Reincarnation FAQ According to Theosophy
Bianca:
Reincarnation FAQ According to Theosophy
Sylvia Cranston is a leading expert on reincarnation with decades of study and research on
this subject and on Theosophy.
In her book, "Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery" Cranston gives us the classic and
best anthology of the subject. It is a massive encyclopedic annotated collection from the
traditions of the world and from philosophy and science.
A very interesting and important book to have on the shelf.
www.seekerbooks.com/book/9781557000262.htm
Background:
The idea of reincarnation was first brought to the West and popularized in the latter part
of the nineteenth century by Madame Helena Blavatsky.
Now, according to a recent Gallup poll, 27% of the United States population believes rein-
carnation to be true. Blavatsky claimed to have been taught details of reincarnation as an
integral part of a larger fragment of the ancient perennial philosophy by masters of this
knowledge who had preserved the ancient knowledge intact.
The empirical results we are finding today on this subject match the statements made over
100 years ago, that in turn were alledged to be the knowledge from millenia ago from
"those who know".
So we present here information from Blavatsky and her student William Q. Judge along with
numerous places to visit for more information.
You may also want to visit the "reincarnation" aisle of Seeker Books for a range of other
books specifically on this topic.
Also available is an extensive set of direct quotes from Blavatsky on reincarnation.
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FAQ
This book, "Reincarnation: A New Horizon in Science Religion and Society", synthesizes Sylvia Cranston's decades of experience in the field. She knows the questions on people's minds and addresses those questions.
www.seekerbooks.com/book/9781557000255.htm
Is reincarnation true?
Yes. We repeatedly are reborn on earth taking up another life using another body and with a different "personality".
Are we ever reborn as an animal?
No. That is a misunderstanding in some traditions. (The original teachings of those traditions did not hold this view.) Once an individual has reached the level of complexity of a human being, he or she must reincarnate as a human being to continue to work out the relationships of the past and to develop and grow in an environment of suitable complexity.
By the way, you mention "he or she". Could I have been one of the opposite sex in a previous reincarnation?
Yes, definitely. The soul is sexless. It may reincarnate in either sex and it may change from one to the other gender in different lives.
When I die, do I come back immediately?
No. There is a definite cycle of life as a whole. Our life from infant to old-age is a part of that cycle. Death itself is a process divided into recognizable stages. There is a period of long rest between "lifetimes". Typically, for the mass of humanity, that period of rest is about 1,000 to 1,500 years. Then the individual is reborn.
Bianca:
But exactly what is reborn?
A "higher" spiritual part of us is reborn. Theosophy says the "personality" was left behind at the previous death. Certain of that personality's tendencies, lessons learned, character and pure spirit are assimilated from the previous life and remain with the "individual" to be reborn again. The important distinction is between "personality" and "individuality". Over the course of lives, the individuality increases and the personality becomes of less importance. Theosophy has much more detailed information on this question. For the best introduction to that information see How can I learn more described below.
Strictly speaking, we should not say we "have" a soul. Rather, we are a soul and the soul "has" a body it has aquired and is working through. Part of our task is to become aware of this truth.
Why don't I remember my previous lives?
It was a different brain that knew the details of your previous life - so that life and the preceeding ones are not normally remembered in detail. The influences of those lives will of course remain. However at the moment of death we will sometimes see the past life details and as we progress in our individual evolution we come to be able to remember the past lives that had previously been forgotten.
Are such things actually known facts?
Yes - there are masters of wisdom, great adepts, who are actual living human beings that collectively retain and advance the knowledge of these matters. They can see the progress of the soul as it moves through these stages. For them, this is directly observable information. It was taught to Blavatsky during her stay in Tibet and she promulgated it to the world during the 19th century. For more info see Source of Theosophy.
Bianca:
What is the point of the reincarnation?
We must back up a little. Our souls are all part of one soul. At root we are one. Brotherhood is
actually a fact in nature when we look to the underlying reality. Each of these seemingly separate individualities gains experience, learns lessons - and ultimately, the consciousness of the universe
gains increasing experience, increases in relative perfection, and increases in self-conciousness.
Does reincarnation then, never stop?
Yes and no. From our relative point of view we are aiming for perfection. This will take many many
more incarnations. At a very advanced stage we may choose to take a well earned rest or to return
as a bodisattva to help suffering humantiy. But then the cycle continues at a higher level. In the largest sense, there is no end to the cycle and no end to increasing perfection.
Returning to an earlier question - don't some individuals reincarnate much earlier than 1000 - 1500 years?
Yes. Children who die young may return quickly. Those who die from accidents may return quickly. Those committed to service and the cause of spiritual truths may return faster to speed up the
service and growth and the help to humanity. However, compare the rise of Rome some 1500
years ago to the rise of the industrialized West.
Bianca:
ARGUMENT FOR REINCARNATION
IT has been suggested to the PATH that theosophists jot down as they occur any arguments
hit upon to support the doctrine of reincarnation.
One furnishes this: That the persistency of individual character and attitude of mind seems a
strong argument; and adduces the fact that when he was a youth thirty years ago he wrote
a letter to himself upon questions about God, nature, and the inner man, and finds now upon
re-reading it that it almost exactly expresses his present attitude.
Also he thinks that the inner character of each shows itself in early youth, persisting through
life; and as each character is different there must have been reincarnation to account for
the differences. And that the assertion that differences in character are due to heredity
seems to be disposed of by the persistency of essential character, even if, as we know to be
the case, scientists did not begin to deny the sufficiency of heredity to account for our
differences.
Another writes: If heredity would account for that which, existing in our life, makes us feel
that we have lived here before, then the breeding of dogs and horses would show similar
great differences as are observed in men. But a high-bred **** will bring forth a litter of pups
by a father of equal breed, all exhibiting one character, whereas in the very highest bred
families among men it is well known that the children will differ from each other so much
that we cannot rely upon the result. Then again, considering the objections raised on ground
of heredity, it should not be forgotten that but small attention has been paid to those cases
where heredity will not give the explanation.
Inherent differences of character. The great differences in capacity seem to call for reincar-
nation as the explanation. Notice that the savages have the same brains and bodies as ours,
yet not the same character or intelligence; they seem to be unprogressed egos who are
unable to make the machine of brain to respond to its highest limit.
Path, August. 1891
Bianca:
RESPECTING REINCARNATION
OBJECTIONS frequently raised against "Reincarnation," and that appear to those who make
them to be strong, are some growing out of the emotional part of our nature.
They say, "We do not wish to be some one else in another life; how can we recognize our
friends and loved ones if they and we thus change our personality? The absorbing attach-
ments we form here are such that happiness would seem impossible without those we love."
It is useless to say in reply that, if Reincarnation be the law, it can and will make no differ-
ence what we would like or dislike. So long as one is governed by his likes and dislikes, logical arguments will not dissipate objections, and, if it is coldly asserted that the beloved objects
of our affection pass at death forever beyond us, no relief is afforded to the mind nor is
a strictly accurate statement made. In fact, one of the miseries of conditioned existence
is the apparent liability of forever losing those upon whom we place our hearts.
So, to meet this difficulty raised by ever present death, the christian churches have invented
their heaven in which reunion is possible under a condition, the acceptance of the dogma of
the Redeemer. None of their believers seem to consider that, inasmuch as constantly many of
those most closely bound to us by every tie do not and never will meet the prerequisite condition, happiness in that heaven cannot be possible when we constantly are aware that those unbelie-
vers are suffering in hell, for, enough memory being left to permit us to recognize believing
friends, we cannot forget the others. Greater than ever, then, that difficulty becomes.
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