FAQ on reincarnation, rebirth, past and future lives and karma. we have ever read - and all the contents, all the words of all these books, and all the letters, and all the conversations. . What are the intervals between death and re-birth?.
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- LIFE AFTER LIFE FAQ
- Reincarnation and Karma: Frequently Asked Questions about Theosophy and Buddhism
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The memories of details may be locked up within us, within our inner self, buried deep, latent till the exact conditions arise which will evolve and evoke these memories; as the wheat-seed lay hidden thousands of years in an Egyptian sarcophagus, and then came to life as wheat because at last it was planted in soil. The memories of details of our present life may be thus locked up within us, to be called forth by some such influence as calls them forth when a man is drowning: That the memories of details in our past lives are not as ready to hand as are the memories of much of our present life, need not surprise us.
Science tells us that memories are registered on and in the grey matter of the brain, by the cells and fibres. Under the "brain" we must include also the spinal cord. I, for one, do not believe that this is the only register. But at least it is one register. After death and the dissolution of the body, this grey matter is broken up and distributed afresh. The ego, in its next incarnation, will have a different brain and spinal cord, and different grey matter.
It will not have the old register. The knowledge of our past lives might be to us no less useful than the knowledge of History. Thucydides claimed that an account of the past was valuable as a clue to the future, which would probably resemble the past. On this principle, if we studied our past lives, we could be forewarned and forearmed against our weaknesses. Not only this - we could find out how we acquired skill in anything in which we now are "naturally" skillful, and so be able. We should, see the causes of what we otherwise would look upon as misfortunes or hardships: There would come to us a greater sympathy with others, a greater desire to help, a greater power to help.
Then we should view qualities and aims in truer perspective.
LIFE AFTER LIFE FAQ
We should realize beyond doubt what are first things and what are second-rate things. We should have many pleasant memories to recall; though the unpleasant ones - since forgetfulness is often much harder than recollection - would be within us as well.
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- or The Theory of Reincarnation.
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To this question a partial answer has already been given in Chapter II. He who believes in Reincarnation believes in a just Power - he believes that his circumstances are those that he has earned; in a kind Power - he believes that, his circumstances are most helpful for him and for everyone else; in a wise Power - he believes that the world is managed in an economical and scientific and foresighted fashion.
Yes, It applies equally to them, suggesting for the mind an evolution like that which Wallace and Darwin suggested for the body.
We cannot say where choice begins. It seems as if minerals were the absolute slaves of certain attractions and repulsions which they could not resist; and plants also. But we can hardly study dogs without thinking that they have consciences that they know when they have done wrong - that they have some power of choice.
This is a question which the theory does not answer. Although some authorities on the subject say that when once the ego has been incarnated in a human being, it cannot ever again be incarnated in an animal, we feel that some animals are on a plane above some human beings. Without dogmatizing, we simply note the possibility that when an ego needed certain physical or mental qualities - say litheness and quickness, or the sense of smell, or patience - that ego might be reincarnated as an animal, if that were the quickest and best way of getting these qualities.
Reincarnation and Karma: Frequently Asked Questions about Theosophy and Buddhism
Again, the particles of the body, after dissolution, may come to be particles of animals: This is one of the meanings of the theory that we - namely, our bodies - may become reincarnated in animals. It is agreed by all who believe in Reincarnation that friends do meet again - and enemies too. It is agreed that the ego meets other egos. But the names, appearances, places, social positions, and so on, may be changed.
It is rather the characters that meet. This may sound cold and comfortless. But we must never forget that on the other hand, in proportion as it would be unpleasant to go on living with our enemies - especially with those whom we have injured. The clinging to old clothes and other familiar things is very human; but there are arguments against old clothes as well as for them!
Though our eyes may not recognize our dearest ones, our hearts do. And the new intercourse, perhaps in a different and much-needed relationship, may eventually help both parties more than a continuance of the old one. So long as we regard the body as being the whole self and ego, we cannot grasp the theory. Once let us regard the body as to some extent a clothing and a set of instruments, and -suppose we had a.
The theory most commonly held by believers in Reincarnation is that the ego, when it is to be born again, to be reincarnated, is attracted to the most appropriate infant-body, while that body is still unborn. But anyhow the outward form of the body will depend chiefly upon the physical parents. The theory of Reincarnation supposes this. And we should expect that, for example, the ego that had been a dipsomaniac would be attracted to the infant-body whose parents - or one of whose parents - had a tendency in that direction.
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- Reincarnation - Wikiquote.
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So of the money-grubbing, the sensual, the inventive, the athletic, etc. The theory of Reincarnation supposes the ego ready to live again in this world, and needing a certain probation in view of its past choices, and a certain character training in view of its future excellence. The theory supposes an infant-body not yet possessed by any ego, but having certain traits and tendencies belonging to the parents.
The ego is given this body as its house, its clothes, its instruments. The ego's duty is to make the best of them. Naturally, the ego will be attracted into the most appropriate - or least inappropriate - infant-body, all conditions physical and hygienic and aesthetic, intellectual, economical, moral, and social being taken into account. The ego will be attracted to the body which is nearest to the one earned by previous lives; and required by present and future needs of character, etc. One influence will be strict justice, another the strongest desires of the ego.
We should expect, then, that often an ego would be reincarnated in an environment to which past friends and enemies belonged. The ego would be attracted to those whom he had injured or by whom he had been injured, so that justice might be done. The ego would be attracted to those whom he had loved or by whom he had been loved, through desire.
The ego would be attracted also by the power of the environment, to develop his character and physique, etc. For real progress is the aim of Reincarnation, not the petty spite or vengeance of an unforgiving pagan deity. The Power forgives us our sins not merely by blotting them out, but by giving us the opportunities of blotting them out for ourselves by "doing better next time. The Hindus have legends of immediate re-births - a father, for example, being incarnated in the newly born babe the moment after the father's death on the scaffold. Possibly the intervals may become shorter as time goes on.
Thus, suppose that Charlemagne was reincarnated as Napoleon, the interval was a long one.
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Suppose Benjamin Franklin was reincarnated as Cobbett, the interval was a short one. When an infant dies, it is likely that the interval is shorter still. We look upon the typical man as forming his opinions by logic rather than by intuition, and the typical woman as forming her opinions by intuition rather than by logic. A man and a woman discuss a course of action: To this there are many exceptions. Those who hold that the ego is reincarnated, either as a male or as a female, but not as now one, now the other, might plead.
Those who hold that the ego is reincarnated now as a male, now as a female, point to the people with male bodies who have female minds, and vice versa. We might apply the same principle to other general differences, between man and woman - for example, the masterful independence of man largely due to artificial conditions of education and the slave-like ministry of woman.
Eventually man finds that his highest and most real mastery is to serve; woman finds that the best ministry makes her most masterful.
The theory of Reincarnation leaves the question unanswered. It seems as if many must need life in the opposite sex-form to make them well-balanced beings, even if they may have a series of successive lives in the same sex-form first. In the human being and in the animals many tiny beings - not only bodies but also minds - are fused; as in a nation.
It is quite possible, then, that there may be two evolutions. First of all, one ego - already like a nation made up of groups of individual egos - may give rise to two or more egos, by a process analogous to fission of cells.
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We cannot help wishing now and then, as we watch some great man or woman, that he or she could be duplicated, and be here as well as there! You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.
No point in mincing words. Just you and me. You looked at me with fascination. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way.
Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. Do I go to heaven or hell or something? You followed along as we strode through the void. I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders.