Theos-Talk Archives (July 2001 Message tt00131)

Jerry, I didn't "challenge" you to anything, I simply suggested that you read the "introductory" book of 166 articles in the sequence that it is presented to newcomers.

Anyway, here's the link to the "What is Reincarnation" article that, Jerry "hates":
http://www.wisdomworld.org/setting/whatis.html

It's the 97th article on this Index page to the Introductory" setting the stage book:
http://www.wisdomworld.org/setting.html

John DeSantis
(Compiler)
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You may find a great deal of the Truth that you are searching for here:

Wisdom World web site (Main Page):
http://www.wisdomworld.org/index.html

The page where "Additional" articles are steadily being added:
http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/index.html

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Gerald Schueler wrote:

> I decided to Take up John deSantis' challenge to go to the web and look up karma and reincarnation articles. The following is the very first thing I read:
>
> "In Karma and Reincarnation, when studied and understood, will be found the solution of all the mysteries of our own existence and of Nature, the answer to every problem of life. " (THEOSOPHY, Vol. 16, No. 4, February, 1928 (Page 145; Size: 3K) WHAT IS REINCARNATION?)
>
> Oh Please!! This is an example of exactly the kind of stuff that will kill the Theosophical Movement (and if this is Theosophy, then maybe it should die anyway). I can just image some newage 6th-Root-Race seedling (so to speak) reading this very sentence and casting Theosophy to the side without a further look. I certainly would, if I didn't already know better.
>
> Speaking for myself alone here, I have studied karma and reincarnation for over 35 years now. I firmly believe in both doctrines. I have yet to find the solution to my existence, a single answer to the mystery of Nature, nor answers to even most of the problems in my/this life. Others may have obtained different results. Of course, I could just hunker down and keep looking, but I think that the problem lies in the promise here - which is a false one.
>
> To blame our problems in this life on actions we made in a past life that we can't even remember does NOT help our current situation. To say that karma is a universal eternal law is a terrible thing to tell people. Remorseless, relentless, hopeless, - these are the nasty implications in such a teaching that seems especially designed to frighten young children and keep them in line.
>
> The article also talks about us learning lessons with each incarnation and such, which I find truly repugnant and a flat insult to my intelligence. Any expert will tell you that learning cannot come about when the punishment or reward is late in coming - they have to follow soon after the action to allow for our conscious ability to put the cause-effect relationship together (this is equally true for people and for animals). Saying we suffer now for something done in a past life is equivalent to saying that it is God's will, or that it is Chaos, and there is no difference between these "explanations" at all. Nor will this illogical and misguided idea ever help me to solve the mystery of Nature. I am sorry ... losing control...
>
> A study of karma and reincarnation does, I agree, put the responsiblity for our fate squarely onto our own shoulders, right where it should be, and that is, I think, the entire meat of the doctrine of karma and reincarnation.
>
> OK, now I start dodging the flaming responses to the above which are sure to follow, but my conscience just won't let me sit by without responding in some way, and the above is as tempered as I can get it. Sorry. Nothing personal to you John, and I love your site. Theosophy needs more writers with an esoteric flavor than this mindless exotericism - and ULT is not the only TS I am addressing this criticism to. Maybe I should have continued reading some other articles, but I couldn't talk myself into it today. I will now go into hibernation for a few days as a defense mechanism while, hopefully, the good folks who read this will think it over before reacting ...
>
> Have a nice day,
>
> Jerry S.
> --
>
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