The word "reincarnation" is translated as "reincarnation". The theory of reincarnation includes two components:
- The soul, not the body, is the true essence of man. This position is consistent with the Christian worldview and is rejected by materialism.
- After the death of the body, the human soul after a certain period of time is embodied in a new body. Each of us has lived on Earth for many lives and has experiences that go beyond the current life.
Identifying oneself with the body causes a person to experience intense fear of death. After all, after her, he will completely disappear, and all his works will be meaningless. This makes people behave as if death does not exist at all. To distract from the idea of the finiteness of their existence and the lack of meaning in life, people try to forget themselves in fleeting affairs and entertainment. It can be focused on your family or a strong commitment to work. A person can also resort to such dangerous entertainment as drug use. Belief in the finiteness of life creates a spiritual vacuum in the hearts of people. Belief in the eternal nature of the soul allows you to regain the meaning of life.
Reincarnation is a law that applies to a person, regardless of his faith. The doctrine of reincarnation says that a person is responsible for his actions. The subsequent birth depends on his actions in previous lives. Thus, justice is established, and the difficult circumstances of the life of those who have not yet managed to sin are explained. Subsequent incarnation allows the soul to correct its mistakes and go beyond limiting notions. The very idea of continuous soul training is inspiring. We can get rid of the obsession with current affairs, find a new perspective on difficult and depressing situations. With the help of the abilities developed in past births, the soul gets the opportunity to overcome those problems that were not solved earlier.
Many of us do not have memories of our past lives. There can be two reasons for this:
- We were taught not to remember. If the family belongs to another faith or if someone from the family is an atheist, then such memories will be suppressed. A child's statement about the details of a past life can be perceived as fiction or even as a mental disorder. Thus, the child learns to hide his memories, and subsequently he forgets them.
- Memories can be hard or shocking. They can prevent us from maintaining our identity in our current life. We can break down and really go crazy.
The idea of reincarnation has been supported by various scientists and sages for thousands of years. At the moment, the doctrine of reincarnation is largely preserved in Hinduism. Many travel to India to get in touch with this religion and get spiritual experience. However, there were also followers of this theory in the West. Below we will look at great personalities from different historical periods who support the theory of soul reincarnation.
The doctrine of transmigration of souls in the religions of the East
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The doctrine of reincarnation is central to many Indian religions. It is also present in Buddhism. For representatives of Eastern faiths, the idea of reincarnation is natural.
The concept of reincarnation of souls is central to Hinduism. It is written about him in the sacred texts: in the Vedas and Upanishads. In the Bhagavad Gita, which contains the essence of Hinduism, reincarnation is compared to changing old clothes for new ones.
Hinduism teaches that our soul is in a constant cycle of birth and death. After many births, she becomes disenchanted with material enjoyment and seeks the ultimate source of happiness. Spiritual practice allows us to realize that our true self is a soul, and not a temporary body. When material instincts cease to control it, the soul leaves the cycle and migrates to the spiritual world.
Buddhism states that there are five levels at which one can incarnate: the inhabitants of hell, animals, spirits, people and deities. The conditions in which a soul is born next time depend on its activity. The process of rebirth takes place until the creature decays or reaches emptiness, which is accessible to few. The Jatakas (ancient Indian parables) tell about 547 births of Buddha. He incarnated in different worlds, helping to find liberation for their inhabitants.
Reincarnation in the philosophy of ancient Greece
In ancient Greece, adherents of the concept of reincarnation were Pythagoras and his followers. The merits of Pythagoras and his school in mathematics and cosmology are now recognized. We all know the Pythagorean theorem from school. But Pythagoras became famous as a philosopher. According to Pythagoras, the soul comes from heaven into the body of a person or animal and incarnates until it receives the right to return back. The philosopher claimed to remember his previous incarnations.
Another representative of philosophers in ancient Greece, Empedocles, set forth the theory of the transmigration of souls in the poem "Purification".
The famous philosopher Plato was also a supporter of the concept of reincarnation. Plato wrote the famous dialogues, where he conveys conversations with his teacher Socrates, who did not leave his own works. In the dialogue Phaedo, Plato writes on behalf of Socrates that our soul can come to earth again in a human body or in the form of animals and plants. The soul descends from heaven and is first born in the human body. Degrading, the soul passes into the shell of the animal. In the process of development, the soul reappears in the human body and gets the opportunity to find freedom. Depending on the shortcomings that a person is subject to, the soul can incarnate in an animal of the corresponding species.
Plotinus, the founder of the school of Neoplatonism, also adhered to the doctrine of reincarnation. Plotinus argued that a man who killed his mother in the next birth would become a woman who would be killed by his son.
Early christianity
Modern Christian teaching states that the soul incarnates only once. It seems that this has always been the case. However, there are opinions that early Christianity favored the idea of reincarnation. Among those who supported this idea was Origen, a Greek theologian and philosopher.
Origen had great authority among his contemporaries and became the founder of Christian science. His ideas have influenced both Eastern and Western theology. Origen studied for 5 years under the Neoplatonist Ammonius Sachs. At the same time Plotinus studied with Ammonius. Origen said that the Bible includes three levels: bodily, mental, and spiritual. The Bible cannot be interpreted literally, because in addition to its specific meaning, it carries a secret message that is not accessible to everyone. Around 230 AD e. Origen created an exposition of Christian philosophy in the treatise On the Beginnings. In it he also writes about reincarnation. The philosopher wrote that souls prone to evil can be born in the shell of an animal or even a plant. Having corrected their mistakes, they ascend and gain the Kingdom of Heaven again. The soul enters the world possessing the power of victories or weakened by the defeats of the previous incarnation. Actions,performed by a person in this life, predetermine the circumstances of birth in the next.
In 553, the theory of reincarnation of souls was condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Council. The cathedral was founded by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. By voting, the members of the council decided whether Origenism was acceptable to Christians. The whole voting process was under the control of the emperor, some of the votes were falsified. Origen's theory was anathema.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
During this period, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls develops in Kabbalah - an esoteric trend in Judaism. Kabbalah spread in the XII-XIII centuries. Medieval Kabbalists identified three types of migration. Birth in a new body was designated by the term "gilgul". In describing the gilgul, Jewish texts are similar to Hinduism. The Zohar says that the subsequent birth is determined by what addictions a person had in the previous one. The last thoughts before death also affect him. In Kabbalah, two other types of reincarnation are also mentioned: when the soul moves into an already existing body with evil or good thoughts.
Among other figures of that time, the concept was adhered to by Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher. From the school curriculum, we know that he supported the heliocentric views of Copernicus, for which he was burned at the stake. However, few people know that he was sentenced to burning not only for this. Bruno said that the human soul after the death of the body can return to earth in another body. Or go further and travel through the many worlds that exist in the universe. A person's salvation is not determined by his relationship with the Church, but depends on a direct connection with God.
New time
In modern times, the concept of reincarnation was developed by Leibniz. This manifested itself in his theory of monads. The philosopher argued that the world consists of substances called monads. Every monad is a microcosm and is at its stage of development. Depending on the stage of development, a monad has a connection with a different number of subordinate monads of a lower level. This bond forms a new complex substance. Death is the separation of the main monad from its subordinates. Thus, death and birth are identical to the usual metabolism that occurs in a living being in the process of life. Only in the case of reincarnation does exchange have the character of a leap.
Charles Bonnet also developed the theory of reincarnation. He believed that at the time of death, the soul retains a part of its body and then develops a new one. Goethe also supported her. Goethe said that the concept of activity convinces him of the correctness of the theory of transmigration of souls. If a person works tirelessly, then nature must give him a new form of life, when the present one cannot hold his spirit.
Arthur Schopenhauer was also a supporter of the theory of reincarnation. Schopenhauer expressed his admiration for Indian philosophy and said that the creators of the Vedas and Upanishads realized the essence of things more clearly and deeply than weakened generations. Here are his reflections on the eternity of the soul:
- The conviction that we are inaccessible to death, carried by each of us, comes from the realization of our originality and eternity.
- Life after death is no more incomprehensible than the present life. If the possibility of existence is open in the present, then it will also be open in the future. Death cannot destroy more than we had at birth.
- There is that existence that cannot be destroyed by death. It existed forever before birth and will continue to exist forever after death. To demand the immortality of the individual consciousness, which collapses along with the death of the body, is to desire a constant repetition of the same mistake. It is not enough for a person to move to a better world. A change needs to take place within him.
- The belief that the spirit of love will never disappear has a deep foundation.
XIX-XX centuries
Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist who developed the theory of the collective unconscious, also believed in reincarnation. Jung used the concept of the eternal "I", which is reborn in order to comprehend their deepest secrets.
Renowned political leader Mahatma Gandhi said that the concept of reincarnation supported him in his activities. He believed that, if not in this, then in another embodiment, his dream of universal peace would come true. Mahatma Gandhi was not only the political leader of India. He was also her spiritual leader. Following his ideals made Gandhi a real authority. Gandhi's worldview was formed thanks to the comprehension of the Bhagavad-Gita. Gandhi rejected all forms of violence. Gandhi did not differentiate between simple ministry and prestigious work.
He cleaned the toilets himself. Among the many merits of Gandhi, the main ones are:
- Gandhi made a decisive contribution to improving the situation of the untouchables. He did not go to those temples where the untouchables were forbidden to enter. Thanks to his sermons, laws were passed that prevented the humiliation of the lower castes.
- Ensuring India's independence from Great Britain. Gandhi acted with tactics of civil disobedience. Indians had to give up the titles given by Great Britain, work in the civil service, in the police, in the army, and from buying English goods. In 1947, Britain itself gave independence to India.
Russia
L. N. Tolstoy is a well-known Russian writer. Many studied his works at school. However, few know that Tolstoy was interested in Vedic philosophy and studied the Bhagavad Gita. Leo Tolstoy recognized the doctrine of reincarnation. Talking about life after death, Tolstoy showed the likelihood of two paths. Either the soul will merge with the All, or it will be born again in a limited state. Tolstoy believed the second to be more likely, since he believed that knowing only limitedness, the soul cannot expect unlimited life. If the soul lives somewhere after death, it means that somewhere it lived and before birth Tolstoy asserted.
N. O. Lossky is a representative of Russian religious philosophy. He was one of the founders of the direction of intuitionism in philosophy. This is how the Russian philosopher proves the idea of reincarnation:
- It is impossible to bestow salvation on a person from outside. He must deal with his own evil. God puts man in situations that will show the insignificance of evil and the power of good. For this, the soul must continue to live after physical death, gaining new experience. All evil is redeemed by suffering until the heart becomes pure. Such a fix takes time. It cannot happen within one short human life.
- By creating a person, God gives her the power to create. A person develops a type of life himself. Therefore, he is responsible for his actions, for his character traits and for his external manifestation in the body.
- Lossky noted that forgetting is a natural property of a person. Many adults do not remember part of their childhood. Personal identity is not based on memories, but on basic aspirations that affect the way a person goes.
- If the passion that caused the unseemly act in the past incarnation remains in the soul during the subsequent birth, then even without the memory of the committed acts, the very presence and manifestation of it lead to punishment.
- The benefits and hardships that newborns receive are determined by their past birth. Without the theory of reincarnation, different birth conditions are contrary to the goodness of God. Otherwise, the being born creates them by itself. Therefore, it is responsible for them.
Lossky, however, rejected that a person in the next incarnation could be born in the shell of an animal or plant.
Karma and reincarnation
Karma is closely related to the theory of reincarnation. The law of karma is the law of cause and effect, according to which a person's actions in the present determine his life both in this and in subsequent incarnations. What is happening to us now is a consequence of the actions of the past.
In the text of Srimad-Bhagavatam, one of the main Puranas, it is said that the actions of a creature create his next shell. With the advent of death, a person ceases to reap the benefits of a certain stage of activity. With birth, he receives the results of the next stage.
After physical death, the soul can reincarnate not only in a human shell, but also in the body of an animal, plant, or even a demigod. The body in which we live is called the gross body. However, there is also a subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego. When the gross body dies, the subtle body remains. This explains the fact that in the subsequent incarnation, the aspirations and personality traits that were characteristic of her in her previous life are preserved. We see that even a baby has its own individual character.
Henry Ford said that his talent accumulated over many lifetimes. He accepted the doctrine of rebirth at the age of 26. The work did not bring him complete satisfaction, because he understood that the inevitability of death made his efforts in vain. The idea of reincarnation gave him the opportunity to believe in further development.
Reincarnating a relationship
In addition to personal relationships, there are more subtle connections. In previous incarnations, we have already met with some people. And this connection can last for several lifetimes. It happens that we have not solved some problems in front of a person in a past life, and we must solve them in the present.
There are several types of links:
- Soul mates. Those souls that help each other move to a new level of consciousness. They often have the opposite sex to balance each other. A meeting with a soul mate may not last long, but it can have a strong impact on a person.
- Twin souls. They are very similar to each other in character, in their interests. They often feel each other at a distance. When you meet, there is a feeling that you have known a person for a long time, a feeling of unconditional love appears.
- Karmic relationships. Such relationships are often difficult, they require a lot of work on yourself. People need to work through a situation together. If there is some debt left to a person from a past life, then it's time to return it.
Lossky also wrote about the bond of souls in subsequent lives. The beings of the kingdom of God have a cosmic body and are related to each other. A person who has true love for another person is united with him by an indestructible bond. With a new birth, the connection remains at least in the form of unaccountable sympathy. At a higher stage of development, we will be able to recall all the previous stages. Then there is an opportunity for conscious communication with the person whom we have fallen in love with with eternal love.
The soul cannot be satisfied with material enjoyment alone. However, the highest pleasures can be achieved only through spiritual experience, which helps to realize their spiritual nature. The concept of reincarnation teaches us not to dwell on transient moments, allows us to realize the eternity of the soul, which will help in solving difficult problems and in finding the meaning of life.
Author: Ivan Ryabkin