The following article is adapted from a talk given at an interlodge symposium held on February 3, 2007 in Philadelphia.



“Reincarnation - The Doctrine of Hope”

   “Theosophy” means divine wisdom, or wisdom of the gods.  The claim is
made, with supporting evidence, that there have been in the past and
probably are today, living human beings who have perfected their
physical, psychic, mental and spiritual faculties to the highest degree
possible.  They have looked into the heart of nature and investigated
the laws operating on planes hidden or invisible to the physical
senses.  No observation was accepted as fact until it was checked,
tested and verified by the independent investigations of others and
ages of experience.  Theosophy is a portion of the accumulated wisdom
of countless generations of these wise human beings.  The philosophy
and ethical principles of this system are based on scientific facts and
knowledge of laws of nature.  Theosophy is a synthesis of Science,
Religion and Philosophy.  One of the central teachings of Theosophy is
the doctrine of reincarnation.

   There are many who believe in reincarnation as a personal belief or
as part of their faith.  However, in Theosophy, reincarnation is not
presented as a dogmatic teaching that must be accepted.  The major
religions of the world teach reincarnation; however, in Theosophy,
reincarnation is not presented as a divine revelation or speculation of
any one teacher, sect or school.  Reincarnation is initially presented
as a self-evident philosophical proposition.  To assert that
reincarnation is a self-evident proposition does not mean that everyone
will immediately recognize it as being true.  It means that its truth
can be checked, tested and verified through independent investigation
and experience.  Is reincarnation true?  Does it explain?  Is it
practical?  The final authority rests with the individual.  Suspend
belief and likewise suspend skepticism and doubt.  Rely on all your
powers of observation.

   There appear to be three aspects to the process of self-realization
of the truth of this doctrine.  The first aspect is then recognition of
law as a universal and impersonal process.  Its universality means that
it operates on all beings and in all departments of nature.  Its
impersonality means that it operates on all beings without favor and it
cannot be mitigated by sentiment.  The law is the unerring tendency for
the preservation of harmony and balance and its restoration where it
was disturbed. The second aspect is the recognition of how the law
works universally in nature.  It operates as periodicity or cycles,
manifested as periods of activity and rest, as well as recurrence of
that which has occurred before.  The third aspect is the recognition of
how this law operates in relation to human beings.  Although each of
these aspects is self-evident, in order to recognize the operation of
this law in human beings, self-knowledge is needed.

   Many human beings believe that man has a soul.  Theosophy adds that
man is a soul - a conscious mind being with a life independent of the
life of the physical body, as well as faculties, powers and
responsibilities of its own.  The same universal law of cycles, action
and reaction, apply to the soul.  Reincarnation is the doctrine that
the soul is re-embodied in a long series of physical bodies.  In each
embodiment, the personality, family, nation and circumstances vary
according to causes set up by the soul in previous lives or the present
one.

   Bound up with the doctrine of reincarnation is the doctrine of karma,
as a man sows, that shall he also reap.  The universal law of action
and reaction adjusts effect to cause, restores harmony and balance. 
Reincarnation provides the field of opportunity for sowing and reaping
causes and effects.  Reincarnation is the doctrine of hope.  That hope
is that man has greater potential than can be achieved in one life. 
Wrapped up in that word “hope” is the power, self-reliance and divinity
of the human soul, as well as compassion for others born along with us
in the process of becoming.

         QUOTES OF INTEREST

“For logic, consistency, profound philosophy, divine mercy and equity,
this doctrine of Reincarnation has not its equal on earth. It is a
belief in a perpetual progress for each incarnating Ego, or divine
soul, in an evolution from the outward into the inward, from the
material to the Spiritual, arriving at the end of each stage at
absolute unity with the divine Principle. From strength to strength,
from the beauty and perfection of one plane to the greater beauty and
perfection of another, with accessions of new glory, of fresh knowledge
and power in each cycle, such is the destiny of every Ego, which thus
becomes its own Saviour in each world and incarnation.”
- The Key To Theosophy

“Man is spiritual being -- a soul , in other words -- and that this
soul takes on different bodies from life to life on earth to order at
last to arrive at such perfect knowledge, through repeated experience,
as to enable one to assume a body fit to be the dwelling-place of a
Mahatma or perfected soul. Then, they say, that particular soul becomes
a spiritual helper to mankind.”
- Echoes From The Orient
 
"I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, that
the living spring from the dead, and that the souls of the dead are in
existence."   - Socrates

"The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary
abode, and it goes out of it anew… it passes into other habitations,
for the soul is immortal."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

  "As far back as I can remember I have unconsciously referred to the
experiences of a previous state of existence." - Henry David Thoreau

“It is not more surprising to be born twice than once."  - Voltaire

"There is no death. How can there be death if everything is part of the
Godhead? The soul never dies and the body is never really alive."
- Isaac Bashevis Singer

"Were an Asiatic to ask me for a definition of Europe, I should be
forced to answer him: It is that part of the world which is haunted by
the incredible delusion that man was created out of nothing, and that
his present birth is his first entrance into life."  - Arthur
Schopenhauer

"Genius is experience. Some seem to think that it is a gift or talent,
but it is the fruit of long experience in many lives.
   “I believe we are reincarnated. You, I, we reincarnate over and over.
We live many lives, and store up much experience. Some are older souls
than others and so they know more. It seems to be an intuitive ‘gift.’
It is really hard-won experience.”  - Henry Ford

"When I see nothing annihilated, and not even a drop of water wasted, I
cannot suspect the annihilation of souls… Thus finding myself to exist
in the world, I believe I shall, in some shape or other, always exist;
with all the inconveniences human life is liable to, I shall not object
to a new edition of mine; hoping, however, that the errata of the last
may be corrected."
- Benjamin Franklin

  ".... I fought in many guises, many names, but always me." - General
George S. Patton





        “Theosophical Independence”  is produced monthly by Associates of The United Lodge of Theosophists in Philadelphia.  Comments, questions and contributions for publication may be sent to The United Lodge of Theosophists, 1917 Walnut Street,   Philadelphia, PA  19103.

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