that once in the center of attraction of Maya are drawn into the vortex of material existence losing the knowledge of their true nature but the souls never completely lose The Flash of the light of the Spirit and consequently soon begin to feel that they have made a mistake and consequently begin to strive to escape from the bondage of prakriti and its mesh but such escape is possible only through a gradual raising of the depths of Maya step by step cycle by cycle through a series of Purification and cleansing of oneself just as a fly cleans itself of the sticky substance in which it has fallen, this exit is carried out through spiritual development or evolution through reincarnation, this evolution is not a growth but an unfolding or unfolding of the soul of its confining sheaths one by one another great school of Hindu philosophy is the philosophy of Patanjali Generally known as the philosophy of yoga but which differs from the Yogi philosophy of the West which is eclectic in nature the yoga philosophy of Patanjali has some similarity with the Sania school of Capila to the extent that it recognizes the teachings relating to prakriti from whose universal energy the material universe has evolved and to the extent that it also recognizes the innumerable individual purusas or souls that are eternal and Immortal and which are trapped in the mesh of prakriti but then adopts a position widely divergent from the Sania school insofar as the Patanjali school of yoga maintains that there also exists a supreme purusa spirit soul or God who is formless infinite eternal and therefore above all the attributes and qualities common to man in this respect tanjali differs from capila and is rather inclined towards agreement with canada of the first mentioned school of the baica system however the three philosophers seem to agree in general with the principle of the mind that they consider inferior to the soul or the Spirit and of a semi-meridian nature to maintain that it is a manifestation of prakriti or universal energy rather than a distinct principle holds that the purusa or spirit and not the mind is the real self and the source of consciousness and real intelligence the practical teachings of the school of patanjali are a system by which the purusa can escape from prakriti and overcome it thus obtaining emancipation, freedom and the return to his natural and original purity and power this school of course teaches reincarnation and progression through rebirth in accordance with the principles mentioned above another great school of Hindu philosophy is that known as Vedanta philosophy which is considered by many to be the most advanced of all Hindu systems and which is rapidly growing in popularity among educated Hindus and also among many very intelligent students of philosophical thought in the Western world its followers claim that the Vedanta philosophy has reached the highest point of philosophical thought, speculation and analysis possible for the human mind today and many Western students have claimed that it contains the highest conceptions found in each and every one of the world’s great philosophies. However that may be, it certainly contains much of the most refined and acute subtlety in the field of speculative philosophical thought in the world, and although, as some claim, it may lack the appeal to religious emotions that some other forms of thought possess, it is still very attractive to those in the world. those whose intellectual development and effort have surpassed the emotional side of philosophy or religion the Vedanta system holds that the ultimate reality or actual being of the universe the only absolute energy or substance from which the entire universe comes is that which can be called the absolute which is eternal infinite indivisible Beyond the attributes and qualities and which is the source of intelligence the absolute is one not many unique and alone is identical to the Sanskrit brahmin and is considered to be what has been called the [Music ] incogned antistasi that this absolute brahmin is the essence of Sat or absolute existence chit or absolute intelligence and ananda or absolute bliss without attempting to go into a detailed analysis or exposition of Vedanta philosophy or as far as the soul and its destiny are concerned we can say that maintains that there are no innumerable eternal and Immortal souls or purus of Sanian philosophy but that individual souls are nothing more than the innumerable images or reflections of the absolute being or brahan and only have their existence due to the Real existence of the only being. Consequently, the spirit that is within the soul of man and that is the soul of his soul is divine. The Vedantists admit the existence of a logos or isera, the lord of the universe, who is, however, nothing more than a manifestation of Brahman, a great soul. say so and who presides over the evolution of the universes from prakriti and who plays the role of the demiurge of ancient Greek and Gnostic philosophies. The Banti admit the relative nature of practical universal energy but maintain that it is neither eternal nor real in itself. but is practically identical to Maya and can be considered as a form of the creative energy of the absolute brahan, this mesh that although strictly speaking is an illusion since it has no real existence or eternal quality is the Source of time, space and causality and of phenomenal universe with its innumerable forms and appearances, the Vedantists teach that the evolution of the soul is carried out by escaping from the folds of mesh or materiality one by one through rebirths until it manifests more and more its divine nature and so on it goes on and on. higher to higher still until at last he enters the divine being and achieves union with God and is one with the father another great Hindu philosophy is that of Gautama The Buddha who is generally known as Buddhist philosophy or as Buddhism it is difficult to give a Clear idea of Buddhism in concise form For there are so many sect schools and divisions within this general school of philosophy differing in the minor points and details of doctrine that a long consideration is required to clarify the points in dispute however speaking in In general terms, it can be said that Buddhists start from the idea or conception of a reality that is behind and beneath all the forms and activities of the phenomenal universe. Buddha refused to discuss the nature of this reality, practically maintaining that it is [Music] to say that en Buddha refused to discuss or teach the way in which this unknowable came to manifest itself on the relative plane. He maintained that man’s proper study was that of the world of things and how to escape from it. However, Buddhism maintains that somehow This unknowable or a part of it becomes entangled in maya or illusion through greed or ignorance law necessity Or perhaps something of the nature of an error and from this erroneous activity arises all the pain and sorrow of the universe For the Buddhist maintains that The universe is a world of misery from which the soul tries to escape. Buddhism maintains that the soul is often reincarnated due to its desires and attractions that, if fed and stimulated, will lead it to life without number. Therefore, for the Buddhist, wisdom consists in acquiring a knowledge of the true state of things that we have just mentioned and then on that knowledge building a new life in which the desire and attraction for the material world will be eliminated in order that the soul having killed the desire for the material things having cut off the dead branch of illusion can escape from karma and finally free itself from rebirth by passing back into the Great Ocean of the Unknowable or Nirvana and ceasing to be as far as the phenomenal world is concerned. Although of course it will exist in the incognit that is. Eternal Many Western readers imagine that Buddhist Nirvana is a total annihilation of existence and being but the Hindu mind is much more subtle and sees a great difference between total annihilation on the one hand and the extinction of personality on the other, which at To the Western mind it seems like nothing to the Eastern conception it seems like a non-thing and is considered More like a resumption of the original real existence instead of an end to it, there is a great difference between the two great schools of Buddhism, the Northern one. and that of the south respectively regarding the nature of the soul the northern school considers the soul as an entity differentiated from the unknown in some mysterious way not explained by Buddha and yet different from the individual purusa of the Sania school mentioned above on the contrary. The southern school does not consider the soul as a differentiated or distinct entity but as a center of phenomenal activity saturated or charged with the results of its actions and that therefore Karma or the essence of the acts can be considered as the soul itself. and not as something belonging to it, the Northern school maintains that the soul accompanied by its karma is reincarnated along the same lines taught by all other Hindu schools of reincarnation and karma, but the Southern school, on the contrary, maintains that it is not the entity soul The one that is reincarnated because there is no such entity but it is the karma or essence of the facts that is reincarnated from life to life according to its attractive desires and merits or demerits in this last vision of the case rebirth is compared with the ignition of one lamp from the flame of another more than in the transfer of oil from one lamp to another, but in reality these distinctions are quite metaphysical and when they are refined through analysis they become a minutiae, it is said that the two schools of Buddhism They are coming closer and reconciling their differences. Orthodox Hindus claim that Buddhism is in decline in India, being largely supplanted by the various forms of Vedanta. On the other hand, Buddhism has spread to China, Japan and other countries where it has adopted new forms. and has become a religion of creedal and ceremonial ritualism itself with the consequent loss of the original philosophy and the corresponding increase in the details of teaching, doctrine and discipleship and general religiosity including the belief in several thousand types of hells different but Even in degenerated forms Buddhism continues to maintain reincarnation as a fundamental doctrine in this consideration of the philosophies of India we do not consider it necessary to enter into an explanation of the various forms of religions or ecclesiastical divisions among the Hindus in India. Religion is an important matter and there seems to be some form of religion adapted to each of the millions of inhabitants of that country from the grossest form of religious superstition and the crudest form of ceremony and worship to the most refined idealism and beautiful symbolism runs the gamut of Hindu religions many people are unable to conceive of an abstract and ideal universal being like the brahman of Hindu philosophy and consequently that being has been personified as an anthropomorphic deity and has been given human attributes to satisfy the Popular Fantasy in India as in all other countries the priesthood has given the people what they asked for and the result is that many forms of ecclesiastical ceremonial and forms of worship are maintained that are abhorrent and repulsive to Western ideas but we Westerners are not totally free from this defect as can be seen if we examine some of the religious conceptions and ceremonies common among the ignorant peoples of the remote parts of our earth certain conceptions of an anthropomorphic deity held by some of the most ignorant people in the Western world are very little advanced beyond the idea of the [__] and the belief in a [__] with horns hooves split red spike tail with the appearance of a satyr with its eternal hell of fire and brimstone is not as uncommon as many imagine not long ago we were taught that one of the main pleasures of God and his angels and of saved souls will be witnessing the tortures of the damned in hell from the walls of heaven and the ceremonies of an ancient Southern black camp were not particularly elevated or ideal among the various forms of Indian religions we find some of the above-mentioned forms of philosophy in those that educated people believe and teach often An eclectic policy of choice and selection is observed a very liberal policy in which freedom of choice and selection is freely granted but there is always a belief in reincarnation and Karma regardless of the form of cult or the name of the religion there are two things that the Hindu mind always accepts as fundamental truths without the need for proof axiomatic of fact and these two things are one the belief in a soul that survives the death of the body the Hindu mind seems incapable to differentiate between the consciousness of I am and have always been and always will be, accepting the knowledge of present existence as proof of past and future existence and two the doctrine of reincarnation and karma that are accepted as fundamental truths and axiomatic more Beyond the need for proof and beyond doubt as one writer has said the idea of reincarnation has become so firmly fixed and rooted in the Hindu mind as a part of the belief that it achieves the dignity and strength of a moral conviction not No matter what the theories relating to the nature of the universe, the character of the soul, or the conception relating to the deity or the supreme being, it will always be found that different sects, schools and individuals accept reincarnation and karma as they accept the fact that they themselves exist or that twice one They are two Hindu philosophy cannot be separated from reincarnation for the Hindu the only way out of the doctrine of reincarnation It seems to be the path of Western materialism from the previous statement we can partially except the Hindu anos and the Hindu native Christians Although careful observers say that even these do not completely escape the current belief of their country and secretly maintain a mental reserve in their heterodox creeds So as you see it is justified that we consider India as the Mother Land of reincarnation in current events chapter 6 the modern west in the modern thought of the western world we find that reincarnation attracts much attention western philosophies over the last 100 years have approached the subject with a new degree of attention and consideration and During the last 20 years there has been a wonderful awakening of interest among the Western public in the doctrine. Currently, American and European magazines contain poems and stories based on Reincarnation and many novels have been written about it and even performed. plays based on general doctrine that have received notable attention from the public the idea seems to have caught the attention of the public and people are eager to know more about it This Renaissance of attention has occurred largely because of the renewed interest of the Western world in the general subject of occultism, mysticism, comparative religion, Eastern philosophy, etc. In its many phases and forms, the world parliament of religions held at the Chicago world’s fair in 1893 did much to attract the attention of the American public toward the subject of Eastern philosophies in which reincarnation plays such a prominent role , but perhaps the main factor in this renewed Western interest in the subject is the work and teachings of the theosophical society founded by Madam Laat some 30 years ago. years and which has since been continued by his followers and various Successors but whatever the cause the idea of reincarnation seems destined to play an important role in the religious and philosophical thought of the West for some time the subject cannot be ignored by The modern student of religion and philosophy, whether accepted or not, must be recognized and examined, but the doctrine or theory regarding reincarnation varies almost as much in the modern West as in the various Eastern countries, currently and in the past we find all the phases of the subject that attract attention and draw followers to their support here we find the influence of Hindu thought mainly through the medium or channel of theosophy or Yogi philosophy and there we find the influence of Greek or Egyptian philosophical conceptions manifesting themselves mainly through the medium of a number of occult orders and organizations whose work is carried out quietly and with little recognition by the general public the policy is to attract the chosen few rather than the curious crowd And again we find a good number of people in America and Europe who believe in reincarnation because they are attracted to the philosophy of the Neoplatonists or Gnostics of the early Christian church and who favor reincarnation as a proper part of the Christian religion and who while they remain within the church They interpret the teachings in the light of the doctrine of rebirth as did many of the early Christians. As we have seen, the theosophical conception and interpretation attracts a large number of Western reincarnationists by reason of its wide circulation and diffusion as well as the fact that it has formulated a detailed theory and doctrine and further claims the benefit of authoritative instruction in the doctrine by adepts and teachers who have passed to a higher plane of existence we believe it is appropriate to give a short description of the general teachings of theosophy on This point referring the reader to general theosophical literature for further information on this special teaching. Theosophy teaches that the human soul is a composite entity made up of various principles in vehicle cultures similar to those we mention in our account of Hindu reincarnation. The theosophical books state these principles as follows: One the body or rupa, two the vitality or pran jiva, three the astral body or linga sarida, four the animal soul or cama rupa, five the human soul, manas, six the spiritual soul or Buddha, and seven the spirit. or atma of these seven principles the last three or upper ones i.e. atma Budi and manas compose the upper Trinity of the soul the part of man that persists while the four lower principles i.e. rupa pran jiva lingas sarira and camar rupa respectively are the lower principles that perish after the death of the higher principles at the time of death The higher principles or the triad remain alive while the lower principles of the quarternary dissolve and separate from each other and finally disintegrate according to a process similar to chemical action. Theosophy teaches that there is a great current of egos or monads that originally They emanated from a source of being and they are following a spiral journey around a chain of seven globes including the earth called the planetary chain. The vital wave reaches Globe A and passes through a series of evolutionary life on it and then passes on to Globe A. globe by and so on until globe G is reached when after a continued life there the vital wave returns to Globe A but not in a Circle but in a spiral that is to say on a higher plane of activity and the round begins once again in each globe You have to live seven races, many incarnations in each of them, each race has seven subbra and each subbra has seven branches. The Progress of the wave of life is illustrated with the symbol of a spiral of seven spirals that sweeps with a broader curve in each spiral each spiral however divides into a lesser spiral of seven spirals and so on it is taught that the human soul is now in its fourth great Round of visits to the Earth and is approximately halfway through the fifth race of that round the total number of incarnations needed for each round is quite large and the teaching is that no one can escape from them except by special merit and development between each Incarnation there is a period of rest in the world of heaven or bachan where the soul collects the experiences of the past life and prepares for the next step the period of rest varies according to the degree of realization obtained by the soul The higher the degree the longer the rest the average time between incarnations is estimated at about 100 years that of bachan is therefore a kind of temporary heaven from which the soul must pass again in time to be reborn according to its merits or demerits, so each soul has lived in a variety of bodies even during the present round, having successively incarnated as a savage, a barbarian, a semi-civilized man. a native of India Egypt Chaldea Rome Greece and many other lands at different times occupying all kinds of positions and places in life trying poverty and wealth pleasure and pain all always leading towards higher things the doctrine enunciated by the Theosophy is complicated and intricate and we cannot do more than mention it just in this place another Western form of Eastern teachings with conci like Yogi philosophy has a large number of serious students in this country and in Europe and has a large circle of influence Although it has never crystallized into an organization, the work is done quietly and the teachings are disseminated through the sale of popular books on the subject published at nominal prices. It is based on the internal teachings of Hindu philosophy and is eclectic in nature deriving its inspiration from various great masters philosophies and schools Instead of implicitly following any of them briefly this Western school of Yogi philosophy teaches that the universe is an emanation or mental creation of the absolute whose creative will flows in an outpouring of mental energy descending from a condition superior to the mind downward through the mind physical energy and matter in a great involution or inflection of divine energy into material forms and states. This involution is followed by an evolution or unfolding. The material forms advance on the scale of evolution accompanied by a corresponding spiritual evolution or unfolding of the individual centers or units of being created or emanated as stated above the course of evolution or rather the phase thereof with which the present human race on earth is concerned has now arrived to a more or less midpoint on the scale of spiritual evolution and the future will lead the race towards higher and higher planes and states of being on this earth and in other spheres until it reaches a point incomprehensible to the mind of man of today and then even more and more until finally the souls will pass to the plane of the absolute to exist there in a state impossible to currently understand and that transcends not only the understanding but also the imagination of The mind of man as we know it Yogi philosophy teaches that the soul will reincarnate on earth until it is ready to pass on to higher planes of being and that many people are now entering a stage that will end unconscious reincarnation and allow them to consciously incarnate in the future without loss of memory teaches that instead of retributive karma there is a law of spiritual Cause and Effect which operates largely along the lines of desire and what has been called the law of attraction by which like attracts like in people, environments, conditions etc. As we have said, Yogi philosophy closely follows the lines of certain phases of the Hindu philosophies from which it is derived, being however rather an eclectic system than an exact reproduction of that branch of philosophy favored by certain schools of Hindus and known by a similar name as mentioned in our chapter on the Hindus is i.e. instead of accepting the teachings of any particular Hindu school in its entirety the western school of Yogi philosophy has adopted the policy of eclecticism i.e. a system which follows the policy of selection by choosing from various sources or systems instead of following Blind of some learned school or particular teacher Yogi philosophy teaches that man is a septic entity consisting of the following principles or divisions one the physical body two two the astral body three the prana or life force four the instinctive mind five the intellect Six the spiritual mind seven the spirit of these the first four principles belong to the lower part of the being while the last three are the higher principles that persist and are reincarnated man however is gradually evolving towards the plane of the spiritual mind and with time will pass beyond the plane of the intellect which will then classify together with instinct as an inferior form of mentality then using its intuition habitually and ordinarily just as the intelligent man now uses his intellect and the ignorant man his instinct intelligence And the animal his instinct Only in many points does the Yogi philosophy resemble Vedanta and in others it coincides with theosophy, although it departs from it in some details of the doctrine related to the process of reincarnation and particularly in its Conception of the meaning and functioning of the law of karma there are many people in the West who firmly hold to reincarnation to whom the Hindu conceptions Even in the Western form of their presentation do not appeal and who naturally lean towards the Greek conception and form of the doctrine a large number of these people are Generally classified among the spiritualists Although Strictly speaking, they do not fit into that classification because they maintain that the so-called world of Spirits is not a place of permanent residence but rather a place of rest between incarnations. These people prefer the name of spiritualists. Because they maintain that man is essentially a spiritual being that the spirit It is the real man and that what we call man is nothing more than a temporary stage in the development and evolution of the individual spirit. Spiritualists maintain that the individual spirit emanated from the Great Spirit of the universe called in one way or another in a distant period of the past. and has risen to his present state of man through and by a series of repeated incarnations first in the form of the lower forms of life and then through the higher forms of animal life until he has now reached the stage of human life from where it will pass and continue to higher and higher planes to forms and states as superior to the human state as man is above the earthworm. Spiritualists maintain that man will reincarnate in terrestrial human bodies only. that the spirit learns its lessons and develops enough to move on to the next higher plane. They maintain that the planets and the innumerable fixed stars or suns are nothing more than stages of Ada for the spirit in evolution and that beyond the universe as we know it there are millions of others in fact that the number of universes is infinite the keynote of this doctrine can be declared as eternal progression towards the divine spirit Spirits do not insist on no particular theory about the constitution of the soul, some of them speak simply of soul and body while others maintain the septic being, the general idea being that this has no importance since the essential spirit is after all the real being and the number or names of their temporary vestments or vehicles of expression other kinds of reincarnationists in the Western world lean more toward Greek and Egyptian forms of doctrine than toward Hindu ones the ideas of the Neoplatonists that had such a powerful effect on the church early Christian or rather among the chosen few of the early church fathers seem to have arisen in a renewed activity among this class these people as we have said at the beginning of this chapter tend rather to group together in small organizations or secret orders than to form Popular cults follow the example of the ancients in this regard by referring the chosen few to the curious general public who simply want a taste or a bite of the truth. Many of these organizations are not known to the public as they carefully avoid publicity or advertisements and rely on the law of attraction to bring their loved ones to them and them to theirs. The teachings of this class vary in their interpretation and since many of them maintain the secret through promises or oaths, it is not possible to give their teachings in detail but in general They base their doctrines on the general principle that the present condition of man is due to the descent of the spirit in the nature of the fall of man that occurred at some time in the distant past. They maintain that man was originally pure and free spirit from whose blissful state He was attracted by the enchantment of material life and consequently he fell from his higher and lower state until he sank deeply into the mud of matter. From this lower state he began to ascend or evolve, having in the dark recesses of his soul a ray of prayer from his previous state whose dim light constantly propels him towards his previous state despite his frequent stumbles in the mud in his attempts to rise above it. This teaching supports a theory and a doctrine very similar to that of the spiritualists. which we have just mentioned except that while the latter in common with the majority of reincarnationists maintain that the evolution of the soul is in the direction of advancement and greater expression similar to the growth of a child these people of the secret order hold on with strength and seriousness to the idea that evolution is nothing more than a return of the prodigal to his father’s mansion, with the parable of the prodigal son and that of the expulsion from Eden considered as veiled allegories of his teaching, from this point of view the current state of The existence of this terrestrial life is part of a series of hells in the great hell of matter from which man slowly but surely rises. According to this idea, the earth is nothing more than an intermediate point on the scale, with almost impossible depths of materiality existing. of believing and on the other hand heights of heavenly bliss Equally incapable of understanding this is all we can say regarding this form of doctrine without violating certain confidences that have been made to us we fear we have said too much but since we should know how to read between the lines To fully understand it, we trust that those who have favored us with these confidences Forgive us, there is still another class of believers in reincarnation of which not even the general public is fully aware. Well, this class does not have much to say regarding their beliefs, I mean. to those in the ranks of the orthodox Christian church who have surpassed the ordinary doctrines and who although they adhere firmly to the fundamental Christian doctrines and although they hold closely to the teachings of Jesus the Christ still find in the idea of rebirth a doctrine that appeals to their souls and minds as closer to their highest conceptions of immortality than the ordinary teachings of the resurrection of the body or the vague doctrines that are taking their place these reincarnationist [Music] of antagonistic reincarnation to their faith and nothing in their faith antagonistic to the doctrine of reincarnation, they do not usually use the term reincarnation but prefer the term Renaissance because it is the one that best expresses their thoughts. In addition to the fact that the first term has a suggestion of pagan and pagan origin that These people find it unpleasant. They lean toward rebirth for the reason that it gives the soul another opportunity to redeem itself. Other opportunities to perfect itself to enter the heavenly realms. They do not support the idea of endless reincarnation or even of a continued Earthly Incarnation for all. his idea that the soul that is prepared to enter heaven passes there immediately having learned enough and gained enough merit in the few lives it has lived on earth while the unprepared, undeveloped and unfit are obliged to return a and again until they have achieved sufficient perfection to allow them to advance to the world of heaven. A large number of reincarnationist Christians, if I may call them, thus maintain that heaven is a place or state of eternal progression rather than a fixed state or place that cannot be changed. It is still neither in heaven nor on earth that in my father’s house there are many mansions for the majority this idea of progression on the higher planes seems to be a natural accompaniment to the spiritual progression that leads to the higher planes or to heaven in In any case the two ideas seem to have always run together in the human mind when the general subject has been considered whether in the past or in the present whether among Christians or pagans there seems to be an intuitive recognition of the connection of the two ideas and on the other hand there seems to be a close connection between the various views of the special creation of the soul before both the one Earthly life and the eternity of reward or punishment in a state or place of progression or change the Human thought on the subject seems to be divided into two distinct groups and Opposite there are a good number of Christian preachers and members of Orthodox churches who are seriously interested in this doctrine of rebirth and eternal progression here and in the hereafter many whose church associates they do not suspect that they are not strictly orthodox in their views they are considering it one day there will be an outbreak of this idea in the churches when believers in the doctrine grow in number and influence it will not surprise careful observers to see the church once accepting plus the doctrine of rebirth and reinstatement of pre-existence returning to two of its original truths discarded long ago by order of the councils professor boben has said it seems to me that a firm and well-founded faith in the doctrine of christian metempsychosis could help regenerate the world because it would be a faith that would not be surrounded by many of the difficulties and objections that beset other forms of doctrine and offers clear and compelling reasons to try to lead a more Christian life and to love and help our brother man and as James Freman Clark has said, it would be curious if science and philosophy took up the old theory of metempsychosis, remodeled it to adapt it to our current modes of scientific religious thought and threw it back into the wide ocean of human beliefs, but stranger things have happened. in the history of human opinion therefore , as we have said, there is a great variety of shades of belief in the Western world regarding reincarnation today and the student will not have any difficulty in finding just the shade of opinion most appropriate to your taste, temperament and training or experience. Although they vary in the details, if in theory the same fundamental and basic truth of the one Source, the one life and of reincarnation that always achieves perfection continues to exist. and divinity seems impossible to disguise the doctrine to change its basic qualities it will always show its original form and the same happens with the various opinions of Western thought regarding it the various cults that defend some form of its doctrine the original doctrine can be added and understood despite the extravagant trappings given to it, the truth is one that men call it by many names. It may be of interest to Western readers to mention that some of the masters of occultism and reincarnation maintain that the current revival of interest in the issue in the Western world is due to the fact that in Europe and America, more particularly in the latter, a reincarnation of the souls of many people who lived between 1500 and 2000 years ago and who were then believers in the doctrine according to this point is taking place. of view those who are now attracted to the Hindu forms of the doctrine formerly lived as natives of India those who favor the Greek idea lived in ancient Greece others favor the Egyptian idea for similar reasons While the revival of Neoplatonism Gnosticism and General mysticism among today’s Christians is explained by the fact that the first Christians are now reincarnating in the Western world having been reborn as Christians in accordance with the law of karmic attraction thus. The Defenders of the doctrine offer the current Renaissance as a further proof of his teachings chapter if between and beyond incarnations one of the first questions that students of the subject of reincarnation usually ask is where the soul dwells between incarnations, is it Incarnated immediately after death and what is its abode or final state this question or questions have been asked from the beginning and probably will be asked as long as the human mind deals with the subject and there are many answers that the teachers and authorities on the subject have given to the questioners let’s consider some of the main answers and more Authoritative First of all, let us consider the phase of the question that arises: Does the soul incarnate immediately after death? Some of the first reincarnationists believed and taught that the soul was reincarnated shortly after death, the short period between incarnations being used by the soul to adjust, balance one’s character, and prepare for a new birth; others held that there was a period of waiting and rest between incarnations in which the soul mentally digested the experiences of the last life it had just completed and then considered and meditated on the mistakes it had made. committed and determined to rectify the errors in the next life by holding that when the soul was relieved from the needs of material existence it was held that when the soul was freed from the needs of material existence it could think more clearly about the moral nature of its actions. and would be able to realize the spiritual side of herself more clearly besides having the benefit of the spiritual perspective occasioned by her distance from the active scenes of life and therefore being able to better gauge the respective worth of the things of material life today the most advanced scholars of the subject maintain that the average period of rest between incarnations is about 100 years the less advanced souls rush to return to Earth in a very short time the more advanced prefer a long period of rest meditation and preparation for a new life it is held that the soul of a gross material and animal person will incarnate very shortly after death, the period of rest and meditation being very short for the reason that there is very little about which such a soul could meditate since all their attractions and desires are related to material life many souls are so tied to the Earth that they rush to return to material Incarnation if the conditions for Rebirth are favorable and generally they are favorable because there always seems to be an abundant supply of new bodies suitable for such souls in the families of persons of the same character and nature as They offer great opportunities for such a soul to reincarnate, other souls who have progressed a little further on the path of realization, have cultivated a little the higher part of themselves and enjoy to a greater extent the period of meditation and spiritual life that is offered to them. and so as the scale advances, as the attraction to material life diminishes, the period of purely spiritual existence between incarnations lengthens, and the souls of people who are highly spiritually developed are said to sometimes dwell in the state of rest for 10,000 years or more unless they voluntarily return first to take part in the work of uplifting the world, it should be remembered in this connection that the best teaching is that advanced souls develop rapidly towards the state in which they are enabled to preserve consciousness in future births instead of losing it as is the usual case and thus take a conscious part in selecting the conditions for rebirth which wisely denies people of more material nature and less spiritual development the next phase of The question where the soul resides between incarnations is a question even more difficult to answer due to the various shades of opinion on the subject. However, there is fundamental agreement between the different schools and we will try to give the essence or cream of the thought on the subject. First of all, all occultists leave aside the idea that there is a place where souls live, considering the existence of States or planes of existence sufficient, it is maintained that there are many planes of existence in each and every one of the portions of the universe. space that the interpenetration planes of substance are much higher than those we occupy could pass through our material world without the slightest knowledge of its existence just as x-rays pass through the most solid object or as light passes through air It is maintained that there are many planes of existence much higher than the one we occupy and in which disembodied souls inhabit. There are many details relating to these planes taught by the different schools of occultism or spiritualism but we have neither time nor space to consider them at length. and we must content ourselves with mentioning only a few main or typical beliefs or teachings on the subject. Theosophists teach that just when the soul leaves the body, a process of psychic photography occurs in which the past life with all its details is indelibly imprinted on the substance. internal of the soul, thus preserving a record independent of the brain, which remains in the physical body. Then the astral body or etheric double detaches from the body from which the vital force or pran jiva also departs at the same time, enveloping the astral body also the other four principles. and together the five surviving principles pass to the mad bed plane or astral plane of desire mad bed is the part of the astral plane closest to the material plane and is very closely related to it if the soul is filled with an ardent and sincere desire for the terrestrial life cannot advance further but can hasten to return to the material Incarnation as we said a moment ago but if it has higher aspirations and has developed the higher part of itself it continues forward in which case the astral body and the animal soul that It is the seat of the passions and the grossest desires, disintegrating and thus releasing the triad or higher nature of the soul, that is, the higher human soul, the spiritual soul and the spirit or, as some call them, the intellect , the spiritual mind and the spirit. triad then passes to what is known as the bachán plane where it rests stripped of the lower parts of its nature and in a state of bliss and in a condition in which it can make great progress thanks to meditation, reflection, etc. crazy bed It has been compared to the purgatory of Catholics, which it resembles in more ways than one. According to theosophists, theosophists sometimes call the world of heaven bachana, a word that means the state or plane of the gods. Theosophy teaches that the triad of the soul It dwells in the bachán for a period proportional to the merit of the being and From there at the appropriate moment the being is attracted again to be reborn in the world of mortals, it is said that the law of the face that governs the terrestrial life of man and which regulates the details of its Rebirth also operates on the Bacchic plane, thus deciding the time of its abode on that plane and the moment in which the soul will proceed to be reborn. The state of existence in that of Bachan is widely described in theosophical writings. but it is too complex to be considered here briefly. It can be said that life in the Bachán is taught to have the nature of a dream of the best in us, that is, a condition in which the highest in us has the opportunity. to express itself, grow and develop, it is said that the state of the soul in bachán is one of joy, the degree of which depends on the degree of spiritual development of the soul, since joy is totally spiritual in nature, it can be compared to the state of people who listen to a song. beautiful music, the greater the musical development of the older person, the degree of enjoyment will be. It is also taught that at the moment the soul leaves the bachán to be reincarnated, it is given a vision of its past lives and its current character so that He can realize the karmic relationships between cause and effect so that his new life can be improved. He then sinks into a state of unconsciousness and passes into the Renaissance. The Western school of Yogi philosophy gives an idea of the State between incarnations. somewhat eclectic in its origin that coincides with theosophical teaching in some aspects and differs from it in others. Let’s take a quick look at it. First of all, it does not use the terms cama loca and bachan respectively but treats the entire series of plans as the great astral world containing many planes, divisions and subdivisions, many subplans and divisions thereof. The teaching is that the soul leaves the body, leaving behind its physical form along with its prana or vital energy and carrying with it the astral body, the instructive mind and the principles. superiors the last vision of the past life in which the events of that life are imprinted on the soul just as it leaves the body is considered a fact the soul sees the past life in its entirety and in all its most minute details in the moment of death and it is insisted that the dying person must be left undisturbed in his last moments for this reason and that the soul can be calm and at peace. When beginning its journey in one of the astral planes the soul gradually discards its body astral and its instinctive mind but retains its higher vehicles or sheaths but it is taught that this discarding of the lower sheaths occurs after the soul has passed into a soul sleep in a subplan of the astral world from which it awakens to find itself clothed only in its highest mental and spiritual clothing of the being and free of the grossest coverings and burdens, the teachings say, when the soul has shed the envelopes that confine it and has reached the state for which it is prepared, it passes to the plane of the astral world for the that is prepared and to which it is attracted by the law of attraction the planes of the astral world are [Music] interpenetration those who inhabit a higher plane can see if they wish the lower planes in the order of development and can also visit these lower planes if they wish. But those who are on the lower planes cannot see or visit the higher planes, not because there is a watchman at the door preventing them from doing so, but for the same reason that a fish cannot go from water to the plane of air. is above that water the same teachings tell us that souls from the higher planes often visit friends and relatives from the lower planes so that there is always the opportunity for loved ones, relatives and friends to meet again. This way and also many souls from the higher planes pass to the lower planes to instruct and advise those who inhabit the latter with the result of that in some cases there may be a progression from a lower to a higher plane of the astral world by the ascent gained by this instruction with respect to Rebirth from the astral world the teachings say but sooner or later souls feel the desire to acquire new experiences and to manifest in earthly life something of the advancement that has come to them since death and for these reasons and by the attraction of the desires that have been Burning there unlived or discarded or possibly influenced by the fact that some beloved soul on a plane lower is ready to incarnate and desires to incarnate at the same time to be with her which is also a desire the souls fall into the current that leads to Rebirth and the selection of appropriate parents and advantageous circumstances and environment and consequently they fall back into a soul sleep gradually and so when their time comes they die to the plane in which they have been existing and are born into a new physical life and body a soul does not fully awaken from its sleep immediately at birth but rather exists in a dream state over the days from childhood its gradual awakening is evidenced by the growing intelligence of the baby the child’s brain keeps pace with the demands made on it in some cases The Awakening is premature and we see cases of prodigies children geniuses etc. But such cases are more or less abnormal and unhealthy, sometimes the child’s dreaming soul wakes up half awake and is not startled by some profound observation or by a mature observation or behavior. The third phase of the question, What is the final state or abode of the soul, is one that reaches the very center or heart of philosophical and religious thought and teaching, each philosophy and religion has its own explanation or interpretation of the truth and it is not our place to try to select one teaching from the many in this work. The reader will find many references to these various explanations and teachings as you read the various chapters of this book and you will be able to use your own judgment and discrimination to select the one that most appeals to you but you will realize that there is a fundamental agreement among all the teachings and beliefs the principle that the movement of the soul is always ascending and continuous and cannot stop in spiritual development and development whether the end, if there is an end, is to reach a state of bliss in the presence of the divine or for the tired soul to find rest in the bosom of the father through what has been called Union with God the vital point for the evolving soul is that there is a better day to come a haven of rest just around the road and whatever the details of the truth the fact is that whatever state awaits the soul ultimately must be good AND in accordance with divine wisdom and ultimate justice and universal love most occultists expect an ending in the sense of being absorbed into the Divine being No in the sense of annihilation but in the sense of attaining a consciousness of the all in the whole this is the true meaning of Nirvana but whether this is true or whether there is a final resting place in the higher spiritual realms other than in the sense of absorption in the divine or if there is a state of eternal progression from plane to plane from Kingdom to Kingdom onwards and forever towards God and increasingly similar to God, the end must be good and there is nothing to fear because the power that rules here rules there and everywhere and remember this seeker of ultimate truths the highest authorities inform us that even the few stages or planes ahead of us on the journey are so far from our present powers of Conception that they are practically [ Music] being so why should we try to speculate on the end instead why not say with Newman I do not ask to see the distant scene one step is enough for me lead me it is said that when Toro was dying A friend leaned down and taking him by the hand he Henry said, you’re so close to the border, now you can see something on the other side, and the dying bull replied. at a time by and this It seems to be the great lesson of life one plane at a time but although the veil of Isis is impossible to be completely lifted there is still something that allows one to see at least dimly the features of the goddess behind the veil and that something is that intelligent faith that knows Although it is unable to explain itself and the voice of that something inside informs those who have that faith everything is fine brother that beyond the planes and the States and the universes and time and space and name and form and things there must be that which transcends them all and from which they all come although we do not know What that is the fact that it must exist that it is is a sufficient guarantee that the law is in constant operation on all planes from the lowest to the highest and that the cosmos is governed by law and this being so not even an atom can be destroyed or lost or suffer injustice and everyone will reach the end correctly and will know the satchitananda of the Hindus the being absolute blissful wisdom that all philosophies and religions agree is the final state of the Blessed and for the occultist all are Blessed down to the last soul in the scale of life and above all the tumult and The struggle of life is always something that silently meditates, watches and waits for life, the light and the love of the whole, such is the message of the enlightened of all ages, races and lands, it is not worthy of our attention and consideration chapter 8 or justice of reincarnation, men who believe in the existence of the soul have three points of view. There are many nuances of beliefs and opinions on the subject, but they can be divided into three classes. These three opinions, respectively, are the following: One is that the soul is created especially by power. supreme at the moment of conception or birth and that its position on earth, its circumstances, its degree of intelligence, etc., are arbitrarily set by that power for some inscrutable reason because the soul was pre-existing, that is, it existed before conception and of birth in some higher state not understood by us from where it was pushed into the human form and birth being its position on earth its circumstances its degree of intelligence etc. three that the soul is one of the innumerable that emanated from the Source of being at some period in the past and that souls were equal in power intelligence opportunity etc. and that they made their way through spiritual evolution from the lowest forms of expression and life to their present state from which they are destined to continue advancing towards forms and higher and higher states of existence until at last after millions of children of existence on the highest planes of expressed life he will return again to the Source of being from which he emanated and will become one with the father not a state of annihilated consciousness but in a condition of universal consciousness yet this view holds that the current condition of each soul is due to its own Progress development advancement development or the lack thereof with the soul being its own destiny and fatality The executor of the law on itself under the law of karma considering the first point of view mentioned that is to say that the soul is of New creation and that its condition has been arbitrarily fixed by divine power the student free of prejudices or fears finds it difficult to escape the conclusion that under this plan of creation a manifestation of divine justice is lacking, even admitting the inability of the finite mind to fully grasp the infinite principles, man is forced to realize the manifest inequality and injustice of the relative positions of the human beings on earth whenever the same is arbitrarily imposed upon them and it would seem that no amount of future reward could equal or explain these conditions Unless there is something behind all of this it would certainly seem that injustice manifested itself of course many argue that the The idea of Justice has nothing to do with universal processes, but all those who think of a divine being full of love and Justice they are forced to think that such qualities must manifest in the creations of such a being and if there is nothing behind all this Then the Candid observer must confess that the manifested scheme of Justice is very defective even according to the imperfect human idea of justice . Figuier, a French writer, said about 40 years ago, if there are some well-organized men with a good constitution and robust health, how many are sickly, idiots, deaf-mutes, blind from birth, mutilated, stupid and crazy. My brother is handsome and well-formed, I am ugly, weak, rickety and hunchbacked, however. We are children of the same mother, some are born in opulence, others in the most frightful misery. Why am I not a prince and a great lord instead of a poor pilgrim on earth, ungrateful and rebellious? Why was I born in Europe and in Paris, where civilization and the artistic life become bearable and easy instead of seeing the light under the burning skies of the tropics where clothed with a beastly snout, oily black skin and tufts of wool he should have been exposed to the double torments of a deadly climate and a barbaric society Why is there not a miserable black African in my place in Paris in conditions of comfort none of us has done anything to have the right to the places that have been assigned to us we have not invited either this favor or this disgrace What It is due to the unequal distribution of the Terrible evils that fall on some men and on others. How those who live in happy lands have deserved the partiality of fortune while many of their brothers suffer and cry in other parts of the world figuier continues some men are endowed with all the benefits of the mind, others, on the contrary, are devoid of intelligence, penetration and memory, they stumble at every step on their rough paths of life, their limited intelligence and their imperfect faculties expose them to all possible mortifications and disasters, they cannot succeed in anything and Fate seems to have chosen them as the constant object of its deadliest blows. There are beings who from the moment of their birth until the hour of their death only emit cries of suffering and despair. What crime have they committed? Why are they here on Earth? They have not asked to be here. here and if they could they would have begged to have this fatal cup removed from their lips they are here in spite of themselves against their will God would be Unjust and evil if he imposed such a miserable existence on beings who have done nothing to incur it and that they have not asked for it but God is not unfair or evil, the opposite qualities belong to his perfect essence, therefore the presence of man in such or such parts of the Earth and the unequal distribution of evil on our globe must remain unexplained. If you know a doctrine, a philosophy or a religion that resolves these difficulties, I will destroy this book and confess myself defeated. Orthodox theology answers Figer’s question with the argument that in our finite understanding we cannot pretend to understand the plans, purposes and designs of God nor criticizing his form of Justice maintains that we must Search beyond that mortal life for the evidence of God’s love and not try to judge him according to what we see here in the land of the miseries and inequalities of men maintains that suffering and misery come to us as an inheritance from Adam and as a result of the sins of our first parents but that if we are good everything will be leveled and rewarded in the next world of course the extremists who support predestination have maintained that some were happy and others were miserable simply because God in the exercise of his will had chosen and predestined them to those conditions but it would hardly be fair to cite this as the position of current theology because the tendency of modern theological thought moves away from that Conception. We mention it simply to show what some have thought about the Others have taken refuge in the idea that we suffer for the sins of our fathers according to the ancient doctrine that the sins of the fathers will fall on the children, but even this is not in accordance with the highest idea of justice and love of man passing To the second point of view is to say that the soul was pre-existing, that is to say that it existed in some higher state not understood by us from which it was pushed into the human form etc. We observe that the questions relating to the cause of inequality, misery etc. considered a long time ago moment They are still actively with us is this point of view does not clarify the question at all For whether the soul was pre-existing in a higher state or was newly created the fact is that as souls they must be equal in the sense of having been made by the same process and of the same matter and that until the moment of their Incarnation they had not sinned nor deserved any reward or punishment nor had they gained anything in one way or another and yet according to the theory these souls and usually innocent and inexperienced some of them are born into children’s bodies to be born in environments conducive to advancement, development, etc., and endowed with natural advantages. While others are introduced into children’s bodies to be born in the most miserable environments and environments devoid of many natural advantages, not to mention cripples. deformed and painful in all areas of life, there is no more explanation of the problem in this point of view than there was in the first mentioned, moving on to the third point of view, namely that the soul is one of the innumerable ones that emanated from the Source. of being makes children equal in power opportunities etc. and that the individual soul has worked its way to its present position through many rebirths and lives in which it has acquired many experiences and lessons that determine its current condition and which in turn will benefit From the experiences and lessons of current life by which the next stage of your life will be determined we find what many have considered to be the only logical and possible explanation of the problem of life’s inequalities provided that there is an answer at all and that There is such a thing as a soul and a loving and just God. Figuier, the French writer from whom we quoted a few moments ago that remarkable passage that breathes the pessimism of the ancient vision of life, admitted that in the Ren there was a fair explanation of the matter. He says if On the contrary, we admit the plurality of human existences and reincarnation, that is, the passage of the same soul through several bodies. All of this is wonderfully clarified. Our presence in this or that part of the earth is no longer the effect of a whim of fate or the result of Chance It is simply a station in the long journey that we make through the world before our birth we have already lived and this life is the sequel and the result of the previous ones we have a soul that we must purify, improve and ennoble during our stay in earth or having already completed an imperfect and perverse life we are forced to begin a new one and thus strive to rise to the level of those who have passed on to higher planes. The Defenders of reincarnation point out that the idea of Justice is fully carried out in That view of life as what we are is determined by what we have been and what we will be is determined by what we are now and that we are constantly driven by the pressure of the developing spirit and drawn upward by the divine under this conception there is no coincidence everything is according to the law As an ancient Greek philosopher said without the doctrine of metempsychosis it is not possible to justify the ways of God and many other philosophers and theologians have followed him in this thought if we enjoy we have earned it if We suffer, we have earned it in both cases by our own efforts and endeavors and not by chance or by reason of the merits or demerits of our ancestors, nor by predestination or election to that destiny. If this is true, one is given the understanding to endure. stoically endure the pains and miseries of this life without cursing fate or imputing injustice to divinity and are also given an incentive to make the most of their opportunities now in order to move on to higher and more satisfying conditions in future lives. Reincarnationists Rewards and punishments are correctly awarded only in the plane in which the good or bad action was committed, otherwise its nature changes its effects are harmed and its collateral orientations are lost. A writer on the subject has pointed out this fact with the following words: physical outrage has to be stopped by the infection of physical pain and not Simply by the awakening of internal repentance honest lives Find a fitting consequence in visible honor but a career is too short for the accurate balancing of accounts and it takes many to make every good or evil done in each one of them be rewarded on the earth where you place with respect to this mention of rewards and punishments we will say that many advanced reincarnationists do not consider the conditions of life as rewards and punishments but on the contrary consider them as part of the lessons of the garden of life which must be learned and used in future lives. We will speak of this later in examining the question of karma. The difference is vital and must be carefully observed in considering the subject before moving on to consider the question of justice. exemplified by reincarnation we want to draw attention to the difference in views on life and its rewards and punishments that orthodox theologians and reincarnationists have respectively. On the one hand, orthodox theologians maintain that for good or bad actions performed by a man During his short life of a few years and then carried out under conditions arbitrarily imposed on him at birth by his Creator man is rewarded or punished for an eternity of happiness or misery Heaven Or Hell Perhaps man has lived only one or two years of reasonable understanding or TR and 10 and has violated certain Moral ethical or even religious laws perhaps only to the point of refusing to believe something that his reason absolutely refused to accept for this he is condemned to an eternal stay in a place of pain misery or punishment or an equivalent state or on the contrary if he has done what he should do and has stopped doing what he should not do even though this doing and not doing has been very easy for him due to his surroundings and his environment and to crown his beautiful life has accepted the orthodox creeds and beliefs of his parents as a matter of course then this man is rewarded with an eternity of endless happiness and joy try to think about what eternity means think about the children over the children of time over and over again time and forever and the poor sinner is suffering an exquisite torture all that time and in all the time Limitless future I breathe without mercy and all the time the good man Is enjoying his blissful state without limit or end or satiation and the time of test during which the two worked out their future destiny It was like a grain of sand Compared to the countless universes in space in all eternity a relationship that reduces the life span of man to almost absolutely nothing considered mathematically think about this is This justice and on the other hand from the point of view of the reincarnationist the measure of cause and effect does not fit more equitably Even if we consider it as a question of reward and Punishment a crude point of view Certainly when we see that with each infraction of the law is followed by a corresponding effect, and by adhering to the law a proportionate effect, the punishment does not better fit the crime in this case and looking at it from a reasonable point of view devoid of theological prejudices, which plan seems to be the best exemplification of justice and natural law not to mention the highest divine justice and cosmic law of course We are not urging these ideas as proofs of reincarnation since strictly speaking the proof one must be outside the speculation of what the proof should be belongs to the region of what is and the facts in the experience but nevertheless while considering the matter one has to look at it from all possible aspects to see how it is resolved It is also argued along the lines of justice of reincarnation as opposed to injustice of the contrary doctrine that there are many cases of Little infants who only have a few days or minutes of this life before leaving the body in death according to the anti-reincarnation doctrine these little souls have been newly created and placed in physical bodies and then without having had to taste the experiences of life are taken to the higher planes to spend there an eternal existence While other souls have to live their long lives on earth to reach the same higher states And then according to the prevailing doctrine even then they may have won Eternal punishment Instead of eternal happiness according to this idea the happiest destiny would be that we all died as children as long as we were baptized some good souls would be added and the death of a child It should be the occasion of the greatest joy on the part of those who love him but despite the doctrine, human nature does not act like that according to the doctrine of reincarnation, the soul of the little baby did nothing more than follow the same path as the rest of the race, it had its past as well as its future in accordance with the law and justice Although if the ordinary view is correct no one would begrudge the Infant his happy destiny still one would have good reason to complain about the inequality and injustice of others having to live long lives of pain, discomfort and causeless misery instead of be immediately transferred to a higher life as the Infant was if the ordinary view is true Then why the need for earthly life at all why not create a soul and then place it in the heavenly realms immediately if possible and appropriate in some cases Why not in all if the experience is not essential Then why impose it on certain souls when all are newly created and equal in merits and deserts if Earthly life has any virtue Then the soul of the Infant is stripped of its right If Earthly life has no virtue, adult souls are forced to live a useless existence on earth, running the risk of being condemned if they fail, while child souls escape. Is this equality of opportunities and experiences or justice? It seems that there is a error in fact or theory try the problem with the doctrine of reincarnation and see how it is resolved chapter 9 the reincarnation argument in addition to the consideration of justice there are many other advantages claimed by defenders of reincarnation that deserve consideration Careful students of the problem of the soul In this chapter we will give each of these main points a brief consideration so that you may become familiar with the various points of the argument. It is argued that the principle of analogy makes it more reasonable to believe that the actual life of the soul does not It is more than a link in a great chain of existence extending into the past on the one hand and into the future on the other than to suppose that it has been created especially for this small period of a few years of terrestrial life and then projected for good. or for worse in an eternity of spiritual existence it is argued that the principle of evolution on the physical plane points to an analogy of the evolution of the spiritual plane it is reasoned that just as birth on the next plane of life follows death on The current analogy would indicate that a death in past planes preceded birth in this one and so on. It is argued that all forms of life that we know have arisen from lower forms which in turn emerged from even lower forms and so on and that following the same analogy the soul has risen from the lower to the Higher and will rise to even higher forms and planes it is argued that special creation is unknown in the universe and that it is much more reasonable to apply the principle of evolution to the soul than to consider it as an exception and a violation of the universal law, some thinkers also affirm that the idea of future existence presupposes past existence since everything that begins must end at some point and therefore if we are to assume that the soul has to continue its existence in the future we must think that it has had an existence in the past being eternal at both ends of terrestrial life. So to speak, those who oppose the idea of immortality are fond of arguing that there was no more reason to suppose that a soul would continue existing after the death of the body than there was to suppose that it had existed previously a well-known man was once asked the question what happens to the soul of a man after death to which he evaded the question by answering return to the place Where it came from, this idea has seemed to many to be enough to make them doubt the idea of immortality. The ancient Greek philosophers considered it logically necessary to affirm the eternal preexistence of the soul to justify their claim to future existence. They argued that if the soul is immortal it must have existed. always since an immortal thing could not have been created if it was not immortal by nature it could never be made like that and if it was immortal by nature Then there had always been the argument that is usually used is the following: a thing is mortal or immortal one or the other If he is mortal he has been born and must die if he is immortal He cannot be born nor can he die mortality means subject to life and death immortality means immunity to both the Greeks devoted much time and care to this argument and gave it great importance they reasoned that nothing that possessed reality could have arisen from nothing nor could it pass into nothing if it was real it was eternal if it was not eternal it was not real and would pass even at birth They also claimed that the sense of immortality that the ego possessed was an indication that there was experienced life in the past as well as anticipated life in the future there is a sense of antiquity that pervades every thought of the soul regarding its own nature it is stated that it is an illogical assumption to maintain that behind the present lies an eternity of nonexistence for the soul while an eternity of being stretches before it, it is argued that it is much more logical to consider the present life as a mere point in an eternity of existence. It is further argued that reincarnation fits with the well-known scientific principle of conservation. of energy is to say that no energy is created or lost but that all energy is nothing more than a form of universal energy that flows from form to form from manifestation to manifestation always the same and yet manifesting in a myriad of forms never born never dies but always advances and advances and advances towards new manifestations therefore it is thought to be reasonable to assume that the soul follows the same law of reintegration rising higher and higher over time until it finally re-enters the spirit Universal from which it emerged and in which it will continue to exist as it existed before arising for the cycle of manifestation it is also argued that reincarnation causes life to be within the law of Cause and Effect just like everything else in the universe. law of rebirth according to the causes generated during past lives would bring the existence of the soul within and in harmony with natural laws instead of outside and against them. Furthermore, it is argued that the feeling of original sin of which so many people claim to be aware can better explained by the theory of reincarnation than by any theological doctrine, the orthodox doctrine is that original sin was something inherited from Adam because of the transgression of our ancestor But this clashes with today’s thinking as it could well be that it has to seeing the soul with Adam did not descend from him or from anything other than the Source of being there is no line of descent for souls Although Yes for bodies what does Adam have to do With your soul if it came fresh from the mint of pure cedar and immaculate How could his sin stain your new soul The theory states here either an absurdity or a grave injustice, but if we replace Adam with our past existences and their thoughts and actions, we can understand that feeling of conscious recognition of the past bad deeds and remorse that so many give testimony although they are reasonably free of the same in the present life the butterfly vaguely remembers its worm state And although it now rises it feels the mire of the mud in which it once crawled it is also argued that in a single life the soul would not acquire the varied experience that is necessary to form a well-rounded mentality of understanding, engrossed in its limited experience in the narrow sphere occupied by many human beings, would be far from acquiring the knowledge that seems necessary for a developed and advanced soul, and there would also be such great inequality on the part of Of the souls after death as there are before death, some would pass to the future State as ignorant beings While others would possess a complete nature of understanding, as a prominent authority has said, a perfected man must have experienced all kinds of earthly relations and duties. all phases of desire, affection and passion, all forms of temptation and all varieties of conflict, no life can provide the material for more than a minuscule of such experience. In this same vein it is stated that the development of the soul must come largely from measure of contact and relationship with other souls in a variety of phases and forms must experience pain and happiness love Pity failure success must know the discipline of sympathy tolerance patience energy fortitude foresight gratitude Laev Piety and love in all its phases, it is insisted, is only possible through repeated incarnations since the duration of a life is too small and its limit too narrow to encompass only a small fraction of the necessary experiences of the soul in its journey towards development and fulfillment the sorrows and joys of all forms of life must be felt before understanding comes, narrowness, lack of tolerance, prejudice and other similar forms of undeveloped consciousness must be eliminated by broad understanding and sympathy that only come from experience it is argued that only through repeated incarnations is the soul able to realize the futility of seeking happiness and satisfaction in material things while being dissatisfied and disappointed with its own condition He is capable of imagining that in some other Earthly condition he would find the satisfaction and happiness that is now denied him and when he dies he carries with him the subconscious desire to enjoy those conditions, a desire that attracts him back to Earthly life in search of those conditions. The soul desires anything that the earth has to offer it will be bound to the Earth and will be drawn back to the vortex but after repeated incarnations the soul learns well the lesson that only in itself can happiness be found and that only when it learns its true nature. nature its source and its destiny and then it passes to higher planes. As one authority says, over time the soul sees that a spiritual being cannot be nourished by inferior food and that any joy other than union with the divine must be illusory. argues that Very few people as we see them in terrestrial life have realized the existence of a higher part of their being and even fewer have affirmed the supremity of the upper part and have subordinated the lower part of the being to that higher part If they passed into a final state of being after death they would carry with them all their lower propensities and attributes and would be totally incapable of manifesting the spiritual part of their nature, the only one that would be satisfied and happy in the spiritual realms and therefore needs repeated lives. to evolve from the lower conditions and develop and unfold the higher ones referring to the question of unextinguished desire mentioned a moment ago the following quote from a writer on the subject gives Clara and briefly the reincarnationist argument regarding this point the writer says the desire for other forms of earthly experience can only be extinguished by experiencing them. It is obvious that any of us, if we now moved to the invisible world, would feel regret for not having proven existence in some other situation or environment I wish I knew what it is to possess wealth and Rank or beauty or to live in a different race or climate or to see more of the world and society no spiritual Ascension could progress while earthly longings dragged down the soul and That is why it is freed from them by ensuring them and abandoning them successively when the Round of Such knowledge has been completed, the regret for ignorance has been extinguished. This idea of living and unliving is promoted by several writers and thinkers on the subject, Jwm Joy says in his thought of Alba on this topic one rises and conquers simply by the natural process of living fully and thus surviving like a child his baby teeth a snake his mud live and survive that expresses it until it has been fully learned the only lesson is never Prepared for a new one, the same writer in the same book also says about sin, shame, joy, virtue and punishment, action and reaction, attraction and repulsion, the soul, like a Barbed arrow, always moves forward, it cannot go back nor return through the valves of his coming But this should not be understood As fulfilled in one and each visit to the Earth it is only true in the entire circular journey of the soul in a journey to the earth one life as we say it may be that there is nothing more than a stop or a turning back nothing but sin but the full course of everything is underway But there is a danger that this doctrine will be misinterpreted and some have misinterpreted it and read that it advises immersing oneself in all kinds of sinful experiences in order to of living and overcoming life, an idea that is erroneous and that cannot be sustained by any true student of the subjects, no matter how much it is used by those who wish to use an excuse for material dissipation Mabel collens in her notes to light on the way says on this subject Seek it by putting the whole experience to the test and remember that when I say this I am not saying give in to the seduction of the meaning to know it before you have become an occultist you can do this but not after when you have chosen and entered the path no you can give in to these seductions Scoundrel, however you can experience them without horror you can [Music] the Abyss is great between the good man and the sinner it is greater between the good man and the one who has achieved knowledge it is incommensurable between the good man and the one who is at the threshold of divinity therefore be careful lest you too soon believe yourself to be a thing apart from the mass and again the same writer says before you can attain knowledge you must have passed through all the places both dirty and clean by Therefore Remember that the dirty garment that you refuse to touch may have been yours Yesterday it may be yours tomorrow and if you turn away from it in horror when it is thrown on your shoulders it will cling to you even more the self-righteous person makes a bed of mud abstain because It is correct to abstain not to keep yourself clean. It is also argued that reincarnation is necessary to give evolving races a chance to perfect themselves, that is, not through their physical descendants, which would not affect the souls of those who live in the bodies of current races but through the perfection and growth of one’s own souls, it is pointed out that taking a savage or barbarian to the spiritual planes after death, no matter how faithful the soul may have been to its duty and its lights, would be to carry out an Absurd transfer. Such a soul would not be suitable for the higher spiritual planes and would be very unhappy and miserable. There it will be seen that reincarnationists distinguish very well between goodness and advancement. Although they recognize and urge the first, they consider it only as one side of the issue, the other being the spiritual growth and development it will be seen that reincarnation provides for a spiritual evolution with all its advantages as well as a material evolution such as that which science considers correct to conclude this chapter let us quote once again the authority on the subject mentioned above who writes anonymously In the pamphlet from which the quote is taken it says nature is not Assaults ago does not introduce in this case into a region of the spirit and spiritual life a being who has known little more than matter and material life with little understanding even of that to do so would be analogous to suddenly transferring a farmer to a company of metaphysicians the pursuit of any subject implies a preliminary knowledge of its nature, objectives and mental requirements and the higher the subject the more copious the preparation for it is inevitable for a being who has before Him an eternity of Progress through zones of knowledge and spiritual experience always close to the central sun is qualified for it through a long acquisition of the faculties that are the only ones that can deal with it its delicacy its vigor its penetration its impropriety with respect to those required on the material plane show the contrast of terrestrial life with spiritual life and show also the inconceivable in any other department of the works of nature of a break in the law of elevation through evolution a man before he can become a God must first become rebirth and revivification until its purposes are fulfilled If we were mere Victims of an evolutionary law, defenseless atoms on which the machinery of nature will mercilessly play the prospect of a succession of incarnations, none of which giving satisfaction could lead us to despair. But such a joyful exposition is not imposed on us, we are shown that reincarnations They are the law for man because they are the conditions of his Progress which is also a law but he can [Music] mold them he must desire it endowed with the power to guide him for the best driven with the motive of using that power he can harmonize both his aspirations and his efforts with the system that expressed the infinite wisdom of the supreme and through the journey from the temporal to the eternal tread the path with firm feet reinforced with the consciousness that he is one of an innumerable multitude and with the certainty that he and they alike If they want, they can finally reach that sphere where birth and death are nothing more than memories of the past. In this chapter we have given a series of arguments favorable to the doctrine of reincarnation coming from various sources. Some of these arguments do not particularly appeal to us. for the reason that they are more theological than scientific but we have included them so that the argument appears as generally presented and because we feel that in a work of this type we should not omit an argument that is used by many of the best authorities Simply because it can not appealing to our particular temperament or habit of thought, for some the theological argument may be more attractive than the scientific one and it is presented here in a very adequate way. The appropriate way to present any topic is to do so in its multiple aspects and as it may appear from various perspectives. points of view chapter 10 the proofs of reincarnation for many Minds the proof of a doctrine is its reasonableness and its adaptability as a response to existing problems and consequently for them the numerous arguments presented in favor of the doctrine of which we have given some in the preceding chapters together with the almost Universal acceptance of the fundamental ideas by the race at least at some period of its development would be considered a very good proof of the doctrine at least in so far as it could be considered as the theory of most available work of the existence of the past future soul And as what better meets the requirements of a doctrine or theory than any other idea proposed by theological or philosophical metaphysical thinkers but for the scientific mind or for the Minds of those who demand something in the nature of actual experience of facts no amount of reasonable abstract theorizing and speculation is acceptable even in the form of a hypothesis working Unless it is based on some tangible facts or knowledge obtained through human experience although people who possess such Minds usually freely admit that the doctrine of reincarnation is more logical than opposing theories and that it fits better to the requirements of the case they will still maintain that all theories relating to the soul must be based on premises that cannot be established by actual experience in human consciousness. They maintain that in the absence of evidence in experience actual facts these masses are not established and that all the reasoning structures based on them must participate in their insecurity, these people are like the man from Masor who wants to be shown, in fact, they are like the previous man’s partner, the man from Texas who not only says you have to show it to me but demands Let the thing be put in my hands and at the end of the day one has no right to criticize these people, they do nothing more than express the scientific spirit of the time that demands facts as the basis of theories instead of theories that need facts to demonstrate them and unless reincarnation is capable of satisfying the demands of this class of thinkers. The Defenders of the doctrine have no reason to complain if the scientific mind dismisses the doctrine as unproven after all the best proof along the lines mentioned is in fact almost The only strict proof possible is fragmentary memories of previous Lives that many people sometimes possess. These memories often pass through the mind bringing with them the conviction that the place or thing has been experienced before. Almost all people have had visions of something that seemed to be a memory of the individual’s past life we see places we have never known and they seem perfectly familiar we meet strangers and are convinced that we have met them in the past we read an old book and feel that we have seen it before so often that we can anticipate the story or the writer’s plot we hear some strange philosophical doctrine and recognize it as an old friend Many people have had this experience in matters of occultism in the very matter of the doctrine of reincarnation when they heard it for the first time although they It seemed strange and unusual yet they felt an inner conviction that it was an old story to them who had heard it all before these experiences are too common to be considered a mere fantasy or coincidence almost every living person has had some experience along these lines. A recent writer in the line of Eastern philosophy has said regarding this common experience of the race, many people have had peculiar experiences that can only be explained on the hypothesis of psychosis who have not experienced the consciousness of having felt the thing. Before ever thinking about it in the dark past, who has not witnessed new scenes that seem very old, very old, Who has not met people for the first time whose presence has awakened memories of a past that dates back to the nebulous times of yesteryear, who has not? has sometimes had the consciousness of a powerful old age of the soul Who has not often heard music completely new compositions that have somehow awakened memories of melodies scenes places faces voices lands associations and similar events that sound faintly on the strings of memory when the breezes of harmony float over them who has not contemplated an old painting or a piece of statuary with the feeling of having seen it all. Before who has not experienced events that bring with it the certainty of being a mere repetition of some somber events in lives lived long ago who has not felt the influence of the desert sea mountain that comes to them when they are far away from Such scenes that come so vividly as to make the Real scene of the present fade into comparative unreality who has not had These experiences we have been informed by Hindus very advanced in occult theory and practice that it is very common that the people of their country Wake up with an almost complete memory of their previous lives in some cases they have related details of previous Lives that have been fully verified by research in parts of the earth very remote from their current residence in one case a wise man Hindu told us a case in which a poor Hindu who had worked constantly in the village in which he was born without leaving it since his childhood days. This man shouted one day that he had awakened to a memory of having been a man of such and such. town in a province hundreds of miles from his home some wealthy people became interested in the matter and after having written down his statements and after careful examination and interrogation they took him to the town in question upon entering the town The man seemed dazed and he shouted everything has changed it is the same and at the same time it is not the same finally however he began to recognize some of the old landmarks of the place and to call the places and roads by their names Then when he reached a familiar corner he shouted down there There is my old house and running down the road for several hundred meters he finally stopped in front of the ruins of an old country house and burst into tears saying that the roof of his house had fallen in and the walls were crumbling as he looked around. The oldest men of the place it was discovered that when these elders were children the house had been occupied by an old man who bore the same name that the Hindu first mentioned as his own in his previous life the elders verified other facts about the ancient location of the places in the village finally while walking through the ruins the man said there must be a silver pot buried there I hid it there when I lived here the people quickly uncovered the indicated land and brought to light an old vessel that contained a few pieces of currency silver of a date corresponding to the life of the former occupant of the house our informant told us that he had personal knowledge of several similar cases None of which however was as complete in details as the one mentioned also informed us that he himself and several of His acquaintances who had achieved certain degrees of occult development were fully aware of their past lives from several incarnations ago. Another case was personally observed in which an American who had never been to India was taken to a room in which a Hindu priest who was visiting America had erected a sanctuary or altar before which he performed his religious services. He quickly recognized the arrangement of the details of the cult, the ritual, the ceremony, etc., and was aware of having seen or at least dreamed of seeing a similar sanctuary in some time in the past and having had some connection with it, the Hindu priest upon hearing The American’s observations declared that his knowledge of the details of the shrine as he had then expressed it indicated a knowledge that was only possible for someone who had served in a Hindu altar in some capacity we know of another case in which an acquaintance a prominent lawyer in the west told us that when he underwent his initiation into the Masonic order he had a complete recollection of having gone through the same thing before and actually anticipated every step successive this knowledge however ceased after he had passed Beyond the first three degrees which brought him to the place where he was a full Master Mason the higher degrees being completely new to him and apparently not having been experienced before this man did not believe in any doctrine of reincarnation and related the incident simply as one of those things that no man can explain. We know of another case in which a student of Hindu philosophy and Eastern occultism discovered that he could anticipate every step of teaching and doctrine and every bit of knowledge. acquired by him seemed simply a memory of something long known so true was this that he was able to supply the missing links of teaching where he did not have access to the appropriate sources of information at that time and in each case later found that he had stated the same correctly and this included many points of the inner teachings that are not generally taught to the general public but are reserved for a few. Subsequent contact with native Hindu teachers brought to light the fact that already had unraveled many skeins in a sea of doctrine that was only considered possible for the elect many of these memories of the past come as if they were Memories of something experienced in dreams but sometimes After the loose end of the thought is grasped firmly and pulled out mentally they follow other Pieces of memory Sir Watar wrote in his diary in 1828 I was strangely tormented by what I would call the feeling of pre-existence, that is, a confused idea that nothing that happened was said for the first time that the same topics had been discussed and the same people had expressed the same opinions about them William home an English writer was instantly converted from materialism to the belief in a spiritual existence by an incident that occurred in a part of London totally foreign to him he walked into a waiting room and to To his surprise everything seemed familiar to him as he says I seemed to recognize all the objects I said to myself what is this I have never been here before and yet I have seen all this and if so there is a very peculiar knot in that blind so he crossed the room and opened the shutter and after examining it he saw the same peculiar knot of which he was sure Pythagoras is said to have clearly remembered several of his previous incarnations And on one occasion he pointed out a shield in a Greek temple as if it had been carried by him in a previous Incarnation in the siege of Troy it is said that an ancient and well-known Hindu sage transcribed a sacred book of doctrine lost by the memory of its study in a previous life. Children often speak strangely of previous Lives but These ideas are usually chased away by the reprimand of parents and often punishment for falsehood and Romanticism As these memories grow they fade People who travel to strange places often experience excitement upon seeing some particular scene and the memory seems to struggle painfully to bring into the field of consciousness the ancient connection between the scene and the individual, many people have witnessed these events, many of them being simple and unimaginative people who had not even heard of the doctrine of reincarnation. Charles Dickens, in one of his books on foreign travel, talks about a bridge in Italy that produced a peculiar effect says that if I had been murdered there in some previous life I could not have remembered the place more thoroughly or with a more emphatic cooling of the blood and the real memory that I acquired in that minute is so strengthened by the imaginary memory that I could hardly Forget it, another recorded case is that of a person who entered a foreign library for the first time, upon passing through the antique books department, said that he had a vague idea that a certain rare book was found on such a shelf in such a Corner, describing at the same time certain peculiarities. of the volume a search did not reveal the volume in the indicated place but the investigation showed that it was located elsewhere in the library and an old assistant declared that a generation ago it had been moved from its former place as stated by the visitor Where there was been previously located for many years an examination of the volume showed a perfect correspondence in all details with the description of the strange visitor and so the story continues reference to the numerous works written on the subject of the afterlife of the soul will provide many more examples of the glimpses of memory of past incarnations But why distribute these examples over more pages the experience of other people, although it is of interest and scientific value as the basis of a theory or doctrine, will never provide the experience that the meticulous and rigid researcher demands only his own experiences will satisfy you and perhaps not even these because you can consider these experiences as delusions others have their main value as corroborating evidence of one’s own experiences and thus serve to prove that the individual experience was not abnormal, unusual or a delusion. For those who have not had these flashes of memory, the only evidence that can be offered is the usual arguments in favor of the doctrine and the account of the experiences of others this may satisfy and it may not but to those who have had these glimpses particularly to a marked degree there will come a feeling of certainty and conviction which in some cases is as real as certainty and the conviction of the present existence and that will be a proof against all arguments to the contrary for these people the knowledge of the previous existences is as conscious as the fact of the existence of the past year of yesterday of a moment ago or even of the present moment that is escapes as we try to consider it and those who have this awareness of past lives even though the details are vague intuitively accept the teachings regarding the future lives of the soul. The soul that recognizes its antiquity also feels its certainty of survival not as a mere matter of faith. but as an element of consciousness when transcending the limits of time But there are other arguments in favor of reincarnation that its Defenders consider so strong that they give them the right to be classified as evidence among them one can mention the difference in tastes talents predispositions etc. that are observed among children and adults and that can hardly be attributed to heredity, this same idea leads us to consider the question of youthful Genius, prodigies, etc. It is part of this argument to suppose that if all souls were newly created by the same creator And a from the same material they would be very similar to each other and in fact they would be practically identical and it is argued that each child is different in tastes, temperament, qualities, nature, etc., independently of heredity and environment, then it must follow that the difference must be sought further back in the children. of the same parents differ very materially in their nature, disposition, etc. In fact, strangers are often more similar than children of the same parents born a few years apart and raised in the same environment. Those who have a lot of experience with young babies know that each baby has its own nature and disposition and in which it differs from all other babies Although they can be classified into groups of course the baby a few hours old shows a gentleness or lack thereof a session or a struggle a willingness to adjust or a stubbornness, etc. And as the child grows, these traits manifest themselves with greater clarity and the nature of the individual is affirmed, subject of course to molding and conformation, but always affirming its original character in some way, children not only differ in terms of the disposition but also in terms of the righteous the tendencies the Moral inclinations etc. some like this and dislike that and conversely some are attracted to this and repelled by that and conversely some are kind while others are cruel some manifest a innate sense of refinement while others show crudeness and lack of delicate feelings, this among children of the same family remember and when the child enters school we find that he takes to mathematics like a duck to water while his brother detests it. In the subject, the antiaris child can excel in history or geography or in grammar, which is the desperation of others. Some are attracted to music and others to drawing, while both branches are very unpleasant for others and it will be noticed that in the studies to which the child is attracted seems to learn almost without effort As if he were simply relearning some favorite study momentarily forgotten and in the case of the study that he does not like each step is accompanied by effort in some cases the child seems to learn each r with minimal effort and practically without effort while in other cases the child has to tiresomely walk each branch as if he were breaking ground completely new and this continues in later life when the adult finds this or that thing into which he fits naturally as if it were made for him the knowledge relating to it comes to him like yesterday’s lesson we know a case in which a man had failed in everything he had undertaken until the age of 40 when his displeased father-in-law put him in charge of a company that he had had to take over due to a bad debt. The unsuccessful man was immediately interested in the job and within a month he knew more about it. the one that many men who had been in the company for years his mind found himself perfectly at home and made one improvement after another quickly and with uniform success had found his job and in a few years he was at the head of the country in that particular line of blessed business the one who has found his job, the reincarnationists would maintain that that man has found his job in a similar line in its mental demands with that of his previous life or lives. Not necessarily identical in details but similar in its mental demand, there are examples of this to our Around heredity does not seem to explain it nor does the environment respond to the requirements. There is some other factor. It is reincarnation. This phenomenon is joined by that of youthful genius. In fact, genius of any age since genius itself seems to be outside the category of the ordinary cause of heredity and environment and having its roots in deeper and richer soil it is a well known fact that from time to time a child is born who at a very early age shows a knowledge of certain arts or other branches of work mental that is normally only expected of those of advanced age and after years of training in many cases these children are born to parents and grandparents deficient in the particular branches of knowledge that the child evidences babies barely able to sit on the piano stool or holding the violin have begun to play in a way that certainly indicated prior knowledge and technique, often composing original productions in a surprising way, other young children have begun to draw and design without any instruction, others have shown wonderful mathematical ability, with several recorded cases. in which such children have performed feats in mathematics impossible for advanced adults who teach the same lines What is the cause of these phenomena is reincarnation As Figuier said years ago we hear it said every day that a child has a mathematical twist another musical another artistic in others we notice wild, violent even criminal instincts after the first years of life these dispositions explode when these natural attitudes are taken beyond the usual limit we find famous examples that history has appreciated and that we love to remember There is Pascal dominating at age from 12 to most of plane geometry without any instruction and not even a hint of calculation, drawing on the floor of his room all the figures in the first book of Euclid, accurately estimating the mathematical relationships of all of them, that is, reconstructing for himself a part of descriptive geometry the pastor Man Melo manipulating figures at the age of 5 with the same speed as a calculating machine Mozart performing a sonata on the pianoforte with 4-year-old fingers and composing an opera at the age of eight Teresa Milanoo playing the violin at the age of 4 with such eminent skill that Bot said he must have touched it before he was born rembrand drawing masterfully before he could read the same authority says In reference to the fact that some of these prodigies do not become famous in their later years and that their genius often seems to fade away, leaving them as ordinary children, which is easily understood. They come to earth with notable faculties acquired in a previous existence, but they have done nothing to develop their abilities. They have remained all their lives at the same point where they were in the moment of his birth the true man of Genius is the one who incessantly cultivates and improves the great natural aptitudes that he brought to the world There is an interesting field for the study of thought and research along the lines of the early development of traits, tendencies and thinking in young children. Here the answer will evidently be found to many problems that have perplexed the race. It is true that heredity and the environment play an important role but nevertheless there seems to be another element that acts in the case that science must count on to reach its final conclusions that something is related to the soul and not to the mind of the child is that something that men call metempsychosis Rebirth reincarnation in the same line or thought are the great questions of instinctive likes and dislikes, loves and hates that we find among people who meet as strangers Where do those strange and inexplicable attractions come from and repulsions that many feel when encountering certain strangers who could never have provoked such feelings in the present life and which heredity does not explain. It is simply a fantasy or an absurd and irrational feeling. It is the result of inharmonious and discordant natures. They are remnants of ancestral feelings. inherited towards similar individuals hated loved or feared it is a telepathic perception of certain elements in the other or it is a manifestation of the feelings experienced in a past existence this phenomenon should be included in the tests of reincarnation many think that in reincarnation the only answer chapter 11 arguments against reincarnation honest consideration of any issue requires examination of the other side of the case as well as the affirmative side we have devoted much space to the presentation and consideration of the arguments written by those convinced of the truth of reincarnation and Before closing our work we think it is good to give at least a small vision of the other side as it is presented by the opponents of the doctrine along with the response to them that reincarnationists usually give. The first adverse argument that is usually presented is that The supporters of reincarnation have not established the existence of a soul that can reincarnate nor have they proven its nature if there is such a thing. The natural answer to this is that the doctrine of reincarnation is not called upon to establish proof of the existence of a Soul. since the idea of the existence of the soul is practically universal and therefore axion, that is, it is a truth that can be considered an axiom or evident truth worthy of being assumed as a necessary principle for thinking on the subject, a proposition that is necessary to take for granted an established principle of thought on the subject strictly speaking perhaps the fact of the existence of the soul is incapable of being materially proven except by those who accept the fact of the return of the proven spirit either in the form of an unequivocal manifestation of the disembodied soul by materialization or by an equally unequivocal manifestation in the form of communications of some type of said disembodied soul, science does not admit that there is true evidence of the existence of a soul that persists after the death of the body But all religions and at Although the oldest philosophical thought generally agrees that the existence of such a soul is an obvious fact that requires no proof, many consider Descartes’ statement I think therefore I am as logical proof of the existence of an immaterial soul and others maintain that the self-consciousness of Every human being is sufficient proof that the ego or self is something immaterial that governs the material body that it inhabits. Thus, reincarnationists affirm that this demand for proof of the existence of the soul is not fair because such a discussion belongs to the most general field of thought that They are justified in starting from the idea that the soul exists as an axiomatic truth and that their true task is to establish not that the soul exists but that it is reincarnated after the death of the body, as Figuier says. The difficulty does not lie in demonstrating that there is a spiritual principle in us that It resists death because to question the existence of this principle we must doubt thought. The real problem is to find out if the spiritual and immortal principle that exists in us is going to live again after death in ourselves or in another person The question is will the immortal soul be reborn in the same individual physically transformed into the same person as to the other objection that reincarnationists have not demonstrated the nature of the soul that many of the defenders of the doctrine believe necessary to respond at great length and with many useful reasonings, we believe that the objection is not well stated with regard to reincarnation, if it is taken as an axiom that the soul really exists, that is sufficient as a principle for the argument in favor of the doctrine and Proof or refutation of any special theory relating to the nature of the soul is outside the main question so we will not consider it here. It is possible to think of the soul as a reincarnating entity whether it is a monad, a duad, a triad or a septenary being. The second objection usually made is that reincarnation cannot be true otherwise you would remember the incidents of our past lives clearly and distinctly and the fact that most people do not have such a memory is considered a refutation of the doctrine the answer to this objection is one that it is not true that people do not remember the events of their past lives the cases cited by us and similar ones that happen to others together with the fact that almost everyone remembers something from the past show that the objection is not correctly raised and two that the fact that we have nothing but a very cloudy and imperfect memory is not an objection at all because we have a clear memory of the events of our infancy and childhood in this life we have a clear memory of the events of 20 years ago apart from a few scattered cases of which the majority are only remembered when some associated fact is mentioned we have not completely forgotten the vast majority of the events of our current life How many can remember the events of youthful life old companions and friends are completely forgotten or only remembered after much thought and help in the form of suggested associations. On the other hand we do not see complete forgetting in cases of very old people who relapse into a state of second childhood and who then They live entirely in the present, the past having vanished for them. There are cases of people who have aged. And although they retain their reasoning faculties, they were like children when it comes to the past. A well-known writer, when he was in this state, used to read the books he had written. enjoying it very much and without dreaming that it was its author, Professor Nat says about it the memory of the details of the past is absolutely impossible the power of the conservative faculty Although relatively large it is extremely limited we forget most of the experience Shortly after having gone through it and We should be able to remember the details of our past years by filling in all the missing links of consciousness since we entered the present life before we are in a position to remember our prenatal experience. Birth must necessarily be preceded by the crossing of the River of Forgetfulness while that the capacity for fresh acquisition survives and the accumulated richness of the old experience determines the quantity and characters of the new the loss of memory is not the loss of being or even of individuality OR of character in this respect we must mention the various cases of split personality or lost personality pointed out in recent psychology books there are a number of well authenticated cases in which people due to severe mental stress overwork etc. have lost the thread of personality and have forgotten even their own names and who have resumed life under circumstances that would continue until something occurred to cause a restoration of the memory when the past in all its details would return in an instant the annals of the English society for psychical research contain a good number of Such cases which are recognized as typical now it is well justified to assert that such a person while living in the secondary personality And by Therefore in total ignorance of his past life he has not really experienced any previous life the same self was there the same ego and yet the personality was completely different it is not perfectly fair and reasonable to consider these cases as similar to the absence of memory in the Cases of Reincarnation Leave this book and try to remember what happened in your twelfth year. You will only remember one or two or half a dozen events from that year, perhaps not even one in the absence of a diary, or perhaps even with the help of one. Most of the events of the 365 days of that year are blank as if they had never occurred as far as memory is concerned, however the same self or ego persists and the person’s character has certainly been affected and influenced by the events. experiences and lessons of that year perhaps in that year The person has acquired certain knowledge that he uses in his daily life and so in this case as in that of reincarnation the essence of the experiences is preserved while the details are forgotten because that is What reincarnationists maintain in fact, advanced occultists and other reincarnationists affirm that Nothing is really forgotten but that every event is stored in some of the recesses of the mind below the level of consciousness, an idea that coincides with that of modern psychologists and the Reincarnationists affirm that when man develops sufficiently on some higher plane he will have a complete memory of his past experiences in all his incarnations. Some reincarnationists affirm that when the soul leaves the body all the events of that particular life pass quickly before his mind in review before closely related to the last mentioned argument against reincarnation is that since the memory of the past life is absent or almost absent, the new personality is practically a new soul instead of the old reincarnated one and that it is unreasonable and unfair to make her enjoy or suffer because of her experiences and actions in the previous life. We believe that the answers to the last mentioned objection are also answers to this one, the ego or individuality being the same. forget the details of the old personality you are the same self that lived 50 years ago in the same body or even 10 years ago and You are enjoying certain things or suffering from certain things done or not done in the previous time Even though you have forgotten the incidents, the impression of the thing is in your character and you are today largely what you are because of what you have been in past years. Although you have forgotten those years, this I will easily admit and yet the argument of the reincarnationists is no more that an extension of the same idea, as Figuier says, the soul, despite its travels in the midst of its incarnations and its various metamorphoses, always remains identical to itself. Only with each metempsychosis, with each metamorphosis of the external being, it is perfected and purified by growing. in power and intellectual understanding another argument against reincarnation is that it is not necessary because heredity explains all the facts that are alleged to corroborate reincarnation in response to this. Defenders of the doctrine insist that heredity does not explain all the facts. facts since children are born with marked talents and geniuses while none of their family for generations back has shown such tendencies they also state that if heredity were the only factor in the case there would be no Advancement in the races since the children would be exactly like their ancestors, no variety or improvement being possible, but it must be taken into account that reincarnationists do not deny certain effects of heredity, especially on the physical plane and to a certain extent on the mental plane in the sense of perpetuating tendencies that however are and can be overcome by the individual of the child. Furthermore, the doctrine maintains that one of the laws of the Renaissance is that the soul that reincarnates is attracted by parents who are in harmony with it and who can provide it with the environments and association desirable for the soul in this way the characteristics that are transmitted to the offspring are those that the reincarnating soul seeks and desires the law of rebirth is considered as exact and certain as the laws of Mathematics or chemistry the parents Just as the son forms the combination that gives rise to Rebirth, rebirth is sustained above the mere desire of the soul that is reincarnated in accordance with an invariable natural law that is based on justice and The Advancement another argument against reincarnation is that maintains that human souls are reborn as animals in some cases we will not discuss this objection because the advanced ideas of reincarnation expressly prohibit such an interpretation and clearly deny its legitimate place in the doctrine among some of the primitive peoples this idea of transmigration has been maintained in the bodies of animals but never among advanced occultists or leaders of philosophical thought who favor reincarnation reincarnation teaches the evolution of the soul from lower to higher forms but never the devolution or return to animal forms a study of the doctrine of reincarnation will dispel this misconception from the mind of an intelligent person another favorite argument is that it is repugnant to the mind and soul of the average person analysis of this objection will show that what is repugnant to the person is usually the fear of being born again without memory of the present what seems like a loss of self a moment of reflection will show that this objection is ill-founded no one is opposed to the idea of living in the same body for let’s say 10 or 20 more years in health but at the end of Those 10 or 20 years will be practically a different person due to the new experiences they have had, people change a lot in 20 years and yet they are the same individuals, the same self is there with them and at the end of 20 years they will have forgotten most of them. of the events of the current year but I don’t know about it when one realizes that the individual or self is the real self instead of the personality or part of Juan Pérez shopkeeper 36 years old then they will stop fearing the loss of personality of the day or the year they will know that the self is the same self Yesterday, today and tomorrow, whether the doctrine of reincarnation is true or false, the fact is that as long as you exist, it will be the same self in you that you will know that I am It will always be I I am here with you now whether at this moment or in 100 years or in a million years You can never be another no matter what shape you wear or the name by which you are known or the personality with which you act or the place in which you have your abode nor the plane of existence in which you find yourself, you will always be yourself and as we just said you will always be I am here now with you the body and even the personality are things similar to clothes that you put on and take off. without affecting your real self, next we must point out another objection that people usually make when talking about reincarnation. They say, but I don’t want to go back to this. The reincarnationists respond that if one has reached a stage in which one really has no No Desire For anything that the earth can offer Then such a soul will probably not have to reincarnate again on earth Because it has passed Beyond the need for earthly experiences and has spent its Earthly karma However, they maintain that there are few people who truly If you have reached this stage what you really mean is that you do not want any more terrestrial life similar to what you have been experiencing but If you thought you could have certain things wealth position fame beauty influence and everything else you would be perfectly willing to return or you could be so bound by the bonds of karma acting out of love or hate of attachment or repulsion Or of unfulfilled duties or unpaid Moral debts that I could be brought from return to work on the old problems until he had solved them but even this is explained by reincarnationists who hold the idea of desire as the great driving force of karma and who maintain that if one has risen above all Earthly Desire or Disgust that soul is freed from the attraction of Earthly life and is prepared to go higher immediately or else wait in the realms of happiness until the race is ready to pass according to the various theories held by the various Defenders of the doctrine a little examination of conscience will show one whether one is free from all desire to return or not but after all if there is final justice in the plan always and forever working for our good and progress as reincarnationists claim then it must follow that each of us is in the best place for his own good at the present moment and will always be in an equally advantageous position and condition and if this is so then there is no cause for complaint or objection on our part and our only concern should be in word words of the wise Persian live like this so that what must come and will come comes well living One day at a time doing the best you know how to do always living in the belief that it is right with us now and always and that the power that has us in charge here we will be in charge there that is a good philosophy to live and die and this being true even if you have to return you will not have to go back or stay behind on the scale of advancement or spiritual evolution Well it should always be forward and upward . the scale of life such is the law another very frequent objection against the doctrine of reincarnation is that it is anti-Christian and is derived from heathen and pagan sources and is not in accordance with the highest conceptions of the immortality of the soul answering this objection It can be said that to the extent that reincarnation is not a generally accepted doctrine in the orthodox Christian churches today it can be said to be non-Christian rather than anti-Christian but when it is seen that pre-existence and rebirth were held as true by many of the early church fathers and that the doctrine was finally condemned by the dominant majority in the church councils only by means of the harshest methods and the exercise of the most arbitrary authority it can be seen that in the opinion of many of the most eminent early authorities there was nothing anti-Christian in it but it was a doctrine proper to the church the doctrine was simply rejected as were many important doctrines revered by some of the great Minds of the early church in some cases the decision was made by a majority of one vote And again there have been many brilliant Minds in the Christian church who persisted in the belief that the doctrine was much more consistent with the internal teachings of Christianity than the prevailing conception and based on fairly good authority as to the The accusation that it is derived from pagan and pagan sources must be answered that certainly the doctrine was accepted by the pagan and pagan world centuries before the dawn of Christianity but for that matter it was also not the doctrine relating to the future of the soul Generally accepted by the orthodox christianity in fact almost all the doctrines or theories relating to the survival of the soul were derived from pagan and pagan sources the pagan and pagan mind had reflected long and seriously on this great problem and the field of thought had been fairly well covered before the advent of Christianity in fact Christianity did not add any new doctrine it did not invent any new theory and is far from being clear and explicit in its teachings on the subject the result is that the first Christians were divided among themselves on the matter different sects and schools favoring different doctrines each and every one of which had been derived from pagan and pagan sources. If all doctrines relating to the immortality of the soul are to be judged by the test of whether or not they have been derived from pagan and pagan sources then The entire body of doctrine and thought on the subject must be expelled from the Christian mind which must then endeavor to create or invent an entirely new doctrine that has never been thought of by a pagan or heathen a very difficult task indeed considering the activity of the pagan and pagan mind in this regard it must be remembered that there is no authoritative teaching on this subject none that comes directly from Jesus the Christian doctrines on the subject come from theologians and simply represent the views of the majority of some church council or of the most powerful faction. Although the objection that reincarnation is not in accordance with the highest conceptions of the immortality of the soul is one that must depend almost entirely on the personal predisposition or opinion of the individual as to what constitutes the highest conceptions yet a comparison of the conceptions is not out of place in this place do you know what was the doctrine favored by the dominant majority in the councils of the church and by which pre-existence and rebirth were finally discarded do you know the dogma of the church and the belief of the masses of the Orthodox Christians of the first centuries since it was this that when the body dies the person passes into a state of coma or unconsciousness in which state Rest today waiting for the sound of the trumpet of the great day of judgment when the dead will be resurrected and the righteous will be given eternal life in their former bodies while the wicked in their bodies can pass into the eternal That is the doctrine you doubt it so review the authorities and examine even the current creeds many of the which affirm practically the same thing this belief passed into one of the Christian creeds in the words I believe in the resurrection of the body the great masses of Christians today in general thinking on the subject speak as if the accepted doctrine of the church were that the soul passes to the judgment and then to the eternal life of the soul in heaven OR in hell immediately after the death of the body thus ignoring the dogmas of the church councils about the future day of judgment and the resurrection of the body at that time a A little questioning of the religious teachers and a little examination of the religious history and of the creeds and doctrines of their respective churches will astonish many good members of the church who have been thinking fondly of their departed loved ones as if they were even now living. in heaven as blessed Angels will be amazed to discover that the angels of the churches are not the souls of good people who have been judged and rewarded with heavenly joys but rather a body of supernatural beings who never lived in the flesh and who in Instead of their loved ones now enjoying the heavenly realms dogmas hold that they are now in a coma or unconscious state awaiting the great day of judgment when their bodies will be resurrected and given eternal life those who are interested in the matter and Those who may doubt the above statement are invited to examine the records for themselves The doctrine of the resurrection of the body which is of undoubtedly pagan origin and pagan was a favorite theological dogma of the church in the first 1 years of its existence and for many centuries later And it still occupies a very important place in the doctrines of the church today although it is not preached or taught publicly as frequently David Kai says the great distinctive doctrine of Christianity is not the immortality of the soul but the resurrection of the body that the The soul of man is immortal was a common belief among the ancients of which it found its way at an early period into the Christian church but the most influential of the early fathers strongly opposed it holding that the human soul was not essentially immortal but only as the body capable of immortality vineet says the union of the soul and the body seems essential and indissoluble to me, the man without a body in my opinion is no longer a man and God has thought and willed him incarnate and not otherwise according to the passages of the scriptures we cannot doubt That the body or a body is essential to human personality and to the very idea of man I Milton said that the spirit of man is separate from the body to have a perfect and intelligent existence independent of it is not said anywhere in scripture and the doctrine is evidently at odds with both nature and reason. Mason commenting on Milton’s conception says Milton’s conception is that in the last breath the whole man dies, the soul and the body together, and that not until the resurrection. when the body is revived the soul lives again the man or woman lives again in any sense or form whether for happiness or misery there are the souls of the millions and millions of human beings who have died since Adam there are those souls ready either with God and the Angels in heaven or down in the diabolical world Waiting to be reunited with their bodies on the day of resurrection they are not, says Milton, but the soul and the bodies together he says are dead alike sleeping equally deceased alike until that day comes and many Christian theologians have firmly held this doctrine as can be seen by reference to any standard encyclopedia or work on theology Kich said some of the most influential Christian writers were materialists not because they considered the soul to be the mere result of the bodily organization but by considering that the soul itself is corporeal material it seems that In those days the common people held that the soul was incorporeal according to the opinion of Plato and others but that the divine orthodox Christians considered this as an impious and unbiblical opinion. dror RS candlish said you live again in the body in the same body in terms of all the essential properties and all the practical effects in which you live now I will not live as a ghost a ghost a spirit I will live So how do I live now in the body doctor Arnold says I believe that the Christian doctrine of the resurrection satisfies materialists to this extent that it implies that a body or an organization of some kind is necessary for the full development of man’s nature the reverend rj campell eminent English clergyman in His recent work entitled The New Theology says he talks about popular evangelical views but they are even more chaotic on the subject of death and what follows death does not seem to be generally recognized that Christian thought has never been really clear about the resurrection especially in relation to the future judgment one opinion has been that the deceased saint is already asleep in the tomb until the trumpet of the Archangel sounds and commands all humanity to wake up for the great judgment anyone who reads the New Testament without prejudice You will see that this was Paul’s first opinion. Although he later changed it for another, there is a good part of our current and daily religious philosophy that still presumes it father in your kind custody. Let your servant sleep but along with this opinion he has come to us another that blatantly contradicts it to know that immediately after death the soul goes directly to heaven OR to hell as the case may be without waiting for the trumpet of the Archangel and the great judgment in general. This is the dominant theory of the situation in Protestant circles and it is much less reasonable than the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, no matter how much the latter has been abused, but under this view, what is the exact meaning of the day of judgment and the physical resurrection, one might think that they could be considered superfluous, what is the use of tormenting others? a soul in hell for centuries and then return it to the body so that it is resurrected and receives a solemn public condemnation, it is better to leave it in hell and save it problems especially because the solemn judgment is meaningless since a part of the sentence has already been fulfilled and there is no hope of any part of it being truly remitted the tender mercies with which the theologians have credited the almighty are cruel indeed but by the irony of Progress the orthodox churches are gradually approaching the much despised Platonic conception of the naturally immortal immaterial soul the pagan and pagan idea so at odds with the opposing doctrine of the resurrection of the body whose doctrine did not really teach the immortality of the soul at all as professor nathaniel schmed says in a standard encyclopedia article the doctrine of the natural immortality of the human soul became such an important part of Christian thought that the resurrection naturally lost its vital significance and has occupied practically no place in the great systems of philosophy elaborated by the Christian thinkers of modern times but still the letter of the ancient doctrine persists in the books of the church and in its creeds although it is opposed to the enlightened Spirit that is now manifest in the churches and that is moving more and more towards the pagan and pagan Conception of a naturally immaterial and immortal Soul more than in a resurrection of the body and an eternal life in it, it is hardly worth contrasting here the two doctrines, the immortal and immaterial soul on the one hand and the immortal body on the other. This last Conception is so primitive and so foreign to modern thought that it is hardly needs an argument against the idea of the soul’s need for a material body the same old material body that once discarded like a worn-out article of clothing a body perhaps worn down by illness crippled by an accident or slip of the hand of the Potter a body similar to those we see around us every day the immortal soul needing such a garment to be able to exist it is better to accept simple materialism and say that there is no soul and that the body perishes and everything else with it than a doctrine so crude that it is simply a Materialistic immortality in that this doctrine is the highest conception of the immortality of the soul in contrast to the pagan and pagan doctrine of reincarnation it is not a conception of the immortality of the soul at all but a flat contradiction of the same is a doctrine of the immortality of the body which bears clear marks of a very low pagan and pagan origin and as to the later Christian conception it can be seen that there is nothing in the idea of rebirth which is inconsistent with it in fact the two ideas naturally blend with each other in the above discussion our entire intention has been to respond to the argument against reincarnation which accuses the latter of deriving from pagan and pagan sources and not being in accordance with the highest conceptions of immortality of the soul and for this we have considered it necessary to examine the supposed theological dogmas as we find them and Show that they do not live up to the claims of being the highest conception etc. We believe that the strongest point against the dogmas can be found in the statements of its Defenders the fact that the church moves away from them only demonstrates its inadequacy as a Supreme Conception and reincarnationists maintain that as the church grows in favor of the immortal immaterial soul it will also lean towards the companion doctrine of pre-existence and rebirth in some of its varied forms probably that of the early fathers of the church as origins and their followers that the church will reclaim chapter 12 the law of karma karma It is a term in general use among Hindus and Western believers in reincarnation whose meaning is susceptible to various nuances of definition and interpretation is very important for all students of the subject of reincarnation because it is the companion doctrine the twin truth of the doctrine of metempsychosis strictly speaking Karma is the law of Cause and Effect applied to the life of the soul the law by which it reaps the results of its own sowing or suffers the reaction of its own action for the majority of reincarnationists however it has a broader meaning and is used in the sense of the law of Justice or the law of reward and punishment that operates along the lines of personal experience, personal life and personal character. Many authorities maintain that the original idea of karma was that of a great natural law that operated along exact lines as do the laws of Mathematics and Chemistry, producing the exact effect of each cause and standing above all questions of good or evil, reward or punishment. of morality or immorality etc. and acting as a great natural force above all those questions of human behavior for those who still adhere to this conception. Karma is like the law of gravitation that operates without taking into account the people, morality or questions of good and evil , like any other great natural law, from this point of view, the only right or wrong thing would be the effect of an action, that is, whether it is related to one’s own well-being and that of the race or the opposite from this point of view if a child puts his hand on a hot stove the action is wrong because it brings Pain and unhappiness Although the act is neither moral nor immoral and another action is correct because it brings happiness well-being and present and future satisfaction Although The act was neither moral nor immoral from this point of view. There can be neither reward nor punishment in the common sense. Although in another sense there is a reward for such a correct action and a punishment for such a wrong action as The Child with the burnt hand in this sense of the term some of the oldest schools of reincarnation accepted that Karma determined rebirth along the lines of desire and attraction, maintaining that the character of souls would attract them to Rebirth along the lines of their strongest desires and in an environment that would give them the greatest opportunity to work those desires into action by taking the pains and pleasures of experience that arise from such action and thus molding a new or more complete character that would create a new karma that would determine future birth etc. AND Thus, those who held this point of view believed that in this way the soul would learn its lesson with many Knocks on the knuckles and with the pain of many experiences that would tend to make it the path most conducive to spiritual and spiritual happiness and well-being. It would take it away from the path of material desires and pleasures because repeated experiences had shown that true spiritual well-being was not obtained from there. In other words, the soul in its spiritual childhood was like a small child in the physical world learning by experience that some things This view naturally carried with it the idea that true ethics would show that everything that tended to the Progress of the soul was good and everything that retarded its Progress was bad despite any arbitrary Standard of right or wrong erected by man throughout the ages and whose Standard has constantly changed from time to time is changing now and will always change but the Hindu mind especially soon expanded this original idea of karma and the priests of India soon They had the idea that Karma functioned as a great rewarder of good and a great punisher of evil in correspondence with the rewards and punishments in the afterlife as taught by Christian preachers. Hindu priests held the terrors of karma upon the sinner. and the rewards promised to good people from the same source served to stimulate the worshiper to perform actions in accordance with the ethics of the particular church that preached the doctrine that the future state of man in the next Incarnation and perhaps for many others was taught. depended on his state of goodness according to the laws of the church and the priestly teaching segar m an argument as powerful and a threat as terrifying as the orthodox bribery of heaven and threat of hell of the Western world the effect of this teaching is seen among the masses of today’s lightly educated Hindu classes who are very eager to acquire merit by performing some good action like giving alms to the wandering religious beggar, making contributions to temples etc. as well as performing ordinary acts of goodwill towards men and who They are equally anxious to avoid acquiring demerits for lack of proper observances and the performance of improper actions. While the general effect of this may be in the direction of keeping the ignorant masses on the ethical path most conducive to the public good, it also has a tendency to encourage credulity. Superstition and imposing just as similar teachings do in any land time under the cover of any religion there is a strong family resemblance between these teachings among all religions and there are many men who maintain that this cracking of the theological whip is very necessary to maintain the masses of the people on the narrow path of morality since it is considered that they were incapable of the practice of doing good for the sake of good and avoiding evil because it is evil. We will not discuss this question. Decide for yourself. One of the strongest applications of the mentioned form of the doctrine in India is the teaching that a man’s caste in his next Incarnation will be determined by his degree of good conduct in the present life and that his present caste has been determined by his conduct in his previous lives no one who If you have not studied the importance of caste in India you can begin to understand how powerful this teaching is for the people of India from the exalted Brahmin caste, the priestly caste, to the unskilled laborer caste of Sudras or even further down to the outcasts or pariahs the caste lines are strongly marked the person of the upper caste considers it a great misfortune to be touched by someone of a lower caste or to eat food prepared by a person of the lower caste and so on in all acts of daily life the only comparison possible to the American mind is the attitude of the Southerner of old towards the lower class of Negroes and even in this case the prejudice does not extend as far as in the case of the Hindus since the Southerner will eat the food prepared by a black servant and will allow him to shave him act as his valet etc. something that the high caste Hindu would be horrified by someone of lower caste understanding this it is easy to see how careful a high caste Hindu would be to avoid doing actions that could rob him of his caste in his next life and how powerful the incentive is for a low caste Hindu to strive to be born in a higher caste after many incarnations for people who hold this view birth in a low caste is the mark of a crime and an evil action committed in a previous life and one born in a lower house is therefore considered unworthy of respect. We understand from well-known Hindus that this idea is gradually dissipating in India and an era is beginning to manifest itself. of human brotherhood and common interest in the Western world reincarnationists have undoubtedly been greatly affected by the predominant orthodox Hindu conception of karma rather than by the general Greek and occult conception Although there are many who regard karma rather as a character shaper And therefore as a primary factor in rebirth rather than as a dispenser of rewards and punishments, however, there are many who, discarding the orthodox [__] of their ancient faith, have found a worthy substitute for it in their Conception of Karma and manifest the same terror and fear of the new [__] than of the Old and its name can be summarized as fear in both cases. Theosophists have discussed the matter of karma very thoroughly and their leading authorities have written much about it showing their various interpretations in the nuances of opinion among writers in general, however, it can be said that they have bridged the Abyss between the idea of the natural law and that of the moral law with its rewards and punishments by an interpretation that puts a foot in each Conception maintaining that there is truth in each. Of course justice requires that student’s reference to theosophical writings for a detailed understanding of his views. But we believe that a brief summary of his general interpretation would be in order here. One of his leading authorities states that the law of karma is of automatic action and that it is not possible to escape from it. He also maintains that absolute justice is manifested in its operations, the idea of mercy or anger being absent from it and that consequently every debt must be paid in full until the last penny and that there is no vicarious atonement or exceptions made in response to supplications to a higher source but in particular he states that this action of the law is not to be confused with ordinary reward and punishment for good or bad action but that the law acts the same that any other law of nature in the same way that if we put our hand in fire we will burn as a natural consequence and not as punishment in his exposition of this point of view he says we maintain that pain and suffering flow from sin precisely from that way under the direct operation of natural law it can perhaps be said that Obviously the good man does not always reap His reward of good results nor does the evil man always suffer not always immediately not always within our reach but surely eventually and inexorable the writer goes on to define his Conception of good and evil he says we will see more clearly that this must be so If we define exactly what we understand by good and evil our religious brothers would tell us that what is good is what is in accordance with the will of God and that what opposes it is bad. The scientific man would say that what helps evolution is good and what hinders it is bad. Those two men are actually saying Exactly the same thing because God’s will for the man is evolution and when this is clearly realized the entire conflict between religion and science ends immediately therefore anything that is against the evolution of humanity as a whole is against the divine will we see of immediate that when a man strives to gain something for himself at the expense of others he is clearly doing evil and it is evil because it is against the interest of the whole therefore the only true gain is that which is a gain for the race as a whole and the man who gains something without cost or harm to anyone is elevating the entire race in the process he is moving in the direction of evolution While the other man is moving against it the same writer then gives the list of the three kinds of karma according to Hindu teachings namely one is the sanchita or accumulated karma the entire mass that still remains behind the Man without having been worked the total unpaid balance of the debit and credit account two is the praba or initial karma the amount assigned to man at the beginning of each life his destiny for that life So to speak three is The criana karma what we are doing now by our actions in this present life for the future also Affirms that second type Pravda karma is the only destiny that can be said to exist for man that is what an astrologer could predict for us that we have been given so much good or bad fortune both as a result of the good and bad actions of our past lives that will react on us in this one but we must Always remember that this result of the previous action can never force us to act in the present it can put us in conditions in which it will be difficult to avoid an act but it can never force us to commit it the man of ordinary development would probably give in to circumstances and commit the act But He can assert his free will, rise above the circumstances and obtain a victory and a step in evolution. The same thing happens with a good action, which is not forced on man but is given one. If he takes advantage of it, certain results will be obtained. Not necessarily a happy or rich life next time but certainly a life with more opportunities. It seems to be one of the surest things that the man who has done things well in this life always has the opportunity to do them even better in the next. It is nature’s reward for good work the opportunity to do more work of course wealth is a great opportunity so reward often comes in that form but the essence of reward is opportunity and not the pleasure which may be supposed to accompany wealth another theosophical writer further says on the subject of karma as all these phases of karma have influence on man Individually , they also operate on races. Nations and families, each race has its karma as a whole. If it is good, that race advances. If it is bad, it becomes extinct, annihilated as a race, although the affected souls resume their karma in other races and bodies. Nations cannot escape from its national karma and any nation that has acted evil must suffer one day whether sooner or later the same writer summarizes the idea of individual unhappiness in any life as follows a is a punishment for evil done in past lives ob is a discipline assumed by the ego with the purpose of eliminating defects or acquiring strength and sympathy when the defects are eliminated it is as if the obstruction in an irrigation canal was removed which then allows the water to flow happiness is explained in the same way the result From Previous Lives of Goodness the general idea of a number of writers on the subject of karma is that as I sow so I reap brought to a marvelous detail of arrangement and effect flowing from the causes this conception taken to its logical conclusion would insist that each piece of Pain and unhappiness in this life is the result of some bad action done in the present life or in the past and every piece of happiness, joy or pleasure is the result of some good action done in the present life or in the past this conception of Karma provides us with the most intricately complex and detailed idea of reward for good and punishment for evil even when the operation of natural law is called upon to the mind of man in its entirety and brought to its ultimate refinement of interpretation and Analysis has a tendency to baffle and terrify for the possibility of escaping its tangled machinery seems very small but yet the same authorities inform us that all souls will overcome these obstacles And all will achieve So there is no need to be afraid Even if one accepts the interpretation of the doctrine in its entirety But there are some thinkers who take this idea of retributive karma to such an extreme that they maintain that every case of physical pain illness deformity poverty misfortune etc. that we see among people is the inevitable result of some moral error or crime committed by that person in some past life and that therefore every case of poverty, lack or physical suffering is the just result of some moral offense. Some of the extremists have come to hesitate in alleviating the poverty, physical pain and suffering of the Otherwise, lest by doing so they may be interfering with Karma as if they could interfere with some great law. Although in general we have refrained from insisting on our personal preference of interpretation in this work, we cannot refrain from doing so, in this case we consider that such interpretation of the law of karma is forced and unnatural and results from the apparent natural tendency of the human mind to build demons for itself and hells of one kind or another stripped of their [ __ ] many people would attribute to their God certain diabolical qualities so that do not take away the satisfaction of thinking sufficiently about the just punishment of others and if they have also discarded the idea of a personal God their demand for a [ __ ] makes them attribute certain diabolical qualities to the natural law the primitive demand for a vengeful spirit must manifest itself in one way or another these people confuse the action of cause and effect on the material and physical plane with cause and effect on the spiritual plane while all true occultists teach that the cause that operates in a plane manifests effects on the same plane in this regard we draw attention to the example of the new testament John ninth two in which Jesus was asked about the cause of the affection of the man who was born blind his disciples asked him teacher who sinned this or His parents for him to be born blind the question was asked so that Jesus could determine between the two prevailing theories one that the blindness was caused in accordance with the law of Moses which held that the sins of the fathers were visited by the children until the third and fourth generation or two that it was caused according to the law of karma in the line of reincarnation and due to some sin that man had committed in some past Incarnation because no other interpretation of the passage is possible and it shows the prevalence of the idea of reincarnation among the people of that time but Jesus quickly discarded these two crude and primitive conceptions and interpretations and in the light of his superior spiritual knowledge he responded the explanation of the expression the works of God is that Jesus was referring to the application of the laws of nature imposed by God something more than the punishment for sins and that operated according to invariable physical laws and that affected both the just and the unjust like any natural law it is now known that many children go blind due to the neglect of certain precautions at birth this may have been such a case we consider that any attempt to attribute illnesses to sin unrelated to the physical problem is a return to primitive theological dogmas AND smacks strongly of the idea of the [ __ ] of the theology of that we have talked about and poverty results from economic conditions and not as a punishment for sin, wealth is not the reward of virtue by any means but before leaving this phase of the subject we would like to say that many careful thinkers have been able to discern certain spiritual benefits that have arisen from physical suffering or poverty and that the sufferers often manifest a high degree of spiritual development and growth Apparently because of their pain not only this but the divine faculties of La Pieta help them and true sympathy They become evident in others because of this. We believe that this vision of the matter is much more in line with true spirituality than that of lack and illness. As the punishment for sins committed in past lives, including the human idea of justice is revealed before this type of punishment and in fact the highest human justice and human law completely eliminate the idea of punishment as far as retaliation or revenge is concerned, considering punishment merely as a deterrent to others. This It is at least the theory of human law, however imperfect it may be in practice, and we cannot think that divine law is less just and equitable, less merciful and loving, the conception of human justice of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, has been surpassed. by the race in its evolution after considering the aforementioned extreme ideas of punishments through the law of karma We ask you to consider the following lines written by a writer of Great insight and published in a major magazine several years ago the idea idea of the Kindergarten of God expressed in them, we believe , is much more in accordance with the highest occult teachings than the other idea of divine wrath and punishment for sin along the lines of a misinterpretation of the law of karma worthy of worshipers . from some ancient God [ __ ] read this little quote carefully and then Determine Which of the two points of view seems to fit best with your highest spiritual conceptions a child went to school he was very young everything he knew he had learned with milk from his mother his teacher who was God put him in the lowest class and gave him these lessons to learn you will not kill you will not harm any living being you will not steal so the man did not kill but he was cruel and stole at the end of the day when his beard was gray when night came his teacher who was God said you have learned not to kill but you have not learned the other lessons come back tomorrow the next day a little boy came back and his teacher who was God put him in a class a little higher and gave him these lessons to learn you will not harm any living being you will not steal you will not cheat So the man did not harm any living being but he stole and cheated and at the end of the day when his beard was gray when night came his teacher who was God said you have learned to be merciful but the other lessons you have not learned come back tomorrow again the next day a little boy came back and his teacher who was God He put him in a class even a little higher and gave him these lessons to learn you will not steal you will not deceive you will not covet so the man did not steal but he deceived and he coveted and at the end of the day when his beard was gray when the night came his teacher who was God said you have learned not to steal but you have not learned the other lessons come back my daughter tomorrow This is what I have read in the faces of men and women in the book of the world and in the scroll of the heavens that It is written with stars low gu Berry pansen in the sanary magazine May 1894 low gu But there is still another view of karma held by some Western thinkers who received it from the Greek mystics and occultists who in turn are believed to have received it from Ancient Egypt these People maintain that the law of karma has nothing to do with man’s ethical theories or with religious dogmas or creeds but only has as the basis of its operations the universal and cosmic principles of action applicable to both the atom and man and also to the beings that are above man and that These universal principles of action have to do with the evolution of all things in nature according to well-established laws and that the evolving soul continually forces itself to find its way along the lines of evolution urged by the spirit that unfolds within it and that this path is always along the lines of least spiritual friction and therefore along the lines of least final spiritual pain and that consequently the Spiritual pain is an indication to the evolving thing that it is on the wrong path and that it must find a better path toward each other. It pays attention to it because of the pain and consequently seeks for itself a better path and one that will bring less spiritual pain and ultimate spiritual satisfaction this teaching holds that all material things are a source of more or less pain for the growing and evolving soul which tends to propel it along the line of least spiritual resistance the least spiritual friction may be that the soul does not recognize the direction of the impulse and insists on trying this material pleasure thus thought and then that one only to find that neither satisfies that both are fruits of the Dead Sea that both have the thorn attached to the flower that they all bring pain the consequence is that the tired and fatigued soul when it rests from the deadly sleep and is born again it has horror and disgust for the things that displeased it in its previous life and therefore it is driven towards opposite things if the soul has not been satisfied it has not yet been pricked with the hidden thorn he desires in the dream of material pleasure and so he does until he learns the lesson, finally perceiving the folly and uselessness of materiality, he leaves his Cocoon and spreading his newly found wings he takes flight towards higher planes of action and of being and so on forever under this point of view people are not punished for their sins but for them and sin is seen as a mere mistake not as a crime And pain arises not as a punishment for something that has been done evil but as a warning sign of hands off and consequently pain is something through which we can ascend to higher things to something better and not a punishment and this idea also maintains that on the physical plane the physical law governs and the effects physical causes follow the physical causes Equally on the mental plane Equally on the spiritual plane and therefore it is absurd to suppose that physical pain is suffered as punishment for some moral offense committed on another plane, on the contrary this idea maintains that from pain physical that was brought about by the operation of physical law alone one can develop higher spiritual states by reason of a better understanding of the nature of pain in oneself and in others and this idea refuses to recognize material pleasures or benefits as compensating for spiritual or moral actions in general. This last Conception of Karma refuses to use the terms reward and Punishment or even to consider those ideas but instead They see the entire operation of a great cosmic plan by which everything rises from the lower to the Higher and even more for it. Karma is nothing more than a phase of the great law that operates in all planes and forms of life and of the universe for him the idea that the universe is governed by law is an axiom And although for him ultimate justice is also an axiom he does not see in the operation of punishments and rewards the merits and demerits the proof of that He seeks ultimate justice and finds it in the Conception and the understanding that everything works for good that everything tends to elevate that everything is justified And it is just because the end is absolute good and that each small operation of the great cosmic machinery turns in the right direction and towards that end consequently each one of us is just where he should be at the present moment and our condition is exactly the best to lead us to that divine consummation and end and for such thinkers in fact there is no more [ __ ] that fear and infidelity and all other demons are illusions whether they are called beelzebub mortal mind or karma if they produce fear and infidelity in good and such thinkers in that the way of living in accordance with the Superior light and without fear of karma malevolent is to feel one’s relationship with the universal good And then live one day at a time doing the best you know how and be kind knowing that in the all good you live and move and have your being and that outside of that all good you cannot deviate because there is no outside knowing that what brought you here will be with you there that death is nothing more than a phase of life and above all that there is nothing to be afraid of and that everything is fine with God with the universe and with you
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