Birth, maturity, old age and death are the cycle of growth within a single life.
Seen in this light, death is simply the laying aside of the physical vehicle to rest and the assimilation of experiences, which are transformed into faculties and a riper wisdom that the soul will carry with it as it begins a new incarnation. Life thus proceeds in a cyclic order: existence on earth, spent gathering experience, is followed by existence in other realms of life. Our eternal purposes reflect themselves in time. The temporary vehicles we use, that is, our mental, emotional and physical bodies, gather together the experiences that enable us to become conscious of our divine nature and purpose.
A Source of Inspiration
Recognizing the truth of reincarnation should inspire us. For then we know that the great women and men of the world, through their personalities and achievements, are telling us what we can become by making the effort. The future arises from the accumulated momentum of the past, in accordance with the law of cause and effect. The spiritual Self, or eternal ego, as it passes through earthly personalities, builds up a store of individual character; this store is like a permanent thread that links all the separate lives together.
It gives deep satisfaction to know that the present life is only one link in a great series that makes up the endless journey of experience on which every individual has set out to reach a glorious consummation. This is not transmigration (rebirth in animal form) and must never be confused with that view. For once the individualized soul has entered the human form, it can never go back to a lower expression in the kingdoms below the human. The Prodigal Son of the Bible may wander down many roads before he reaches his father's house; but once he has entered the human path, he can never again be less than human.
The great lesson of reincarnation is that our powers are unlimited, our opportunities eternal and our goal divine. When we look at life in terms of opportunities for growth, that is, through the eyes of the immortal being that we are, we become willing to continue on our way using the airways of the spiritual life. No goal is too high to be reached; even if it takes many lives to win, we can arrive at it one day through persistent effort. There is no real failure in life except to lose the courage to try again. Opportunities come to us again from life to life. There is time to climb, and time to grow.
Reincarnation is the rhythm of existence. Every moment dies so that the next may be born. To live in awareness of this universal law of cyclic rhythm is to be freed from fear and doubt; it is to be sure that the future can hold every possibility when the opportunities of the present are lived to the full. Reincarnation affirms that all life is meaningful, that everything has significance and lasting value. It is the great liberator that frees us from the prison of the temporary personality and leads us to the noble vision and fulfillment of our eternal purposes. Life is a great romance, the sublime adventure of evolution. Birth and death are merely signposts along the way.
In the light of reincarnation we can discover how to live more fully and more completely, using every experience as an opportunity for greater growth and seeing in every moment of time the door that opens onto immortality. As we observe nature we become aware of the cyclic order of existence in the universe. The seasons follow one another, and night follows day, in rhythmic succession. We cannot imagine a night that does not return to morning, or a winter that does not reach a new spring. The phases of the moon, the growth cycles of plants and trees, the wheeling dance of the stars all point to a universal and cyclic pattern of existence in the evolutionary progress of life.
Cyclic Patterns
We can trace a similar cyclic pattern in our own lives. Within the twenty-four hours of the day, periods of rest and periods of activity follow one another. Medical science tells us that the body has its own cycles: the contraction and relaxation of the heart (systole and diastole), the growth and renewal of cell life. The brain too has been found to work in rhythms. Psychology points to other cycles in the life of the individual: periods of elation following periods of depression, times of quiet reflection following intense mental activity. Physically, emotionally and mentally, each of us alternates between periods of activity and periods of relative rest.
Historians and sociologists also trace a cyclic pattern in world events. The cycles of wars, of worldwide economic depressions, of climate changes, of business fluctuations, of light and sound waves (their frequencies), of crime rates, of the recurrence of epidemics and of geological periods can all be charted. The research carried on for decades by the Foundation for the Study of Cycles has made significant progress in mapping the pattern of events according to this principle.
The Cycle of Evolution
The law of recurring or cyclic manifestation also operates in the great cycle of evolution. Life evolves, that is, unfolds and comes forth, through a series of rhythmic and recurring patterns. There is a great Rhythm of Life with which we can identify ourselves. The immortal self too has alternating periods of rest and action, the in-breathing and out-breathing of the pulse of life. The self seeks to express itself in thought, in desire and in action, that is, on the stage of existence. But it also needs rest and renewal so that it can review the experiences of existence and transform them into new faculties and powers. This cycle of activity and rest is called reincarnation. Reincarnation is the method by which the immortal self discovers all its capacities and eternal qualities.
Reincarnation, in its simplest form, is the assurance of the indestructibility of the soul and the certainty that all time is at our disposal for the unfolding of our eternal self. To take on a body again is to acquire a new dwelling in matter; indeed, the English word "body" derives from the Anglo-Saxon bodig, meaning "dwelling."
A Means of Travel
We can think of reincarnation as the means of travel we use on the path of evolution; it is therefore not an end but a means. If we are going from Chicago to New York, for example, there are various ways of traveling we can choose from. We can take a plane or a train; or, preferring a slower journey, we can load up our car and drive along the broad highways between the two cities. If time does not matter to us, we can even hitchhike. The distance always remains the same; but the time spent covering it varies according to the wish and choice of the traveler.
On the journey of life, the great journey of evolution, the distance we have to cover is also the same for everyone; but we can choose the speed of our progress. This choice rests on many factors: our desires, our thoughts, our actions, our accumulated faculties; in short, our karma. We can travel by the airways of the spiritual life; or we can hitchhike along the road and for a while go in vehicles provided by others, until we learn that we must make our own effort for steady progress. As with the means of transport around us, there are rules to be observed on the journey of life. When flying abroad, for example, we have to limit our baggage, and so we discipline our desires regarding the things we want to take with us. There are disciplines on the airways of spiritual evolution too; for in this realm our "baggage" is the karma we create: the actions and reactions we accumulate through our thoughts, desires and deeds.
Reincarnation as Opportunity
Reincarnation, then, is an opportunity for each of us to travel according to our own uniqueness. Rather than a fixed number of lives, it is a series of opportunities offered for the fulfillment of our spiritual purpose. It is a method that life uses to gain experience, and the self to learn how to live. When we grasp this, we learn to identify ourselves neither with the vehicle nor with the traveler, but with the Immortal Spirit that chooses to walk the path of life. Reincarnation thus comes before us both as the certainty of future achievement and as a call to present action.
We can picture humanity as climbing a gigantic ladder whose lower end rises out of the twilight at the beginning of time and whose upper end disappears into the glory of the Divine. At every moment there must be beings on every rung of this ladder.
The Immortality of the Soul
The first fundamental truth of reincarnation is that the soul, the conscious self, existed before birth and will continue to exist after death. Existence before birth is the necessary corollary of existence after death. The second fundamental truth is that the soul is something that grows, and that its development, from its first awakening to its glorious maturity, extends over an immense span of time. With the knowledge of reincarnation we see life as a pilgrimage in which we travel toward perfection in the human stage of our evolution.
From this we see that the soul enters this life not as something newly created, but after a long process of previous existence in which it acquired its own particular qualities. The soul moves on toward the future transformations that its present existence is shaping. A baby is not a blank sheet of paper on which anything can be written, nor merely a coming together of atomic forces; it is written over with ancestral histories reaching back into a distant past. All the bodily, mental and spiritual qualities we now possess are the result of how we used the opportunities of our previous existences. How we use our present opportunities will likewise determine our future character and faculties.
The Process of Reincarnation
The immortal self sets out on its journey. Thirsting for the experiences that will transform it into a perfect being, a conscious reflector of its divine creator, the soul enters the stream of existence. It gathers around itself a mental and emotional field suited to its level of evolution; it shapes a physical vehicle according to the laws of heredity and in keeping with the needs it developed in its past lives. The soul moves through the experiences of existence, learning this lesson first.
