Lesson IX. Metempsychosis
As we have said in our last lesson, while the Yogi Teachings throw an important light upon the Western theory of Evolution, still there is a vital difference between the Western scientific teachings on the subject and the Eastern theories and teachings. The Western idea is that the
process is a mechanical, material one, and that
"mind" is a "by-product" of Matter in its evolution. But the Eastern Teachings hold that Mind is
under, back of, and antecedent to all the work of Evolution, and that Matter is a "by-product" of Mind, rather than the
reverse.
The Eastern
Teachings hold that Evolution is caused by
Mind striving, struggling, and pressing forward toward fuller and fuller expression, using Matter as a material, and yet always struggling to
free itself from the confining and
retarding influence of the latter.
The struggle results in an Unfoldment, causing sheath after sheath of the confining material bonds to be thrown off and discarded, as the Spirit
presses upon the Mind, and the Mind
moulds and shapes the Matter.
Evolution is but the process of birth of the Individualized Spirit, from
the web of Matter in which it has been
confined. And the pains and struggles
are but incidents of the spiritual parturition.
In this and following lessons we shall consider the "Spiritual
Evolution, of the race-that is the Unfoldment of
Individualized Spirit-just as we did the subject
Physical Evolution in the last two lessons.
We have seen that
preceding Spiritual Evolution, there was a Spiritual Involution. The Yogi
Philosophy holds that in the Beginning,
the Absolute meditated upon the subject of Creation, and formed a
Mental Image, or Thought-Form, of an Universal Mind-that is, of an Universal
Principle of Mind. This Universal Principle of Mind is the Great Ocean of"Mind-Stuff"
from which all the phenomenal Universe is evolved. From this Universal Principle
of Mind, proceeded the Universal Principle
of Force or Energy. And from the latter, proceeded the Universal
Principle of Matter.
The Universal
Principle of Mind was bound by Laws imposed
upon it by the mental-conception of the Absolute-the Cosmic Laws of
Nature. And these laws were the compelling
causes of the Great Involution. For before Evolution was possible,
Involution was necessary. We have explained that the word "involve" means "to wrap up; to
cover: to hide, etc." Before a thing can be "evolved."
that is "unfolded," it must first be "involved," that is
"wrapped up." A thing must be put
in, before it may be taken out.
Following the laws
of Involution imposed upon it, the
Universal Mental Principle involved itself in the Universal Energy Principle; and then in obedience
to the same laws, the latter involved itself in the Universal Material
Principle. Each stage of Involution. or wrapping-tip,
created for itself (out of the higher principle which in being
involved) the wrapper or sheath which is to
be used to wrap-up the higher principle.
And the higher forms of the Material Principle
formed sheaths of lower forms, until forms of Matter
were produced far more gross than any known to us
now, for they have disappeared in the Evolutionary
ascent. Down, down, down went the process of
Involution, until the lowest point was reached. Then
ensued a moment's pause, preceding the beginning of the Evolutionary
Unfoldment.
Then began the Great Evolution. But, as we have told
you, the Upward movement was distinguished by the
"Tendency toward Individualization." That is, while the InvoluntaryProcess was accomplished
by Principles as Principles, the Upward Movement was begun by a tendency toward "splitting up," and the creation
of "individual forms," and the effort to perfect them and build upon them higher and still higher succeeding
forms, until a stage was reached in which the
Temple of the Spirit was worthy of being occupied by
Man, the self-conscious expression of the Spirit. Far the coming of Man
was the first step of a higher form of
Evolution-the Spiritual Evolution. Up to this time there had been simply an
Evolution of Bodies, but now there
came the Evolution of Souls.
And this Evolution of Souls becomes possible only by the process of Metempsychosis (pronounced me-temp-si-ko-sis) which is more commonly
known as Reincarnation, or Reembodiment.
It becomes necessary at this point to call your attention to the general subject of Metempsychosis, for the
reason that the public mind is most confused regarding
this important subject. It has the most vague ideas regarding the true
teachings, and has somehow acquired the impression
that the teachings are that human souls are re-born
into the bodies of dogs, and other animals. The wildest ideas on this subject
are held by some people. And, not only is this so, but even a number of those who hold to the doctrine of
Reincarnation, in some of its forms, hold that their individual souls were once the individual souls
of animals, from which state they
have evolved to the present
condition. This last is a perversion of the highest Yogi Teachings, and we
trust to make same plain in these
lessons. But, first we must take a look at the general subject of Metempsychosis, that we may see the important part it has played in the field of
human thought and belief.
While
to many the idea of Metempsychosis may seem new
and unfamiliar, stilt it is one of the oldest conceptions
of the race, and in ages past was the accepted belief of the whole of the
civilized race of man of the period. And even today, it is accepted as
Truth by the majority of the race
The
almost universal acceptance of the idea by the East with its teeming life,
counterbalances its comparative non-reception by the
Western people of the day. From the early days of
written or legendery history, Metempsychosis has been
the accepted belief of many of the most intelligent of the race. It is found underlying the magnificent civilization of
ancient
Egypt, and from thence it traveled to the Western world
being held as the highest truth by such teachers
as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil and Ovid. Plato's Dialogues are
full of this teaching. The Hindus have
always held to it. The Persians, inspired
by their learned Magi, accepted it implicitly. The ancient Druids, and Priests of Gaul, as well as the ancient
inhabitants of Germany, held to it. Traces of
it may be found in the remains of the A2tec, Peruvian and Mexican
civilizations.
The
Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece, the Roman Mysteries,
and the Inner Doctrines of the Cabbala of the
Hebrews all taught the Truths of Metempsychosis. The early Christian Fathers;
the Gnostic and Manichaeans and other sects of the
Early Christian people, all held to the doctrine. The
modern German philosophers have treated it with the
greatest respect, if indeed they did not at least partially accept it. Many modern writers have considered it gravely, and with respect. The
folbwing quotations will give an idea of "how the wind is blowing" in
the West:
"Of all the
theories respecting the origin of the soul.
Metempsychosis seems to me the most plausible and therefore the one most
likely to throw light on the
question of a life to come."-Frederick H. Hedge.
"It
would be curious if we should find science and philosophy
taking up again the old theory of metempsychosis, remodelling it to
suit our present modes of religious and scientific thought, and launching it again on
the wide ocean of human belief. But stranger
things have happened in the history of human opinions."-James
Freeman Clarke.
"If we could legitimately determine any question of belief
by the number of its adherents, the * * * * would apply
to metempsychosis more fitly than to any other. I think
it is quite as likely to be revived and to come to the
front as any rival theory."-Prof. Wm. Knight.
"It
seems to me, a firm and well-grounded faith in the doctrine of Christian
metempsychosis might help to regenerate the world. For it would be a faith not hedged
around with many of the difficulties and objections
which beset other forms of doctrine, and it offers distinct
and pungent motives for trying to lead a more Christian
life, and for loving and helping our brother-man."-Prof. Francis
Bowen.
"The
doctrine of Metempsychosis may almost claim to be a
natural or innate belief in the human mind, if we may
judge from its wide diffusion among the nations of
the earth, and its prevalence throughout the historical
ages."-Prof. Francis Bowen.
"When Christianity first swept over Europe, the inner
thought of its leaders was deeply tinctured with this truth. The Church tried ineffectually to eradicate it,
but in various sects it kept sprouting forth beyond the
time of Erigina and Bonaventura, its mediaeval advocates.
Every great intuitional soul, as Paracelsus, Boehme,
and Swedenborg, has adhered to it. The Italian
luminaries, Giordano Bruno and Campanella, embraced
it. The best of German philosophy is
enriched by it In Schopenhauer, Lessing, Hegel, Leibnitz, Herder, and
Fichte, the younger, it is earnestly advocated.
The anthropological systems of Kant and Schelling furnish points of
contact with it. The younger Helmont, in De
Revolutione Animarunt, adduces in two hundred problems all the
arguments which may be urged in favor of the return of souls into human bodies
according to Jewish ideas. Of English thinkers, the Cambridge Platonists
defended it with much learning and
acuteness, most conspicuously Henry More; and in Cudworth and Hume it
ranks as the most rational theory of immortality. Glanvil's Lux Orientalis devotes
a curious treatise to it. It captivated the minds of Fourier and Leroux. Andre
Pezzani's book on The Plurality of the Soul's Lives works out the system
on the Roman Catholic idea of
expiation."-E. D. Walker, in
"Re-Incantation, a Study of Forgotten Truth."
And in the latter
part of the Nineteenth Century, and this the early part of the Twentieth
Century, the general public has been made familiar with the idea of
Metempsychosis, under the name of Re-incarnation,
by means of the great volume of literature issued by The Theosophical Society
and its allied following. No longer is the thought a novelty to the
Western thinker, and many have found within
themselves a corroborative sense of its truth. In fact, to many the mere mention of the idea has been sufficient to
awaken faint shadowy memories of past lives, and, to such, many
heretofore unaccountable traits of character, tastes,
inclinations, sympathies, dislikes, etc., have been explained.
The Western world has been made familiar with the idea
of the re-birth of souls into new bodies, under the term
of "Re-incarnation," which means "a re-entry into flesh," the word "incarnate" being derived from the
words "in," and "carnis," meaning flesh-the English word meaning "to clothe with flesh," etc. The word Metempsychosis, which we use in this lesson, is concerned
rather with the "passage of the soul"
from one tenement to another, the "fleshly" idea being merely
incidental.
The doctrine of Metempsychosis, or Re-incarnation, together
with its accompanying doctrine, Karma, or Spiritual
Cause and Effect, is one of the great foundation stones of the Yogi
Philosophy, as indeed it is of the entire system of systems of Oriental
Philosophy and Thought. Unless one understands
Metempsychosis he will never be able to understand the Eastern Teachings, for
he will be without the Key. You who have read the Bhagavad Gita, that
wonderful Hindu Epic, will remember
how the thread of Re-Birth runs through it all. You remember the words of Krishna to Arjuna: "As the soul, wearing this material body, experienceth
the stages of infancy, youth,
manhood, and old age, even so shall
it, in due time, pass on to another body, and in other incarnations shall it again live, and move and play its part." "These bodies, which
act as enveloping covering for the
souls occupying them, are hut finite
things-things of the moment-and not the Real Man at
all. They perish as all finite things perish- let them
perish." "As a man throweth away his old garments,
replacing them with new and brighter ones, even so
the Dweller of the body, having quitted its old mortal frame, entereth into
others which are new and freshly prepared
for it. Weapons pierce not the Real
Man, nor doth the fire burn him; the water affecteth him not, nor the wind drieth him nor bloweth him away.
For he is impregnable and impervious to
these things of the world of change-he is eternal, permanent, unchangeable, and
unalterable-Real."
This view of life gives to the
one who holds to it, an entirely different
mental attitude. He no longer identifies
himself with the particular body that he may be occupying, nor with any other body for that matter. He learns
to regard his body just as he would a
garment which he is wearing, useful to him for certain purposes, but which will in time be discarded and thrown aside for a better one, and one better
adapted to his new requirements and
needs. So firmly is this idea
embedded in the consciousness of the Hindus,
that they will often say "My body is tired," or "My body is hungry," or "My
body is full of energy," rather
than that "I am" this or that thing. And this consciousness, once attained, gives to one a
sense of strength, security and power
unknown to him who regards his body
as himself. The first step for the student
who wishes to grasp the idea of Metempsychosis, and who wishes to awaken in his consciousness a certainty
of its truth, is to familiarize himself with the idea of his "I"
being a thing independent and a part from
his body, although using the latter as an abiding place and a useful shelter and instrument for the
time being.
Many writers on the
subject of Metempsychosis have devoted much
time, labor and argument to prove the
reasonableness of the doctrine upon purely speculative, philosophical,
or metaphysical grounds. And while we believe that such efforts are
praiseworthy for the reason that many persons must be first convinced in that
way, still we feel that one must really feel the truth of the doctrine
from something within his own
consciousness, before he will really believe it to be truth. One may convince himself of the
logical necessity of the doctrine of Metempsychosis, but at the same time he may drop the matter with a shrug of
the shoulders and a "still, who knows?" But when one begins to feel within himself the awakening
consciousness of a "something in the past," not to speak of the
flashes of memory, and feeling of former acquaintance with the subject, then, and then only, docs he
begin to believe.
Many people have
had "peculiar experiences" that are
accountable only upon the hypothesis of Metempyschosis. Who has not
experienced the consciousness of having felt the thing before-having
thought it some time in the dint past? Who has not witnessed new scenes that
appear old, very old? Who has not met persons for the first time, whose
presence awakened memories of a past lying
far back in the misty ages of long ago? Who has not been seized at times with the consciousness of a mighty
"oldness" of soul? Who has
not heard music, often entirely new compositions, which somchow awakens memories of similar strains, scenes, places, faces, voices, lands,
associations and events, sounding dimly on the strings of memory as the
breezes of the harmony floats over them? Who has not gazed at some old
painting, or piece of statuary, with the
sense of having seen it all before? Who has not lived through events,
which brought with them a certainty of being
merely a repetition of some shadowy occurrences away back in lives lived
long ago? Who has not felt the influence of the mountain, the sea, the desert, coming to them when they are far
from such scenes-coming so vividly as to cause the
actual scene of the present to fade into comparative unreality. Who has
not had these experiences- who we ask?
Writers, poets, and
others who carry messages to the world,
have testified to these things-and nearly every man or woman who hears
the message recognizes it as something having correspondence in his or her own
life. Sir Walter Scott tells us in his diary: "I cannot, I am sure, tell
if it is worth marking down, that yesterday, at dinner time, I was strangely haunted by what I would call the sense
of preexistence, viz., a confused idea that nothing that passed was said
for the first time; that the same topics had been discussed and the same
persons had stated
the same opinions on them. The sensation was so strong
as to resemble what is called the mirage in the
desert and a calenture on board ship." The same writer, in one of his novels, "Guy Mannering," makes one of
his characters say: "Why is it that some scenes awaken
thoughts which belong as it were, to dreams of early
and shadowy recollections, such as old Brahmin
moonshine would have ascribed to a state of previous
existence. How often do we find ourselves in society
which we have never before met, and yet feel impressed
with a mysterious and ill-defined consciousness that
neither the scene nor the speakers nor the subject
are entirely new; nay, feel as if we could anticipate
that part of the conversation which has not yet taken place."
Bulwer
speaks of "that strange kind of inner and spiritual
memory which so often recalls to us places and
persons we have never seen before, and which Platonists
would resolve to be the unquenched consciousness of a former
life." And again, he says: "How
strange is it that at times a feeling comes over us as we gaze upon certain places, which associates the scene either with some dim remembered and dreamlike images of the Past, or with a prophetic
and fearful omen of the Future. Every one has known a similar strange
and indistinct feeling at certain times and
places, and with a similar inability to trace the cause." Poe has written these words on the subject : "We walk about, amid the destinies of
our world existence, accompanied by
dim but ever present memories of a Destiny more vast-very
distant in the by-gone time and infinitely awful.
We live out a youth peculiarly haunted by such
dreams, yet never mistaking them for dreams. As memories
we know them. During our youth the
distinctness is too clear to deceive us
even for a moment. But the doubt of manhood
dispels these feelings as illusions."
Home
relates an interesting incident in his life, which had
a marked effect upon his beliefs, thereafter. He relates
that upon an occasion when he visited a strange
house in London he was shown into a room to wait.
He says: "On looking around, to my astonishment
everything appeared perfectly familiar to me. I seemed to recognize every
object. I said to myself, 'What is this? I have never been here before, and yet I have seen all this, and if so, then
there must be a very peculiar knot in
that shutter.'" He proceeded to
examine the shutter, and much to his amazement the knot was there.
We have
recently heard of a similar case, told by an old
lady who formerly lived in the far West of the United
States. She states that upon one occasion a party was wandering on the
desert in her part of the country, and
found themselves out of water. As
that part of the desert was unfamiliar even to the guides, the prospect for water looked very poor indeed.
After a fruitless search of several hours, one of the party, a perfect stranger to that part of the country, suddenly pressed his hand to his head,
and acted in a dazed manner, crying
out "I know that a water-hole is over to the
right-this way," and away he started with the party after him. After a
half-hour's journey they reached an old
hidden water-hole that was unknown
even to the oldest man in the party. The stranger said that he did not
understand the matter, but that he had somehow experienced a sensation of hating
been there before, and knowing just where the
water-hole was located. An old Indian who was questioned about the
matter, afterward, stated that the place had been well known to his people who
formerly travelled much on that part of the desert; and that they had legends
relating to the "hidden water-hole," running back for many
generations. In this case, it was remarked that the water-hole was situated in
such a peculiar and unusual manner, as to render it almost undiscoverable even
to people familiar with the characteristics of that part of the country. The
old lady who related the story, had it direct from the lips of one of the
party, who regarded it as "something
queer," but who had never even heard of Metempsychosis.
A
correspondent of an English magazine writes as follows: "A gentleman of
high intellectual attainments, now deceased, once told me that he had dreamed of being in a strange city, so vividly
that he remembered the streets, houses and public buildings as
distinctly as those of any place he ever visited. A few weeks later he was induced
to visit a panorama in Leicester Square, when he was startled by seeing the
city of which he had dreamed. The
likeness was perfect,
except that one additional church appeared in the picture. He was so struck
by the circumstance that he spoke to the
exhibitor, assuming for the purpose the air of a traveller acquainted with the
place, when he was informed that the
church was a recent erection." The fact of the addition of the
church, seems to place the incident within
the rule of awakened memories of
scenes known in a past life, for clairvoyance,
astral travel, etc., would show the scene as it was at the time of the dream,
not as it had been years before.
Charles
Dickens mentions a remarkable impression in his work "Pictures from
Italy." "In the foreground was a
group of silent peasant girls, leaning over the parapet of the little bridge,
looking now up at the sky, now down into the water; in the distance a deep dell; the shadow of an approaching night on
everything. If I had been murdered
there in some former life I could not
have seemed to remember the place
more thoroughly, or with more emphatic chilling of the blood; and the real remembrance of it acquired in that minute is so strengthened by the
imaginary recollection that I
hardly think I could forget it."
We have recently met two people in America who had very vivid
memories of incidents in their past life. One of these, a lady, has a perfect
horror of large bodies of water, such as
the Great Lakes, or the Ocean,
although she was born and has lived the greater part of her life inland, far
removed from any great body of water. She has a distinct recollection of falling
from a large canoe-shape vessel, of peculiar lines,
and drowning. She was quite overcome upon her
first visit to the Field Museum in Chicago, where there
were exhibited a number of models of queer vessels
used by primitive people. She pointed out one similar
in shape, and lines, to the one she remembers as having fallen from in some
past life.
The second case mentioned is that of a married couple
who met each other in a country foreign to both, on their travels. They
fell in love with each other, and both have
felt that their marriage was a reunion
rather than a new attachment. The husband one day shortly after their marriage told his wife in a rather shamed-faced way that he had occasional
flashes of memory of having held in his arms, in the dim past, a woman whose face he could not recall,
but who wore a strange necklace, he
describing the details of the latter. The wife said nothing, but after her husband had left for his office, she went to
the attic and unpacked an old trunk
containing some odds and ends,
relics, heirlooms, etc., and drew from it an old necklace of peculiar pattern that her grandfather had brought back from India, where he had lived in
his younger days, and which had been in the family ever since. She laid the
necklace on the table, so that her husband would see it upon his return. The moment his eyes fell upon it, he turned white as
death, and gasped "My God! that's
the necklace!"
A writer in a Western journal gives the following story of a Southern woman. "When I was in Heidelberg, Germany, attending a
convention of Mystics, in. company with some friends
I paid my first visit to the ruined Heidelberg Castle. As I approached it I was
impressed with the existence of a peculiar room in an inaccessible
portion of the building. A paper and pencil
were provided me, and I drew a diagram of the room even
to its peculiar floor. My diagram and description were perfect, when we
afterwards visited the room. In some way, not yet clear to me. I have been connected with that apartment. Still another impression
came to me with regard to a book, which I was made to
feel was in the old library of the Heidelberg University.
I not only knew what the book was, but even
felt that a certain name of an old German professor
would be found written in it. Communicating this
feeling to one of the Mystics at the convention, a
search was made for the volume, but it was not found.
Still the impression clung to me, and another effort
was made to find the book; this time we were rewarded
for our pains. Sure enough, there on the margin of one of the leaves was the
very name I had been given in such a strange
manner. Other things at the same time went to
convince me that I was in possession of the soul of
a person who had known Heidelberg two or three centuries
ago."
A contributor to an old magazine relates, among other
instances, the following regarding a friend who remembers
having died in India during the youth of some
former life. He states: "He sees the bronzed attendants gathered about his cradle in their white dresses; they are fanning him.
And as they gaze he passes into
unconsciousness. Much of his description concerned points of which he knew nothing from any other source,
but all was true to the life, and enabled me to fix on India as the scene which
he recalled."
While
comparatively few among the Western races are able to remember more than
fragments of their past lives, in India it
is quite common for a man well developed spiritually to clearly remember
the incidents and details of former
incarnations, and the evidence of the awakening of such power causes
little more than passing interest among his people. There is, as we shall see later, a movement toward
conscious Metempsychosis, and many
of the race are just moving on to
that plane. In India the highly developed individuals grow into a clear recollection of their past lives
when they reach the age of puberty, and when their
brains are developed sufficiently to grasp the knowledge locked up in
the depths of the soul. In the meantime the
individual's memory of the past is locked away in the recesses of his
mind, just as are many facts and incidents
of his present life so locked away, to be remembered only when some one
mentions the subject, or some circumstance
serves to supply the associative link to the apparently forgotten
matter.
Regarding the
faculty of memory in our present lives, we
would quote the following from the pen of Prof. William Knight, printed in the
Fortnightly Review. He
says: "Memory of the details of
the past is
absolutely impossible. The power of the conservative
faculty, though relatively great, is extremely limited. We forget the larger
portion of experience soon after we have passed
through it, and we should be able to recall the
particulars of our past years, filling all the
missing links of consciousness since we entered on the
present life, before we were in a position to remember our ante-natal experience. Birth must necessarily
be preceded by crossing the river of oblivion, while
the capacity for fresh acquisition survives, and the garnered wealth of old experience determines the amount and
character of the new."
Another
startling evidence of the proof of Metempsychosis
is afforded us in the cases of "infant prodigies,"
etc., which defy any other explanation. Take the
cases of the manifestation of musical talent in certain children at an early age. for instance. Take the case of Mozart who
at the age of four was able to not only
perform difficult pieces on the piano, but actually composed original works of merit. Not only did he manifest the highest faculty of sound and
note, but also an instinctive
ability to compose and arrange music,
which ability was superior to that of many men who had devoted years of their life to study and practice. The laws of harmony-the science of commingling tones, was to him not the work of years, but
a faculty born in him. There are
many similar cases of record.
Heredity docs not explain these instances of genius, for in many of the recorded cases, none of the ancestors manifested any talent or
ability. From whom did Shakespeare inherit
his genius? From whom did Plato derive his wonderful thought? From what ancestor did Abraham Lincoln inherit his character- coming from a line of plain, poor, hard-working
people, and possessing all of the
physical attributes and characteristics
of his ancestry, he, nevertheless, manifested a mind which placed him among the foremost of his race.
Does not Metempsychosis give us the only
possible key? Is it not reasonable to suppose that the abilities displayed by the infant genius, and
the talent of the men who spring from
obscure origin, have their root in
the experiences of a previous life? Then
take the cases of children at school. Children of even the same family manifest different degrees of receptivity to certain studies. Some "take
to" one thing, and some to
another. Some find arithmetic so easy
that they almost absorb it intuitively, while grammar is a hard task for them; while their brothers
and sisters find the exact reverse
to be true. How many have found that
when they would take up some new study,
it is almost like recalling something already learned. Do you student, who are now reading these lines take your own case. Docs not all this
Teaching seem to you like the
repetition of some lesson learned long
ago? Is it not like remembering something already learned, rather than the learning of some new truth? Were
you not attracted to these studies, in the
first place, by a feeling that you had known it all before, somewhere, somehow? Does not your mind leap
ahead of the lesson, and see what is coming next, long before you
have turned the pages? These inward
evidences of the fact of pre-existence are so strong that they outweigh the most skillful appeal to the
intellect.
This
intuitive knowledge of the truth of Metempsychosis explains why the
belief in it is sweeping over the Western world at such a rapid rate. The mere mention of the idea, to many people who have
never before heard of it, is
sufficient to cause them to recognize its truth. And though they may not understand the laws of its operation, yet deep down in
their consciousness they find a
something that convinces them of its truth. In spite of the objections that are
urged against the teaching, it is
making steady headway and progress.
The progress of the belief in Metempsychosis however
has been greatly retarded by the many theories and
dogmas attached to it by some of the teachers. Not to speak of the degrading
ideas of re-birth into the bodies of animals, etc,
which have polluted the spring of Truth, there are to be
found many other features of teaching: and theory which repel people, and
cause them to try to kill out of the minds the glimmer of Truth that they find
there. The human soul instinctively revolts
against the teaching that it is bound to the wheel or
re-birth, willy-nilly, compulsorily,
without choice-compelled to live in body after
body until great cycles are past. The soul, perhaps already sick of
earth-life, and longing to pass onto higher planes of existence,
fights against such teaching. And it does well to so fight, for the truth is
nearer to its hearts desire. There is no soul longing that does not carry with
it the prophecy of its own fulfillment, and so it is in this case. It is true
that the soul of one filled with earthly desires, and craving for material
things, will by the very force of those desires be drawn back to earthly
rw-birth in a body best suited for the
gratification of the longings, desires and cravings that it finds within
itself. But it is likewise true that the earth-sick soul is not compeiled to return unless its own desires bring it back.
Desire is the key note of Metempsychosis, although up to a certain stage
it may operate unconsciously. The sum of the desires of a soul regulate its
re-birth. Those who have become sickened of
all that earth has for them at this stage of its evolution, may, and do.
rest in states of existence far removed from earth scenes, until the race
progresses far enough to afford the resting soul the opportunities and
environments that it so earnestly craves.
And more than this,
when Man reaches a certain stage, the process of Metempsychosis no longer remains
unconscious, but he enters into a conscious knowing, willing passage from one
life to another. And when that stage is reached a full memory of the past lives
is unfolded, and life to such a soul becomes as the life of a day, succeeded by
a night, and then the awakening into another day with full knowledge and
recollection of the events of the day before.
We are in merely the babyhood of
the race now, and the fuller life of the conscious soul lies before us. Yea,
even now it is being entered into by the few of the race that have progressed sufficiently far on the Path. And you,
student, who feel within you that craving for conscious re-birth and future
spiritual evolution, and the distaste for, and horror of, a further blind, unconscious
re-plunge into the earth-life-know you, that this longing on your part is but
an indication of what lies before you. It is the strange, subtle, awakening of
the nature within you, which betokens the higher state. Just as the young
person feels within his or her body strange emotions, longings and stirrings,
which betoken the passage from the child state
into that of manhood or womanhood, so do these spiritual longings, desires and cravings betoken the passage
from unconscious re-birth into conscious knowing Metempsychosis, when you have
passed from the scene of your present labors.
In our next lesson
we shall consider the history of the race as its souls passed on from the
savage tribes to the man of to-day. It is the history of the race- the history
of the individual-your own history, student-the
record of that through which you have passed to become that which you
now are. And as you have climbed step after step up the arduous path, so will you, hereafter climb still higher paths,
but no longer in unconsciousness, but with your spiritual eyes wide open
to the Rays of Truth pouring forth from the great Central Sun-the Absolute.
Concluding this lesson, we would quote two selections from the American poet, Whitman, whose strange genius was undoubtedly the result of vague memories springing from a previous life, and which burst
into utterances often not more than half understood by
the mind that gave them birth. Whitman says:
"Facing West from
California's shores, Inquiring, tireless, seeking
what is yet unfound, A, a child, very old, over waves,
toward the house of maternity,
the land of migrations, look afar, Look off the shores of my
Western sea, the circle almost circled: For starting
Westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere, From Asia, from the north, from God, the sage,
and the hero, From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and spice islands, Long having wandered since, round the earth having wandered, Now I face home again, very pleased and joyous. (Rut
where is what I started for so long ago?
And why is it yet unfound?
"I know I am deathless. I know that this orbit of mine
cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass; And
whether I come to my own to-day, or in ten thousand or ten million years. I can
cheerfully take it now or with equal cheerfulness can wait."
* * *
"As to you,
Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths. No
doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before."
* * *
"Births have brought us
richness and variety, and other births
have brought us richness and variety."
* * *
And this quotation
from the American poet N. P. Willis:
"But what a mystery this erring mind? It wakes within a frame of
various powers A stranger in a new and wondrous world. It brings an instinct
from some other sphere, For its fine senses are familiar all. And with the
unconscious habit of a dream It calls and
they obey. The priceless sight Springs
to its curious organ, and the car Learns
strangely to detect the articulate air In its unseen divisions, and the
tongue Gets its miraculous lesson with the rest, And in the midst of an
obedient throng Of well trained ministers, the mind goes forth To search the
secrets of its new found home."
|