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THE NECESSITY FOR REINCARNATION

By W.Q. Judge

[An unsigned tract attributed to Judge appearing in ECHOES OF THE
ORIENT, III, pages 71-75.]

To most persons not already Theosophists, no doctrine appears
more singular than that of Reincarnation, i.e., that each man is
repeatedly born into earth-life; for the usual belief is that we
are here but once, and once for all determine our future. And
yet it is abundantly clear that one life, even if prolonged, is
no more adequate to gain knowledge, acquire experience, solidify
principle, and form character than would one day in infancy be
adequate to fit for the duties of mature manhood.

Any man can make this even clearer by estimating, on the one
hand, the probable future which Nature contemplates for humanity,
and on the other, his present preparation for it. That future
includes evidently two things -- an elevation of the individual
to god-like excellence, and his gradual apprehension of the
Universe of Truth.

His present preparation therefore consists of a very imperfect
knowledge of a very small department of one form of existence,
and that mainly gained through the partial use of misleading
senses; of a suspicion, rather than a belief, that the sphere of
super-sensuous truth may exceed the sensuous as the great
universe does this earth; of a partially-developed set of moral
and spiritual faculties, none acute and none unhampered, but all
dwarfed by non-use, poisoned by prejudice, and perverted by
ignorance; the whole nature, moreover, being limited in its
interests and affected in its endeavor by the ever-present needs
of a physical body, which much more than the soul is felt to be
the real "I." Is such a being -- narrow, biased, carnal, and
sickly -- fitted to enter at death on a limitless career of
spiritual acquisition?

Now, there is only three ways in which this obvious unfitness may
be overcome -- a transforming power in death, a post-mortem and
wholly spiritual discipline, a series of reincarnations. There
is evidently nothing in the mere separation of soul from body to
confer wisdom, ennoble character, or cancel dispositions acquired
through fleshiness. If any such power resided in death, all
souls, upon being disembodied, would be precisely alike -- a
palpable absurdity. Nor could a postmortem discipline meet the
requirement, and this for nine reasons: (a) the soul's knowledge
of human life would always remain insignificant; (b) of the
various faculties only to be developed during incarnation, some
would still be dormant at death and therefore never evolve; (c)
the unsatisfactory nature of material life would not have been
fully demonstrated; (d) there would have been no deliberate
conquest of the flesh by the spirit; (e) the meaning of Universal
Brotherhood would have been very imperfectly seen; (f) desire for
a career on earth under different conditions would persistently
check the disciplinary process; (g) exact justice could hardly be
secured; (h) the discipline itself would be insufficiently varied
and copious; (i) there would be no advance in the successive
races on earth.

There remains, then, the last alternative, a series of
reincarnations -- in other words, that the enduring principle of
the man, endowed during each interval between two earth-lives
with the results achieved in the former of them, shall return for
further experience and effort. If the nine needs unmet by a
merely spiritual discipline after death are met by reincarnation,
there is surely a strong presumption of its actuality.

Now, (a) It is only through reincarnations can knowledge of human
life be made exhaustive. A perfected man must have experienced
every type of earthly relation and duty, every phase of desire,
affection, and passion, every form of temptation, and every
variety of conflict. No one life can possibly furnish the
material for more than a minute section of such experience.

(b) Reincarnations give occasion for the development of all those
faculties which can only be developed during incarnation. Apart
from any questions raised by Occult doctrine, we can readily see
that some of the richest soul-acquirements come only through
contact with human relations and through suffering from human
ills. Of these, sympathy, toleration, patience, energy,
fortitude, foresight, gratitude, pity, beneficence, and altruism
are examples.

(c) Only through reincarnation is the unsatisfying nature of
material life fully demonstrated. One incarnation proves merely
the futility of its own conditions to secure happiness. To force
home the truth that all are equally so, all must be tried. In
time the soul sees that a spiritual being cannot be nourished on
inferior food and that any joy short of union with the Divine
must be illusionary.

(d) The subordination of the Lower to the Higher Nature is made
possible by many earth-lives. Not a few are needed to convince
that the body is but a case, and not a constituent, of the real
Ego; others, that it and its passions must be controlled by that
Ego. Until the spirit has full sway over the flesh, the man is
unfit for a purely spiritual existence. We have known no one to
achieve such a victory during this life, and are therefore sure
that other lives need to supplement it.

(e) The meaning of Universal Brotherhood becomes apparent only as
the veil of self and selfish interest thins, and this it does
only through that slow emancipation from conventional beliefs,
personal errors, and contracted views which a series of
reincarnations effects. A deep sense of human solidarity
presupposes a fusion of the one in the whole -- a process
extending over many lives.

__________________
The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.
- Jack Handy