The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-08

!
Since the finer movements cannot
| at first affect the soul man has to
draw round him vestures of grosser
| matter through which the heavier
| vibrations can play; and so he takes
| upon himself successfully the mental
| body, the astral body. and the physi-
| cal body. This is a birth or reincar-
| nation-the commencement of a
physical life. During that life all
kinds of experiences come to him
through his physical body and from
them he should learn some lessons and
develop some qualities within himself.
After a time he begins to withdraw
again into himself, and puts off by de-
grees the vestures which he has as
sumed. The first of these to drop Is
the physical body, and his withdrawal
from this is what we cali death. 1t
IS not the end of his activities, as we
so fgnorantly suppose; nothing could
be further from the fact. He is sim
ply withdrawing from one effort, bear
ing back with him it's results: and
after certain period of comparative
repose he will make another effort of
the same kind.
Thus, as has been said what we or
dinarily call his life is only one day
in the real and wider life-a day at
school, during which he learns certain
lessons. But inasmuch as one short
life of seventy or eighty years at most
is not enough to give him an oppor-
tunity of learning all the lessons which
this wonderful and beautiful world has
to teach, and inasmuch as God means
him to learn them all in His own good
time, it is necessary that he should
come back again many times. and live
through many of these school days
that We call lives, in different classes
and under different circumstances. I'M
til all the lessons are learnt; and then |
this lower school work will be over,
and he will pass to something higher |
and more glorious-the true divine life |
work for which all this earthly school |
life is fitting him.
That is what is called the doctrine /
of reincarnation or rebirth-a doctrine |
which was widely known in the ancient |
and is even today held by |
the majority of the human race.
OF it Hume. in his Essay on Immor-
Lality," has written:
What is incorruptible must also be |
The soul, therefore. if
existed before our birth. The
netempsychosis is, therefore, the only
system of this kind that Philosophy
AN hearken to-"
Writing of the theories of metemp-
ychosis III India and Greece, Max Null
er says: .'There is something under
ying them which. if expressed in less
astrological language. may stand the
everest test of philosophical examin-
tion." In his last and posthumous
york this great Oriental again refers
q this doctrine, and expresses his per- !
onal belief in it.
And Huxley in his work called "Evo- !
ltion and Ethics" writes: Like the {
octrine of evolution itself, that of
has its roots in the
vorld of reality; and it may claim +
uch support as the great argument I
rom analogy is capable of supplying" =
So it will be seen that modern as
ell as ancient writer's recognize this r
ypothesis as one deserving of the y
lost serious consideration. +
1t must not for a moment be con- +
2unded with a theory held by the ig q
GRANT, that it was possible for a soul y
'hich had reached humanity in it's T
volution to rebecome that of an ami r
al No such retrogression is within 2
lie limits of possibility; when once
IAN comes into EXISTENCE human p
Jul. inhabiting what We call in our
ooks causal body-he can never Il
gain fall back into what is in truth/T
lower kingdom of nature, whatevsf
lfstakes he may make or however, e
lay fail to take advantage of hisTop-
ortunities. If he is idle in the SCHOOL
life, he may need to take the same
sson over and over again before he
as really learnt it, but still on the
hole progress is steady, even though
may often be slow.
Life presents US with many problems f
hich, on any other hypothesis than Il
lis of reincarnation, seem utterly in
,luble; this great truth does explain
lem, and therefore, holds the field I'M
another and more satisfactory hypo- o
Iesis can be found. Like the rest of o
lie teaching, this is not a hypothesis, ~
1t a matter of direct knowledge for p
any of US; but naturally our knowl- 9
ge is not proof to others. l,
Yet good men and true have been u
rrowfulIy forced to admit that they N
ere unable to reconcile the state of OF
fairs which exists in the world III
ound US with the theory that God Dc
as both almighty and ALLOWING. They "
It, when they looked upon all the {,
rt-breaking sorrow and suffering, III
at either He was not almighty, and ri
uld not prevent it, or He was not all
wing, and did not care. In Theoso- 81
Y we hold with determined convic- OF
n that He is both almighty and all -
ing, and We reconcile with that GER I'd
nty the existing facts of life by 20
sans of this basic doctrine of rein -
rnation. Surely the only hypothesis III
Itch allows Us reasonably to recognize 10
: perfection Of power and love in the
ity is one which is worthy of care u
examination.
Tor We understand that our present
is not our first. but that we each
We behind US a long line OF lives,
means of the experience of which Sf'
have evolved from the condition bic
primitive man to our present posi- Ju,