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The Project Gutenberg eBook, Reincarnation and the Law of Karma, by
William Walker Atkinson
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Reincarnation and the Law of Karma
A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and Effect
Author: William Walker Atkinson
Release Date: August 19, 2008 [eBook #26364]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REINCARNATION AND THE LAW OF
KARMA***
E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Turgut Dincer, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
REINCARNATION AND THE LAW OF KARMA
A Study of
the Old-New World-Doctrine of
Rebirth, and Spiritual
Cause and Effect
by
WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON
Published and Sold by
Yogi Publication Society
Masonic Temple, Chicago, Ill.
London Agents
L.N. Fowler & Co., 7 Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus. E.C.
(Reincarnation and the Law of Karma)
Copyright, 1908, by
Yogi Publication Society
All Rights Reserved
NOTICE.--This book is protected by Copyright and
simultaneous publication in Great Britain, France, Germany,
Russia and other countries. All foreign rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I. THE EARLY RACES 7
What is Reincarnation?--Transmigration of
Souls--The Something That Persists After
Death--The Soul Not a Fresh Creation, but a
Traveler on a Long Journey.
CHAPTER II. THE EGYPTIANS, CHALDEANS, DRUIDS, ETC. 20
The Egyptian Idea of the Soul--Forty Centuries of
Occult History--The Inner Teachings of Egypt--The
Ancient Chinese Teachings and Doctrine--The
Ancient Druids and Their Teachings.
CHAPTER III. THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 35
The Reasons of Rome's Backwardness in Spiritual
Knowledge--Why the Greeks were
Advanced--Pythagoras; Orpheus; Plato--The Various
Grecian Teachings Regarding the Soul and Its
Future Life--Plato's Wonderful Teachings and
Philosophy.
CHAPTER IV. THE JEWS, ESSENES, AND EARLY CHRISTIANS 49
The Inner Teachings of the Jewish Priests--The
Jewish Rabbins and Their Secret Doctrines--The
Kaballah, the Zahar, Nichema; Ronach; and
Nephesh--A Mysterious Brotherhood--The Christian
Inner Doctrine--The Mysteries of Jesus.
CHAPTER V. THE HINDUS 64
India the Mother of Reincarnation, Past and
Present--The Aryan Teachings--The History of the
Belief Among the Hindus--Fundamental Hindu
Philosophy.
CHAPTER VI. THE MODERN WEST 95
Reincarnation in the Modern Western World--The
Revival of Interest and Its Cause--Theosophical
Society--Madame Blavatsky--The Western School of
Yogi Philosophy: Its Fundamental Teachings--The
Spiritists, and Their Doctrine--The Teachings of
the "Elect Few" in Their Secret Societies--Is
Earth a Hell?--Christian Reincarnationists and
Their Beliefs.
CHAPTER VII. BETWEEN AND BEYOND INCARNATIONS 117
How Long Between Incarnations?--Necessity for
Mental and Spiritual Digestion and
Assimilation--The Advanced Teachings--Earth-bound
Souls--Advanced Souls and Their Rest Period--Where
Does the Soul Dwell Between Incarnations?--What
Happens at Death--The Great Astral World and Its
Planes and Sub-planes--Where the Soul Goes After
Death and What It Does There--Rebirth and Its
Laws--What is the Final State of the Soul?--The
Message of the Illumined.
CHAPTER VIII. THE JUSTICE OF REINCARNATION 134
The Contrasting Theories of the Soul and Its
Future Life--Doctrine of Reincarnation the Only
Philosophical Theory that Reconciles Facts with
Theory--The Law of Karma Automatic and Enforces
Itself--Every One Their Own Judge and the Executor
of Their Own Destiny--The Opinions of the World's
Great Thinkers.
CHAPTER IX. THE ARGUMENT FOR REINCARNATION 151
Natural Laws Universal--If the Soul is Immortal,
it Must Have Always Been So--A Mortal Thing Cannot
be Made Immortal Any More Than Nothing Can be Made
Something--Future Life Implies Past Life--Varient
Experiences Necessary for the Soul's
Education--Advancement Necessary to Enjoyment of
the Soul's Higher States of Being--The True
Teaching.
CHAPTER X. THE PROOFS OF REINCARNATION 169
Actual Proofs of Personal Conscious Experience
Demanded by Science--Such Proofs Possible and Have
Occurred to Many of the Race--The Remembrance of
the Details of Past Existence Common to the
Race--Interesting Cases Given on Good
Authority--Messages from the Past.
CHAPTER XI. ARGUMENTS AGAINST REINCARNATION 192
Why Reincarnation is Opposed by Some--The Answers
to the Objections--The Proof of the Existence of
the Soul--Is Reincarnation Un-Christian and
Derived from Pagan and Heathen Sources?
CHAPTER XII. THE LAW OF KARMA 222
What Karma Means--Does Karma Punish or is it but
the Workings of a Natural Law?--The Various Kinds
of Karma--The Advanced Mystical Doctrine--The End
is Absolute Good--There is No Devil but Fear and
Unfaith.
CHAPTER I.
THE EARLY RACES.
By "Reincarnation" we mean the repeated incarnation, or embodiment in
flesh, of the soul or immaterial part of man's nature. The term
"Metempsychosis" is frequently employed in the same sense, the
definition of the latter term being: "The passage of the soul, as an
immortal essence, at the death of the body, into another living body."
The term "Transmigration of Souls" is sometimes employed, the term being
used in the sense of "passing from one body into another." But the term
"Transmigration" is often used in connection with the belief of certain
undeveloped races who held that the soul of men sometimes passed into
the bodies of the lower animals, as a punishment for their sins
committed during the human life. But this belief is held in disrepute
by the adherents of Reincarnation or Metempsychosis, and has no
connection with their philosophy or beliefs, the ideas having sprung
from an entirely different source, and having nothing in common.
There are many forms of belief--many degrees of doctrine--regarding
Reincarnation, as we shall see as we proceed, but there is a fundamental
and basic principle underlying all of the various shades of opinion, and
divisions of the schools. This fundamental belief may be expressed as
the doctrine that there is in man an immaterial Something (called the
soul, spirit, inner self, or many other names) which does not perish at
the death or disintegration of the body, but which persists as an
entity, and after a shorter or longer interval of rest reincarnates, or
is re-born, into a new body--that of an unborn infant--from whence it
proceeds to live a new life in the body, more or less unconscious of its
past existences, but containing within itself the "essence" or results
of its past lives, which experiences go to make up its new "character,"
or "personality." It is usually held that the rebirth is governed by the
law of attraction, under one name or another, and which law operates in
accordance with strict justice, in the direction of attracting the
reincarnating soul to a body, and conditions, in accordance with the
tendencies of the past life, the parents also attracting to them a soul
bound to them by some ties in the past, the law being universal,
uniform, and equitable to all concerned in the matter. This is a general
statement of the doctrine as it is generally held by the most
intelligent of its adherents.
E. D. Walker, a well-known English writer on the subject, gives the
following beautiful idea of the general teachings: "Reincarnation
teaches that the soul enters this life, not as a fresh creation, but
after a long course of previous existences on this earth and elsewhere,
in which it acquired its present inhering peculiarities, and that it is
on the way to future transformations which the soul is now shaping. It
claims that infancy brings to earth, not a blank scroll for the
beginning of an earthly record, nor a mere cohesion of atomic forces
into a brief personality, soon to dissolve again into the elements, but
that it is inscribed with ancestral histories, some like the present
scene, most of them unlike it and stretching back into the remotest
past. These inscriptions are generally undecipherable, save as revealed
in their moulding influence upon the new career; but like the invisible
photographic images made by the sun of all it sees, when they are
properly developed in the laboratory of consciousness they will be
distinctly displayed. The current phase of life will also be stored away
in the secret vaults of memory, for its unconscious effects upon the
ensuing lives. All the qualities we now possess, in body, mind and soul,
result from our use of ancient opportunities. We are indeed 'the heir of
all the ages,' and are alone responsible for our inheritances. For these
conditions accrue from distant causes engendered by our older selves,
and the future flows by the divine law of cause and effect from the
gathered momentum of our past impetuses. There is no favoritism in the
universe, but all have the same everlasting facilities for growth. Those
who are now elevated in worldly station may be sunk in humble
surroundings in the future. Only the inner traits of the soul are
permanent companions. The wealthy sluggard may be the beggar of the next
life; and the industrious worker of the present is sowing the seeds of
future greatness. Suffering bravely endured now will produce a treasure
of patience and fortitude in another life; hardships will give rise to
strength; self-denial must develop the will; tastes cultivated in this
existence will somehow bear fruit in coming ones; and acquired energies
will assert themselves whenever they can by the Law of Parsimony upon
which the principles of physics are based. Vice versa, the unconscious
habits, the uncontrollable impulses, the peculiar tendencies, the
favorite pursuits, and the soul-stirring friendships of the present
descend from far-reaching previous activities."
The doctrine of Reincarnation--Metempsychosis--Rebirth--has always been
held as truth by a large portion of the human race. Following the
invariable law of cyclic changes--the swing of the pendulum of
thought--at times it has apparently died out in parts of the world, only
to be again succeeded by a new birth and interest among the descendants
of the same people. It is a light impossible to extinguish, and although
its flickering flame may seem to die out for a moment, the shifting of
the mental winds again allows it to rekindle from the hidden spark, and
lo! again it bursts into new life and vigor. The reawakened interest in
the subject in the Western world, of which all keen observers have taken
note, is but another instance of the operation of the Cyclic Law. It
begins to look as if the occultists are right when they predict that
before the dawn of another century the Western world will once more have
embraced the doctrines of Rebirth--the old, discarded truth, once so
dear to the race, will again be settled in popular favor, and again move
toward the position of "orthodox" teaching, perhaps to be again
crystallized by reason of its "orthodoxy" and again to lose favor and
fade away, as the pendulum swings backward to the other extreme of
thought.
But the teaching of Reincarnation never has passed away altogether from
the race--in some parts of the world the lamp has been kept burning
brightly--nay, more, at no time in human history has there been a period
in which the majority of the race has not accepted the doctrine of
Rebirth, in some of its various forms. It was so one thousand years
ago--two thousand--five thousand--and it is so to-day. In this Twentieth
Century nearly if not quite two-thirds of the race hold firmly to the
teaching, and the multitudes of Hindus and other Eastern peoples cling
to it tenaciously. And, even outside of these people, there are to be
found traces of the doctrine among other races in the East, and West. So
Reincarnation is not a "forgotten truth," or "discarded doctrine," but
one fully alive and vigorous, and one which is destined to play a very
important part in the history of Western thought during the Twentieth
Century.
It is interesting to trace the history of the doctrine among the ancient
peoples--away back into the dim recesses of the past. It is difficult to
ascribe to any particular time, or any particular race, the credit of
having "originated" Reincarnation. In spite of the decided opinions, and
the differing theories of the various writers on this subject, who would
give Egypt, or India, or the lost Atlantis, as the birthplace of the
doctrine, we feel that such ideas are but attempts to attribute a
universal intuitive belief to some favored part of the race. We do not
believe that the doctrine of Reincarnation ever "originated" anywhere,
as a new and distinct doctrine. We believe that it sprang into existence
whenever and wherever man arrived at a stage of intellectual development
sufficient to enable him to form a mental conception of a Something that
lived after Death. No matter from what source this belief in a "ghost"
originated, it must be admitted that it is found among all peoples, and
is apparently an universal idea. And, running along with it in the
primitive peoples, we find that there is, and always has been, an idea,
more or less vague and indistinct, that somehow, someway, sometime, this
"ghost" of the person returns to earthly existence and takes upon itself
a new fleshly garment--a new body. Here, then, is where the idea of
Reincarnation begins--everywhere, at a certain stage of human mental
development. It runs parallel with the "ghost" idea, and seems bound up
with that conception in nearly every case. When man evolves a little
further, he begins to reason that if the "ghost" is immortal, and
survives the death of the body, and returns to take upon itself a new
body, then it must have lived before the last birth, and therefore must
have a long chain of lives behind it. This is the second step. The third
step is when man begins to reason that the next life is dependent upon
something done or left undone in the present life. And upon these three
fundamental ideas the doctrine of Reincarnation has been built. The
occultists claim that in addition to this universal idea, which is more
or less intuitive, the race has received more or less instruction, from
time to time, from certain advanced souls which have passed on to higher
planes of existence, and who are now called the Masters, Adepts,
Teachers, Race Guides, etc., etc. But whatever may be the explanation,
it remains a truth that man seems to have worked out for himself, in all
times and in all places, first, an idea of a "ghost" which persists
after the body dies; and second, that this "ghost" has lived before in
other bodies, and will return again to take on a new body. There are
various ideas regarding "heavens" and "hells," but underlying them all
there persists this idea of re-birth in some of its phases.
Soldi, the archaeologist, has published an interesting series of works,
dealing with the beliefs of primitive peoples, who have passed from the
scene of human action. He shows by the fragments of carving and
sculpture which have survived them that there was an universal idea
among them of the "ghost" which lived after the body died; and a
corresponding idea that some day this "ghost" would return to the scene
of its former activities. This belief sometimes took the form of a
return into the former body, which idea led to the preservation of the
body by processes of mummifying, etc., but as a rule this belief
developed into the more advanced one of a re-birth in a new body.
The earlier travelers in Africa have reported that here and there they
found evidences and traces of what was to them "a strange belief" in the
future return of the soul to a new body on earth. The early explorers of
America found similar traditions and beliefs among the Red Indians,
survivals of which exist even unto this day. It is related of a number
of savage tribes, in different parts of the world, that they place the
bodies of their dead children by the roadside, in order that their souls
may be given a good chance to find new bodies by reason of the
approaching of many traveling pregnant women who pass along the road. A
number of these primitive people hold to the idea of a complex soul,
composed of several parts, in which they resemble the Egyptians,
Hindus, Chinese, and in fact all mystical and occult philosophies. The
Figi Islanders are said to believe in a black soul and a white soul, the
former of which remains with the buried body and disintegrates with it,
while the white soul leaves the body and wanders as a "ghost," and
afterward, tiring of the wandering, returns to life in a new body. The
natives of Greenland are said to believe in an astral body, which leaves
the body during sleep, but which perishes as the body disintegrates
after death; and a second soul which leaves the body only at death, and
which persists until it is reborn at a later time. In fact, the student
finds that nearly all of the primitives races, and those semi-civilized,
show traces of a belief in a complex soul, and a trace of doctrine of
Reincarnation in some form. The human mind seems to work along the same
lines, among the different races--unless one holds to the theory that
all sprang from the same root-race, and that the various beliefs are
survivals of some ancient fundamental doctrine--the facts are not
disturbed in either case.
In the last mentioned connection, we might mention that the traditions
concerning Ancient Atlantis--the lost continent--all hold to the effect
that her people believed strongly in Reincarnation, and to the ideas of
the complex soul. As the survivors of Atlantis are believed to have been
the ancestors of the Egyptians on the one hand, and of the Ancient
Peruvians on the other--the two branches of survivors having maintained
their original doctrines as modified by different environments--we might
find here an explanation of the prevalence of the doctrine on both sides
of the ocean. We mention this merely in passing, and as of general
interest in the line of our subject.
CHAPTER II.
THE EGYPTIANS, CHALDEANS, DRUIDS, ETC.
After considering the existence of the doctrines of Reincarnation among
the primitive peoples, and its traditional existence among the vanished
peoples of the past, we find ourselves irresistibly borne toward that
ancient land of mystery--the home of the mystics and occultists of the
past--the land of Isis--the home of the builders of the Pyramids--the
people of the Sphinx. Whether these people were the direct descendants
of the people of destroyed Atlantis, the home of the Ancient Wisdom--or
whether they were a new people who had rediscovered the old
doctrines--the fact remains that when tracing back any old occult or
mystic doctrine we find ourselves gradually led toward the land of the
Sphinx as the source of that hidden truth. The Sphinx is a fit emblem of
that wonderful race--its sealed lips seem to invite the ultimate
questions, and one feels that there may be a whispered answer wafted
from those tightly closed lips toward the ear that is prepared to hear
and receive it. And so, in our search for the origin of Reincarnation,
we find ourselves once more confronting the Egyptian Sphinx as we have
done so often before in our search after Truth.
Notwithstanding its obvious prehistoric origin, many have claimed that
Metempsychosis has its birthplace in old Egypt, on the banks of the
Nile. India disputes this claim, holding that the Ganges, not the Nile,
gave birth to the doctrine. Be that as it may, we shall treat the
Egyptian conception at this place, among the ancient lands holding the
doctrine, for in India it is not a thing of the past, but a doctrine
which has its full flower at the present time, and which flower is
sending forth its subtle odor to all parts of the civilized world. And
so we shall defer our consideration of India's teachings until we reach
the present stage of the history of Reincarnation. Herodotus, many
centuries ago, said of the Egyptians that: "The Egyptians are the first
who propounded the theory that the human soul is imperishable, and that
where the body of any one dies it enters into some other body that may
be ready to receive it; and that when it has gone the round of all
created forms on land, in water, and in air, then it once more enters
the human body born for it; and that this cycle of existence for the
soul takes place in three thousand years."
The doctrine of Reincarnation is discernible though hidden away amidst
the mass of esoteric doctrine back of the exoteric teachings of the
Egyptians, which latter were expounded to the common people, while the
truth was reserved for the few who were ready for it. The inner circles
of the Egyptian mystics believed in and understood the inner truths of
Reincarnation, and although they guarded the esoteric teachings
carefully, still fragments fell from the table and were greedily taken
up by the masses, as we may see by an examination of the scraps of
historical records which have been preserved, graven in the stone, and
imprinted on the bricks. Not only did these people accept the doctrine
of Reincarnation, but Egypt was really the home of the highest occult
teachings. The doctrines and teachings regarding several "sheaths" or
"bodies" of man, which are taught by occultists of all times and races,
are believed to have been fully taught in their original purity on the
banks of the Nile, and in the shadow of the Pyramids--yes, even before
the days of the Pyramids. Their forty centuries of history saw many
modifications of the philosophical and religious beliefs, but the
fundamental doctrine of Reincarnation was held to during the entire
period of history in Ancient Egypt, and was not discarded until the
decadent descendants of the once mighty race were overwhelmed by
stronger races, whose religions and beliefs superseded the vestiges of
the Ancient Doctrine. The Egyptians held that there was "Ka," the divine
spirit in man; "Ab," the intellect or will; "Hati," the vitality; "Tet,"
the astral body; "Sahu," the etheric double; and "Xa," the physical body
(some authorities forming a slightly different arrangement), which
correspond to the various "bodies of man" as recognized by occultists
to-day.
The Ancient Chaldeans also taught the doctrine of Rebirth. The body of
Persian and Chaldean mystics and occultists, known as "the Magi," who
were masters of the Hidden Wisdom, held to the doctrine of Reincarnation
as one of their fundamental truths. In fact, they managed to educate the
masses of their people to a much higher point than the masses of the
Egyptians, and, escaping the idolatrous tendencies of the Egyptian
populace, they manifested a very high degree of pure philosophical,
occult, and religious knowledge. The Magi taught that the soul was a
complex being, and that certain portions of it perished, while certain
other parts survived and passed on through a series of earth and
"other-world" existences, until finally it attained such a degree of
purity that it was relieved of the necessity for further incarnation,
and thenceforth dwelt in the region of ineffable bliss--the region of
light eternal. The teaching also held that just before entering into
the state of bliss, the soul was able to review its previous
incarnations, seeing distinctly the connection between them, and thus
gaining a store of the wisdom of experience, which would aid it in its
future work as a helper of future races which would appear on the face
of the earth. The Magi taught that as all living things--nay, all things
having existence, organic or inorganic--were but varying manifestations
of the One Life and Being, therefore the highest knowledge implied a
feeling of conscious brotherhood and relationship toward and with all.
Even among the Chinese there was an esoteric teaching concerning
Reincarnation, beneath the outer teaching of ages past. It may be
discerned in the teachings of the early philosophers and seers of the
race, notably in the work of Lao-Tze, the great Chinese sage and
teacher. Lao-Tze, whose great work, the "Tao-Teh-King," is a classic,
taught Reincarnation to his inner circle of students and adherents, at
least so many authorities claim. He taught that there existed a
fundamental principle called "Tao," which is held to have been identical
with the "primordial reason," a manifestation of which was the "Teh," or
the creative activity of the universe. From the union and action of the
"Tao" and the "Teh" proceeded the universe, including the human soul,
which he taught was composed of several parts, among them being the
"huen," or spiritual principle; and the "phi," or semi-material vital
principle, which together animate the body. Lao-Tze said: "To be
ignorant that the true self is immortal, is to remain in a grievous
state of error, and to experience many calamities by reason thereof.
Know ye, that there is a part of man which is subtle and spiritual, and
which is the heaven-bound portion of himself; that which has to do with
flesh, bones, and body, belongs to the earth; earthly to earth--heavenly
to heaven. Such is the Law." Some have held that Lao-Tze taught the
immediate return of the "huen" to the "tao" after death, but from the
writings of his early followers it may be seen that he really taught
that the "huen" persisted in individual existence, throughout repeated
incarnations, returning to the "tao" only when it had completed its
round of experience-life. For instance, in the Si Haei, it is said that:
"The vital essence is dispersed after death together with the body,
bones and flesh; but the soul, or knowing principle of the self, is
preserved and does not perish. There is no immediate absorption of the
individuality into the Tao, for individuality persists, and manifests
itself according to the Law." And Chuang-Tze said: "Death is but the
commencement of a new life." It was also taught by the early Taoists,
that the deeds, good and evil, of the present life would bear fruit in
future existences; in addition to the orthodox heavens and hells, in
which the Chinese believed, and of which they had a great variety
adapted to the requirements of the various grades of saints and sinners,
the minute details of which places being described with that attention
to minor details and particulars peculiar to the Chinese mind. The
teachings of a later date, that the soul of the ancestor abided in the
hall of the ancestors, etc., were a corruption of the ancient teaching.
Other Chinese teachers taught that the soul consists of three parts, the
first being the "kuei," which had its seat in the belly, and which
perished with the body; the second being the "ling," which had its seat
in the heart or chest, and which persisted for some time after death,
but which eventually disintegrated; and the third, or "huen," which had
its seat in the brain, and which survived the disintegration of its
companions, and then passed on to other existences.
As strange as it may appear to many readers unfamiliar with the subject,
the ancient Druids, particularly those dwelling in ancient Gaul, were
familiar with the doctrine of Reincarnation, and believed in its tenets.
These people, generally regarded as ancient barbarians, really possessed
a philosophy of a high order, which merged into a mystic form of
religion. Many of the Romans, upon their conquest of Gallia, were
surprised at the degree and character of the philosophical knowledge
possessed by the Druids, and many of them have left written records of
the same, notably in the case of Aristotle, Cæsar, Lucan, and Valerius
Maximus. The Christian teachers who succeeded them also bore witness to
these facts, as may be seen by reference to the works of St. Clement,
St. Cyril, and other of the early Christian Fathers. These ancient
"barbarians" entertained some of the highest spiritual conceptions of
life and immortality--the mind and the soul. Reynaud has written of
them, basing his statements upon a careful study of the ancient beliefs
of this race: "If Judea represents in the world, with a tenacity of its
own the idea of a personal and absolute God; if Greece and Rome
represent the idea of society, Gaul represents, just as particularly,
the idea of immortality. Nothing characterized it better, as all the
ancients admit. That mysterious folk was looked upon as the privileged
possessor of the secrets of death, and its unwavering instinctive faith
in the persistence of life never ceased to be a cause of astonishment,
and sometimes of fear, in the eyes of the heathen." The Gauls possessed
an occult philosophy, and a mystic religion, which were destroyed by the
influences of the Roman Conquest.
The philosophy of the Druids bore a remarkable resemblance to the Inner
Doctrine of the Egyptians, and their successors, the Grecian Mystics.
Traces of Hermeticism and Pythagoreanism are clearly discernible,
although the connecting link that bound them together has been lost to
history. Legends among the Druids connected their order with the ancient
Aryan creeds and teachings, and there seems to have been a very close
connection between these priests and those of Ancient Greece, for there
are tales of offerings being sent to the temples of Greece from the
priests of Gaul. And it is also related that on the island of Delphos
there was once a Druidic tomb in the shape of a monument, believed to
have been erected over the remains of Druid priestesses. Herodotus and
others speak of a secret alliance between the priests of Greece and
those of the Druids. Some of the ancient legends hold that Pythagoras
was the instructor of the Druidic priests, and that Pythagoras himself
was in close communication with the Brahmins of India, and the
Hermetists of Egypt. Other legends have it that the Druids received
their first instruction from Zamolais, who had been a slave and student
of Pythagoras. At any rate, the correspondence between the two schools
of philosophy is remarkable.
Much of the Druidic teachings has been lost, and it is difficult to
piece together the fragments. But enough is known to indicate the above
mentioned relationship to the Pythagorean school, and of the firm hold
of the doctrine of Reincarnation upon the Druids. The preserved
fragments show that the Druids taught that there was in man an
immaterial, spiritual part, called "Awen," which proceeded from an
Universal Spiritual Principle of Life. They taught that this "Awen" had
animated the lower forms of life, mineral, vegetable and animal, before
incarnating as man. In those conditions it was entangled and imprisoned
in the state of "abysmal circling," called "Anufu," from which it
finally escaped and entered into the "circle of freedom," called
"Abred," or human incarnation and beyond. This state of "Abred" includes
life in the various human races on this and other planets, until finally
there is a further liberation of the "Awen," which then passes on to the
"Circle of Bliss," or "Gwynfid," where it abides for æons in a state of
ecstatic being. But, beyond even this transcendent state, there is
another, which is called the "Circle of the Infinite," or "Ceugant,"
which is identical with the "Union with God" of the Persians and Greek
Mystics, or the "Nirvana" of the Hindus. Rather an advanced form of
philosophy for "barbarians," is it not? Particularly when contrasted
with the crude mythology of the Roman conquerors!
The Gauls were so advanced in the practical phases of occultism that
they gave every condemned criminal a respite of five years, after
sentence of death, before execution, in order that he might prepare
himself for a future state by meditation, instruction and other
preparation; and also to prevent ushering an unprepared and guilty soul
into the plane of the departed--the advantages of which plan is apparent
to every student of occultism who accepts the teaching regarding the
astral planes.
The reader will understand, of course, that the degree of advancement in
spiritual and philosophical matters evidenced by the Gauls was due not
to the fact that these people were generally so far advanced beyond
their neighbors, but rather to the fact that they had been instructed by
the Druid priests among them. Tradition has it that the original Druidic
priests came to Gaul and other countries from some far-off land,
probably from Egypt or Greece. We have spoken of the connection between
their teachings and that of the Pythagoreans, and there was undoubtedly
a strong bond of relationship between these priests and the occultists
of other lands. The Druidic priests were well versed in astronomy and
astrology, and the planets had an important part in the teachings. A
portion of their ritual is said to have correspondences with the early
Jewish rites and worship. Their favorite symbol--the mistletoe--was used
as indicating re-birth, the mistletoe being the new life springing forth
from the old one, typified by the oak. The Druids traveled into Ancient
Britain and Ireland, and many traces of their religious rites may still
be found there, not only in the shape of the stone places-of-worship,
but also in many curious local customs among the peasantry. Many a bit
of English folk-lore--many an odd Irish fancy concerning fairies and the
like; symbols of good-luck; banshees and "the little-folk"--came
honestly to these people from the days of the Druids. And from the same
source came the many whispered tales among both races regarding the
birth of children who seemed to have remembrances of former lives on
earth, which memory faded away as they grew older. Among these people
there is always an undercurrent of mystic ideas about souls "coming
back" in some mysterious way not fully understood. It is the inheritance
from the Druids.
CHAPTER III.
THE ROMANS AND GREEKS.
One unfamiliar with the subject would naturally expect to find the
Ancient Romans well advanced along the lines of philosophy, religion,
and spiritual speculation, judging from the all-powerful influence
exerted by them over the affairs of the whole known world. Particularly
when one considers the relationship with and connection of Rome with
ancient Greece, it would seem that the two peoples must have had much in
common in the world of thought. But such is not the case. Although the
exoteric religions of the Romans resembled that of the Greeks, from whom
it was borrowed or inherited, there was little or no original thought
along metaphysics, religion or philosophy among the Romans. This was
probably due to the fact that the whole tendency of Rome was toward
material advancement and attainment, little or no attention being given
to matters concerning the soul, future life, etc. Some few of the
philosophers of Rome advanced theories regarding the future state, but
beyond a vague sort of ancestor worship the masses of the people took
but little interest in the subject. Cicero, it is true, uttered words
which indicate a belief in immortality, when he said in "Scipio's
Dream": "Know that it is not thou, but thy body alone, which is mortal.
The individual in his entirety resides in the soul, and not in the
outward form. Learn, then, that thou art a god; thou, the immortal
intelligence which gives movements to a perishable body, just as the
eternal God animates an incorruptible body." Pliny the younger left
writings which seem to indicate his belief in the reality of phantoms,
and Ovid has written verses which would indicate his recognition of a
part of man which survived the death of the body. But, on the whole,
Roman philosophy treated immortality as a thing perchance existing, but
not proven, and to be viewed rather as a poetical expression of a
longing, rather than as an established, or at least a well grounded,
principle of philosophical thought. But Lucretius and others of his time
and country protested against the folly of belief in the survival of the
soul held by the other nations. He said that: "The fear of eternal life
should be banished from the universe; it disturbs the peace of mankind,
for it prevents the enjoyment of any security or pleasure." And Virgil
praised and commended the philosophical attitude which was able to see
the real cause of things, and was therefore able to reject the unworthy
fear of a world beyond and all fears arising from such belief. But even
many of the Roman philosophers, while denying immortality, believed in
supernatural powers and beings, and were very superstitious and
childlike in many respects, so that their philosophy of non-survival was
evidently rather the result of temperament and pursuit of material
things than a height of philosophical reasoning or metaphysical thought.
And so, the Romans stand apart from the majority of the ancient
peoples, in so far as the belief in Reincarnation is concerned. While
there were individual mystics and occultists among them, it still
remains a fact that the majority of the people held no such belief, and
in fact the masses had no clearly defined ideas regarding the survival
of the soul. It is a strange exception to the general rule, and one that
has occasioned much comment and attention among thinkers along these
lines. There was a vague form of ancestor worship among the Romans, but
even this was along the lines of collective survival of the ancestors,
and was free from the ordinary metaphysical speculations and religious
dogmas. Roughly stated, the Roman belief may be expressed by an idea of
a less material, or more subtle, part of man which escaped
disintegration after death, and which in some mysterious way passed on
to combine with the ancestral soul which composed the collective
ancestral deity of the family, the peace and pleasure of which were held
as sacred duties on the part of the descendants, sacrifices and
offerings being made toward this end. Nevertheless, here and there,
among the Romans, were eminent thinkers who seemingly held a vague,
tentative belief in some form of Reincarnation, as, for instance, Ovid,
who says: "Nothing perishes, although everything changes here on earth;
the souls come and go unendingly in visible forms; the animals which
have acquired goodness will take upon them human form"; and Virgil says:
"After death, the souls come to the Elysian fields, or to Tartarus, and
there meet with the reward or punishment of their deeds during life.
Later, on drinking of the waters of Lethe, which takes away all memory
of the past, they return to earth." But it must be admitted that Rome
was deficient in spiritual insight and beliefs, on the whole, her
material successes having diverted her attention from the problems which
had so engrossed the mind of her neighbor Greece, and her older sisters
Persia, Chaldea, and Egypt.
Among the Greeks, on the contrary, we find a marked degree of interest
and speculation regarding the immortality of the soul, and much
interest in the doctrines of Metempsychosis or Reincarnation. Although
the great masses of the Grecian people were satisfied with their popular
mythology and not disposed to question further, or to indulge in keen
speculation on metaphysical subjects, still the intellectual portion of
the race were most active in their search after truth, and their schools
of philosophy, with their many followers and adherents, have left an
indelible mark upon the thought of man unto this day. Next to the
Hindus, the Greeks were the great philosophers of the human race. And
the occultists and mystics among them were equal to those of Persia,
India, Chaldea or Egypt. While the various theories regarding the soul
were as the sands of the sea, so many were the teachers, schools and
divisions of thought among these people--still the doctrine of
Reincarnation played a very important part in their philosophy. The
prevailing idea was that the worthy souls pass on to a state of bliss,
without rebirth, while the less worthy pass the waters of the river of
Lethe, quaffing of its waters of forgetfulness, and thus having the
recollection of their earth-life, and of the period of punishment that
they had undergone by reason of the same, obliterated and cleansed from
their memories, when they pass on to re-birth. One of the old Orphic
hymns reads as follows: "The wise love light and not darkness. When you
travel the journey of Life, remember, always, the end of the journey.
When souls return to the light, after their sojourn on earth, they wear
upon their more subtle bodies, like searing, hideous scars, the marks of
their earthly sins--these must be obliterated, and they go back to earth
to be cleansed. But the pure, virtuous and strong proceed direct to the
Sun of Dionysus." The teachings of the Egyptians left a deep impression
upon the Grecian mind, and not only the common form of belief, but also
the esoteric doctrines, were passed along to the newer people by the
elder.
Pythagoras was the great occult teacher of Greece, and his school and
that of his followers accepted and taught the great doctrine of
Reincarnation. Much of his teaching was reserved for the initiates of
the mystic orders founded by himself and his followers, but still much
of the doctrine was made public. Both Orpheus and Pythagoras, although
several centuries separated them, were students at the fount of
knowledge in Egypt, having traveled to that country in order to be
initiated in the mystic orders of the ancient land, and returning they
taught anew the old doctrine of Rebirth. The Pythagorean teaching
resembles that of the Hindus and Egyptians, in so far as is concerned
the nature of man--his several bodies or sheaths--and the survival of
the higher part of his nature, while the lower part perishes. It was
taught that after death this higher part of the soul passed on to a
region of bliss, where it received knowledge and felt the beneficent
influence of developed and advanced souls, thus becoming equipped for a
new life, with incentives toward higher things. But, not having as yet
reached the stage of development which will entitle it to dwell in the
blissful regions for all eternity, it sooner or later reaches the limit
of its term of probation, and then passes down toward another
incarnation on earth--another step on the Path of Attainment.
The teaching was, further, that the conditions, circumstances and
environments of the new earth-life were determined by the actions,
thoughts, and mental tendencies of the former life, and by the degree of
development which the several previous earth-lives had manifested. In
this respect the teaching agrees materially with the universal doctrine
regarding Reincarnation and Karma. Pythagoras taught that the doctrine
of Reincarnation accounted for the inequality observable in the lives of
men on earth, giving a logical reason for the same, and establishing the
fact of universal and ultimate justice, accountable for on no other
grounds. He taught that although the material world was subject to the
laws of destiny and fatality, yet there was another and higher state of
being in which the soul would rise above the laws of the lower world.
This higher state, he taught, had laws of its own, as yet unknown to
man, which tended to work out the imperfect laws of the material world,
establishing harmony, justice, and equality, to supply the apparent
deficiencies manifested in the earth life.
Following Pythagoras, Plato, the great Grecian philosopher, taught the
old-new doctrine of Rebirth. He taught that the souls of the dead must
return to earth, where, in new lives, they must wear out the old earth
deeds, receiving benefits for the worthy ones, and penalties for the
unworthy ones, the soul profiting by these repeated experiences, and
rising step by step toward the divine. Plato taught that the
reincarnated soul has flashes of remembrance of its former lives, and
also instincts and intuitions gained by former experiences. He classed
innate ideas among these inherited experiences of former lives. It has
been well said that "everything can be found in Plato," and therefore
one who seeks for the ancient Grecian ideas concerning Reincarnation,
and the problems of the soul, may find that which he seeks in the
writings of the old sage and philosopher. Plato was the past master of
the inner teachings concerning the soul, and all who have followed him
have drawn freely from his great store of wisdom. His influence on the
early Christian church was enormous, and in many forms it continues even
unto this day. Many of the early Christian fathers taught that Plato was
really one of the many forerunners of Christ, who had prepared the pagan
world for the coming of the Master.
In "Phaedo," Plato describes the soul, and explains its immortality. He
teaches that man has a material body which is subject to constant
change, and subject to death and disintegration; and also an immaterial
soul, unchangeable and indestructible, and akin to the divine. At death
this soul was severed from its physical companion, and rose, purified,
to the higher regions, where it rendered an account of itself, and had
its future allotted to it. If it was found sufficiently untainted and
unsullied by the mire of material life, it was considered fit to be
admitted to the State of Bliss, which was described as Union with the
Supreme Being, which latter is described as Spirit, eternal and
omniscient. The base and very guilty souls undergo a period of
punishment, or purgation, to the end that they may be purged and
purified of the guilt, before being allowed to make another trial for
perfection. The souls which were not sufficiently pure for the State of
Bliss, nor yet so impure that they need the purging process, were
returned to earth-life, there to take up new bodies, and endeavor to
work out their salvation anew, to the end that they might in the future
attain the Blissful State. Plato taught that in the Rebirth, the soul
was generally unconscious of its previous lives, although it may have
flashes of recollection. Besides this it has a form of intuition, and
innate ideas, which was believed to be the result of the experiences
gained in the past lives, and which knowledge had been stored up so as
to benefit the soul in its reincarnated existence.
Plato taught that the immaterial part of man--the soul--was a complex
thing, being composed of a number of differing, though related,
elements. Highest in the hierarchy of the soul elements he placed the
Spirit, which, he taught, comprised consciousness, intelligence, will,
choice between good and evil, etc., and which was absolutely
indestructible and immortal, and which had its seat in the head. Then
came two other parts of the soul, which survived the dissolution of the
body, but which were only comparatively immortal, that is, they were
subject to later dissolution and disintegration. Of these semi-material
elements, one was the seat of the affections, passions, etc., and was
located in the heart; while the other, which was the seat of the sensual
and lower desires, passions, etc., was located in the liver. These two
mentioned lower elements were regarded as not possessed of reason, but
still having certain powers of sensation, perception, and will.
The Neo-Platonists, who followed Plato, and who adapted his teachings to
their many conflicting ideas, held firmly to the doctrine of
Reincarnation. The writings of Plotinus, Porphyry, and the other
Mystics, had much to say on this subject, and the teaching was much
refined under their influence. The Jewish philosophers were affected by
the influence of the Platonic thought, and the school of the Essenes,
which held firmly to the idea of Rebirth, was a source from which
Christianity received much of its early influence.
CHAPTER IV.
THE JEWS, ESSENES AND EARLY CHRISTIANS.
The early Jewish people had an Inner Teaching which embraced certain
ideas concerning Reincarnation, although the masses of the people knew
nothing of the doctrine which was reserved for the inner circles of the
few. There is much dispute concerning the early beliefs of the Jewish
people regarding the immortality of the soul. The best authorities seem
to agree that the early beliefs were very crude and indefinite,
consisting principally of a general belief that after death the souls
are gathered up together in a dark place, called Sheol, where they dwell
in an unconscious sleep. It will be noted that the earlier books in the
Old Testament have very little to say on this subject. Gradually,
however, there may be noticed a dawning belief in certain states of the
departed souls, and in this the Jews were undoubtedly influenced by the
conceptions of the people of other lands with whom they came in contact.
The sojourn in Egypt must have exerted an important influence on them,
particularly the educated thinkers of the race, of which, however, there
were but few, owing to the condition in which they were kept as bondsmen
of the Egyptians. Moses, however, owing to his education and training
among the Egyptian priests, must have been fully initiated in the
Mysteries of that land, and the Jewish legends would indicate that he
formed an Inner Circle of the priesthood of his people, after they
escaped from Egypt, and doubtless instructed them fully in the occult
doctrines, which, however, were too advanced and complicated for
preaching to the mass of ignorant people of which the Jewish race of
that time was composed. The lamp of learning among the Jews of that time
was kept alight but by very few priests among them. There has always
been much talk, and legend, concerning this Inner Teaching among the
Jews. The Jewish Rabbis have had so much to say regarding it, and some
of the Early Fathers of the Christian Church were of the opinion that
such Secret Doctrine existed.
Scholars have noted that in important passages in the Jewish Bible,
three distinct terms are used in referring to the immaterial part, or
"soul," of man. These terms are "Nichema," "Rouach," and "Nephesh,"
respectively, and have been translated as "soul," "spirit" or "breath,"
in several senses of these terms. Many good authorities have held that
these three terms did not apply to one conception, but that on the
contrary they referred to three distinct elements of the soul, akin to
the conceptions of the Egyptians and other early peoples, who held to
the trinity of the soul, as we have shown a little further back. Some
Hebrew scholars hold that "Nichema" is the Ego, or Intelligent Spirit;
"Rouach," the lower vehicle of the Ego; and "Nephesh," the Vital Force,
Vitality, or Life.
Students of the Kaballah, or Secret Writings of the Jews, find therein
many references to the complex nature of the soul, and its future
states, as well as undoubted teachings regarding Reincarnation, or
Future Existence in the Body. The Kaballah was the book of the Jewish
Mysteries, and was largely symbolical, so that to those unacquainted
with the symbols employed, it read as if lacking sense or meaning. But
those having the key, were able to read therefrom many bits of hidden
doctrine. The Kaballah is said to be veiled in seven coverings--that is,
its symbology is sevenfold, so that none but those having the inner keys
may know the full truth contained therein, although even the first key
will unlock many doors. The Zohar, another Secret Book of the Jews,
although of much later origin than the Kaballah, also contains much of
the Inner Teachings concerning the destiny of the soul. This book
plainly recognizes and states the three-fold nature of the soul, above
mentioned, and treats the Nichema, Rouach and Nephesh as distinct
elements thereof. It also teaches that when the soul leaves the body it
goes through a long and tedious purifying process, whereby the effect
of its vices is worn off by means of a series of transmigrations and
reincarnations, wherein it develops several perfections, etc. This idea
of attaining perfection through repeated rebirths, instead of the
rebirths being in the nature of punishment as taught by Plato, is also
taught in the Kaballah, showing the agreement of the Jewish mind on this
detail of the doctrine. The essence of the Kaballic teaching on this
subject is that the souls undergo repeated rebirth, after long intervals
of rest and purification, in entire forgetfulness of their previous
existences, and for the purpose of advancement, unfoldment,
purification, development, and attainment. The Zohar follows up this
teaching strictly, although with amplifications. The following quotation
from the Zohar is interesting, inasmuch as it shows the teaching on the
subject in a few words. It reads as follows: "All souls are subject to
the trials of transmigration; and men do not know which are the ways of
the Most High in their regard. They do not know how many
transformations and mysterious trials they must undergo; how many souls
and spirits come to this world without returning to the palace of the
divine king. The souls must re-enter the absolute substance whence they
have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop all the
perfections; the germ of which is planted in them; and if they have not
fulfilled this condition during one life, they must commence another, a
third, and so on, until they have acquired the condition which fits them
for reunion with God."
The mystic sect which sprung up among the Jewish people during the
century preceding the birth of Christ, and which was in the height of
its influence at the time of the Birth--the sect, cult, or order of The
Essenes--was an important influence in the direction of spreading the
truths of Reincarnation among the Jewish people. This order combined the
earlier Egyptian Mysteries with the Mystic Doctrine of Pythagoras and
the philosophy of Plato. It was closely connected with the Jewish
Therapeutæ of Egypt, and was the leading mystic order of the time.
Josephus, the eminent Jewish historian, writing of the Essenes, says:
"The opinion obtains among them that bodies indeed are corrupted, and
the matter of them not permanent, but that souls continue exempt from
death forever; and that emanating from the most subtle ether they are
unfolded in bodies as prisons to which they are drawn by some natural
spell. But when loosed from the bonds of flesh, as if released from a
long captivity, they rejoice and are borne upward." In the New
International Encyclopedia (vol. vii, page 217) will be found an
instructive article on "Essenes," in which it is stated that among the
Essenes there was a certain "view entertained regarding the origin,
present state, and future destiny of the soul, which was held to be
pre-existent, being entrapped in the body as a prison," etc. And in the
same article the following statement occurs: "It is an interesting
question as to how much Christianity owes to Essenism. It would seem
that there was room for definite contact between John the Baptist and
this Brotherhood. His time of preparation was spent in the wilderness
near the Dead Sea; his preaching of righteousness toward God, and
justice toward one's fellow men, was in agreement with Essenism; while
his insistence upon Baptism was in accordance with the Essenic emphasis
on lustrations." In this very conservative statement is shown the
intimate connection between the Essenes and Early Christianity, through
John the Baptist. Some hold that Jesus had a still closer relationship
to the Essenes and allied mystic orders, but we shall not insist upon
this point, as it lies outside of the ordinary channels of historical
information. There is no doubt, however, that the Essenes, who had such
a strong influence on the early Christian Church, were closely allied to
other mystic organizations with whom they agreed in fundamental
doctrines, notably that of Reincarnation. And so we have brought the
story down to the early Christian Church, at which point we will
continue it. We have left the phase of the subject which pertains to
India for separate consideration, for in India the doctrine has had its
principal home in all ages, and the subject in that phase requires
special treatment.
That there was an Inner Doctrine in the early Christian Church seems to
be well established, and that a part of that doctrine consisted in a
teaching of Pre-existence of the Soul and some form of Rebirth or
Reincarnation seems quite reasonable to those who have made a study of
the subject. There is a constant reference to the "Mysteries" and "Inner
Teachings" throughout the Epistles, particularly those of Paul, and the