The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-03-06

/ of the savages will reach to our level,
| but will not stop there, nor shall we
/ stop wnere we are. There have been,
and there are, many men in the world
| standing far above their fellows and
| they show us what we shall be in our
! future lives: they are themselves the
proof of reincarnation, for we can not
conceive of single lives that could
evolve from savages, such men as New
ton, Young, Plato, Emerson, or the
| writer of the Shakespearian plays.
There is no difficulty when we under
stand that the great souls are the re-
suits of the many lives lived before,
| Of the many experiences encountered,
| the many lessons learned and we can
thus account nationally for the exist
enee, side ty side IL the world, of the
| philosopher and the poor criminal, -
the younger brother who has yet most
of life Is lessons to learn.
Some people think that this doctrine
of reincarnation oontradicts that of
heredity, but in truth, that doctrine is
a part OF it's scheme. A man, truly
enough, inherits from his parents both
physical and mental qualities, but he
is born OF parents who can give him
just the kind of body he has earned
the right to have. If a young soul
who had had but little experience in
the past came to a family from which
he received a very fine body, one with
nerves well strung and highly sensi-
tive, it would not be a fitting express
sion of him and would not be suita-
BILE for what ae required at his stage
of evolution. fhe soul will be born
into such body and with such con-
ditions of life surrounding him, as are
fit for the next steps he has to take
IN his progress. There is much that
might be said on this subject. 1t may
often be that limitations are placed
upon the .reincarnating soul, so that
special experiences may be encountered.
A soul in past lives may have learned
many lessons, have developed many vir-
tues, but still be weak in places, just
as a chain may be weak in one or two
links though strong IN all the others,
still that chain is no stronger than
its weakest link and there it will break
when the strain comes. So with man.
How often We see one far ahead of his
fellows in many ways, yet with some
weakness that mars his life. Surely
it is well that the weakest links In
the chain, or the weakest places In
the man, SHOULD be the ones to re-
ceive special attention and to be
strengthened. We ought to look upon
trials that test our tempers, ON hard
conditions that test our patience, as
necessary experiences, for whenever we
enco, inter- them, we may be sure that
nature is working on the weak places
and so soon as they are strengthened
the whole chain of life will be stronger.
There are many questions asked by
thinking people when they first come
to talk seriously about this subject.
It is saia that the population of the
earth is increasing and SO people ask,
If people are reincarnating over and
over again, and if the number of souls
in evolutions is constant, how then
can the population increased The
answers that the progress of the soul
is not made only on the physical plane,
in physical body, but that both para
disc, and heaven are his and that the
time spent between incarnations must
also be considered. The length of time
spent in these higher worlds depends
upon the kind of life and the length
of time he has lived in his previous in
carnation, SO that it would mean that
the more souls there were in incarna-
tion, the fewer there would be on 9th
er planes, or the more there were in
the heavens, the fewer in this world.
But it is not certain that there is an
increasing population on earth. Wei
know somethingA of the Western world,
but what do we know of China for in
stances It's population is guessed at
as from three to four hundred millions,
believe, and diminution in the
number of souls incarnating there
would account for the increase in 9th
er places. You must remember that
as souls evolve they seek higher ex-
pressions life as incarnation after
incarnation follows, and so it must fol-
low that the least evolved races of
men will gradually be reduced in num-
bers until they ultimately die out, and
the higher races will as steadily in
crease. When still higher types OF |
bodies are wanted, higher races will
come into existence and so we have |
the evolution of bodies and the evolu- |
tion of souls going on at the same |
time.
Still more often is this question ask
ed: eff we have lived before why |
do We not remember our past lives9''
Because in each incarnation each soul |
has not only a new physical body but |
a new astral body and a new mental
body as well. At the present stage |
of our evolution our memories are cen
tered in the mental body, which can
not remember any past incarnation be-
cause it never had one; it is a new
vehicle of consciousness just as the |
body is. The soul, the true
man, has had many births and remem-
bers the previous lives perfectly, but
it is not until we can learn to focus
our consciousness at the souls level |
that we can bring back the memories
of past lives. Even now there are
many who do remember their past in
carnations, but they can give no proof |
OF this to others who do not remember,
they can not prove that they are not
dreaming or under a delusion, vet to
them the proof is perfect. This state
will come to us all in time as our
evolution progresses.
This belief has been invaluable to /
those who hold it. 1t has given them
hope and comfort, it has explained /
things that hitherto were mysteries. and |