Theos-Talk Archives (June 1995 Message tl00090)

FRDHVY@aol.com writes:

> Adam,
>
> Thanks for your comments on reincarnation.  I accept your
> statements 1 and 3, however I dispute your statement 2.  I accept
> that reincarnation has not been proved to date, but it is unclear
> to me that it is impossible to prove reincarnation.  Is there a
> logical proof that it is impossible to prove reincarnation? If
> so, I hope you will share it with me.
>
> Love and light, Fred
>
> Fred,

Yes, to me, it is a logical impossibility to prove reincarnation
because we cannot prove a causal link between one life and
another.  Suppose I remember the details of another life, and
that those memories can be historically verified.  I feel that
they are 'my' memories; I identify with the person that I
remember being.  There are any number of instances that fulfil
these conditions.  A sceptic can easily come up with an
alternative explanation, such as cryptamnesia; he will say that
the feeling that they were my memories is a purely personal
identification.  He will say that we are all experts in creating
imaginary charaters who then become real for us.  Can we prove
that he is wrong? From a theosophical point of view I can also
explain the facts without resorting to reincarnation.  I could
suggest that the past life memories are those of someone else.
They are recorded in the Akasha.  In reviewing those memories I
will relive the personal emotions of that person.  For a moment I
will become them because I will identify with their memories.
This is, in fact, what I do think.  We are all too ready to
believe that we recall past life memories on the slenderest of
evidence.

This aside, I believe that there is another even more fudamental
reason for doubting whether reincarnation can ever be proved.
When we say that 'I can remember a past life' we are ignoring a
vital aspect of the whole process.  What links one personality to
another is the reincarnating Ego (or whatever you want to call
it).  It is, from this perspective, wrong to say that 'I was
so-and-so in my past life'.  Each personality is unique, nad
evolves its own sense of identity.  This 'I' has never lived
before, and will never live again.  The causes which have lead to
this new personality originate in a sequence of personal lives,
the causal link of which lies with or in the higher or
reinarnating Ego.  It is sloppy thinking to say 'In my previous
life I was ...'.  We can hardly fully identify with the person we
were, say, twenty years ago, never mind the preceding
personality.

What could ever become proof of reincarnation, when we cannot
clearly identify who or what has reincarnated?

Best wishes,

Adam