Theos-Talk Archives (January 1999 Message tt00341)

In a discussion of the soul and reincarnation last night, I had brought up a
question - Cloning.  Would a clone have a soul, and how would karma and
reincarnation work with them?  I'd like to throw out to you some questions and
theories I've come up with, and only ask that your replies not be to the
rightness or wrongness of the act of cloning. That is a whole discussion in
itself. The point is, regardless of morals it will happen, and how do we
handle it?

To start, it was put forth that no, it would not have a soul.  But I must
question this - Nature abhors a void.  From simply taking a scoop of water out
of a pool, to the endless ingress of matter to a black hole, nature in some
way or another fills a void.  And think on this, if I've read aright we
believe that all matter, down to the tiniest piece is a part of the great
universal light.  This being, even though not born conventionally, will be
created of the same matter as everything else. How then could it not be a part
of that universal light?

Now, I think we can agree that the creators, right or wrong, will have to deal
with whatever karma they have earned.  But what of the child, and those around
it?  I'll start with a question for our group, in particular.  If we take the
tack that it has no soul, who among us would look a child in the face and tell
it that it is a soul-less abomination, that it should never have been born?
What karma do we create for those within our group if we teach such ideas?

As for the child, I have many questions.  Would it pick up part of the spirit
and karma of the one who donated the cells?  Or would it follow current
thought, that each person has it's own karma?  And if it has it's own karma,
which of these would it be - A totally new spirit, taking it's very first
steps on the karmic circles?  Or, with all the trials, and most certainly
prejudice against the method of it's birth, would it be the reincarnation of a
soul that had built up so much karmic debt that it would need to work through
such adversity to move on?

Another point raised was that when you get a transplant, or blood transfusion
you get some of the essence of that donor.  In natural conception, the child
shares the lifeblood of it's mother, and some of that essence, as well as that
from the seed of the father.  What of a child without either of those
influences?  Would there be some deficiency of soul?  Or, since the donor had
these influences, and the clone is a copy, would it be similar to the donor, a
copy of a whole soul?  One thing I'm interested in learning is what studies
are out there of children born in test-tubes?  This may shed at least some
light on the question of parental influence.

As for me, I still have too many questions to come to any solid conclusions
yet. I think you can guess that I am leaning towards them having some sort of
soul, but still I am not sure of this.  Morally right? Wrong? Soul or None?  I
find amidst all this I do have one firm belief.  So long as we treat them as
we would any other creature on this planet, with compassion, we cannot go far wrong.

-Angie