The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-05-26
DID WE LIVE BEFORE {?
HOW THE THEORY OF PRE-ExlsT-
ENcE Has TAKEN ROOT.

HOW THE THEORY OF PRE-ExIsT-
ENcE Has TAKEN ROOT.
Talk With a Believer-Every Man
What He Has Made HimseIf.-Genius
an Inheritance From other Lives.
How to Read Past IncarnatiOns.
Special Correspondence
New YORK. May 7-Re-embodiment Of
souls is a subject much talked of in New
York by those who are fond of exploring
new fields of thought Not only is it talked
of, but believed in, by large number of
persons whose brains command respect in
the practical pursuits of life. 1t is little
startling to helr an envied business man
or an liable editor declare his belief in a
pre-existenca, unless one is familiarized
with the reincarnation doctrine You can't
think of him as anybody but himself; but
he can, because he has accustomed his
mind TO it,
Indeed, amonr believes in this interesting
theory, it is quite the fashionable recreation
to give your friends the benefit of what you
think you were in the life Immediately pre-
ceding this one, and also to hazard few
guesses as to what they were. As you can
readily see, this is a fresh and fascinating
| field for conversation 1t has extraordinary
| possibilities and no limitations. But here is
| queer thing in regard to it: You can tell a
friend that you believe he was no end of
scoundrel in his past embodiments, and he
never gets angry with you-in all probability
he agrees with you, and admits that the
| penalties imposed upon him in this life are
just Yet if you limited that he had been
wicked and worthless in this life, however
irresponsible he may have been for it, and
that whatever trouble he is now staggering
under is the direct result of his wrongdoing,
he would most likely knock you down, IL
you shoul belong to the sex that gets
knocked down His previous existences,
however, you can SANDER and detract with
impunity. They are long way in his rear,
and neither reflect glory nor shame, for the
reason that regulations data for this exist
ence begins with this existence
Yet the re-embodimeut theory distinctly
states that are what We have made our
selves. We suffer from ourselves. The
objective man born into the physical world
is the creation of the person he last animated.
Our joys sorrows and sins are of our own
making Our life is a fabric woven by our
selves The eastern word for [his is ''karma."
II is a sadly put upon word just now, reiter-
ated so often that it is likely to grow little
wearisome. We have no western equivalent
for this Hindu term, which is volume COM
pressed into a SINGLE word. "And what an
idea it conveys of sowing and reaping, and
justicep
l was present where two or three were
gathered together discussing reincarnation,
recently The editor of humorous journal
joined us. Somebody repeated the CONVEX
sation to him up to the point we had carried
it. "Oh, yes, believe that l lived before"
he said, seriously, "and that l shall live
again, and again and again"
Then, in a lighter vein: II must have lived
to very poor purpose, too, when l created
such a karma for myself as | am now expert
encing Think OF it, doomed to edit the
stuff they call humor What could ! have
done to deserve it.'
weight all over the American newspaper
world, told me in confidence that he had rea-
son to believe he had been re-embodied nine
irrtr1 French Fiji iifrfalIFGe9PFsoS aIePFoannIn.sSHrlsS nI.SH
know a woman whose friends believe her
to have been an anchorite in some previous
existence Traces of grim asceticism are
still noticeable in her Ii she were told tc
choose between bed of rose leaves and
board, she would chose the board. She de-
nies herself bodily ease from curious feel
ing that she ought to which her reason
doesn't indorse. She makes every bit of toll
as hard as possible, al though she talks much
about simplifying lie and labor.
Another woman thinks she was man in
an existence Immediately preceding this, be-
cause she doesn't care cent for men; finds
it impossible to love them, and is Eored by
the soci ty of the handsomest and best of
them in an hour or less time.
And still another admits having been a
rossin and taebearer in another life. Dur
ING her childhood she would risk breaking
be7. neck any time to be the first to tell some
thing on somebody. However interesting it
is TO surmise what our previous lives were, it
is stiIl more interesting to shape out our
future lives. According to the Buddhistic
theory we can be what we wish to be. We
are crpating our future lives now. In truth,
that is a law which fulfills itself even in this
world as Stonewall Jackson who believed
in IL demonstrated. Emerson also believed
that every man could possess what he wished
to possess il he would only pay the price.
Not every one who believes in re-embodi-
ment Of spirit is a Buddhist People Of all
religions and of no religion take 10 it, at
least lust now when it seems to be the vogue.
1t is gratifying to the ego; it makes every
man his own ancestor, and ranks him in the
matter of age and experience eq la with the
oldest and wisest One of the chief allure
ments of this theory is that it makes 10 man
older than the youngest infant, except in this
round of life. 1t consoles the old. for it
promises them youth over again. talked
with orc of IFS strongest adherents the other
dav-a man whose opinion on all subjects
pertaining to the mundane welfare Of man
kind is honored. l asked him what was the
strongest point he could make in favor OF
the re-embodiment theory
@The Justice of it. he answered. at is
the only plan which promises absolute jus
tics to every human being and makes each
responsible for himself. | believe that we
are the creatures of centuries, of cyc.es of
millions an millions of ages. We have al
ways future before US greater than the
mast. Our blunders can be retrieved, our
/ sins atoned for, our longings realized. We
shall reap as have sown, and, mark you,
/ this belief makes US exceedingly particular
in the sowing. If | were TO play the iyrant
and oppressor here | truly believe that in
/ nv next embodiment should pay the pen
atty by being a miserable serf, and should
deserve it, too
allow about your intermediate time-the
period between your death here and your re-
/ birth!"
4 aOh, we devote that time to getting rested
/ and refreshed for the next fight Between
+ each pbysical existence the individual unit
/ passes through period of existence in the
corresponding spiritual world The Buddhists
call that, or the highest phase of it, Devachan,
and say that the soul rests there from 800
to 1900 years For ny part l believe that it
dies out of its spiritual existence as We die
out Of this life and in the process is really
born into another worldly existence. The
life Of man, like . world system, is ter
minabIe period And then. did you ever
think of the umfairness Of dividing our liz
into thirty or seventy years here, and al
eternity on the other side of the gravel Il
isn't fair shaIxe. The only eternity that
seems just and possible 10 me is an eternity
Of lives, which will give every soul action,
development, as we'll as disburse the rewarrs-
and penalties We are experiencing part
Of that eternity now, and we always have
been
"But if your theory Is correct children are
mt Yaaifv raIato1 r., THAR naranfSq1