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Reincarnation
To be reborn in a new
body or a new form.
The doctrine of reincarnation —
the belief that the human soul or the spirit of an animal or plant can, after death, enter another
human or animal body — is an extremely ancient one, and can be found in the teachings
of Egyptian religion, Greek philosophy,
Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism, Theosophy,
and the philosophies of Plato and Pythagoras.
Belief in reincarnation depends, of
course, on belief in the soul. If we accept that man has a soul, merely housed in a
physical body, it is not unreasonable to propose that it may survive death. But if it does
survive death — is, in fact, immortal — may it not also have existed before
birth' If time is infinite, it is surely surprising that a soul should have been created
at a particular moment in it. Is it not more sensible to assume that immortality stretches
both ways.
Although we associate reincarnation
chiefly with non-Christian religions, the idea is not entirely foreign to Christianity.
The Jews believed in the periodic return of their great prophets — Moses was a
reincarnation of Abel, and the Messiah was to be the reincarnation of Adam (the Samaritans
believed that Adam was reincarnated as Seth, then as Noah, Abraham and Moses). Several
early Christian scholars were intrigued by reincarnation. Nor is the idea confined to the
West. Many African tribes accept it: when a child is born to the Yoruba tribe, the first
thing the elders do is look for signs that will tell them which ancestral spirit has
returned wrapped in the infant's body. Several Australian aboriginal tribes (among them,
the Warramunga, the Urabunna and the Tasmains) accept that the souls of men and women can
exist in growing plants, as well as animals. The Okinawans (among most Oceanic people)
believe that human souls can exist only in human bodies: when the body dies, the soul
remains in the family home for 49 days, then enters Gusho, the afterlife, whence within
seven generations it must return to earth, inhabiting the body of someone who will be very
similar to its previous host. The Amerindians share a belief in reincarnation in various
forms the Maryland Indians held that white men were an ancient generation of Indians who
had come to life again, and set out to seize their ancestral lands.
In Europe, a general belief in
reincarnation was common in historic times, when the Finns and Lapps, the Danes and Norse,
the early Saxons and Celts, Prussians and Teutonics held it. Modern Western man remains,
on the whole, unattached to the theory — although it strongly appeals to some.
Related books:
Across Time and
Death: A Mother's Search for Her Past Life Children.
Children's Past
Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child.
Discovering Your
Past Lives: The Best Book on Reincarnation You'll Ever Read in This Lifetime.
Old Souls: The
Scientific Evidence for Past Lives.
Other Lives,
Other Selves: A Jungian Psychotherapist Discovers Past Lives.
The Case for
Reincarnation: Preface by The Dalai Lama.
Twenty Cases
Suggestive of Reincarnation.
Where
Reincarnation and Biology Intersect.
You Have Been
Here Before: A Psychologist Looks at Past Lives.
Click
here for more related
books.
Further info:
In Another Life.
Reincarnation,
The Way Of Soul Evolution.
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