Theos-Talk Archives (April 2003 Message tt00010)

Friday, April 04, 2003

OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY OF Theosophy -- Questions & Answers


10	CHAPTER	10


ARGUMENTS SUPPORTING REINCARNATION


FROM the nature of the soul.
>From the laws of mind and soul.
>From differences in character.
>From the necessity for discipline and evolution.
>From differences of capacity and start in life at the cradle.
Individual identity proves it.
The probable object of life makes it necessary.
One life not enough to carry out Nature's purposes.
Mere death confers no advance.
A school after death is illogical.
The persistence of savagery and decay of nations give support to it.
The appearance of geniuses is due to reincarnation.
Inherent ideas common to man show it.
Opposition to the doctrine based solely on prejudice.


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Q. Why is it that so many people, the majority in fact, reject the
idea of reincarnation?

A. Largely from prejudice, either based upon a materialistic
conception of life, or due to belief in a dogma which inhibits the
exercise of the thinking powers. The majority of people do not do
their own thinking, but accept one or other of the various kinds of
ideas formulated and held by others ; that which is accepted and held
by large numbers of people is to very many prima facie evidence of
truth. Few go below the surface and enquire into the bases upon which
the various beliefs are founded, yet the seeker after truth must prove
all things and hold fast to that only which is self-evidently true.


Q. Theosophy teaches that there are other humanities on other planets;
is it not possible for an ego to go to some other planet after this
life?

A. When we consider that the inherent law of Karma rules all beings;
that we reap as we have sown; that our birth and environment in this
life is the result of previous lives on this planet, we cannot fail to
see that our re-embodiment must be here, where we moved and worked
before. The involved entity cannot transfer itself to another scene of
action before it has over come all the causes drawing it here, and
without its having worked out its responsibilities to other entities
in the same stream of evolution.


Q. On page 80 the chapter says that "Each human being has a definite
character different from every other human being". Is not a large part
of such character derived from the physical heredity?

A. Man, who now inhabits physical bodies, is also the conscious entity
who evolved and established them. Every family trait, tendency and
characteristic is due to the use of physical bodies in that line of
physical heredity by numbers of egos, and all are karmically drawn to
that physical family line which each one had a part in establishing,
thus coming into his own inheritance. Karma not only includes our
individual sowing and reaping, but also the effects of our thoughts,
words and deeds upon others, and especially upon those who are the
most closely related. Each ego in incarnation has the opportunity to
eliminate family defects in himself, and by so doing benefit the
physical line.


Q. Please explain the second paragraph on page 87; it seems a little
contradictory to me.

A. Mr. judge is there speaking of the musician Bach, whose family had
none of his genius and pointing to the fact that it was not derived
from physical heredity, but was peculiar to the incarnating entity.
The coming of idiots or vicious children to parents who are good, pure
and highly intellectual is not due to the physical heredity, but to
the nature of the Ego incarnating. In such cases there must be some
strong karmic connection between the parents and the deficient Ego, a
connection incurred during past lives wherein some error of commission
or omission had occurred and had contributed to the deficiency of the
one so born. Such incarnations fulfill two purposes: (1) they provide
a better opportunity for the deficient ego at the hands of those who
were contributory to that deficiency, and (2) the karmic effects are
felt by the parents, and the opportunity afforded for such adjustment
as is possible by them. "Karma is an unerring tendency in the universe
to restore equilibrium and it operates incessantly." Karma is made by
the Egos, not by the bodies they inhabit.


Q. Why is it that an ego will bring over one particular predominating
factor ?

A. Because the attention and effort of the Ego in other lives were
exerted in that particular direction. it is well known that geniuses
in many cases are eccentric in character, and occasionally abnormal to
a marked degree; this is due to a one-sided development; right
development should be all-round and balanced, not special in any one
direction and neglectful of others.


Q. On page 86 the chapter says that the old Aryan races will rise
again to their height of glory. Does this mean that they will be
always in existence?

A. The chapter says, "Of all the old races the Aryan Indian alone yet
remains as the preserver of the old doctrines. It will one day rise
again to its old heights of glory". We are of the Aryan race, but Mr.
Judge is speaking of the Aryan Indian race which alone has preserved
the old doctrines, because of which it will rise again to its old
heights of glory. Speaking generally, the Aryan is the Fifth Race;
when its course has been completed, the egos composing the present
Fifth Race will constitute the Sixth Race.


Q. On page 87 it is said that the bee builds a cell on the rules of
geometry, and that its intelligence is the effect of reincarnation
either in the mind or the physical cell. Do the lower kingdoms follow
the human kingdom?

A. The statement referred to reads as follows, "And whether we look at
the new-born babe flinging out its arms for self-protection, or the
animal with very strong instinctual power, or the bee building a cell
on the rules of geometry, it is all the effect of reincarnation acting
either in the mind or physical cell, for under what was first laid
down, no atom is devoid of life, consciousness, and intelligence of
its own". The passage does not say that the intelligence of the bee is
the effect of reincarnation in the mind or cell. It says that in the
new-born babe, the animal, or the bee all that there appears is the
effect of reincarnation, either in the mind, or in the physical cell,
according to the kind of intelligence expressed and its particular
form; "no atom is devoid of life, consciousness, and intelligence of
its own". The human kingdom impresses and impels the lower lives for
good or for evil.


Q. On page 80, "Even the doctrine of the survival of the fittest
should show this, for the fitness cannot come from nothing but must at
last show itself from the coming to the surface of the actual inner
character". Please explain that.

A. The explanation seems quite clear in the paragraph from which the
quotation is taken. Each individual has a definite character, the
result of previous lives; whatever "fitness" there may be is due to
previous existences. There are assemblages of individuals that we call
nations; these nations have their distinguishing characteristics; the
individuals composing these nations are drawn together because of
similarity of distinguishing characteristics which constitute their
peculiar "fitness" for any particular nation. All this is clue to
karmic affinity-"like attracts like."


Q. Will those who are killed in this war follow the line of anger and
battle when they incarnate again?

A. "Every human being has a definite character different from every
other human being", and this is true whether in war or peace. As the
character and tendencies are in peace, so they will be in war, for
both peace and war are conditions and (do not in themselves change
character. The question is, "Does war of necessity change an
individual's character ?" There is no reason to think so. One of good
character and tendencies would be likely to have these strengthened by
the trials and self-sacrifice entailed by the conditions of war; in
another in whom character and tendency were not good, the same
conditions might afford opportunity for intensification of evil
tendencies. It is all a question of the individual character and
motive and the lessons learned, that form the basis for future
incarnations.


Q. Could a savior bring Russia [1914-18] out of the chaos in which she
now is?

A. The chaotic conditions of Russia are an extreme example of the
world-wide conditions; in no case is it possible to change such
conditions save by a change of mind on the part of the people
involved. A divine incarnation could do nothing unless the people
would be willing to follow the lines such an one laid down. It is
apparent that even in our own free country conditions are approaching
a situation not so very far removed from that of Russia, for we are
beginning to experience the results of selfish class interest, the
sole basis of which is money and the power that it gives its
possessors. Those who have, desire to hold and increase possessions;
those who have not, would take from the present possessors and become
in their turn the possessors of the future; in both cases the rank
principle of personal selfishness prevails; there is nothing to choose
between them.


Q. Surely the intelligence of our people will prevent any such
catastrophe as that which has befallen Russia [1914-18]?

A. Intelligence, based upon high principles and true knowledge cannot
fail to make for justice and right living, but intelligence founded
upon personal selfishness can go to any lengths in the way of
destruction. Ignorance and selfishness have brought Russia to her
present pass. Intelligence and selfishness can do much worse. The
question really is, "Upon what is the intelligence founded ?" Is it a
material, a moral, or a spiritual conception? It is very evident that
the prevailing idea among Western peoples is material in conception
and practice; the more intelligence used along this line the more
certain, rapid and destructive the results.


Q. But Western peoples have the Christian religion to guide them; they
believe in the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man?

A. There is no doubt that the principles enunciated by Jesus of
Nazareth would make the world a better and a happier one, but who
among all the people follows them in his daily life or in his dealings
with his fellow-men; we profess "belief" in those principles and
promulgated ethics and daily and hourly contravene them; of what avail
is our religion or our belief, if we do not live it? Ancient history
affords us examples of the same principles and ethics promulgated by
divine incarnations in the ages gone by, but the people of those times
professed acceptance of the teachings and following the path of
materialism went down to extinction. Unless we change our ideas of
life, and live according to the eternal verities, our Western nations
with their materialistic civilizations will die out and disappear.


Q. What is meant by "The Eternal Verities?"

A. "The Eternal Verities" are based upon the Spiritual nature of Man;
his evolution under Spiritual Law from the lowest form of intelligence
to the highest; that the Law is inherent in each being and that each
reaps what he sows without possibility of evasion; that physical
existence is the lowest and least permanent of all the forms and is
conditioned by Man him self in accordance with his recognition or
denial of his Spiritual and Moral nature as the true basis of all
life.


Q. You mean an understanding and living of Theosophy?

A. Just that. Man must save himself; no one, how ever high in
intelligence and spiritual power, can do it f or him. He must learn
and exercise his Spiritual perceptions arid powers and make the
material expression of them conform to that Spiritual nature. In fact,
he will have to learn even if through untold lives he brings upon
himself inexpressible suffering; for when he has suffered enough he
will see the error of his ways, and then, perhaps through many lives,
make restitution for wrongs done, or duties left undone.


Q. If the entire world today adhered strictly to Theosophy, would
there be competition?

A. There would be emulation, not competition. The latter is an
endeavor to benefit at the expense of others, while emulation is an
effort to excel so as to be of greater benefit and service in the
world of men; this service, however, must be based upon the needs of
the Soul and not upon the imaginary physical requirements born of
materialistic conceptions.

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