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This item is filmed at tha reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document eat filmi au taux da riduction indiquA ci-daaaoua. 10X 14X itx 22X 26X XX J 1 12X 1«X xx 24X 28X 32X Th« copy filmed hmim has bMn raproduesd thank* to ttM ganaroalty of: Library of PariiamMit and tiM Itotional Library of Canada. L'OKomplairo fHmd fut roproduit grieo * i« gdfiArooIti do: U BMiothkiua du Pariamant at ia BMiothAqua nationala du Canada. Tho imogoo appooring poaaiMo conaidoring of ttM original eopy Aiming contraet iMfo aro ttM boat quality eondition and iaglbillty in icaoping witti ttM l.aa imagaa aidvantaa ont 4ti roproduitoa avoe la plMO grand aoin. eompto tanu do ia eondition ot do ia iMtiot* do i'aaa m pial r a filmd. ot on eonformiti awoo laa oondMono du eontrat da OrigirMi coplo* in printed popor oovora aro fNmad beginning witti ttM front eovor and ending on ttM loot pego wHti e printed nr iHuetreted impraa- aion. or tho booli cover when epproprlato. AN ottMr originel eopiee ere fHmod beginning on tho firet pego with e printed or illuetreted imprae- oion. and ending on ttM loot pego with e printed or iiiuetreted imp r e e aion. Ljo aKompl a iroo ort !neux dont le eouverture en pepior eet Imprlmee aont fRmee en common^ent per le premier plot ot en terminent aolt per le dom H re pego qui eomporto uno emprel n te dlm pr o oal on ou d1>uetratlon. aolt per le aocond plot, aelon le oee. Toue lee eutree exempleiree orlgirMux aont fUmde en common^ent per le pre m iere pego qui eomporto uno emprelnte dimp r e a aion ou dlHuetration ot en tormiiMm per le d emlire pego qui eomporto uno teHo TiMleot recorded fremooneech alMil contain ttM aymbol * TINUEO"). or tho aymbol ▼ ( "CON- END"). Un doe ay iwboloe auhrente eppereltre aur le de m li r e inaoge do ctMquo mIcrofietM. aokm le caa: ia aymbole -*> algnHle "A SUiVRE". le aymbolo ▼ algnlflo "nN". Mope, pletee, ctMrta. etc.. mey bo fMmod et d i f fe rent reduction retioe. Thoeo too lergo to bo entirely IrMiudod in one eiipoeure ere fHmod beginning in ttM upper loft hend eomer, loft to rigiit end top to bottom, ee meny fremee ee required. TIm follow^ diegreme iiluetreto ttM It plenohee> tebloeuA* ete.« pouvent Atre fHmde A dee taux da rdduetion d I f fA rent e . lArequo le dooument eet trap grend pour 4tre raproidult en un aaul eUetid. ii eet fNmd i pertir do i'angle aupdriaur gauclM. do gouctM A draite, et do iMut en boo. en proiMiK le nombra dimegee nicoeealra. Lee diegrammee aulventa Uluetront le mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 8 6 7 PRICE, FIVE CENTS. The Rationale of Reincarnation : An Eastern Solution of a Western Problem. BY WILLIAM T. JAMES. TORONTO, CANADA: James & Williams, Printers and Publishers, io King Street East. THE STREAM: AN ALLEGORY OF HUMAN LIFE. ^^ 1/ one clast of things were not conttnHtly given back in the place of another, revolving as it were in a circle, but generation were direct from one thing alone into its opposite, and did not turn round again to the other, or retrace its course, do you know thai all things would at length have the same form, be in the same statf and cease to be produced V — Flato. I.— THE RILL, Trickling, it fell Into its well Out of a crevice high up on the hill : Then with a vim, Over the brim, Frisked into childhood the giddy young rill. Leaping the rocks, Laughing at shocks ; Rollicking, romping like children at play; Down, ever down; Never a frown : Care for tr-morrow would darken toeing. This something, having struggled upward through all the ramifications of the kingdoms of Nature, eventually arrives at the stage of self-consciousness and becomes, by virtue of this attribute, a human being. It is now an individualized entity and endowed with power to re-incarnate as such. Life after life it is re-born into a physical body for the purpose of gaining experience and development, until it has exhausted the possibilities of growth and expansion afforded by this world, when it moves forward into higher gradations of being. Progress is its eternal watchword. As there are periods for rest, r^'cuperation and assimilation between days of activity, so are there periods of subjective life between lives of objective existence such as we now enjoy, as there are also such between any two worlds or systems of worlds with which we may be related. As the night follows day, and the winter follows summer, and death follows life, so these two states of being alternate — life within the body and life without the body — in one perpetual oscillation between two extremes, neither of which is death as the term is understood by materialists. What we call death is but a change of condition — the leaving of one state to be born into another. And the coming again of an individual into a physical body is what is implied by the term, reincarnation. While this doctrine is said to have been demonstrated to some persons as conclusively as any scientific hypothesis has ever been, their testimony must be taken on their ip&i dixit or rejected as unproved. Let us, there- 4 THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. fore, ascertain to what extent it can be substantiated by reason, analysis, experience, analogy and such logical data as may be cited in its favor. Let us consider a few arguments which show THE NECESSITY OF REINCARNATION. The more we investigate the claims of this theory, the more clearly do we see the necessity of re-birth. Although one may be intellectually con- vinced at the outset, conviction is most often arrived at by the daily application of the doctrine as a working hypothesis to the solution of the problems of lii.: as they present themselves. Intelligently applied, it is like a mathematical equation which admits of but one result. Where it cannot be made to explain any difficult enigma within its far-reaching scope, the student, and not the law (for it is as scientifically exact as any law) is at fault. What opportunity has a child, dying in infancy, to learn the lessons of incarnate existence if it be not y^-incarnated? If there is a reason and a purpose in our being here in the flesh, then the child who dies before reaching maturity must be born again to fulfil the purpose of its existence. If we admit the possibility of fulfilling that purpose in other than a physical state, we waive the necessity of a physical existence; to die young is an advantage, and not to be born at all is a still greater desideratum. But "there is no royal road to learning." The same path must be traversed by all; who falls by the wayside must continue the journey after he has been refreshed. The sage dies in the fulness of his days little better off than the child. This life ceases while he is yet in the midst of his unsolved problems, and his last supplication is for more life — more light wherewith to search tor truth. Is he to remain for ever in comparative ignorance? Or are the enigmas of the ages merely the playthings of the adult mind, to be pon- dered for divertisement? Is life so empty, so devoid of a coherent purpose, so altogether not worth the living, as not to afford opportunity for a continuation of those projects which are begun in earnest, carried forward a stage and then dropped for lack of time? Is life to be a story in which the characters are introduced only to be led into all manner of absurd dilemmas and distressing circumstances and there abandoned, leaving us in doubt as to their fate and the outcome of their expectations? Surely it must have a sequel. Yes, indeed, for one incarnation is but an epoch in the career of a soul — a chapter in the Book of Life, which, like that of a serial story, breaks off in a most interesting part. The last word is "and" with a dash after it, and below that the trite superscription of Fate: "To be continued in our Next." If all things may be miraculously comprehended after death, let us not vex ourselves with problems ; let as forsake learning and science, and eat, drink and be merry, for soon we shall die and know all. Even at this advanced stage of civilization, when so much experience may be crowded into a lifetime, a man actually comprehends only a few of t THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. 5 the innumerable phases of human knowledge and experience. Shall he see one part and not the whole, that he may understand the relation of that part to the whole? Shall he know a fragment of truth, and understand so little of universal truth as not to be able to appreciate what he does know? Shall he drink to the dregs the cup of bitterness, and not taste the nectar? Or shall his portion be the sweets of life, rarely tinctured with the sorrows that almost wholly embitter other lives? Shall he observe, and not reason? endure adversity, and never be philosopher enough to realize the purpose and the beneficent intent underlying it? be a menial drudge, and know nothing of the delights of imagination and the aspiration and ecstacy of the poet? be governed, and never rule? weep, and not rejoice? toil, and not repose? desire, and never possess? seek, and not find? love, and lose forever the object of his affection? suffer, and not be requited? sow, and not reap? I wot not. Reason and Faith rebel against the frus- tration of an evident design of just compensation. There is abundant evidence in Nature, religion, science and man himself to disprove such an assumption. " A CASE IN POINT. A young man, with marked proclivities in the direction of art and a laudable ambition to excel as an artist, undergoes a thorough training and, in the course of time, by earnest effort and concentrated application, bids fair to distinguish himself. He has the creative faculty, his talent is well trained, great achievements are expected of him and a brilliant career is unanimously predicted. But while he is engaged on what promises to be a masterpiece, he dies. Does not this seem a cruel injustice that a mis- chance should so thwart the realization of a merited reward? Nature, having brought a prodigy into existence, who leaves no condition unfulfilled in order that he may develop and use his genius to the best advantage, cuts him off in his prime when he is about to enjoy the fruit of assiduous endeavor. Does it not seem, apart from what justification reincarnation has to offer, that blind chance rather than an intelligent design determines our fate and the issue of events, regardless of justice? Nature, in this case, evidently incurred a debt which she did not pay. Was she delinquent, or was she constiained to withhold settlement until a more propitious time, by reason of a contra score which had first to be settled? Let us see. HEREDITY AND REINCARNATION. In considering this case as an argument favorable to reincarnation, we should first enquire how this particular person came to be born with an innate talent for art. Modern science would attribute it to the law of heredity. This, undoubtedly, had a great deal to do with it; but, since biologists confess an ignorance of the origin and nature of life, and a knowledge only of the mode of its transmission, they are not snre that heredity wholly accounts for it. THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. If the Ego can exist outside of as well as in a physical body, then the body is but a part of its environment, and heredity has to do with environ- ment only; and as this is a condition of being and not him whose scope is modified by it, we must admit an entity that manifests its qualities and attributes subject to the limitations of its environment. Where did this entity — this ghostly Ego — come from, and where and how did it become imbued with these qualities and attributes? Direct from God? There is not scientific proof. From the parents? The germ of the physical body, yes; but the immortal individuality, no Why not? Because if man pro- duced or created his progeny — body, mind and spirit — he could, at best, reproduce only a duplicate in combination of the two concerned in the procreative act. They could not endow their offspring with characteristics, tendencies and capacities they did not themselves possess; and we know by actual experience that there is sometimes a wide divergence from the characteristic line of descent. From whom among all his ancestors did Shakespeare derive his extraordinary capabilities? Like can only beget like. The Ego was already prepared for the environment in which it was to incarnate by the status it had attained in previous lives. Thus is rein- carnation a most potent factor in differentiation and progression. We admit mind and matter — a thinker as well as that about which he thinks. Evolution must, therefore, proceed upon the mental as it does upon the material plane; and if we find a certain stage of evolution shown in early childhood by conspicuous tendencies, how can we escape the conclusion that the child must have had a prior existence in which to develop those tendencies? And these are but indications of inherent characteristics, which education unfolds and further develops. Here we recognize a partially-developed individuality identified with a rudimentary body at the time of birth, implying an ante-natal existence of the Ego; and reincarnation offers the most rational explanation of how that individ- urlity was evolved of any yet advanced by science, philosophy or theology. To us in the Western Hemisphere it is more strange than untenable. ,. THE LAW OF KARMA. Reincarnation presupposes a law to regulate it. For the lack of an English equivalent, it may be called by its Oriental name. Karma. It is acti^'e on both the moral and physical planes, and ensures for every cause an adequate effect. It is accepted by scientists as the law of cause and effect; in ethics, it is that which St. Paul alluded to when he wrote, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." While it may appear to operate as a punishment or reward, it is neither, but the impersonal correlation of cause and effect. Without this law, nothing could ensue as the result of effort or action ; indeed, but for it no thing could exist. It is Karma, then, which determines our environment and the trend of our career as the re-action of actions in former lives, which are constantly being modified by our every act and thought ; and as every individual is THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. . related to every other individual by a Karmic tie more tangible than the mere sentiment of brotherhood, the Karma generated by each affects all. Thus we see that the birth of the artist in question, his remarkable abilities and his untimely demise were due to Karma; and as he died with merit to his credit, he will profit by this when he returns to enjoy it and expiate the offences not yet accounted for on the plane where the causes were generated. Nature never makes a compromise; she settles all her scores at the proper time, keeping with each one of us a debit and credit account tnat covers all possible contingencies and automatically balances itself. REINCARNATION AND CIVILIZATION. A great many people take things as they find them, putting forth no effort to improve the existing condition of society, because they do not think they will live to enjoy the results of their effort and influence. Believing they are here on this earth for the first and last time, they bestow no care or labor on that which will not bear immediate fruit, relegating to the altruist the profitless task of working for posterity. If reincarnation were a delusion and the solidarity of the human race a mere figment, then perhaps this were a prudential policy, from a selfish standpoint. But what if they really have to come back, vainly expecting to reap benefits they have not sown? Why were we bom when and where we were? Why not have been born in the dark ages or in the midst of barbarism? Or why was not our birth postponed until the world has become a more desirable place to live in? Was it by chance that our lot was cast as it is? Or was there an intelligent, equitable purpose to be observed, and that the meting out to us of our just deserts? If we have never lived before to have incurred such a consequence, it was an unfortunate mischance that we were born when we were, and the generations that preceded us were worse off than we are, for we began where our predecessors left off and so are further advanced; the asperities of life are in many respects ameliorated and our advantages are pre-eminently better. But those who shall follow us will have the same advantage over us. What a pity that we could not defer our birth until the world has become a Utopia! But with reincarnation as a fact, mark the different complexion it imparts to the question. The people whose lot we commiserate were our- selves, and the coming race whose prospects excite our envy, of whom, at some particular epoch, will it be composed but of ourselves also? Man, therefore, makes his own environment and determines his own destiny. REINCARNATION OF NATIONS. It has been said and often reiterated that "history repeats itself." Why should it not, if it be true that the history-makers of every period return again to follow the natural inclination of their characters, which must inevitably result in a repetition in outline of the history with which they 8 THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. were formerly associated? Reincarnation, occurring under cyclical and Karmic law, brings again into physical existence Egos who made the history of a date corresponding in characteristics and tendencies to those which mark the cycle o. their re-aj^pearance. Thus it is that history repeats itself, modified, of course, by fresh combinations and different conditions in which it transpires. The same factors being present, similar results must ensue, a relative differentiation from a prior manifestation being due to whatever modification the factors themselves may have under- gone in the process of development, and to a consequent alteration of their individual relationship and reciprocal action. Egos who were formerly associated with each other in past lives are brought together again in fresh circumstances, to work out the fulfilment of Karmic interaction until all inharmony is mutually adjusted. This explains also our predilections and anti|)athies — why we like or dislike persons whom we think we meet for the first time. The rise and fall of nations, while broadly accounted for by cyclical law, is more specifically explained by the contemporaneous reincarnation in groups of the more progressive minds from a nation which no longer affords sctpe for their expansion into a young and vigorous centre of activity, there to impart an impetus to the upbuilding of a fresh power in civilization. Simultaneous with the decline of the Roman Empire, there was the founding of another and greater colonizing power. Great Britain, which so closely resembles its prototype — particularly in its national trait as a dominating, civilizing and governing people and its legal and social constitution — that no stretch of imagination is required to regard the English as a reincarnation of the Romans, as the French are also said to be of the ancient Greeks. One must be ingenious indeed to be able to formulate a more reasonable theory, consistent with observed facts, than that of reincarnation under Karmic law. WHY WE CANNOT RECOLLECT OUR FORMER INCARNATIONS. The fact that a vast majority of mankind have no defined recollection of having lived before is no valid argument against reincarnation. We have but to understand the relation of the mind to its organ, the brain, to see at once why that which precedes birth is to the average person more or less a blank. Does not that intuitional poet, Wordsworth, say: "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And Cometh from afar. T* ^n T" I" ^F ^r ^p *1* Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind. And even with something of a mother's mind. And no unworthy aim, The homely nurse doth all she can To make her foster-child, her innate Man, Forget the glories he hath known, And that imperial palace whence he came." i + i THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. 9 Man has a double consciousness- that of Higher Manas, the exalted mind of his suj)erlative Self, whit h far exceeds the capacities of its lower aspect that functions through the physical brain. Few indeed are they who have a clear remembrance of aught that was not garnered into the intellect through the media of the five senses. Of other faculties of the man proper they know nothing, consequently they cannot at will bring before the mind the records of a pa.st life. Memory of events is not, as some suppose, stored in th'- cells of the brain. An injury to the brain may hinder or prevent the mind from functioning through it, but it does not impair the mind. It has been proved that the brain may, under hypnotic influence, be made to respond to the volition of the mind of another person — a practical demonstration that the brain is not the mind but its organ. Memory is, therefore, the record which the mind selects from its own atmosphere and translates through the brain to our normal consciousness. This being so, we may readily suppose that the records of the events of this life would be more accessible to, and have a greater affinity for, the mind than those of a personality which no longer exists. We know how much easier we can recall events which most intimately concern and affect our present affairs than those for which we have lost all interest, and thus we can understand whj the records of this life should impinge upon our consciousness and those of a previous incarnation be so remote as to be seldom recalled and still more rarely recognized. There is, however, a known method whereby a complete retrospect of the history of the soul may be attained; but, were it generally understood, the process of spiritual unfoldment is so tedious and exacting in its rigorous discipline as applied to habits of thought and conduct, that one must be prompted by more than curiosity to p3rsevere to that end. While most people seem to possess an intuitive aptitude for, and some- times also a knowledge of, mental and physical accomplishments acquired in a past life (and the biography o\ many a genius affords a striking example of such precocious talents); and while children often display unmistakable tendencies to certain pursuits and traits of character, the child must learn again to walk, and talk, and read, and otherwise deport itself in conformity to its fresh environment. But as frequent repetition of an act ensures facility or dexterity in its performance, so anything once learned and thoroughly mastered, endows the individuality with a peculiar aptitude in a subsequent existence. Plato calls this power of recollection the reminiscence of the soul. Character is a concrete expression of what we are, what we can do and what we would like to do. As the character is carried forward from life to life, like the debit and credit totals of an unbalanced account in a ledger, we must of necessity be advanced or retarded by the success or failure of a previous existence. In having to accustom oneself to a change of environment, which would probably include a strange language, education and religion, the repetition of experiences under different conditions would seem to be a waste of time and energy; but in reality we thus gain an opportunity for dealing with other phases of the same things, and so enlarge our compre- 10 THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. hension of them, and — which is of more consequence — character is evolved and strengthened thereby. The Ego, it is said, doc^ not, as a rule, fully incarnate until the seventh year of a child's life. During this period the body is maturing and becoming adjusted, as it were, to its future tenant, who is supervismg its development and making it ductile and responsive to its will. liut why should we wish to remember the events of our past lives? We do not preserve the broken toys of childhood. Having served their purpose, we put them aside and forget them as we grow older and become interested in other things. They are superseded by things which concern our present experience, and rightly so. The mind is improved by loading, observation and reflection; and the body is nourished and pre- served day by day by the food it eats; but we do not take the trouble to recall — and we could not if we would — all that we have read, and seen, and thought about, nor of what our diet consisted during the past year. We are concerned chiefly with the results — that we are alive and healthy; that we know what we know and are what we are. Jusc as a boy who has been taught grammar may forget in later years many, if not all, of its rules, while he still retains the habit of correct pronunciation and composition, so a man usually forgets what cor tributed to his education and develop- ment. He has little time or inclination for retrospect of a past that cannot be amended ; he is absorbed in the present and the opportunities of the future, and therefore he does not wish to be encumbered with things which are now useless. Why, then, should we seek to recall what probably we would be more eager to forget if we could remember it? In withholding from mortal man the recollection of past incarnations, Nature has shown the discretion of a wise nurse. She would not have us disconcerted by the review of experience of more than one life at a time. She takes no notice of the whim or idle curiosity which clamors for some- thing which is not good for us. Apart from the advisability of ridding the human memory of all unnecessary reminiscence, it would only be dis- couraging could we remember the innumerable acts of disobedience and the chastisement they incurred; the severe but salutary discipline that pre- vented our lapsing into retrogression; and the wearisome, heart-rending disappointments of surrendering, at the behest of Fate, the cherished playthings of every life as soon as they began to hold our attention from more important matters.' The path of evolution is uphill all the way. No good can be gained by looking downward ; let us fix our eyes on the path before us until we reach the summit, and then, our journey ended, we may pause to review with satisfaction all our struggles and achievements — our deleats and triumphs. IDIOCY AND INSANITY. The body may be said to be to the Ego what an instrument is to a musician. The best musician cannot get harmony from an instrument that is out of tune, or improperly constructed, or thai he cannot control. The extent to which the Ego can manifest itself outwardly is determined THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. XI by the capacity and condition of its instrument, the body, and the facility with which it can do so depends upon its mastery of that body. A person may have the requisite temperament and all the iimate abilities of a gifted vocalist; but if he has not a voice of the required range and flexibility, how can he sing so as to command admiration? Again, though he may also have the vocal capacity, and have not his voice trained to express all the delicate inflexions of feeling and modulations of sound, in complete accord with the creative faculties of his mind, how shall he not but misrepresent his interior concepts in their outward expression? The instrument must be adapted to the needs of the performer before he can execute the purpose of his will. If, therefore, it be the Karma of an individual to be identified with a brain deformed by hereditary influences, he finds himself linked to an imperfect instrument, which only sluggishly and inadequately responds to the volition of his will and distorts the ideas it cannot be made to express intelligibly. In such a case, he is doomed to exist on the physical plane as an idiot for that life, manifesting so little of his powers and true identity as to raise his body but slightly above that of the brute. Insanity is brought about by a derangement of the brain, which, as witii the idiot, bO circumscribes and misinterprets the mind as to reproduce in grotesque parody, if at all, the intentions of the mind connect'^d with that brain. In partial insanity, a very trivial obstruction may interfere with the normal function of the brain, just as the tension of a string in a violin may produce a false note, or as with the proverbial "rift in the lute." A surgical operation may relieve the affected part and restore the patient to his normal condition; but in no case is the mind itself affected — it is only its organ that is impaired or made whole. As nothing happens by chance, insanity, in all its forms, is also the penalty of wrong-doing, either here or heretofore. TRANSMIGRATION. Reincarnation and Metempsychosis are sometimes confou..Jed with the synonymous term. Transmigration. If these terms are taken to mean one and the same idea, as they really do, there need be no fear of confusion; but if transmigration is understood to mean the passing after death of the immortal Ego into the body of an animal, bird or reptile, then a wide distinction must be made between a term that implies the doctrine in its purity and another that may convey the concept of a degraded cor- ruption of the original teaching. Nothing but a gross distortion of this doctrine has ever postulated a retrogression of man into the anitiial kingdom. Once a man, the trend of human evolution is ever upward and onward in the direction of divinity. Occasional retardation or deviation from a direct line of progression may ensue, as the result of either wilful or ignorant transgression of the laws of his being; but Nature does not suffer a man to undo the evolution of millions of years. 13 THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. THE INCARNATING KOO. Man is defined in the New Testament as a tripartite being, the three principles being body, soul and spirit. This, however, is but a broad classification into three distinctive groups — ^i) the Spirit, the "Divinity that stirs within us;" (2) Soul, the three attributes of Spirit, which serve as vehicles for its expression on their respective planes ; (3) Body, which comprises the physical body, its ethereal counterp. '•t (variously called the "ghost," "wraith," "double," etc.) and the vital principle of life. ThuSj properly analyzed, man may be resolved into seven basic principles, seven being the mathematical multiple of our solar system and iA\ that is involved in its evolution. The septenary constitution of man corresponds to the seven planes of our "universe," and is thus defined: Immortal Mortal I. — Atma (ail-pervading, Universal Spirit). Spirit. 2. — BuDDHi (Spiritual Soul) ) 3. — Manas (Mind, or Human Soul) ■ Soul. 4. — Kama (Animal Desire, or Soul of Sensation) 5. — Prana (Life Principle, or Vitality) 6. — LiNGA Sharira (Ethereal Bodyj !■ Body. 7.— Sthula ShariRo (Physical Body) The four mortal principles are known as the Lower Quarternary. These all belong to and form the personal man. The three immortal principles (the Upper Triad) are connected to the Lower Quarternary by an emanation from Manas, which gives ribe to all the mental phenomena of the ordinary lower mind — that state of intelligence between the instinct of the brute and the ideation of the spiritual consciousness, and to rise to the latter is to transcend the powers normal to the average person. The four lower principles do not reincarnate, and are dispensed with one by one at death and soon after. It is Atma-Buddhi-Manas that sur- vives all the mutations of all the lives and states of being, preserving in themselves all that is intrinsically good as the result of differentiation and experience. Atma is the God who is fundamentally the hypostasis of all differentiated things, and the impersonal base of the whole Cosmos. Buddhi is the perisprit of Atma, or the Divine Soul of man and the uni- verse, sometimes called the Over-Soul. Manas, the realization of self- consciousness in man, is therefore the true Ego — the individuality, the I-am-I, in contradistinction to I-am-John-Smith of the lower personality. As the butterfly thrusts its proboscis into the blossom of the flower and extracts nutriment therefrom, so Manas puts forth a portion of itself into the Kamic nature of the animal, man, and, through the senses, extracts all the experience from the objective world with which it is thus brought into contact. AFTER DEATH, It is deprived of this means of communicating with the outer world, and so withdraws the ray into itself and retires into Devachan — ^a state of subjective consciousness and absolute felicity — there to assimilate what it has gained from the earth-life just ended. THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. «3 ^f The four mortal principles are disposed of by the decomposition of the physical body beyond the possibility of resurrection; the simultaneous disintegration of its ethereal-double on the astral plane; the dispersion of Prana, the vitality; and the gradual dissolution of Kama, which, by reason of its animal instincts and characteristic desires and passions, exists for a time on the Kamic plane as an automaton while it slowly dissolves. And thus ends the lower nature of man, if the Kama-rupa (literally the body of Kama) be not artificially vivified by the auric emanations and hypnotic suggestions of the living. The spiritualistic seance is the rendezvous for such soulless entities, which, drawn within the means of resuscitating their fading desires, seek to attach themselves to a medium for the sake of participating in the sensations originating in their proxy. This is a very unwholesome proceeding, detrimental to the well-being of the departed and the health and morals of the medium and "sitters." To the Ego — the real man — who has passed on into Devachan, this long period of repose ensures to him the recuperation that sleep does to us. He does not leel the need of his lower principles, any more than the equatorial savage requires the clothing of a cold climate. Oblivious to the flight of time, realizing and possessing all he ever aspired to or desired, he lives in a heaven of his own making, supremely happy while he works into his character all the qualities selected from past experience and strengthens himself for the next life. In communication with the higher nature of all his friends and relatives, unmindful of sickness, sorrow, disappointment, death, or anything which pertains to the lower self, he dwells in the land of the Gods until the law of re-action asserts itself and he falls asleep to awake re-incarnated, subject to the law of Karma and therefore to all that he deserves of good and ill. This process is repeated through an almost interminable series of lives, until the perfected man enters Nirvana and is no longer bound by the cycle of necessity to a body. There is, however, an occult method of spiritual development by which the end may be reached in a fraction of the time consumed by the ordinary circuitous route of multiplying experi- ence unnecessarily. It may be described as to know, to will and to do. To know the law and obey it is to avoid an aimless drifting along the current of mere circumstance as well as experimental endeavor multitu- dinously repeated. This is the direct road to final liberation — the straight and narrow way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it, not- withstanding every religion points its finger toward the one and only Path. ANNIHILATION. "Conditional immortality" postulated by theology, in so far as it relates to the preservation of the personal man, has some truth in it, however far astray it may be as to the methods to be employed to secure it. It has already been said that Manas, the individualizing Ego, puts forth a ray of itself into the mortal man, which becomes his lower mind, or intellect; and that after death, this is withdrawn, together with the essence of experi- ence which it, as a pure being, can assimilate. Whatever of the man that ■ M THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. is destined to become immortal, must, to survive from one life to another, become incorporated with the immortal Ego. During life, this ray becomes associated with Kama, the animal nature. It is the connection by which the Divine Man is linked to the animal man. If this '.ower mind — this ray — becomes inextricably entangled with the animal desires, so that it is indissolubly attached to Kama, then the ray cannot be with- drawn, since it is wholly absorbed by the personality, and the personality, failing to transmit aught of itself to the immortal individuality, is wholly destroyed, that life is altogether wasted and more disastrous consequences are entailed. That which should have become immortalized, remains on the Astral Plane to perish as a "lost soul." This is rarely the result of one life, but the dreadful culmination of a series of incarnations, spent in ministration to the lower nature, the person persistently growing more and more gross and materialistic, while ignoring the claims and monitions of the Higher Self. EMANCIPATION. In Genesis we read the story of the first human pair in the Garden of Eden. Pure and undefiled, they fell into sin and brought upon themselvtis and posterity the penalty of death, by eating of the forbidden fruit. Thig is the orthodox doctrine in Christendom of the origin of evil. Whatever mystical interpretation this is susceptible of. Reason and Science demfind a more rational theory to account for original sin — one that may be recon- ciled with a human conception of Divine justice. The teaching of the Eastern Sages in regard to this question is highly abstruse and metaphysical. Salient points only can be touched upon in an elementary treatise such as this. Broadly speaking, then, the spiritual noumenon of the universe, through the process of evolution, raised matter to the altitude of a physical organism in which spiritual beings might incarnate. Whereupon the Divine Immortal Egos, having fulfilled their destinies on a previous world, were constrained by their affinities for the conditions which this Earth afforded to incarnate in the bodies thus pre- pared, and man then became a septenary being (4 -i- 3 = 7), These Divine Men having become associated with animal bodies, while deriving experience and knowlege of the physical plane of this world through these bodies, became as it were the manifestation of God immanent in man, having as their mission the uplifting of the lower man from his gross carnal state to their own level of spiritual consciousness. To facilitate this at-one-ment of the personal man with his Higher Self is the object of all true occult development. Behold, now, the predicament of Lower Manas. Instead of being, as it were, Jacob's ladder, on which the angels of divine intuition and holy aspiration are ascending and descending, it is liable to be so ensnared by the Kamic nature as to transmit but feeble, if any, communication between the animal and spiritual poles of being. In such a case, it becomes materialistic, claiming the body to be itself, and, instead of using it with prudence as a serviceable instrument, pandering to its every desire, r THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION. 15 r doing it servile homage and becoming a slave to it. And now the time having come when it should be occupied with the concerns of the spirit, it is so much engrossed with temporal things and in the making and work- ing out of Karniic effects, that the personal man is hindered in his pro- gression thereby. The result of this is to prolong indefinitely the "cycle of necessity," that is, of re-birth. The physical body cannot be dispensed with until it has fully served its purpose by yielding all that it was designed to afford, neither can a person make much real advance while he is ignorantly violating the laws of his being. He who wastes time in the careless making of Karma must be delayed by the re-action of the conse- quences of his own acts. Karma is the law of compensation, of equilibrium and eternal justice. Nirvana is that condition of static equipoise, in which Karma, having reconciled all contrary forces, can no longer affect the man whose mind is merged into the ineffable equanimity of the divine Over-Soul. For such a one the wheel of sensuous life no longer turns; he has been drawn in by the spiritual centripetal force to the very centre of its nave, where is rest. The trend of the higher evolution is toward Nirvana, the unutterable at-one-ment of man with God. He who, knowing the law, sets out to develop in harmony with it, will by it be helped rapidly forward; but he who heedlessly goes counter to it, does but multiply the ties that bind him to this and that, when he should be free to go onward. Let us consider the case by analogy. A man engages in business as a livelihood, with the ulterior purpose of gaining for himself a competency. He becomes debtor and creditor to others, his obligations and interests increasing with the growth of his business, until he cannot readily extricate himself from the commercial associations with which his concerns are involved. By-and-bye, he accumulates enough money and decides to retire from business. What then does he do ? Does he spend any more capital than is required to keep the business going? Does he continue to promote the extension of credit and liabilities? Does he assume and con- tract mortgages and debts which may, in the complications of business transactions, prove interminable obstacles to retirement? No. He begins to curtail on every hand; he pajs as he goes and seeks a favorable oppor- tunity to foreclose existing contracts. He wishes to get out of business and be rid of all demands upon himself and his capital, so that he may say, 1 have paid all and have been paid, and now am I free. As the business man cannot honorably withdraw until he has satisfied every just claim upon himself, so the Ego cannot escape from the necessity of re-birth until all his Karma be fulfilled. If he does not accelerate the payment of existing liabilities, but continues ever to incur more and more Karma, how shall he be freed? He must cease to do evil and learn to do well, bearing with meekness and resignation whatever befall, knowing that nothing comes undeserved. If he endures his deserts and abstains from incurring fresh troubles, he will soon exhaust his Karma, and the law which can neither be stayed or turned aside will requite him with its last great consummate result — emancipation. • -"' «^-"3'-'~ •rf ■1- .■■",«'■" i6 THE RATIONALE OF REINCARNATION: TWENTY ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS, In favor of reincarnation, which cannot be here elaborated, are worthy of consideration and honest investigation : I. — 800,000.000 people believe in reincarnation. 2. — Jesus said that John the Baptist was Elias reincarnated, and His teachings, esoterically understood, include that of re-birth. 3. — The Bible contains numerous allusions to this doctrine, which the discerning student will readily discover, despite the deviations of the translation from the original and the misinterpretation of theologians. 4. — Origen, perhaps the most enlightened, as well as other eminent fathers of the Christian Church, believed and advocated it. 5. — Buddha, Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras and other of the world's great teachers, philosophers and poets of every age and race have taught it. 6. — It, or doctrines deduced from it, is to be found in the sacerdotal literature of Christendom, the Jews, the Parsees, the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, the Hindus and the Chinese, and not infrequently is it to be detected in Roman and Grecian mythology and among the traditions and rites of savage tribes. 7. — It was taught and symbolized in the initiatory ceremonies of the ancient Mysteries, and was a prominent tenet of the Gnostics. 8. — It is agreeable to a rational concept of the soul. 9. — Analogical correspondences corroborate its claims. 10. — It is strictly within the scope of scientific research — is, in fact, the only scientific theory which fully explains the origin and destiny of man. II. — It interprets many experiences that were heretofore mysterious. 13. — It shows a reason for our likes and dislikes and the mental pictures of persons and places unrelated to the whole experience of this present life, as well as innumerable other phenomena continually cropping up. 13. — It explains what heredity is unable to account for, viz.: the anom- alous conflictions with this recognized law, as, for instance, the remarkable difference occasionally observed between twins born under precisely the same conditions. 14. — It alone affords a justification of human misery and inequality. 15. — It ensures equal chances to all, and denies favoritism and the injustice of an arbitrary determination of one's environment. 16. — It is more in harmony with reason and justice than the dogmas of predestination and everlasting punishment. 1 7. — It proves that man is the maker of his own destiny, and that he alone is responsible for his own sufferings and enjoyments. 18. — It offers the most potent inducements to honesty, integrity, morality, religious aspiration, huma:iitarianism, unselfishness and a just regard for the rights of others. 19. — Apart from it there can be no immortality for man. 30. — Reincarnation is becoming widely accepted as a powerful factor in social reform, bringing back the culprit, as it does, to be punished in the body for the sins of the flesh, and thus providing the missing link which will connect truth in the abstract with right in the concrete.