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"Reincarnation - fact or fallacy?"
Arguments for reincarnation
Which arguments and experiences in our daily life and world speak for the likelihood
of reincarnation as a law in nature?
1. Many people remember their earlier lives, either in their daily consciousness, or they can reach the
memories in their sub-consciousness through hypnosis or certain memory techniques or methods of therapy (Past
Life Regression Therapy) etc. Many of these memories have been verified historically, and it has been
shown that the person has not had any possibility of knowing these facts in any other way. Examples
and methods of this research are described in the following books:
Ian Stevenson: Twenty cases suggestive of reincarnation.
Asger Lorentsen: Reincarnation in research and therapy.
Howard Murphet: Death - the undiscovered country.
Steen Landsy: Nine Earlier lives.
2. In general, most of the great founders of religions have taught the principle of reincarnation as one
of the laws to which man is subject.
The lore of reincarnation is an integrated part of Buddhism and Hinduism, and many scientists think
that it was also a part of the lore of early Christianity - Origenes (184-254), for instance, one of the
early church fathers, writes in "De Principia": The soul has neither beginning, nor end....Every soul
comes to the world strengthened by its victories or weakened by its defeats in earlier lives. Its
position in this world as a vessel which is destined for honour or disgrace is determined by its earlier
merits or negative actions. Its work in this world will decide its place in the world which follows after
this." Historians believe that the idea of reincarnation was removed from Christian thinking and from the Bible
a church meeting in Nicea in 553 AD: on the edict of Emperor Justinian. The idea of reincarnation, with its
strong appeal to high ethics and hope for justice in life was considered too dangerous for the masses.
In other words, had the worldly powers not messed with the text of the Bible, we would all know today that Jesus
and his disciples believed in the idea of reincarnation as a natural part of their religious understanding - the new
"Aquarian Gospels" seem to indicate this same fact.
Spiritual scientists like Rudolf Steiner, Martinus. S. G. J. Ouseley, H. P. Blavatsky, Geoffrey Hodson,
C. W. Leadbeater, Asger Lorentsen also argue for this theory, and the mechanisms behind the
principle of reincarnation are very thoroughly described, amongst others by Martinus, C. W.
Leadbeater, Geoffrey Hodson and Rudolf Steiner. Check my literature list for more information, the explanations
and analyses form thousands of pages.
3. The theory of reincarnation explains, besides the cause of many people's memories of earlier lives,
also the reason for the differences in people's characters and abilities and their luck or misfortune in
life when it is combined with the law of cause and effect (the law of karma), and it gives a logical foundation
for ethics and moral which would otherwise be lacking. How could there be justice in the world if the
human being had only one life? It also explains man's search for meaning in a universe which science
claims has evolved on the basis of coincidence, as it tells about the laws of the universe as they appear
in the lives of human beings. If there was no meaning in life, why would this meaningless universe create man,
a thinking and religious and philosophic being one of whose strongest drives is the search for meaning in life?
Man, a creation of the universe, reflects the powers inherent in the universe - as above so below - and man is
merely a universe on a small scale, the same powers that live in us, live in the universe, including our powers
of reason and wisdom.
4. The problem of whether man is a result of heritage or environment gets an extra dimension which
can explain many of the things which the humanities and natural sciences have not been able to
explain.
Here I think of our psychic and mental skills and abilities which cannot be explained in a satisfying
manner, neither on the basis of heritage (genes) or environment. (Early training, education etc).
If man was only a material phenomena, then how could the learning had taken place which made
Mozart able to play the piano perfectly as a 3 year old and compose his first symphony as a 7 year
old? Or what genetic factors encode the ability to see auras or to communicate with the spirits of the
dead through Para-psychological senses?
Rudolf Steiner, who was a universal genius, had psychic abilities which made him able to describe
events which had taken place many thousands of years ago by reading them in the akashic chronicles,
and had intellectual abilities which astonished his contemporaries. His parents were ordinary people,
the mother was a house-wife, and his father was an official who was employed with the Austrian
railways. Another example of genius is the Count of St. Germain who
was allegedly able to write one language with his right hand while writing in another language with
his left hand!
Heritage, environmental influence, or training which has taken place in earlier lives and is now present
as perfected talents which only need a small amount of exercise to bring them up again?
The theory of reincarnation explains people's different abilities for learning different techniques and
methods of work, as their advantages within certain areas are due to earlier training in the same or a
closely related field.
5. The theory of reincarnation can also meaningfully explain why you feel you know people whom
you have never met in this life, a sort of inner connection which rises above the personal; and it can
explain people's love for certain areas of knowledge, research, languages or countries through their
experiences with these in earlier lives
Similarly, strange neuroses or antipathies against certain people, phenomena or places are explained
by the fact that the person has had negative experiences with them in earlier lives.
6. As an important addition to this argumentation, it is my experience that people who earnestly begin
to investigate whether reincarnation is a reality or not, will receive a sort of guidance from nature and
will be lead to a clear understanding.
Through meditation, hypnosis or similar techniques, most people who want to have the possibility of
experiencing their earlier lives themselves, and many clairvoyants are directly able to tells people
about their earlier lives and to point out to the connections between this and earlier lives.
7. Besides, it would be strange if not the law of cause and effect which we see working everywhere in
the universe - causes lead to effects which again initiate new causes, and thus the world moves as a
series of connected domino bricks - with our free will as a supplementary ingredient - didn't work
within the field of psychic and spiritual phenomena When physical phenomena can be explained
logically, why shouldn't we be able to do the same thing with spiritual phenomena?
I wonder whether the skeptical attitude of many scientists to these phenomena isn't more a result of
their lack of ability to understand the laws according to which they work, rather than the absence of
these laws?
On the Theosophy page, there's a thorough analysis of the use of past life regression therapy as a means
of researching past lives, and a bit about my own experiences. Click here to read.
"REFERENCES TO REINCARNATION IN THE BIBLE"
(from Paul E. Chu: Life before Birth, Life on Earth, Life after Death)
Jesus did speak of reincarnation when he said of John the Baptist that. "Elias is come already and they
know him not". Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist"
(Matthew 17:13)
In the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias is the statement: "and thy wife Elizabeth shall
bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of
Elias". (Luke 1:13-36). There we read the words: "in the spirit and power of Elias"; pointing to the
spirit, the ego of Elias that was to reincarnate as John, later known as the Baptist.
In the Gospel of St. Mark: "Jesus asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say Elias, and others, one of the Prophets" (Mark
8:27,28 and Matthew 16:13-16).
The questions and answers all point to the fact that reincarnation was widely accepted as reality in
Jesus' time and that Jesus confirmed it in the case of John the Baptist.
The fact that Elias was indeed reincarnated as John the Baptist has been confirmed by the independent
researched of the Akashic Records by Rudolf Steiner. Several other earlier and later incarnations are
known of this great leader of humanity.
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