THE
OF
THEOSOPHY
A
Definitive Work on Theosophy
By
William
Quan Judge
CHAPTER 9
Reincarnation Continued
In the West,
where the object of life is commercial, financial, social, or scientific
success, that is, personal profit, aggrandizement, and power, the real life of
man receives but little attention, and we, unlike the Orientals, give scant
prominence to the doctrine of pre-existence and reincarnation.
That the
church denies it is enough for many, with whom no argument is of any use.
Relying on
the church, they do not wish to disturb the serenity of their faith in dogmas
that may be illogical; and as they have been taught that the church can bind
them in hell, a blind fear of the anathema hurled at reincarnation in the
Constantinople council about 500 AD would alone debar them from accepting the
accursed theory. And the church in arguing on the doctrine urges the objection
that if men are convinced that they will live many lives, the temptation to
accept the present and do evil without check will be too strong. Absurd as this
seems, it is put forward by learned Jesuits, who say men will rather have the present
chance than wait for others.
If there were
no retribution at all this would be a good objection, but as Nature has also a
Nemesis for every evil doer, and as each, under the law of Karma -- which is
that of cause and effect and perfect justice -- must receive the exact
consequences himself in every life for what good or bad deeds and thoughts he
did and had in other lives, the basis for moral conduct is secure. It is safe
under this system, since no man can by any possibility, or favor, or edict, or belief
escape the consequences, and each one who grasps this doctrine will be moved by
conscience and the whole power of nature to do well in order that he may
receive good and become happy.
It is
maintained that the idea of rebirth is uncongenial and unpleasant because on
the one hand it is cold, allowing no sentiment to interfere, prohibiting us
from renouncing at will a life which we have found to be sorrowful; and on the
other, that there appears to be no chance under it for us to see our loved ones
who have passed away before us. But whether we like it or not Nature's laws go
forward unerringly, and sentiment or feeling can in no way avert the
consequence that must follow a cause. If we eat bad food bad results must come.
The glutton would have Nature permit him to gorge himself without the
indigestion which will come, but Nature's laws are not to be thus put aside.
Now, the
objection to reincarnation that we will not see our loved ones in heaven as
promised in dogmatic religion, presupposes a complete stoppage of the evolution
and development of those who leave earth before ourselves, and also assumes
that recognition is dependent on physical appearance. But as we progress in
this life, so also must we progress upon leaving it, and it would be unfair to
compel the others to await our arrival in order that we may recognize them. And
if one reflects on the natural consequences of arising to heaven where all
trammels are cast off, it must be apparent that those who have been there, say,
twenty of mortal years before us must, in the nature of things mental and
spiritual, have made a progress equal to many hundreds of years here under
varied and very favourable circumstances. How then
could we, arriving later and still imperfect, be able to recognize those who
had been perfecting themselves in heaven with such advantages? And as we know
that the body is left behind to disintegrate, so, it is evident, recognition
cannot depend, in the spiritual and mental life, on physical appearance. For
not only is this thus plain, but since we are aware that an unhandsome or
deformed body often enshrines a glorious mind and pure soul, and that a
beautifully formed exterior -- such as in the case of the Borgias
-- may hide an incarnate devil in character, the physical form gives no
guarantee of recognition in that world where the body is absent. And the mother
who has lost a child who had grown to maturity must know that she loved the
child when a baby as much as afterwards when the great alteration to later life
had completely swept away the form and features of early youth.
The
Theosophists see that this objection can have no existence in the face of the
eternal and pure life of the soul. And Theosophy also teaches that those who
are like unto each other and love each other will be reincarnated together
whenever the conditions permit. Whenever one of us has gone farther on the road
to
perfection,
he will always be moved to help and comfort those who belong to the same
family. But when one has become gross and selfish and wicked, no one would want
his companionship in any life. Recognition depends on the inner sight and not
on outward appearance; hence there is no force in this objection. And the other
phase of it relating to loss of parent, child, or relative is based on the
erroneous notion that as the parents give the child its body so also is given
its soul. But soul is immortal and parentless; hence this objection is without
a root.
Some urge
that Heredity invalidates Reincarnation. We urge it as proof. Heredity in giving
us a body in any family provides the appropriate environment for the Ego. The
Ego only goes into the family which either completely answers to its whole
nature, or which gives an opportunity for the working out of its evolution, and
which is also connected with it by reason of past
incarnations
or causes mutually set up. Thus the evil child may come to the presently good
family because parents and child are indissolubly connected by past actions. It
is a chance for redemption to the child and the occasion of punishment to the
parents. This
points to bodily heredity as a natural rule governing the bodies we must
inhabit, just as the houses in a city will show the mind of the builders.
And as we as
well as our parents were the makers and influencers of bodies, took part in and
are responsible for states of society in which the development of physical body
and brain was either retarded or helped on, debased or the contrary, so we are
in this life responsible for the civilization in which we now appear. But when
we look at the characters in human bodies, great inherent differences are seen.
This is due to the soul inside, who is suffering or enjoying in the family,
nation, and race his own thoughts and acts in the past lives have made it
inevitable he should incarnate with.
Heredity
provides the tenement and also imposes those limitations of capacity of brain
or body which are often a punishment and sometimes a help, but it does not
affect the real Ego. The transmission of traits is a physical matter, and
nothing more
than the coming out into a nation of the consequences of the prior lives of all
Egos who are to be in that race. The limitations imposed on the Ego by any
family heredity are exact consequences of that Ego's prior lives.
The fact that
such physical traits and mental peculiarities are transmitted does not confute
reincarnation, since we know that the guiding mind and real character of each
are not the result of a body and brain but are peculiar to the Ego in its
essential life. Transmission of trait and tendency by means of parent and body
is exactly
the mode selected by nature for providing the incarnating Ego with the proper
tenement in which to carry on its work. Another mode would be impossible and
subversive of order.
Again, those
who dwell on the objection from heredity forget that they are accentuating
similarities and overlooking divergencies. For while
investigations on the line of heredity have recorded many transmitted traits,
they have not done so in respect to divergencies from
heredity vastly greater in number. Every
mother knows
that the children of a family are as different in character as the fingers on
one hand -- they are all from the same parents, but all vary incharacter and capacity.
But heredity
as the great rule and as a complete explanation is absolutely overthrown by
history, which shows no constant transmission of learning, power, and capacity.
For instance, in the case of the ancient Egyptians long gone and their line of
transmission shattered, we have no transmission to their
descendants.
If physical
heredity settles the question of character, how has the great Egyptian
character been lost? The same question holds in respect to other ancient and
extinct nations. And taking an individual illustration we have the great
musician Bach, whose direct descendants showed a decrease in musical ability
leading to its final disappearance from the family stock. But Theosophy teaches
that in both of these instances -- as in all like them -- the real capacity and
ability have only disappeared from a family and national body, but are retained
in the Egos who once exhibited them, being now incarnated in some other nation
and family of the present time.
Suffering
comes to nearly all men, and a great many live lives of sorrow from the cradle
to the grave, so it is objected that reincarnation is unjust because we suffer
for the wrong done by some other person in another life. This objection is
based on the false notion that the person in the other life was some one else.
But in every life it is the same person. When we come again we do not take up
the body of some one else, nor another's deeds, but are like an actor who plays
many parts, the same actor inside though the costumes and the lines recited
differ in each new play. Shakespeare was right in saying that life is a play,
for the great life of the soul is a drama, and each new life and rebirth
another act in which we assume another part and put on a new dress, but
all through
it we are the selfsame person. So instead of its being unjust, it is perfect
justice, and in no other manner could justice be preserved.
But, it is
said, if we reincarnate how is it that we do not remember the other life; and
further, as we cannot remember the deeds for which we suffer is it not unjust
for that reason? Those who ask this always ignore the fact that they also have
enjoyment and reward in life and are content to accept them without
question. For
if it is unjust to be punished for deeds we do not remember, then it is also
inequitable to be rewarded for other acts which have been forgotten.
Mere entry
into life is no fit foundation for any reward or punishment. Reward and
punishment must be the just desert for prior conduct. Nature's law of justice
is not imperfect, and it is only the imperfection of human justice that
requires the offender to know and remember in this life a deed to which a
penalty is annexed. In the prior life the doer was then quite aware of what he
did, and nature affixes consequences to his acts, being thus just.
We well know
that she will make the effect follow the cause whatever we wish and whether we
remember or forget what we did. If a baby is hurt in its first years by the
nurse so as to lay the ground for a crippling disease in after life, as is
often the case, the crippling disease will come although the child neither
brought on the present cause nor remembered aught about it. But reincarnation,
with its companion doctrine of Karma, rightly understood, shows how perfectly
just the whole scheme of nature is.
Memory of a
prior life is not needed to prove that we passed through that existence, nor is
the fact of not remembering a good objection. We forget the greater part of the
occurrences of the years and days of this life, but no one would say for that
reason we did not go through these years.
They were
lived, and we retain but little of the details in the brain, but the entire
effect of them on the character is kept and made a part of ourselves. The whole
mass of detail of a life is preserved in the inner man to be one day fully
brought back
to the
conscious memory in some other life when we are perfected. And even now,
imperfect as we are and little as we know, the experiments in hypnotism show
that all the smallest details are registered in what is for the present known
as the subconscious mind. The theosophical doctrine is that not a single one of
these happenings is forgotten in fact, and at the end of life when the eyes are
closed and those about say we are dead every thought and circumstance of life flash
vividly into and across the mind.
Many persons
do, however, remember that they have lived before. Poets have sung of this,
children know it well, until the constant living in an atmosphere of unbelief
drives the recollection from their minds for the present, but all are
subject to
the limitations imposed upon the Ego by the new brain in each life.
This is why
we are not able to keep the pictures of the past, whether of this life or the
preceding ones. The brain is the instrument for the memory of the soul, and,
being new in each life with but a certain capacity, the Ego is only able to use
it for the new life up to its capacity. That capacity will be fully
availed of or
the contrary, just according to the Ego's own desire and prior conduct, because
such past living will have increased or diminished its power to overcome the
forces of material existence.
By living
according to the dictates of the soul the brain may at least be made porous to
the soul's recollections; if the contrary sort of a life is led, then more and
more will clouds obscure that reminiscence. But as the brain had no part in the
life last lived, it is in general unable to remember. And this is a wise law,
for we should be very miserable if the deeds and scenes of our former
lives were
not hidden from our view until by discipline we become able to bear a knowledge
of them.
Another
objection brought up is that under the doctrine of reincarnation it is not
possible to account for the increase of the world's population. This assumes
that we know surely that its population has increased and are keeping informed
of its fluctuations. But it is not certain that the inhabitants of the globe
have
increased, and, further, vast numbers of people are annually destroyed of whom
we know nothing. In China year after year many thousands have been carried off
by flood.
Statistics of
famine have not been made. We do not know by how many thousands the deaths in
Africa exceed the births in any year. The objection is based on imperfect
tables which only have to do with western lands.
It also
assumes that there are fewer Egos out of incarnation and waiting to come in
than the number of those inhabiting bodies, and this is incorrect. Annie Besant
has put this well in her "Reincarnation" by saying that the inhabited
globe resembles a hall in a town which is filled from the much greater
population of the town outside; the number in the hall may vary, but there is a
constant source of supply from the town. It is true that so far as concerns
this globe the number of Egos belonging to it is definite; but no one knows
what that quantity is nor what is the total capacity of the earth for
sustaining them.
The
statisticians of the day are chiefly in the West, and their tables embrace but
a small section of the history of man. They cannot say how many persons were
incarnated on the earth at any prior date when the globe was full in all parts,
hence the quantity of egos willing or waiting to be reborn is unknown to the
men of today. The Masters of theosophical knowledge say that the total number
of such egos is vast, and for that reason the supply of those for the
occupation of bodies to be born over and above the number that die is
sufficient. Then too it must be borne in mind that each ego for itself varies the
length of stay in the post-mortem states. They do not reincarnate at the same
interval, but come out of the state after death at different rates, and
whenever there occurs a great number of deaths by war, pestilence, or famine,
there is at once a rush of souls to incarnation, either in the same place or in
some other place or race.
The earth is
so small a globe in the vast assemblage of inhabitable planets there is a
sufficient supply of Egos for incarnation here. But with due respect to those
who put this objection, I do not see that it has the slightest force or any
relation to
the truth of the doctrine of reincarnation.
______________________
THE
OF
THEOSOPHY
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The Seven Principles of Man
By
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The Spiritual Home of Urban Theosophy
The Earth Base for Evolutionary Theosophy
Reincarnation
This guide
has been included in response
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From A Textbook
of Theosophy By C W Leadbeater
How We Remember our Past Lives
Life after Death & Reincarnation
The
Slaughter of the
a great demand by the public for lectures on
Reincarnation
Classic
Introductory Theosophy
Text
A
Text Book of Theosophy
By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
The Occult World
By
Alfred Percy
Sinnett
The Occult World is an treatise on the
Occult and Occult Phenomena, presented
in
readable style, by an early giant of
the Theosophical Movement.
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
by
Annie Besant
THE PHYSICAL PLANE THE ASTRAL PLANE
KÂMALOKA THE MENTAL PLANE DEVACHAN
THE BUDDHIC AND NIRVANIC PLANES
THE THREE KINDS OF KARMA COLLECTIVE KARMA
THE LAW OF SACRIFICE MAN'S
ASCENT
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Annie Besant Visits Cardiff 1924
The Theosophy Cardiff Nirvana Pages
National
Wales Centre for Theosophy
Blavatsky
Wales Theosophy Group
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Concerns about the fate of the
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Concerns are
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wildlife as The Spiritual Retreat,
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Tekels Park is a
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Deer as they
Confusion as the Theoversity moves out of
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A Satirical view
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The Toff’s Guide to the Sale of
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What the men in
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__________________________
An
Outline of Theosophy
Charles
Webster Leadbeater
Theosophy - What it is How is it Known?
The Method of Observation General Principles
The Three Great Truths Advantage Gained from this Knowledge
The Deity
The Divine Scheme The Constitution of Man
The True Man
Reincarnation
The Wider Outlook
Death Man’s Past and Future Cause and Effect
______________________________
A B C D EFG H IJ KL M N OP QR S T UV WXYZ
Complete Theosophical Glossary in Plain Text Format
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with Links to More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy
? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races
Ascended Masters After Death States
The Seven Principles of Man Karma
Reincarnation Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge
The Start of the Theosophical
Society
History of the Theosophical
Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical
Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the
Theosophical Society
Explanation of the Theosophical
Society Emblem
The Theosophical Order of
Service (TOS)
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
Index of
Searchable
Full Text
Versions of
Definitive
Theosophical
Works
H P Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine
Isis Unveiled by H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky’s Esoteric Glossary
Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett 1 - 25
A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom
(Selection of Articles by H P Blavatsky)
The Secret Doctrine – Volume 3
A compilation of H P Blavatsky’s
writings published after her death
Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries
The Early Teachings of The
Masters
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy
Mystical,
Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical
and Scientific Essays Selected from "The
Theosophist"
Edited by George Robert Stow Mead
From Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
In the Twilight”
Series of Articles
The In the
Twilight” series appeared during
1898 in The Theosophical Review and
from 1909-1913 in The Theosophist.
compiled from information supplied by
her relatives and friends and edited by A P Sinnett
Letters and
Talks on Theosophy and the Theosophical Life
Obras Teosoficas En Espanol
Theosophische Schriften Auf Deutsch
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
Guide to the
Theosophy
Wales King Arthur Pages
Arthur draws
the Sword from the Stone
The Knights of The Round Table
The Roman Amphitheatre at Caerleon,
Eamont Bridge, Nr Penrith, Cumbria, England.
(History of the Kings of Britain)
The reliabilty of this work has long been a subject of
debate but it is the first definitive account of Arthur’s
Reign
and one which puts Arthur in a historcal context.
and his version’s political agenda
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth
The first written mention of Arthur as a heroic figure
The British leader who fought twelve battles
King Arthur’s ninth victory at
The Battle of the City of the Legion
King Arthur ambushes an advancing Saxon
army
then defeats them at Liddington Castle,
Badbury, Near Swindon,
Wiltshire, England.
King Arthur’s twelfth and last victory against the Saxons
Traditionally Arthur’s last battle in which he was
mortally wounded although his side went on to win
No contemporary writings or accounts of his life
but
he is placed 50 to 100 years after the accepted
King Arthur period. He refers to Arthur in his inspiring
poems but the earliest written record of these dates
from over three hundred years after Taliesin’s death.
Mallerstang Valley, Nr Kirkby Stephen,
A 12th Century Norman ruin on the site of what is
reputed to have been a stronghold of Uther Pendragon
From wise child with no
earthly father to
Megastar of Arthurian
Legend
History of the Kings of Britain
Drawn from the Stone or received from the Lady of the Lake.
Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur has both versions
with
both swords called Excalibur. Other versions
5th & 6th Century Timeline of Britain
From the departure of the Romans from
Britain to the establishment of sizeable
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
Glossary of
Arthur’s uncle:- The puppet ruler
of the Britons
controlled and eventually killed by Vortigern
Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. Circa 450CE
An alleged massacre of Celtic Nobility by the Saxons
History of the Kings of Britain
Athrwys / Arthrwys
King of Ergyng
Circa 618 - 655
CE
Latin: Artorius; English: Arthur
A warrior King born in Gwent and associated with
Caerleon, a possible Camelot. Although over 100 years
later that the
accepted Arthur period, the exploits of
Athrwys may have
contributed to the King Arthur Legend.
He became King of Ergyng, a
kingdom between
Gwent and Brycheiniog (Brecon)
Angles under Ida seized the Celtic Kingdom of
Bernaccia in North East England in 547 CE forcing
Although much later than the accepted King Arthur
period, the events of Morgan Bulc’s 50
year campaign
to
regain his kingdom may have contributed to
Old Welsh: Guorthigirn;
Anglo-Saxon: Wyrtgeorn;
Breton: Gurthiern; Modern Welsh; Gwrtheyrn;
*********************************
An earlier ruler than King Arthur and not
a heroic figure.
He is credited with policies that weakened Celtic Britain
to
a point from which it never recovered.
Although there are no contemporary accounts of
his
rule, there is more written evidence for his
existence than of King Arthur.
How Sir Lancelot slew two giants,
From Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
How Sir Lancelot rode disguised
in
Sir Kay's harness, and how he
From Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
How Sir Lancelot jousted against
four
knights of the Round Table,
From Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur
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Cardiff, Wales, UK. CF24 – 1DL
Quotes
from the Writings of
Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 100
It is only by the
attractive force of the contrasts that the two opposites — Spirit and Matter — can be cemented
together on Earth, and, smelted in the fire of self-conscious experience and suffering, find
themselves wedded in Eternity.
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 108
It is the motive,
and the motive alone, which makes any exercise of power become black, malignant, or white,
beneficent Magic. It is impossible to employ spiritual forces if there is the
slightest tinge of selfishness remaining in the operator .... The powers and
forces of animal nature can equally be used by the selfish and revengeful, as
by the unselfish and the all-forgiving; the powers and forces of spirit lend
themselves only to the perfectly pure in heart — and this is Divine Magic.
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 1, Page 36
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 3, Page 14
Even ignorance is better than
Head-learning with no Soul-wisdom to illuminate and guide it.
The Voice of the Silence, Page 43
Annotation - The Path, May, 1888
The Secret Doctrine , Proem [Volume 1], Page 35
Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, Page 210
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 1, Page 134
incarnation of his
God; and when the sense of personal responsibility will be so
Isis Unveiled,
Volume 2, Page 374
It is the motive,
and the motive alone, which makes any exercise of power become
The Secret Doctrine , Volume 2, Page 498
Isis Unveiled, Volume 1, Page 36
From strength to
strength, from the beauty and perfection of one plane to the
greater beauty and
perfection of another, with accessions of new glory, of fresh
knowledge and power
in each cycle, such is the destiny of every Ego, which thus
becomes its own saviour in each world and incarnation.
The Key to
Theosophy, Page 105
Cardiff
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Cardiff Theosophical Society in Wales