Michael Cremo
mentions extraterrestrials ala Zechariah Sitchin and
reincarnation. Mikey Brass who has written a good critiques on part of Michael
Cremo‘s palaeontology, on the other hand states that
he provided material for a book on "a forgotten Race" and
reincarnation in our time. The book with a chapter titled "Big Bang Was a
Dawn of Brahma," suggests advanced souls incarnated and the laws of
universal karma dictated they should perish. With this new trend in popular
archaeology it is worthwhile to look at the history of these modern
pseudo-scientific myths.
Several polls carried
out in North America and Europe show that the professed belief in reincarnation
is widespread. A mere century ago, reincarnation belief was marginal. The two
main bastions of this creed were the spiritist
subculture in France and the membership of the Theosophical Society. If one
goes back another century, to the turn of the nineteenth century, belief in
reincarnation was almost unknown in the West.
The fact that
reincarnation is designated by the same label as reincarnation doctrines of
Oriental or other provenance should not obscure the fact that the various
beliefs display considerable differences.
The belief in
reincarnation prevalent in certain in Neoplatonism, was largely eclipsed during
centuries of Christian hegemony, and reentered the Western history of ideas
with the revival of interest in the Kabbala.
The transmigration of
souls or gilgul became a major doctrinal element with the sixteenth century
school of Isaac Luria (1534-1572). Lunia's own
doctrines were basically an esoteric teaching reserved for the initiated, and
were set down in writing by his disciples. Lurianic texts were translated from
Hebrew into Latin by Christian Knorr von Rosenroth as
part of his Kabbala denudata, published in three
volumes, the first two in 1677-78 and the last in 1684. Francois Mercure van Helmont (1614-1699), believed that the doctrine of
transmigration of souls could be made the cornerstone of a universal
Christianity: by this means, the souls of individuals who had lived in the
wrong time and place to have heard of the Gospel would have a chance of
salvation. Van Helmont in turn influenced Anne Conway
who openly defended transmigration.
A more
influential attempt to formulate a melioristic view of reincarnation was
undertaken by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781)
toward the end of his theological and philosophical essay Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechtes,
published in 1780.", Lessing sees the history of mankind as a story of
ever greater insight and perfection. Earlier religions had merely been didactic
instruments, preludes to a truly humanitarian faith. Historically, Judaism and
Christianity have been the two great educating influences on mankind. However,
the next step in the spiritual evolution of humanity would soon take place.
This tripartite scheme of history resembles that of Joachim of Fiore and the
Joachimites, and Lessing implicitly credits them with the theory of three ages.
Soon to have an influence also on Blavatsky.
Belief in
reincarnation soon took the leap from the pages of Enlightenment philosophers
to the seance rooms. Thus by 1790, a small proto-spiritualist circle in
Copenhagen led by the brother-in-law of the Danish king Christian VII, prince
Karl of Hessen-Kassel, had been instructed in a reincarnationist
doctrine resembling that of Kant and Lessing by a voice speaking from a white
cloud. The wife of the Danish minister of foreign affairs, Auguste von
Bernstorff, who was one of the five members, was proclaimed to be an
incarnation of Mary Magdalene. It would take another six decades before the
belief in reincarnation spread from such small groups of occultists and
freethinkers to a somewhat larger audience of religious seekers. The basic
mechanism of belief-the intervention of spiritual entities-would remain
remarkably unchanged for another century.
Jean-Baptiste Willermoz conducted sessions with a talented somnambule,
asking her questions to which, with the aid of the spirit world, she was able
to give authoritative answers which were recorded in detail. The first
documented afterlife beliefs of the mesmerist milieu are notes dating from
1785, which are infused with Christian mythology: the dead go to heaven, hell
or purgatory; or alternatively, their destiny will be decided on the day of
judgement. (N. Edelman Voyantes, guerisseuses et
visionnaires en France 1765-1914, 1995, p. 23. ff)
Kardec
adopted the method introduced by Willermoz, Le livre
des esprits was reprinted in
numerous editions, other spiritists adopted his
beliefs, and reincarnation became part of the canonical doctrines of the French
spiritist movement.
Two discursive
strategies are central to Kardec's work. The first is
the reliance on revealed truth. Kardec's book of more
than 470 pages does not refer to a single contemporary printed source or
spokesperson. At most, the reader that belief in reincarnation has existed
since times immemonal among the Pythagoreans, Hindus
and Egyptians.
The rhetorical
strength behind this strategy is hardly in doubt: every last detail recorded in
Le livre des esprits is directly taken from the dictation of the spirits. The
form of the book reflects this method: it is basically a pastiche of Christian
catechisms, with Kardec's questions followed by the
spirits' answers in quotation marks.
His position is an
innovation compared with earlier speculations: deceased spirits can never
regress-, at worst, their progress towards God is merely halted temporarily. In
short, Kardec lets the spirits elevate a morally
justified hope to the status of revealed truth.
To strengthen his
case, Kardec resorts to a second strategy, scientism.
Already, the first mesmerist or somnambulist sessions were conceived of as
methods of empirically exploring invisible dimensions of the cosmos. Spiritism
uses the same rhetorical move to gain legitimacy. Thus, Kardec
repeatedly and explicitly refers to his method as a new science.
Several elements of
what would become theosophical reincarnation doctrine were already in place.
The human soul reincarnates in order to progress spiritually. Incarnations take
place not only on earth, but also on other planets. However the English channel
was a formidable barrier to the spread of Kardecist theories of reincarnation,
which did not gain much influence in the Anglo-American world until around
1880. (Godwin "Theosophical Enlightenment")
The first link to
Theosophy was lady Caithness, she became the
recipient of a series of mediumistic revelations from sources as diverse as
Mary Stuart and the archangel Gabriel. These messages were set down in writing
and, over a period of twenty years, grew into a series of books. The second
link, Anna Kingsford, made the acquaintance of lady Caithness
while studying medicine in Paris.
Kingsford, which in
other English, was the creator of a religious worldview clearly based on Kardec's and the other French spiritists'
melioristic beliefs. In her main work, The Perfect Way or the Finding of
Christ, published in 1882, she explains in typically evolutionist language how
the soul aspires to progress from plant to animal to human, and finally to
leave the physical body behind. Anna Kingsford herself claimed to have once
lived as Mary Magdalene. In Kingsford's view, physical existence is an evil to
be overcome.
Upon her return to
London, Kingsford joined the British section of the Theosophical Society.
A few British spiritualists had already adopted the doctrine of reincarnation.
However, it appears that the publication of The Perfect Way, which attracted a
great deal of attention, was crucial in achieving a critical mass for the
controversial doctrine. Coincidentally or not, theosophical writings began to
mention reincarnation as a spiritual truth for the first time around this same
year 1882.
Blavatsky had claimed
that the transmigration of souls was "an exception, a phenomenon as
abnormal as a fetus with two heads." As noted above, around 1882,
Blavatsky had changed her mind. Since both the earlier and the later teachings
were allegedly received from the same group of ascended Masters, the
discrepancy became quite embarrassing. As recent as late 1876 Blavatsky had
written in her scrapbook: "Mind is the quintessence of the Soul-and having
joined its divine Spirit Nous-can return no more to earth. IMPOSSIBLE."
Also Olcott's letter
of May 20, 1876, to M.A. Oxon gave testimony of this. On the Barones von Vay's wanting to join
the Theosophical Society: "If she wants to come in with us she can-but she
must scrape off her Reincarnation shoes at the door; there's no room for that
in our Philosophy."
Exegetical treatises
followed Blavatsky's lead in adopting reincarnation. In chapter 5 of Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism, the author explains the
destiny of man after death. Of the seven components that make up our persons,
the three lower pass away at the moment of physical death.
If earlier theories
on life after death were largely based on privileged knowledge, in the Mahatma
Letters, and even more in Sinnett's book, the
discursive strategies of science and tradition were mobilized. The description
of life after death increasingly rested on a number of Sanskrit terms, which,
just like the title of his book, define the positive Others. In a style that
will later be typical of other major theosophical movement texts, these
Orientalist references are interspersed with appeals to contemporary science,
including nineteenth century pseudo-sciences such as mesmerism. Thus, from
their existence in Devachan, souls can appear to spiritualist mediums and
magnetic somnambules because the spirit of the sensitive getting odylized, so to say, by the aura of the spirit in the
Devachan, becomes for a few minutes that departed personality, and writes in
the handwriting of the latter, in his language and in his thoughts as they were
during his lifetime. Thus what is called rapport, is, in plain fact, an
identity of molecular vibration between the astral part of the incarnate medium
and the astral part of the discarnate personality. (Sinnett
"Esoteric Buddhism", pp. 146 f.)
The belief in
reincarnation advanced from being a minority view to becoming one of the core
elements of the arguably most influential esoteric movement of the late
nineteenth century.
A fundamental
discursive strategy, legitimizing not only the belief in reincarnation but also
the theosophical myth as a whole, is the construction of tradition. The Secret
Doctrine is allegedly based on an ancient manuscript, the Book of Dzyan.
Blavatsky claimed
that this palm leaf manuscript from Atlantis contained the true core of all the
great religions. Implicitly, reincarnation had passed in six years from being a
controversial innovation to becoming a central tenet of all the religious
traditions of the world-or at least of the esoteric aspect of each of these
traditions.
Blavatsky's
reincarnation doctrine builds on elements deriving from several different
sources. Due to the inherent difficulties in harmonizing historically distinct
traditions, her reincarnation doctrine is not free from contradictions. At
times, she seems to draw on the purported roots of the "ancient wisdom
religion" in a generalized Buddhism. Thus, Blavatsky can refer to
"the great truth that reincarnation is to be dreaded, as existence in this
world only entails upon man suffering, misery and pain." (SD I:39)
Nevertheless,
following a view that could be either Hindu or Platonic, but certainly not
Buddhist in any orthodox sense, she claims that there is a unique individuality
that incarnates again and again. In a reminiscence of an earlier Western
esoteric tradition, the individual is said to reincarnate after a stay in the
astral plane." Another echo of the frequent esoteric preoccupation with
the number seven, the individual is said to be composed of an aggregate of
seven entities that part ways at physical death. A quote such as the following
is closer to a Lurianic kabbalistic view than to the "Esoteric
Buddhism" that Sinnett wrote of:
The Monad emerges
from its state of spiritual and intellectual unconsciousness; and gets directly
into the plane of Mentality. But there is no place in the whole universe with a
wider margin, or a wider field of action in its almost endless gradations of
perceptive and apperceptive qualities, than this plane, which has in its turn
an appropriate smaller plane for every "form", from the
"mineral" monad up to the time when that monad blossoms forth by
evolution into the DIVINE MONAD. But all the time it is still one and the same
Monad, differing only in its incarnations, throughout its ever succeeding
cycles of partial or total obscuration of spirit, or the partial or total
obscuration of matter-two polar antitheses-as it ascends into the realms
of mental spirituality, or descends into the depths of materiality."
(Secret Doctrine I:175)
The construction of
tradition, the bricolage from bits and pieces of such originally distinct
historical sources, masks the novelty of Blavatsky's overall conception. Essentially,
the theosophical view of the transmigration of souls is not so much Oriental or
Platonic, as a typically nineteenth century construction.
Three key ideas run
through Blavatsky's description of the chain of rebirth. The first is the fact
of Orientalism itself. The frequent references to India and the East rather
than to e.g. Plotinus or Paracelsus are in themselves a phenomenon of the
post-Enlightenment era.
The second is the
placement of reincarnation within the arguably most overarching meta-narrative
of the nineteenth century: evolutionism.
The third element is
the synthesis of these ideas with another meta-narrative of the nineteenth
century: the view that humanity is divided into races and peoples with clearly
definable properties. A closer look at the purported ancient wisdom religion
shows it to be a mythologization of ideas characteristic of late nineteenth
century Europe.
Past life therapy is
one of a set of similar, non-mainstream methods aimed at enhancing faded
memories. However, a considerable body of scholarship has demonstrated the
fundamental flaw of these methods. Contrary to a widespread contemporary
legend, hypnotic techniques do not enhance memory.
Their main effect is
to increase the hypnotic subjects' propensity to confabulate, their willingness
to accept the hypnotist's suggestions, and their conviction that the
essentially spurious memories created in the therapeutic setting are real.
Dissenting voices that present such experimental research are, for obvious
reasons, never allowed to speak out in the Esoteric and todays pseudo-scientific texts.
Third-person and
second-person narratives affect the experience of past life memories in a
manner analogous to that discussed by Steven Katz in connection with the
loftier mystical experiences: "Images, beliefs, symbolism, and rituals
define, in advance, what the experience he wants to have and which he then does
have, will be like." However, by masking prescriptive leads behind a
descriptive language, this state of affairs is effectively hidden from the
reader.
The effect of
modernity on reincarnationist belief can be discerned
in many ways. Perhaps the most obvious effect of Enlightenment thought is the
risk one takes as the spokesperson for an Esoteric position, or indeed for any
other new religious movement with controversial doctrinal contents. As the
belief in reincarnation has become more widespread, a naturalistic critique has
also been formulated. Thus, alleged past life experiences are explained in
terms that differ sharply from those invoked by the believers, perhaps in terms
of socio-psychological factors or cognitive illusions.
Some spokespersons
embrace Enlightenment rationality, claiming that reincarnation is part and
parcel of a rational world-view. Besides Michael Cremo and the book on
reincarnation Mikey Brass has been contributing to. An example is Tad Mann, the
author of an apologetic book on the subject entitled The Flements
Reincarnation. Mann attempts to link belief in reincarnation with Jung's
theories of the collective unconscious, with the discovery of the DNA molecule,
and with Rupert Sheldrake's vitalistic theories. If
the evidence is as powerful as Mann would have us believe, why are more
conventional scientists so unimpressed? Mann has a ready answer. With the
exception of a few radical scientists, it is still common to deny the reality
of the spiritual worlds. Mainstream science is depicted as overly conservative,
whereas controversial minority positions are described as progressive.
Frederic Myers and Ian Stevenson
Frederic Myers and
others in the early days of psychic research, i.e. the late nineteenth century,
to find evidence of life after death. The best known present day rationalist
apologist for reincarnation is Ian Stevenson. Stevenson has recorded hundreds
of narratives in which small children are said to remember past lives. In some
cases, children as young as two to four years old tell their parents that they
live somewhere else, that they have a different set of relatives. His latest
publications record even more striking cases.
A child born with
deformed fingers is claimed to be the new incarnation of a man who had his
fingers damaged in an accident. A boy with a rare genetic defect that has
atrophied his outer ears is claimed to be the incarnation of a man who died
after being shot in the side of the head.
Stevenson's work is a
distinct product of the modern age. What is normally seen as a religious
question.
One could of course
interject that: Firstly, the transfer of distinctive bodily features from one
person to another presupposes a mechanism that has no Counterparts in any other
known area. Neither science nor common sense offers any clue as to how
characteristics that are similar seen from the perspective of a human subject.
but have entirely distinct underlying causes, could possibly be transmitted
from one individual to another.
Secondly, the
material is statistically odd. Subjects from India usually remember past lives
in near-by villages. Westerners seem to be considerably more prone to change
location drastically in time and space.
Thirdly, ethnic
groups unknown to the average Westerner are seldom mentioned in reincarnation
narratives. Few if any subjects claim to have been Illyrians, Sogdians, Tocharians or Urarteans.
Fourthly, interviewing
small children is a problematic undertaking. The boundaries between reporting,
inventing or following the cues 'given by adults - parents. relatives,
interviewers, interpreters, etc.) are fluid. Finally, critics have also noted
that Stevenson has conducted some interviews through interpreters with
documented reincarnationist belief, has been
incorporated into the rationalist framework of modern society.
The progress of
secularization has made it possible to combine questions of faith with the rhetoric
of science. Within this rhetorical framework, there are certain given elements.
Stevenson's work
reminds the reader-and is probably intended to remind the reader-of the style
of normal science. It is the subject rather than the methodology that may
strike one as unusual.
Whereas previous
generations could construct entities such as "science" and
"faith" as opposites, the rhetoric of scientism gradually effaces
such contrasts, at least in the eyes of the believers. "Spirituality"
is said to point at the same truths that can be discerned with a higher and
better form of science. Any conflicts are due to the negative attitude of
conventional, mechanistic scientists unwilling to open their minds enough to
accept the truth.
The hypnotically
induced memories of Virginia Tighe or other subjects who have figured
prominently in New Age texts tell dramatic stories of their previous lives-storlies that in the eyes of skeptics have seemed
remarkably close to the plot structure of historical fiction.
Believers, however.
Always appear to be one step ahead. Once one narrative has been debunked,
interest in the cultic milieu gravitates towards new narratives.
Some of the most
successful reincarnation stories in recent years have been written in a
generalizing style. No names or dates are given, purportedly in the interest of
protecting the privacy of the protagonists, but also effectively precluding
confirmation or disconfirmation. (example E.g. Weiss "Only Love is
Real") One suspects that belief is more important than evidence.
An important
component in the rise of modernity is the ambivalence vis-a-vis rationality.
Rationality was a central part of the Enlightenment project. However, the
Enlightenment ended with a flood of non-rational alternatives: mesmerism, rosicrucianism and spiritism, among others.
Since then,
non-rationalist projects have coexisted alongside the main, rationalist
current. By choosing some examples of criteria of rationality as a roster
through which Esoteric doctrines can be observed, one can see how Esoteric
positions, especially later ones such as anthroposophy as well as various
versions of New Age thought, lean on both rationalist and non-rationalist
persuasive strategies.
Rational
argumentation is occasionally invoked to support reincarnationist
doctrines. One can choose to refer to Ian Stevenson's studies and base one's
claims on a syncretism between faith and science that is characteristic of the
modern era. Within the Esoteric literature on reincarnation, one also finds the
opposite: a trust in revealed information, in the wisdom of authorities.
Believers can rely on the veracity of claims found in dozens of texts received
through psychic means, i.e. channelled texts in which
reincarnation is taken for granted. Regardless of which entities are said to be
the source of revealed wisdom-archangels, Egyptian priests, ascended Masters,
dolphins or extraterrestrial beings from the Pleiades-they all seem to have
adopted turn-of-the century theosophical doctrines of the steady progress of the
soul through successive lives.
Nineteenth century
belief in reincarnation generally rested on classical religious motifs: the
belief in messages revealed from suprahuman sources.
Knowledge of the afterlife state was imparted to prophetic figures, to mesmerist
and spiritist mediums, or to religious virtuosi such
as H.P. Blavatsky. The details of reincarnation were presented in abstract
myths or through the imaginary lives of significant individuals. With time,
both the doctrines and their legitimizing strategies have changed. Tradition
has gained considerable weight in texts that discuss reincarnation. The
theosophical legend that the earliest Christian communities believed in the
transmigration of souls would hardly have been so resilient in the face of contrary
evidence if it did not serve an important purpose. Part of the process of
secularization consists in the realization that there are many religious
faiths. As long as one is only aware of a single tradition, its doctrines and
rituals may seem self-evident.
Once one gets to know
several conflicting stories, one's own set of beliefs risks being demoted to
the status of one option among many. If one becomes aware of the fact that
modern reincarnation belief is largely the product of a nineteenth century
French author of schoolbooks, this knowledge might contribute to fostering a
hermeneutic of suspicion.
Universalism becomes an
effective remedy against doubt. If in the ultimate analysis, all religious are
merely variations of a philosophiaperemis, the
differences between Hindu, Christian or Spiritist
beliefs are simply details. The question whether present-day reincarnation beliefs,
as set out in the latest texts, were actually created or discovered) by Allan Kardec, Helena Blavatsky or some nameless Oriental sage
becomes a matter of no great concern.
An the believer does
not need to rely on blind faith alone. There are supposedly rational reasons
for accepting reincarnation. For those who wish to take the next step in their
interest in the afterlife, past life experiences are a "proof" freely
available to anybody. The therapeutic practices that have sprung from past life
beliefs are widespread today; those interested in investigating purported past
life memories can do so with little practical difficulty. Rationalists may find
it obvious that experiences are ambiguous and can sometimes even be directly
misleading.
For large segments of
the pseudo-scientific cultic milieu. it seems equally obvious that personal
experiences are faithful maps of underlying reality. Herein lies a deep
contradiction within post-New Age religiosity. Overtly, its texts commonly
invoke a democratic ideal. according to which nothing needs to be taken on
faith, and which insists that the readers' spiritual experiences are by far
more important than any opinions that the author might entertain.
These experiences,
however, are molded by the expectations of the most influential spokespersons
of the movement. It might even be argued that earlier forms of authority,
depending on claims to clairvoyance or contact with spiritual masters from
Tibet, were easier to see through than the subtler strategies of the last few
decades.
The doctrine of
reincarnation has, at least overtly, also become democratized. The believer
does not need to rely on blind faith alone.
There are supposedly
rational reasons for accepting reincarnation. For those who wish to take the
next step in their interest in the afterlife, past life experiences are a
"proof" freely available to anybody. The therapeutic practices that
have sprung from past life beliefs are widespread today; those interested in
investigating purported past life memories can do so with little practical
difficulty. Rationalists may find it obvious that experiences are ambiguous and
can sometimes even be directly misleading. For large segments of the cultic
pseudo-science milieu. it seems equally obvious that personal experiences are
faithful maps of underlying reality.
Herein lies a deep
contradiction within post-New Age religiosity. Overtly, its texts commonly
invoke a democratic ideal. according to which nothing needs to be taken on
faith, and which insists that the readers' spiritual experiences are by far
more important than any opinions that the author might entertain. These
experiences, however, are molded by the expectations of the most influential
spokespersons of the movement. It might even be argued that earlier forms of
authority, depending on claims to clairvoyance or contact with spiritual
masters from Tibet, were easier to see through than the subtler strategies of
the last few decades.
Esoteric
pseudo-scientific texts appear as the result of ongoing de- and recontextualizations
that allow new synthesis between different notions to take place.
Even if the post-New
Age is expressed in the style and strategy of modernism, its conceptualizations
coincide with those of Romanticism and a reaction to the enlightenment project.
One of the questions this web site will explore is how various religious
phenomena are adapted to the conditions of the modern world.
As seen in part one
the belief in reincarnation advanced from a minority view to becoming one of
the core elements of the post-theosophical movements, and today (Oct. 2002) is
utilized even in pseudo archeological books that will claim "advanced
incarnating souls" -are the driving force behind humankinds intellectual
and cultural development during the same period; and that therein lies the
explanation of a forgotten, golden age in the human past."
Presented with the
argument that there is "anecdotal evidence" for reincarnation one
could of course argue that even humans today, might be tricked by the fact that
the mammalian part of our brain wants us to hold onto magical ideals.
At first it may seem
plausible to maintain that we have two kinds of personal identity bodily
continuity and memory. This is suggested by the fact that in daily life we
sometimes use the one and sometimes the other. However, the memory criterion
presupposes that of bodily continuity while the converse does not hold.
Another fundamental
discursive strategy, legitimizing the belief in reincarnation and
pseudo-archeological myths, is the construction of tradition. The Secret
Doctrine was allegedly based on a palm leaf manuscript from Atlantis, "the
Book of Dzyan." The Secret Doctrine and
"The Mahatma Letters" therefore can be seen as a peak of modern
mythmaking and rest on the privileged and unreproducible experience of Madame
H.P. Blavatsky herself.
Next dozens of
creative spokespersons have positioned their own doctrines in relation to the Blavatskian framework. The fundamentals are common to most
if not all of them: the theory of melioristic evolution, the existence of
spiritually evolved beings, the fundamentals of esoteric historiography and,
not least, the doctrine of reincarnation. The individual positions within the
discourse are created by adjusting, adding or replacing details which may seem
trivial to outsiders but are of central concern to the spokespersons who accept
the rules of the discourse.
Blavatsky's
particular view of reincarnation gave rise to a number of modern legends.
Besides personalized legends which I will discuss next in this article.
Blavatsky's
particular view of reincarnation gave rise to a modern legend.
The earliest movement
texts -e.g. The Mahatma Letters, Esoteric Buddhism or The Secret Doctrine say
nothing on the matter that "Christianity once did include he belief in reincarnation." Neither does lady Caithness in texts devoted specifically to the theosophical
interpretation of Christianity and the Bible."
The earliest textual
occurrence of the legend hat links Christianity with reincarnationist
beliefs appears to be in a book published in 1888 by theosophist E.D. Walker,
Reincarnation: A Study of Forgotten Truth. A few years later, William Q Judge's
The Ocean of Theosophy, published in 1893, would popularize the mythology.
Blavatsky on the essenes, cf. SD 11: 11 In.; on druids, see SD 11: 760.
Interestingly,
earlier Lurianic Christian kabbalists also attempted to harmonize the Bible
with reincarnation, but details differ as to what is harmonized and how t is done. Thus, Anne Conway quotes scripture to
"prove" the Lurianic idea that seemingly inanimate objects will
progress into sentient beings. Conway 1982: 219.
Caithness 1887, ch. 10 and 11.
Then Walker 1888
claims that after Jesus the doctrine was taught in the church until the council
of Constantinople.
This legend proved to
be quite robust and was adopted by several other Esoteric positions.
Edgar Cayce and the
circle of adepts around him elaborated on the theosophical explanation and
transmitted it to a larger audience. In 1967, an anthology of commented
readings on reincarnation was published by the Association for Research and
Enlightenment. This book anchors the legend in Scriptural passages and quotes
from the church fathers, fleshing out the bare-bones theosophical version of
the story with numerous details. Nevertheless, this elaborate form of the
legend still rests on the same three pillars as Judge's original argument:
passages in the Bible that equate John the Baptist with Elijah, references to
Origen and to the second church council at Constantinople in the year 553.
Reincarnationist pattern recognition builds on passages such as
Matthew 11:14, where Jesus is reported to say, "And if ye will receive it,
this [i.e. John the Baptist] is Elias, which was for to come. Likewise, in John
3:3 Jesus is quoted as saying, "I say unto thee, Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
These passages are
interpreted in a very different way by non-esotericist
Christian commentators. There are other scriptural quotes used to contradict
the notion of reincarnation. Thus Hebrews 9:27 reads "And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." Second
Corinthians 5:8 claims that at death the Christian immediately goes into the
presence of God, not into another body, while Luke 16:19-31 explains that
unbelievers at death go to a place of suffering. Another scriptural passage
employed to a similar end is Matthew 25:46 in which Jesus teaches that people
decide their eternal destiny in a single lifetime, some "shall go away
into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
The Ascended Master
group CUT is a contemporary position which rests its case heavily on the
constructed tradition that Christ taught reincarnation. An entire 300 page
volume is devoted to the purported missing teachings. Another 400 page volume
details how the missing years were allegedly documented. (Prophet The Lost
years of Jesus 1984, and The Lost Teachings of Jesus 1986.)
Further the legend is
found in numerous New Age books even today. Hanegraaff
has followed the legend as far as the writings of Shirley MacLaine, who added a
new twist to it by confusing the council at Constantinople with the council in
Nicaea." Books more recent than those in Hanegraaff's
corpus continue to reproduce the legend. Thus, hypnotherapist Brian L. Weiss
based on Theosophists Cranston and Head "Reincarnation in World
Thought" claims that his research into the origins of reincarnation
beliefs have shown how the doctrine was considered destabilizing by the worldly
authorities under the emperor Constantine and was therefore banned in the sixth
century. (Weiss "Through Time and Healing")
Personalized Legends
Several
post-theosophical spokespersons were to contribute with a distinct change in
the basic model of reincarnation. They participated in a shift from the
abstract to the concrete. Charles Leadbeater, the main ideologist of the
Theosophical Society after the death of Blavatsky, was instrumental in the move
toward personalized reincarnation legends. His claims to precise knowledge of
past lives resulted in the elaboration of long lists in which members of the
Society were traced back, sometimes hundreds of thousands of years. The psychic
method and its results have been described in decidedly unflattering terms in
scholarly as well as critical literature.
The lists of past
lives were published in such works as Rents in the Veil of Time, in the appendix
to Man: Whence, How and Whither, and in Lives of Alcyone. Many individual
theosophists' identities were masked behind code names such as Mars, Ulysses,
Herakles, Beatrix, Erato and Gemini. Only the inner circle surrounding
Leadbeater knew who was who.
More prominent
members are identified in a list. Thus, Krishnamurti's
code name was Alcyone, Annie Besant was known as Herakles and Leadbeater gave
himself the designation Sirius. Given Leadbeater's central role, these claims
were increasingly used to buttress power struggles. Those who supported the
controversial Leadbeater were recorded as having had important roles in the
past, while his opponents were depicted as villains.
Sections of Steiner's
anthroposophy seem directly taken from the pages of Leadbeater's writings.
There are distinct similarities between the detailed discussion in Leadbeater‘s
The Inner Life and the slightly scholastic tone in Steiner's fine grained
picture of the interval between death and rebirth.
But where Leadbeater
merely assured his readers that he knew the difference between observation and
imagination, Steiner presents extremely detailed arguments as to why we should
believe him. Everything he writes of, from the climate on Atlantis to the role
of the archangel Michael in history to the mechanisms of reincarnation, builds
on the foundations of an alternative science, objective visions achieved
through the use of spiritual sense organs. The topics of reincarnation and
karma are of central concern to Steiner, and recur periodically throughout his
written output.
Steiner, a doctor of
philosophy, writes extensively on the precise mechanisms that rule rebirth.
Leadbeater, who enjoyed titles, pomp and ceremony, waxes eloquent on the
various classes of individuals who reincarnate according to a meticulously
detailed hierarchical plan.
Steiner’s "Esoterische Betrachtungen Kannischer Zusammenhaenge"
are a series of eighty speeches collected in six volumes and published in 1924.
Especially speeches 1-6 are concerned with the mechanisms of karma and
reincarnation; in Leadbeater-like fashion, many of the others give the details
of the previous incarnations of individual persons in the Anthrophososphic
Society, people in his audience.
As in Blavatsky’s
Secret Doctrine Steiner's Geisteswissenschaft or
"spiritual science" every individual participates in a cosmic
history. After eons of descent during which spirit became increasingly embodied
in matter, we have passed the turning point, thanks to the death of Christ on
the cross. We are on our way to a more spiritual mode of existence, an
ascending curve that reincarnation allows us all to participate in. The highest
hierarchies of spiritual beings choose a hereditary stream in which the being's
karmic potentials can be fulfilled. Steiner however confronted a problem that
Blavatsky, being anticlerical and anti-Christian, probably did not experience
as troublesome. Steiner primary aim is rather to harmonize two overtly
conflicting doctrines, karma and atonement, both of which he claims to be
correct.
Like his
near-contemporary Leadbeater, Steiner claimed that the Akashic record could
give him and other clairvoyants access to the minutest details of the previous
lives of individual people.
Client-Centered Legends
Leadbeater's and
Steiner's karmic insights created person-centered] legends out of the abstract
mythology of theosophy. From the 1920s onwards, these personalized legends
became available to ordinary people in their attempts to cast their personal
histories in narrative form. Leadbeater and Steiner restricted their occult
investigations to a small set of carefully chosen exemplars. They retained the
essentials of the myth, but created a large set of personalized legends.
Edgar Cayce had
similar claims to revelatory insight, but democratized this status yet another
step by making esoteric knowledge available to anybody who enlisted his
services.
Ordinary careers as a
housewife or employee were enriched with new dimensions of meaning by being
linked with Atlantis or ancient Egypt. Problems in the present could be
explained by referring to unpropitious destinies hundreds of years earlier.
Weiss in "Many
Lives, Many Masters" and Redfield "Celestine Vision" what is
normally hidden to us, can be unveiled by psychically gifted individuals.
A latent
element can be traced back to the days of the mesmerists and somnambules, and
becomes an overt part of reincarnation doctrines, probably due to the strong
influence of the Bridey Murphy case: knowledge of our
past lives is not reserved for an elite of psychics, but can potentially be
accessed by us all.
In the late 1960s,
rather than merely telling the clients about their past existences, the expert
could let them actually experience scenes from these lives. The 1970‘s saw a
surge of interest in alternative religions. The therapeutic and pop
psychological components of the nascent New Age were highly visible components
of the spiritual landscape. Several of the most popular alternative therapies
were born or gained in popularity.
By the 1990s, the
metaphysically complex versions seem to have largely faded while the
experience-based versions have fared quite well.
Therapists opened
consulting-rooms. A few spokespersons gained prominence within the circle of
practitioners.
Since the 1970s, past
life therapy has passed through several characteristic phases. The early,
experimental stage was replaced by a period of establishment, centred around the doctrines and practices of the leading
spokespersons. This was gradually followed by a phase of professionalization.
Organizations were formed, magazines published, catalogues of practitioners
appeared, and consumers' information became available. Most importantly, within
a few years, personal experience had become one of the most important
discursive strategies buttressing reincarnationist
claims.
In successful
hypnotic sessions, the clients' present problems are revealed to be the result
of traumatic experiences in previous lives. In a sense, these unorthodox claims
are extrapolations of the more common psychotherapeutic claim that present
problems are rooted in repressed or subconscious childhood.
But according to a
widely accepted psychological theory, memory does not function as an archive
but consists of an active reconstruction of the past that at times can be
rather free. At the same time, these free reconstructions are interpreted
according to the archive model, and are thus believed to be retrieved
reminiscences of actual events. The result is an overconfidence in what might
be partly spurious recollections.
The ultimate step in
democratizing past life experiences is to teach techniques whereby readers can
conjure up the appropriate imagery themselves. Ted Andrews is a prolific writer
of do-it-yourself manuals on the paranormal. From a sociocognitive
perspective, his books (and other similar texts) can be seen as frameworks
within which mundane experiences can be reformulated in order to meet certain
given expectations by means of gaining access to past life memories
without needing to resort to the services of a regression therapist or
hypnotist.
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