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Reincarnation |
Geographical range
It is often the western world's conception, that the reincarnation idea is an eastern phenomenon and therefore distant and irrelevant for our culture. The objection is not only a bad argument, but also directly false. There are not many apprehensions that are more universally spread than the reincarnation idea with its many variants. For the 700 million Hindus in India reincarnation is such a natural, deeply-rooted part of the culture, that for many it cannot cause any surprise or doubt. The hundreds of million believers in Buddhism also consider reincarnation a matter of course, though it may often be interpreted a little bit different than for the Hinduism. In the Far Eastern areas the idea is very spread and characterizes the populations in the Himalayas, Mongolia and China, especially via the Daoism and other religious traditions. The reincarnation idea is very common among the original tribal populations in Africa, where they often consider childlessness a curse that hinders rebirth. Everywhere among the aboriginals in Australia the idea is well-known, and sometimes they perceive the ancestors' nature in animals and other living creatures. In the Pacific Islands the idea is known among the Maoris, Tasmanians, Tahitians, the natives in the Fiji Islands, in Bali and Borneo. In America reincarnation has been admitted very long among the American tribes, e.g. the Iroquois, Algonquian, Creequian, Hopian and Mohavian. In the Middle East it has been a well-known idea for thousand of years, for instance among the early Gnostic movements, in the Orphic religion and among some of the greatest philosophers and poets from Plato and Pythagoras to Empedocles and Pindar. In Rome the idea was common for both Plutarch and Plotin. In Lebanon and Syria the idea is known by eg. the Druses, and among the ancient Egyptians reincarnation was an integrated part of the religious life.
After this tour it is natural to return to our own latitudes and ask the question, whether reincarnation is unknown in the European culture after all? First of all we can state that the entire Celtic culture, which before our calendar thrived especially on the British Isles, in northern France and Spain and to a certain extent also in the Scandinavian area, considered reincarnation a natural idea. The question is whether the idea was common in the North before Christian time, even though we have no written proves thereof. We will return to the Christianity later in this paragraph, however it is a absolute fact that groups among the first Christians accepted the idea as fully consistent with the Christian gospel, and the idea survives up over the centuries, in spite of persistent suppression from the Cathars, Hermetics, Neo-Platonists, Rosicrucians and many of the other spiritual movements that are set outside the Roman Church' favour. In modern times reincarnation has become a controversial issue among the Christians, and the number of Christian priests in Europe who have strong belief in the idea, is higher than officially acknowledged. Reincarnation has simply become a hot potato and a returning issue concurrently with the new age movements' and the eastern philosophies' spreading in the West in the second half of the 20th century.
 Giordano Bruno believed in reincarnation
Most people are not aware that a large number of famous intellectual personalities since the Renaissance have expressed their acceptance of the reincarnation idea, either as a matter of faith or based on deeply spiritual experiences. Figures as Leonardo da Vinci, Paracelsus and Giordano Bruno considered the idea quite natural. Goethe spoke openly of it, just as it characterized the thoughts of Schiller and Fichte, and in Denmark it was expressed by a.o. H.C. Andersen and other people of the golden age. Ralph Waldo Emerson held it as well as his famous American spiritual relative Benjamin Franklin. The poets Walt Whitman and Coleridge let the idea shine clearly through their work, and about the 20th century figures such as Henry Ford, Gustav Mahler and Paul Gaugain have accepted the idea. The painter Wasilly Kandinsky and the poet William Butler Yeats were convinced believers of the idea just as the composer Claude Debussy and the inventor Thomas Edison. The list of famous people is very long, and if you also consider the numerous cultural personalities a somewhat different picture emerges of the European cultural values than the ones we most often hear of. Especially among the artists, writers and other free spirits we find courage to speak loudly of these thoughts. Richard Wagner never made a secret of his faith just as Sibelius and Robert Browning and numerous other pioneers in new thinking. Nor did persons like general Patton and the English Prime Minister Lloyd George from the First World War make a secret of their convictions.
There are various "versions" of the karma conception, and here it is suitable to place the wisdom teaching according to certain extreme interpretations. One of these is what you may call the eastern "suffering-samsara-version", which holds that all life is suffering, that we are bound to the incessant wheel of life (samsara), and that fundamentally the world is an illusion . The binding to the wheel of life can only be ended by being released through enlightenment and transcendence. In this comprehension the world may easily appear as a misunderstanding, and the souls are trapped in the substance's cold grave. The perspective is then that the only way is the way out of this world. Another extreme interpretation could be called "the western new-age-happyology-version", where reincarnation is almost described as a super-optimistic joy trip that gets better and better, day by day. The development is one incredible lift for unceasing greater heights, which gives ecstasy, joy and incomprehensible peace. This perspective is almost naive and one-sided positive. There is not much room for the world's misery and existential suffering.
The wisdom teaching presents a perspective, which is almost halfway between the two extreme versions. It is true that life holds suffering and that the individual through the binding to the physical values becomes enslaved and unhappy. But it is also a fact that happiness is a motive for development, and that evolution is progressive. The human soul will not go backwards in development. What has once been gained can never be lost, and even though old karma may return later in life and inhibit the work of the soul, the greater perspective ensures that a continued development takes place. Consequently a horse will not reincarnate as a flower or a rock crystal, just as a person will not become a badger or a canary in the succeeding life. Like the biological theory of evolution shows a continued growth in complexity and multiplicity, also the esoteric teaching states that the consciousness is in a process of continued growth and development.
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