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RIDDLE OF LIFE And How Theosophy Answers It (Illustrated)
RIDDLE OF LIFE And How Theosophy Answers It (Illustrated)
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If we take the broad view of human life which sees in man an immortal principle moving on in parallel evolution with the earth, the idea of Reincarnation becomes a logical necessity. The principal difficulty some persons have in accepting it heartily as the first key to the riddle of life, with its apparent injustice and incomprehensibility, arises from the fact that few persons claim any recollection of a previous state of existence. This difficulty arises from a fallacy in reasoning which can be explained without going outside the domain of scientific study of the mind. The error consists in the implied belief that the everyday, waking consciousness is the sum total of what we are, and that there are no deeper strata of being underlying the superficial personality.
As a matter of fact modern research has proved that an undercurrent flows beneath the surface of our minds, of which we are almost or quite unaware until some extraordinary occurrence forces it to the front. We are so little in the habit of watching our mental changes that a lifetime may pass without feeling the touch of this inner state. It contains an extremely accurate memory of the past events of the life; this is shown by the marvelously detailed picture that flashes upon a person who is nearly drowned. It has other faculties which the normal consciousness possesses in small degree or not at all. Physicians are using efforts to find the causes of certain disorders by drawing out some of the subconscious thoughts into the light. Freud was prominently identified with this line of study — a perfectly new one which would have been ridiculed a few years ago — and he has found that by analysis of dreams much can be learned about the desires and impressions of the inner layers of the personality. These do not constitute the higher, immortal self, and do not give evidence of Reincarnation, but I am referring to this subject as a definite proof that as there is admittedly a background of thoughts, memories, and desires in our lives of which we are normally utterly ignorant, the fact that we cannot remember our past lives, that we cannot open the door into a still wider field of consciousness, counts for nothing as an argument against Reincarnation.
When a man begins to face himself, and to arouse the higher consciousness by self-discipline, the great hope given by Theosophy — that he is in reality not a mere worm, but that his innermost core is of the divine — makes him stand upright and face the world from an entirely new aspect. No longer does he believe he was "conceived in sin and born in iniquity" and deserves eternal punishment, nor that he is a mere by-product of nature's blind forces, perishable as the beasts are commonly supposed to be. As Katherine Tingley says, once the knowledge that there is something within of an imperishable and divine nature is felt as a reality, "In place of lack of faith in oneself there is self-respect." It may first be known as the voice of conscience or in the strong sense of brotherhood, or in other ways.
As a matter of fact modern research has proved that an undercurrent flows beneath the surface of our minds, of which we are almost or quite unaware until some extraordinary occurrence forces it to the front. We are so little in the habit of watching our mental changes that a lifetime may pass without feeling the touch of this inner state. It contains an extremely accurate memory of the past events of the life; this is shown by the marvelously detailed picture that flashes upon a person who is nearly drowned. It has other faculties which the normal consciousness possesses in small degree or not at all. Physicians are using efforts to find the causes of certain disorders by drawing out some of the subconscious thoughts into the light. Freud was prominently identified with this line of study — a perfectly new one which would have been ridiculed a few years ago — and he has found that by analysis of dreams much can be learned about the desires and impressions of the inner layers of the personality. These do not constitute the higher, immortal self, and do not give evidence of Reincarnation, but I am referring to this subject as a definite proof that as there is admittedly a background of thoughts, memories, and desires in our lives of which we are normally utterly ignorant, the fact that we cannot remember our past lives, that we cannot open the door into a still wider field of consciousness, counts for nothing as an argument against Reincarnation.
When a man begins to face himself, and to arouse the higher consciousness by self-discipline, the great hope given by Theosophy — that he is in reality not a mere worm, but that his innermost core is of the divine — makes him stand upright and face the world from an entirely new aspect. No longer does he believe he was "conceived in sin and born in iniquity" and deserves eternal punishment, nor that he is a mere by-product of nature's blind forces, perishable as the beasts are commonly supposed to be. As Katherine Tingley says, once the knowledge that there is something within of an imperishable and divine nature is felt as a reality, "In place of lack of faith in oneself there is self-respect." It may first be known as the voice of conscience or in the strong sense of brotherhood, or in other ways.
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