REINCARNATION
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Atkinson, William Walker
E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Turgut Dincer, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
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CHAPTER I. The Early Races
What is Reincarnation?—Transmigration of Souls—The Something That Persists After Death—The Soul Not a Fresh Creation, but a Traveler on a Long Journey.
CHAPTER II. The Egyptians, Chaldeans, Druids, etc
20
The Egyptian Idea of the Soul—Forty Centuries of Occult History—The Inner Teachings of Egypt—The Ancient Chinese Teachings and Doctrine—The Ancient Druids and Their Teachings.
CHAPTER III. the Romans and Greeks
35
The Reasons of Rome's Backwardness in Spiritual Knowledge—Why the Greeks were Advanced—Pythagoras; Orpheus; Plato—The Various Grecian Teachings Regarding the Soul and Its Future Life—Plato's Wonderful Teachings and Philosophy.
CHAPTER IV. The Jews, Essenes, and Early Christians
49
The Inner Teachings of the Jewish Priests—The Jewish Rabbins and Their Secret Doctrines—The Kaballah, the Zahar, Nichema; Ronach; and Nephesh—A Mysterious Brotherhood—The Christian Inner Doctrine—The Mysteries of Jesus.
CHAPTER V. The Hindus
64
India the Mother of Reincarnation, Past and Present—The Aryan Teachings—The History of the Belief Among the Hindus—Fundamental Hindu Philosophy.
CHAPTER VI. The Modern West
95
Reincarnation in the Modern Western World—The Revival of Interest and Its Cause—Theosophical Society—Madame Blavatsky—The Western School of Yogi Philosophy: Its Fundamental Teachings—The Spiritists, and Their Doctrine—The Teachings of the "Elect Few" in Their Secret Societies—Is Earth a Hell?—Christian Reincarnationists and Their Beliefs.
CHAPTER VII. Between and Beyond Incarnations
117
How Long Between Incarnations?—Necessity for Mental and Spiritual Digestion and Assimilation—The Advanced Teachings—Earth-bound Souls—Advanced Souls and Their Rest Period—Where Does the Soul Dwell Between Incarnations?—What Happens at Death—The Great Astral World and Its Planes and Sub-planes—Where the Soul Goes After Death and What It Does There—Rebirth and Its Laws—What is the Final State of the Soul?—The Message of the Illumined.
CHAPTER VIII. The Justice of Reincarnation
134
The Contrasting Theories of the Soul and Its Future Life—Doctrine of Reincarnation the Only Philosophical Theory that Reconciles Facts with Theory—The Law of Karma Automatic and Enforces Itself—Every One Their Own Judge and the Executor of Their Own Destiny—The Opinions of the World's Great Thinkers.
CHAPTER IX. The Argument for Reincarnation
151
Natural Laws Universal—If the Soul is Immortal, it Must Have Always Been So—A Mortal Thing Cannot be Made Immortal Any More Than Nothing Can be Made Something—Future Life Implies Past Life—Varient Experiences Necessary for the Soul's Education—Advancement Necessary to Enjoyment of the Soul's Higher States of Being—The True Teaching.
CHAPTER X. The Proofs of Reincarnation
169
Actual Proofs of Personal Conscious Experience Demanded by Science—Such Proofs Possible and Have Occurred to Many of the Race—The Remembrance of the Details of Past Existence Common to the Race—Interesting Cases Given on Good Authority—Messages from the Past.
CHAPTER XI. arguments Against Reincarnation
192
Why Reincarnation is Opposed by Some—The Answers to the Objections—The Proof of the Existence of the Soul—Is Reincarnation Un-Christian and Derived from Pagan and Heathen Sources?
CHAPTER XII. the Law of Karma
222
What Karma Means—Does Karma Punish or is it but the Workings of a Natural Law?—The Various Kinds of Karma—The Advanced Mystical Doctrine—The End is Absolute Good—There is No Devil but Fear and Unfaith.