H AR P E R L I B R A RY f LI V I N G T H O U G HT

’
S o
 TH E

T RA N S M I G RA T
OF SO U LS

BY

D . A L F R E D B E RT H O L E T
P R O F E SS O R 0 1! T H E O L O G Y
IN TH E U N I VE R SI T Y OF B ASL E
T RA N S L A T E D BY

REV H J C H AY T OR M A
. . .
,
. .

HE AD M A ST E R O F P LY M OU T H CO LL EGE

L ON D ON A N D N EW Y O R K
H A RP E R <9 B ROTH E RS
45 A L B E M A R L E S T R E E T W , .

I 909
 C ON T E N T S

P A RT I
I D E A S A N T E C E D E N T T O T H E B E LI E F IN
M ET E M PSYC H O S I S
C H A P. P A GE

I . TH E B E L IE F T H A T T HE S O U L C AN BE S E PA
RA T B D FR O M M AN S B O DY
’

II . THE B E L IE F T H A T O R G AN IS M S O T HE R T H AN
H U M AN P OSSESS S OU L S

A N I M AL S OU L S
P LAN T S OU L S
S OU L S I N O T HE R M A T E R I AL O B JE CT S

III . TH E B E L IE F I N T HE T R AN S M IG RA T IO N O F
S OU L S FR O M O N E B EI N G T O A N O T HE R 24

T R AN S M IG R A T IO N FR O M M A N T O M A N 24

T R AN S M IG R A T IO N FR O M M E N T O A N I M AL S 29

T RAN S M IG R A T IO N FR O M M E N T O P LAN T S 4 2

T R AN S M IG R A T IO N FR O M M A N T O I NAN I
M A T E O B JE CT S

PA RT I I
M ET EM P S Y C H O S I S P R O P E RLY SO C ALL E D
P R E L I M I NA R Y C O N SI D E R A T IO N S
'

I .

II . M E T E M P S Y C HOSIS A M O N G T HE C E L T S
vi i

27 1 6 3 6
 C O N T E N TS
CHA P . PA GE

III . M E T E M P S Y C HOSIS I N I ND I A
V E D I C B R A H M AN B E L IE F S
-

B U DD HIS T B E L IE F S
IV . THE G R EE K D O CT R I N E O F M E T E M P S Y C HOSIS
V . T H E B E L I E F I N M E T E M P S Y C HOSIS I N O T HE R
! U A R T E R S
I N T HE B I B L E AND I N JU DA IS M
I N I S LA M
I N T HE C H R IS T I AN W O R LD
VI . C O N C L USIO N

v i ii
 PA R T I

I D EA S A N T E C E D E N T T O T H E B E LI E F
I N M ET EM P SYC H O S I S
TH RE E pre suppo sition s are n ece ss arily an t e
ce de n t t o an y belie f in the tran sm i gration o f
souls .

I . Th e b elie f that m an has a soul which can

b e s e parat e d fro m h is mat erial bo dy .

2 . Th e be lie f that n o n hum an or ga n isms

( a n im als ,
plan ts
,
a n d pe rh a ps e v e n i n

an imat e obj e cts ) posse ss souls o f li ke

n atur e .

3 . Th e b elie f that t h e soul s bo th o f m e n an d

o f lowe r or g an is m s c an b e tra n s fe rre d

from o n e orga n ism t o an othe r .

 T H E T RA N S M I G RAT I O N
O F S O U LS

C H AP T E R I

THE B E L I E F T H AT T H E S O U L C A N BE
S E P A RAT E D F RO M M A N S B O DY ’

ET first consider the belief that man

us

has a soul which can be separated

from his body or to express the idea by a
, ,

metaphor that the connection of the soul

,

with the body is that of a guest with a house

in which he stays and lives with the i mten
,

tion of leaving it after a certain lapse of

time So far as we can tell this idea can
.
,

’
be traced to the earliest periods of man s
!

mental history In modern times the

.

popular conclusion that a soul e xists ,

i s usually deduced from the phenomena of

thought perception and will
, , man
THETRANSIM
IGR
-

AT I O N OF SO U LS

has a soul because he can think feel and

, , ,

will . In the uninterrupted activity of

these normal intellectual functions we ,

believe that we may observe s o to S peak , ,

the p ulsation which indicates their vitality .

Primitive man reasoned very di fferently

his attention like that of a child was first
, ,

attracted not by the normal and its con

,

stant regular recurrence but by the ab ,

normal which struck him as strange and

,

e x traordinary N ow man was confronted

.

by one abnormal fact which even now he ,

has not entirely ceased to regard as unusual ,

the fact of death Death then must first be

.
, ,

considered when we ask what led men to

infer the e xistence of the soul .

What is the chief fact that distinguishes

the living man from the dead ! The only
outward S ign is the cessation of respiration .

With the last breath a something leaves

the body which e xisted within i t during
,

life
. A W indow or door is thrown open
when a man dies a custom still widespread ,

4
 SOU L S E P A RA T E D F RO M B O DY

among our own country folk ,

S imilarly .
,

Hottentots F ij i
,
Islanders S amoyeds , ,

Indians S iamese Chinese and others make

, , ,

a hole in the roof of the house or hut in

which a man dies apparently with the ,

obj ect of o ff ering free passage to the m ys t e ri

ous something which leaves the body
at death I speak of the mysterious some
.

thing but the poet of old unhesitatingly

gives it a name in describing the death of
,

Orpheus
Th e s o ul bre a th e d
, fo rth , th e n fa d e d in th e air .

Th i s breath or spirit soul (in the most -

di fferent languages the word soul o rigin

ally means simply breath ) thus withdraws
from the eye of man which has no power ,

to perceive it But suppose for a moment

.

that primitive man whose psychological ,

knowledge is not equal to ours sees a dream ,

and dreams perhaps that his dead friend

, ,

is hunting with him as in days gone by

he sees him string his bow shoot his arrow , ,
TH E TRA N S M I G R ATI ON OF S O U L S

pursue the animal he h as hit and call upon,

his friend to follow a conversation ensues ,

as h as happened often enough in his life

time and so forth H o w is the dreamer to

, .

explain these e xperiences when he wakes !

The body of h i s dead friend lies motionless
in the grave a prey to corruption Y e t it
, .

was the form of his friend that he s aw in

his dream and it was h i s friend s voice
’

that he heard : with h is own eyes he s aw

him with h is own ears he heard him speak
, .

What is he to understand ! To conclude ,

as we should conclude that it was merely a

,

dream is s o obvious a statement that we

can hardly conceive of any other reply .

But the power to discriminate between

dream illusions and reality i s by no means
innate in man and must be acquired by
experience only after a long course of
°

development was it attained A very .

di fferent conclusion o ffered itself to primi

tive man : what he s aw and heard in h i s
sleep was In reality his friend : but the
, ,

6
 S OU L S E P A RA TE D F RO M B O DY f

appearance could not have been that of

—
the body resting in the grave o f this
early man was well assured H ence it
must have been a something b e i ld e r
i n gly like the dead body a second ego a , ,

double and in a word the mysterious

, ,

something that had left the body with

the last breath S uch in fact is the con
.
, ,

c l usi o n with which we meet among primi

tive tribes Instructive also i s the form in

.

which it appears in the words placed by

,

Homer in the mouth of Achilles whe n his ,

de ad friend Patroclus appears to him in a

, ,

dream

Go d s ! of a truth th e n I w e e n in th e sh ad o wy
, ,

h o us e s o f H a d e s
S pirit a n d fo r m d o abi d e but within th e m is n o
,

un d e rs t an d ing .

F o r in t h i s s e l fs a m e ni g h t th e fo r m o f th e h apl e s s
P a t r o clu s
H o v e r e d a b o v e m e a n d w e pt wi t h s o r e l a m e nt ati o n
a n d w a iling ,

S p ak e hi s b e h e sts an d m arv e ll o us lik e to hims e l f

,

was t e ph a to
h n m —.
! —
I L I A D xxiii 1 0 3 1 0 7 , .
THE T RA N S M I G RA TI O N O F S OU L S

This belief in the e xistence of a soul that

can be separated from the body is deeply
rooted in the mind of man The theory .

seemed to provi de an explanation of all

dream experiences The dreamer for i n
.
,

stance finds himself in a distant region

,

which he had visited long before His .

body h as not moved from the couch on

which he lies it is therefore his soul which
has left him to renew acquaintance with
that distant spot : the soul returns with
the impressions gained by its exp erience
and the dreamer awakes Such theories
.

have in some instances led primitive

, ,

tribes (e g the M alays ) to believe that it is

. .

dangerous to wake a sleeping man ; his

soul might have left his body and might be
unable to return immediately in which case ,

the body would be left soulless The .

di fference is one only of degree : in sleep

and dreams the soul leaves the body .

temporarily while in death the separation

,

is final an idea expressed in the Koran and

,

8
 C H AP T E R II

THE B E L I E F T H A T O RG A N I S M S O T H E R
T H A N H U M A N P OS S E SS S O U L S

E have stated that the second ante

ced e nt con di tion was the belief that
beings or obj ects beyond the limits of human
life possessed souls of similar nature The .

further we pursue the histo ry of the past ,

the more general does this belief appear .

N or i s it necessary to seek instances in

remote antiquity We need only observe
.

how our own children personify everything

around them with th e ir own charact e ristics .

A little girl sings her doll to sleep as sh e

h as hersel f been sung to S l e ep by her own
mother and asks the doll i n the morning
,

how it has slept j ust as she may be asked

,

by her mother A child will beat the stick

.

that has tripped it up for its naughtiness

,

which caused the fall and deserved punish

IO
 O R GA N I S M S P O SS E S S SO U L S
’
ment even as the child s own shortcomings
,

are punished M ankind at large h as enter

.

t ai n e d ideas no less infantile during the long

course of i ts development nor has it by any ,

means everywhere emerged from the stage

in which the individual regards the obj ects
about him as endowed with souls akin to
his own .

A N I M AL S O U LS

Animals are first regarded as possessing

souls. In modern histories of religious
thought the term totemism will occa
,

s i o n ally be found The term is used to

.

signify the belief existing among Indian

tribes and also elsewhere that man is ,

related to a particular species of animal or ,

i s even descended from it The believer .

then takes the name of his totem animal ,

as we take our family names calls himself ,

the bear the beaver the raven etc designs

, , , .
,

the animal upon his weapons and i s care ful ,

to avoid harming or killing any member Of

I I
THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N O F S OU L S

the species S hould he kill a totem animal

at any time the act is performed w
.

,
ith the
most elaborate precautions If for i nstance
.
, ,

the Chippewa Indians kill a bear they ,

attempt to j ustify their action to the

’

victim put the pipe of peace in the animal s

,

mouth and solemnly beg the bear to forgo

,

his vengeance .S imilar ceremonies are

perform ed by the S amoyeds in a far distant
country and a wholly di fferent climate .

S uch instances which might be infinitely

,

multiplied prove that man regards animals

,

as possessing souls of human character and

‘

that their souls like those of men are

, ,

thought to survive bodily death and often ,

as likely to become formidable enemies .

t o n v e rs ely these souls may prove useful :

,

th e A rab o f antiquity was burie d with his

o am e l s
’

t the G erman warrior s charger was

slaughtered at his grave ; a noteworthy
survival of this custom is the habit of
’
leading a dead man s favourite horse in the
procession on the occ asion of a solemn
I2
 O R GA N I S M S P OSS E SS SO U L S

funeral In either case is the undoubted

.

presence of a belief that the dead man

could use the animals for riding in the next
world In short as man s nat ure is twofold
’

.
, ,

and as the spiritual element survives on the

death of the corporeal so also is the nature ,

of an i mals M oreover it must be rem em

.
,

bered that to men in the earlier stages of

civi lisation the difference between man
and animal i s by no means s o wide as we
are accustomed to think : the reason is
’
not far to seek ; early man s occupation
and profession of nomadic cattle breeder
brought him into daily and hourly contact
with his animals he lived under the same
roof or even in the same room with them
, .

E thos in Greek was once a term which

, ,

implied association in one dwelling It is .

su fficiently significan t that our modern

word , ethics seems to be derived from
,

ethos as a comprehensive term for the

first rules which governed the intercourse
of man with the other inmates of his house .

I 3
THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N O F SO U L S

In any case in simpler ages man regarded

,

his animals as no less members of society

than his comrades and friends the Indian
talks to his horse and the Arab to his
,

camel . E ven the cattle understand what

is spoken in words i s a saying in the
,

famous Indian collection of fairy tales the ,

P an c at an tr a N or did a less S ophisticated

.

age than ours find anything surprising in

the idea that animals could occasionally
use human language or at least a language
,

immediately intelligible to man Animals.

occasionally appear as announcing immi

nent danger or good fortune for they have
,

knowledge of much that m an cannot even

suspect We usuall y relegate animal lan
.

guage to the region of fables and fairy tales

for instance in the tale of the S leeping
,

Beauty a frog j umps out of the water

, ,

speaks to the queen who i s longing for a

child and promises that her wish shall be
,

f ulfilled .

S imilar examples might b e quoted with

14
 O R GA N I S M S P OS S E SS SOU LS

out end But we must remember that as

.

the vein of gold gleams in the heart of the

rock so the features characteristic of these
,

stories are but fragments from the infinite

storehouse of popular beliefs As a matter
.

of fact the close connection and intercourse

,

between men and animals h as not been

without effect upon the latter the more '
.

man associates with them the nearer do they

,

approach him on the intellectual side we “

may realise the fact by comparing the dog

in E uro pean civilisation with the dog in the
E ast where he is avoided as an unclean
,

animal Thus it is natural that increased

.

association with animals should increase

beli e f in their kinship with man and in the
similarity of their souls to his This ancient
.

idea finds wonderfully poetic and yet most

’
realistic expression in Ibsen s S ea Woman .

When Wan ge l asks h i s wife on what subj ect

sh e has been continually talking with
the strange man sh e replies We spoke
, ,

chi e fly of the s e a of storm and calm ,

l 5
THE T RA NS M I G R A TI O N OF S OU L S

of dark nights upon the sea We also .

spoke of the sea on bright sunlight days .

But for the most part we spoke of the

whales and dolphins and of the seals which
,

usually lie out there upon the rocks in the

heat of the day And then you know we
.
, ,

spoke of the gulls and eagles and other se a

birds And I tell you is it not strange !
.
,

When we spoke of these things it seemed ,

to me as if all of them s e a animals and s e a

,
-

birds were related to him

,
And you .

also asks W an gel And his wife replies

.
,

Y e s it seemed as if I also was kin to them

,

all H ebbel h as expressed a similar belief

.

with no less art in his N i b elungen in the ,

words he gives to the serpent .

On him t h a t is o utc a s t an d sc o rn e d o f m e n ,

D e ni e d by his o wn b r e t hr e n a n d b e t r ay e d ,

D o th o u b e st o w pr o t e cti o n a n d r e c a ll
,

K inship as a nci e nt a s th e w o rl d its e l f .

!

S omething of this ancient kinship to ,

gether with other primitive features has ,

been transferre d as is well known to the

, ,

16
THE TR A N S M I G RA T I O N O F S O U L S

F ath e r , tr e e s up o n th e m o unt a in si d e
th e ,

D o th e y in truth sh e d bl oo d wh e n th e bright
, axe

H a s cl e f t th e ir b ark ! !

Thus a belief was actually current at

N auders in Tyr ol fifty years ago that a
certain kind of larch tree bled when it was
felled. The Indian legal code of M anu
forbids the use of red resin apparently as , ,

has been stated because it was thought to

,

be coagulated blood which was no more to

,

be tasted than any other kind of blood .

(T he r e was a widespread belief —instances

may be found for example in the Old
—
, ,

Testament that the soul was inherent in

the blood as well as in the breath the soul
appears to depart from the body when
the blood streams from a mortal wound ) .

The r e is a belief current in Berg that a

certain orchis gives a piteous cry when torn
out of the ground But the mysterious
.

rustling of leaves in the wind is esp ecially

regarded as the language of the tree which ,

would be silent if it were not in some way

inhabited by a soul S peaking trees are
.

18
 O R GA N I S M S P OSS E SS SO U L S

common among the most various nations ,

the Z ulus and the Greeks the S candi ,

n avi an s and the Babylonians etc Among

, .

the G ermans the power of understanding

their language is part of the poetic faculty .

But poets are merely the heirs of those

'

divinely gifted persons born under a happy

star who have been invariably thought by
,

popular belief to have ears for the message

told by the rustling of the leaves Even in “

—
.

modern superstition and the superstition

of to day was the belief of yesterday
-

female curiosity occasionally applies to a

tree spirit or dryad for valuable informa
tion In F ran c o ni a on S t Thomas D ay!
.
, .
’

the girls go to a tree k nock upon it three

,

times with due solemnity and listen for ,

ans wering knocks within telling them wh a

sort of husbands they will get The tree .
!
spirits are widely believed to possess know
ledge o f all kinds of secret matters The .

’
poet s assertion however
, ,

“
T his w o ul d I gl a d ly c arv e o n e v e ry st e m ,

I 9
THE TRA NS M I G R A TI O N O F S O U L S
’
gives a wrong idea of the spirit s inoffensive
ness Greater caution is necessary : many
.

a Greek or Indian legend relates how the

tree spirit betrayed secrets confided to it
Even to day the belief is well known that
-

the cracking of wooden wall panels is a

sign of an approachin g death a belief pro
,

c e e d i n g from the same idea that the tree

spirit is ever ready to reveal to man its

knowledge of the future which is hidden
fro mman But this spirit has the faculty of
.

belief as well as of knowledge Tradition .

represents M ohammed as saying of trees ,

Some of them are believers others are ,

unfaithful . F inally e xperience must have

,

taught man from the earliest ages that the

consumption of such plants for instance
, ,

as contain opium produced a certain mental

excitement for which he could only account

,

by assuming the operation of a soul or

spirit H ence he inferred that the soul or
.

S pirit was primarily incarnate in the plant

which he had eaten The expressions of this

.

20
 O R GA N I S M S P O S S E SS SOULS

belie f remain to us though their original

,

meaning has been changed : we speak of

spirits of wine the F rench of espri t de
, ,

vi n
!

,
and the G ermans of the ,

The strength and growth of a plant depend

upon the soul incarnate within it The .

K are n es in F urther India have a special

form of invocation adapted to cases when
their rice fields fail Oh come R ice , ,

kelah (spirit ) come , Come into the field !

Come to the rice ! Come from the west ,

come from the east Come from the throat

o f the bird from the pouches of the ape
, ,

from the throat of the elephant Come .

from all the barns Oh R ice kelah come to

.
/ -

, ,

the rice . As intended to secure the return

of the soul this invocation corresponds
,

precisely with the form of expression which

we apply to human beings he recovered ,

and came to himself .

2!
T H E T RA N S M I G R ATI O N O F S O U LS

S O U LS I N O TH E R M ATE RIAL O B JE CTS

The belief in plant souls i s more i n t e llig

ible to us than the belief that obj ects which
we regard as entirely inanimate possess
souls Y e t there i s no doubt that these
.

beliefs were equally prevalent among primi

tive tribes In any case there i s every
.
,

reason for the existence of this idea if our ,

explanation is correct which stated that man

,

was chiefly led to the conception of soul

life by his dream experiences In dreams .

he sees many obj ects far remote from h is

sleeping place as he may easily convince
,

himself in waking moments : hence these ,

things as seen in dreams must be the

mysterious doubles of the i r realities .

Weapons as i s generally known are laid

, ,

in the grave with dead warriors that the

dead may have them for their j ourney into
the beyond or to the E lysian fields It is
, .

immediately obvious that the uncivilised

man who buries these obj ects does not
22
 O R GA N I S M S P OS S E SS SOU L S

imagine that the implements which he lays

in the grave can leave it and accompany
their own er into the next world : it is so ,

to speak only the souls of these obj e cts

,

which follow the dead man But this id ea

.

i s not confined to uncivilised man In .

ancient Athens with i ts famous culture

, ,

if a man was ki lled by a falling stone a ,

special court was held to pass sentence upon

the o ffending obj ect which was condem n ed
,

and transported beyond the frontier Such

action is only explicable upon the supposi
tion that the ston e was believed to have a
soul. I n any case these examples will
,

suffi ce to explain what I have termed the

second idea necessarily antecedent to a
be lief in metempsychosis the idea that
,

organisms other than human and even ,

obj ects which we regard as inanimate may ,

possess souls after the manner of mankind .

23
 C H AP T E R III

THE BEL I EF I N T H E T RA N S M I GRA T I O N

OF SOU L S F RO M O N E BE I N G
T O AN O T H ER

T RA N SM I G RAT IO N F RO M M AN T O M A N

E now proceed to consider the third

antecedent idea the idea that
,

the soul of o n e being may be transferred to

anoth er being and thus we are brought
,

face to face with the subj ect of our enquiry .

E vi dence for the existence of this belief may

be found for instance in the well kn own
, ,
-

Roman custom which obliged the nearest

relation to bend over the face of a dying
(
man in order to catch his last breath in ,

other words his so ul A similar custom is

, .

said to have existed among a tribe in

F lorida ( N orth America ) if a woman died
in child birth the child was held over h e r
-

face so that it might breathe in the soul as

24
THE TRA N S M I G RA TI O N O F S O U L S

naturally regarded as a child of the same

spirit as the deceased This indeed i s the
.
, ,

essential point of the belief in the trans

migration o f the soul from man to man ;
the belief explains the reason for an i n telle c
tual or physical likeness between two men ,

and in particular the reason for family

likenesses Among the Khonds an ab o ri gi
.
,

nal Indian tribe a birth i s celebrated seven

,

days after its occurrence by a festival at

which the priest e x amines the body of the
child and states which of the family
( ,

l a n ces t o rs h as been reborn in it : the child

i s then named after this ancestor The .

naming of children in fact is in many ways

, ,

connected with the belief that the souls of

ancestors return to life in the children In .

N e w Z ealand ,
for instance the priests
,

stand before a new born child and repeat

-

a long list of ancestral names until the

child sneezes or cries out at one of them
the ancestor is thus found whose soul i s re
incarnated in the child and after whom the
26
 F ROM BE I NG TO BE I NG

child i s then named A very similar custom

.

exists in Little P op o in colonial West Africa

when a Child i s born the parents consult
the oracle by means of sixteen date stones -

in order to discover whether a soul from

’ ’
the mother s or father s side of the family
is re in c am ate in the child and which so ul
,

it i s The reply of the oracle determines

.

the name of the child who thus receives ,

the name o f the ancestor whose soul is s up

posed to have returned again to earth .

N ot until their conversion to Christianity

do we find that the ancient G ermans gave
a child the name of a living rel ative ; in
earlier times the name of a dead man was
always chosen and especially of a dead
,

father as he was supposed to continue h i s

,

life in h is child In Dahomey if a child

.
,

was born with a complete se t of teeth ,

the chief magician explained the event as ,

being a reincarnation of the king who had ,

returned to devour h is s o n and the child ,

was drowned . The famous Australian

27
THE TR A N S M I G RA TI ON O F S OU L S

traveller G eorge Grey relates that he was

, ,

once caressed by an old woman who thought

that sh e had found a deceased son in him ,

and shed tears over him Here a further .

fe at ure appears sav ag es often believe

f
white men to be merely reincarnated mem
bers of their own race Who dies a black
.

! !
man rises again a white man is said to be ,

a common saying among the aborigines of

Australia .

I do not propose to discuss the un pleasant

qu e stion whether the motive of cannibalism
,

is a similar belief in distorted form that

, ,

intellectual powers may be transmitted

from man to man by a transmigration of the
soul the theory of the cannibal being that
the conqueror who devours his defeated
foe thus appropriates the strength courage , ,

dexterity etc which lived in the soul of his

, .
,

enemy This indication of the belief will

.

su ffi ce
.

28
 F RO M BEING TO BEING

T H E T RA N SM I G RAT IO N OF S O U L S F RO M
M E N TO A N I M AL S

In every case hitherto discussed we saw

that the human soul after death was
thought to pass into another human body .

The soul can however choose a body with

, ,

no simil arity to its original home This .

belief in reincarnation under various forms

may have been suggested by the facts of
nature as observed by primitive man who ,

must for instance have noticed how the

, ,

caterpillar became a butterfly Why should .

not man undergo a similar change

We but w o rms
are

B o rn to b e c o m e c e l e sti al butt e r fl i e s ,

’
says Dante It seems again that men s
.

minds were occupied in early times by the

thought expressed by S t Paul in the .

words ,
That which thou sowest thou ,

sowest not that body which shall be but ,

bare grain it may be of wheat or of some

,

other grain but G od gives it a body as it

,

29
THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N O F SOU L S

pleases Him ( I Cor xv 37 . S eeing that

,

primitive man was unable to draw a clear

line of distinction between the worlds of
men and of animals we can hardly feel
,

surprised at the universality of the belief

that the human soul can be reincarnated in
animals . Instances are legion E very .

reader will recall the constant transforma

tions of men into animals in classical myth
’
ology or in G rimm s fairy tales M agicians .

and witches have a special power of assuming

animal forms themselves or of thus trans
,

forming others perhaps ultimately to re

,

store their origi nal shapes These temporary

.

transformations or metam orphoses do

not however specially concern us here
, ,
.

They are of interest merely as proving the

ease with which simple imaginative powers
can accept the possibility of transformation
from one to another form of life Our point .

is much rather the reason for the belief that

the human soul co uld pass i nto another
species of body after d eath .

30
 F RO M BE I NG TO B E I NG

’
Here we may again refer to Dante s
phrase above mentioned the celestial
,

!
butterfly . In the plastic arts this idea
had long been a commonplace In ancient .

Greece representations of the soul as

butterfly are common enough How far .

the Greeks regarded these merely as pictorial

or typical representations how far that is
'
, , ,

they regarded th e s o ul as actually incarnate

in the winge d insect is a question that will
,

naturally occur to us As regards antiquity

.
,

it is hardly a suitable question for it may ,

be said in general that the anci ent world

was unable to make that distinction between
the symbolical and the actual which is
perfectly familiar to modern thought (This .

observation it may be said will also apply

, ,

to M att xxvi
. An yone who now looks
,

at the mosaic butterflies on the ascent to

the Camp o S anto at F lorence will at once
realise that these butterflies are not copies ,

but types of the human soul after death \ .

In one Irish district popular belief actually

3 1
 THE TRA N S M I G R A TI O N O F S OU L S

regards the souls of the grandfathers as

incarnate in the butterflies : in S weden
’
the name for butterfly is old woman s
!
soul . In G ermany there is a sayin g that
children before birth fly about with the
butterflies The conception of the soul in
.

the form of a butterfly readily leads to the

very widespread belief that souls take the
form of birds The Iroquois of N orth
.

( America for,
instance release
, a bird upon
the evening of a burial in the belief that it
,

will become the home of the soul ; other

instances of this custom are numerous ,

though it is impossible to determine in

every case whether these soul birds do -

more than typi fy the departure and the

upward j ourney of the liberated soul The .

ancient Egyptians for instance placed

, ,

soul birds with their dead though they did

-

n o t believe that their life in the next world

l
was to continue under the form of birds A .

curious point is also that the bird was

invariably a cock the dwellers in the next
3 2
 THE TR A NS M I G R ATI O N O F SO U L S

the form of a raven There is a kindlier

.

legend in the Irish district of May o which

believes that the souls of maidens become
\I e i n c arn a te in swans However in the
.
,

wild Gi e ri tz swamp on the Aar in S witzer ,

land old maids become plovers

, The .

Samoan islanders prefer smaller creatures

should an islander be killed in battle or
drowned his friends and relations si t down ,

spread out a cloth before them call upon the ,

gods and wait for some insect to crawl upon

,

the cloth When an ant cricket or some

.
, ,

insect of the kind appears it is regarded as

the soul of the young man and is b uried ,

with all due solemnity If no insect appears

.

it is assumed that the spirit is angry with

the watchers others take their places and
, ,

an insect nat urally appears sooner or later .

The soul shows a particular preference

for the form of the snake In this form it
.

can even leave the body during sleep

an instance is the story of King G untram ,

which throws much light upon primitive

34
 F RO M BE I NG TO BE I NG

ideas concerning the soul One day the .

king went to sleep upon the breast of his

faithful servant The servant then saw a
.

little creature like a snake crawl o ut of his

’
master s mouth and go towards a brook ,

which it could not cross The servant .

placed h is sword over the water the reptile

crossed and went into a mountain on the
other side After some time it returned to
.

the sleeper the same way who soon woke ,

and said that in his dream he had crossed

an iron bridge and entered a mountain full
of gold AS the counterpart of this story
.

’
we may quote Virgil s description of the
’
visit of ! Eneas to his father s grave ZEn e as .
,

in due performance of pious custom had ,

poured libations to the dead of wine milk , ,

and blood had strewn flowers and called

,

upon him

T h e n fr o m th e
d e pths o f th e shrin e c am e sm oo thly
gli d ing a s e rp e nt,

Win d ing its mighty l e ngth in s e v e n fo l d circl e s e n

twin e d
35
 THE T R A N S M I G RA TI O N O F SO U L S

S l o w ly it circl e d th e t o mb an d w o un d its way to

th e alt ars ,

A z u re b e d ight wa s its b ack and th e S p angl e d sc al e s

o f th e p o rt e nt

G litt e r e d w ith ve r d a nt g o l d as th e b o w af t e r r a in
,

in th e h e av e ns
G l e ams w ith a th o us an d hu e s b e n eath th e t o uch o f
th e sunb e a m .

S il e nt a m az e d st oo d ZEn e a s but th e s e rp e nt its

, ,

l o ng l e ngth trailing ,

G li d e d a m o ng th e cups and th e p o lish e d ve ss e ls o f

s e rvic e ,

T a st e d th e vi a n d s and b ac k to th e d e pths o f th e
t o mb r e c e d e d ,

M in d l e ss o f h arm an d l ef t th e t a st e d foo d an d th e
al tars —
. /EN E I D V 8 4 93
!
,
-
.

Greek vase paintings frequently represent

the occupants of graves in the fo rm of
snakes . This does not imply the belief
that the dead continued to live permanently
in serpent form but merely that their souls
,

could become visible in this form from time

i to time Z ulu simplicity on the other hand
.
, ,

regards the snake form as permanent : i f a -

snake appears with a scar on one side a

man may come who knew some inhabitant
of the place thus marked in h i s life time -

“
J 6
 F RO M B E I NG TO BEING

and That is So and s o Do you not

say , - -

s ee the scar on his side That primitive

man regarded the serpent as an uncanny ,

supernatural creature is a matter of common

knowledge This is probably the chief
.

reason for regarding the serpent as the

form in which the souls of the dead con
‘

tin n ed their existence for fear is the first

’

feeling that inspires man s relations with

the dead as may be proved from many
,

sources It sho ul d also be remembered

.

that in many countries snakes are fond of

entering houses and ap proaching the fire
side as though they were driven by some
,

natural instinct to seek human association .

Legend often represents the house snake as -

playing with the child of the house as ,

sharing food and drink with him sleeping ,

in h i s cradle and giving him health : but

the snake must not be angered or evil will ,

fall upon the household .

The belief is widely disseminated that

human souls are incarnate in an i mals
37
THE T RA NS M I G R A TI O N O F S OU L S
’
which make their homes in men s houses ,

even when they are unwelcome visitors .

The mouse for instance very often appears

, ,

as th e reincarnation of a soul The soul .

can leave the body of a sleeper in the form

of a mouse as well as in that of a snake ,

to return after a while to the body : the

mouse is a form more regularly assumed
after death In the year 91 4 there was a
.

great famine and Bishop Hatto of M ayence

,

gathered the poor who had nothing to eat

into a barn and burnt them : then a swarm
—
of mice suddenly came out of the fire these
were of course the souls of the unfortunate
, ,

—
people demandi ng vengeance and pursued
the bishop day and night He fled to a .

tower in the middle of the Rhine at Bingen

to escape h is foes but th ey swam the stream
,

and devoure d him whence his tower is ,

known as the mouse tower even to d ay - -

.

M ice also have their patron saint S t , .

G ertrude who is represented in the Carin

,

’
t h i an s peasant calendar a s a spinning

38
 F RO M B E I NG TO BEING

woman with mice and rats running up her

,

d istaff The explanation of s o strange an

.

attribute of the saint i s simply this : G er

trude was formerly one of the war Valkyries ,

and souls spent their first night after death

with her : thus the mice depicted with the
saint are merely the reincarnated souls of
the deceased H ence the saying
. to
whistle to mice is to call the souls of the
dead we may compare the legend of
\
the piper of H ameln Ar ab Superstition
.
,

regards a particular species of mouse as

inhabited by the souls of an extin ct Israel
i ti sh tribe hence these mice will not touch \
’
camel s milk which was forbidden to the
,

Israelites Together with the mouse men

.
,

tion in ay also be made of toads which in ,

Tyrol for instance may not be killed on

, ,

Al l S ouls Day
’
because poor souls are in
,

them they als o like poor souls make

, ,

p gil ri rn ag e s to chapels on quarter days .

Certain uncanny creatures which fly by

night are often regarded as the habitations
39
 THE T RA NS M I G RA TI O N O F SOU L S

of souls ; such are the owl the bat and , ,

especially the vampire which has a p ar ti c u

,

l arly evil reputation for sucking the warm

blood from the living and leaving them
pale an d dying . The s o called vampire
-

legend is to be found chiefly among the

Slav races The Ab ip o n e s an Indian tribe
.
,

in the Argentine have a less repulsive

,

belief to the effect that the souls of the dead

,

become incarnate in a certain species of

duck which flies about at night uttering
,

melancholy wails The mournful e ffect of

.

these cries is the reason in this case for

ass uming a connection between these bir d s
and the souls of the dead Mohammed
/
.

refused to eat lizards because he regarded

them as the descendants o f an Israelitish
tribe which had undergone this m e t am o r
\p hosis : the Z ulus also believe that the
souls of the dead can pass into lizards M ore .

Hi telligi ble is the idea that souls enter

animals resembling man in form in Guinea ,

souls are thought to enter the bodies of the

40
 THE TR A N S M I G R A TI O N O F SOU L S

In some instances the various kinds of

animals are di fferentiated Those hostile
to man are regarded as inhabited by the
souls of enemies while the inoffensive con
,

tain the souls of members of the tribe Thus .

“
the Tlascalans of M exico believe that the
xgo uls of distinguished men enter great and
sweet singing birds and the nobler quadru
-

peds while the souls of common people pass

,

H n to weasels beetles etc

,
S imilarly the
, .
,

tribes of M adagascar believe that the species

of animal to be inhabited by the soul is
determined by the rank which the deceased
man held during his lifetime .

S O U L T RA N SM I G RAT IO N
-
F RO M M EN TO

P LA N TS
After death the human soul can pass
into plants as well as into animals The .

soul seems to show a particular preference

for the bean H ence the Pyth agoreans were
.

f orbidden to eat beans To eat beans

. is
to eat the heads of one s parents was a
’

42
 F ROM B E I NG TO BE ING

Pythagorean saying which was intended

,

to be literally interpreted Horace pours.

full measure o f satire upon Pythagoras the ,

relative of the bean in reference to a

,

succulent country dish of beans ( S atire I I ,

vi 63
,
The black marks in the bean
flower were interpreted by the Greeks as
Ai Ai the cry of sorrow ; a similar sign
, ,

was found by them in the hyacinth which! ,

flower was also regarded as an incarnation .

At the same time the bean had an evil

reputation as causing bad dreams Beans .
,

in f act have a history of their own : the

,

R omans had a similar belief concerning

them they thought that they drove away:
evil spirits by throwing beans behind them /
This may remind us of a feast which the
J apanese celebrate on the evening of F e b
r uary 2 5 at the parting of winter and spring .

They try to drive out malicious spirits by

strewing roasted beans and e xclaiming :
Come in happiness go away devil ly
, , ,

Egyptian priests were not even all owed to

.
43
THE TR A NS M I G RA TI O N O F SOU L S

look at beans At any rate we know that

.
,

he who is in the beans is absent ml n d e d -

i e that as beans can contain the soul of

. .

the dead so they can hold the mind of a

,

l iving man There is much evidence to show

.

that All S ouls Day and the spring festival

’

originally fe ll upon the same day The .

spring festival in M alta for instance and on , ,

the Rhine was therefore kept as a bean

,

festival It was a time of rej oicing A bean

. .

queen the feminine counterpart of Prince

,

Carnival was chosen and cheerful licentious

, , ,

songs were sung ; hence the origin of the

G erman expression that any licentious an d
outrageo us act surpasses the bean song -
.

Apart from leguminous plants any tree ,

or shrub m a
y receive the passing soul Th e .

Dyaks of Borneo for instance believe that

, ,

the s ap with its resemblance to blood is due

, ,

to this cause and for similar reasons certain

,

tribes in Australia or the Philippines refuse

to fell trees In this connection must be
.

taken the numerous stories of transforma

44
 F RO M BE ING TO BE ING

tions to trees in classical mythology such

as that o f Philemon and Baucis who were ,

transformed upon death into an oak and a

lime tree respectively Comparatively re .

c e n tly the two sacred trees were S hown ,

protected by a wall from the profane world .

A large number of simi lar legends and

stories are current such as the wonderful
,

old folk song

-

“
T h ey buri e d him in M ary s chu rch ’

A n d h e r in M a ry s n av e
’
,

A n d o v e r h e r a r e d r o s e gr e w
A n d a wh it e th o rn f ro m his gr a v e
T h e y b e nt to o n e a n o th e r ,

E nt w in e d th e ir br anch e s fa ir ,

F o r e v e ry p a ss e r b y t o se e
-

T wo l o v e rs r e st e d th e r e .
!

M ore elabora te is the Portuguese story of ‘

Count N ello from whose grave a cypress

,

grew while an orange tree blossomed upon

,

the grave of his lady love the Infanta -

,
.

The King who had opposed their marriage

, ,

ordered the trees to be cut down But .

blood flowed from their stems and two

45
 THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N O F SO U L S

white doves flew out and away to the King ,

as he was sitting down to meat so that he ,

burst out with a cry Curse your love , ,

curse it : neither in life nor in death can I

d
!

\ ivide you .

Such beliefs are now regarded as nothing

more than poetical ideas but in the far ,

distant day of primitive speculation from ,

which poets have transmitted these stories

to us they were considered to be matters of
,

fact S o much is plainly obvious from time

.

to time even through the veil of poetical

’
treatment A case in point is Virgil s
.

’
account of ZEn e as discovery of a cornel tree
and a branching myr tle plant upon a grave .

! Eneas goes up and attempts to root up

the plant purposing to adorn the altar
,

with the green shoots But the roots drip .

black blood and when ZEn e as has torn up

,

the third root he hears a piteous cry from

,

the depths of the mound : the soul of Poly

dorus who was slain by Achilles cries for
, ,

mercy An Annamite story tells of a fi sh e r

.

46
 F RO M BEING TO BE I NG

man who made a gash in a tree trunk which

had drifted ashore Blood streams forth
.
,

and it appears that an empress and her

three daughters who had been thrown into
the s e a had been reincarnated in the tree .

The Abyssinians assert that at the spot

where a maiden buried her seven brothers
seven palm trees grew from their bones .

H ere we observe that the soul creates for

itself the tree which is to be its future
habitation on the other hand many other,

“
races such as the S lavs believe that th e
, ,

fruit trees in the garden receive the soul

of a member of the family upon his de
F ancy carries the thread of the story y
further ; from the wood of one of these
trees the cradle is made which is to contain
,

a new life does not the so ul of the ancestor

thus return to the grandson or the great
grandson
We have already referred to the belief
that the soul is contained in the blood In .

full correspondence with this idea is the

47
 THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N OF SOU LS

fact that belie f in the migration of souls to

plants occasionally occurs in another form ,

which regards plants as developed from

drops of blood Thus the Greeks believed
.

that the anemone sprang from the blood of

the dying Adonis .A legend from the
Armenian town of E rzeroum states that
the tulip first grew from the blood of the
dying F e rd ad at the spot where he threw
himself from the rocks in despair for his
rej ected love E ven the red poppies upon
.

the battlefield of Waterloo are regarded by

popular belief as springing from the blood
o f the brave warriors who fell in the battle
\
.

S O U L T RA N SM I G RAT IO N
-
F RO M M AN T o

I N A N I M ATE O B JE CTS
Primitive thought regards obj ects which
we consider inanimate as no less capable of
possessing souls after the nature of man
than animals and plants : hence we need
feel no surprise at the belie f that mortal
souls can pass into inanimate obj ects The .

4 8
T H E T RA N S M I G RAT I ON OF
F’

S OU L S

the S outh American tribe of the Tam an akes

on the Orinoco M ore familiar to us are the
.

stories to be found in every country of men

turned into sto nes the se are popular
°

explanations of the existence of rocks

showing so m e resemblance to the human
form A more striking example of the
.

belief that the human soul can pass into an

inanimate o bj ect is provided by China with
its belief that the soul ( or more correctly .

one of the three souls ) of an ancestor enters

the tablet erected to his memory by h i s
family Here the departed relative receives
.

t h e veneration of his descendants and is ,

informed of their j oys and sorrows if for ,

instance there is a marriage in the house

,

hold the head of the family burns incense

,

before the tablet pours libation s of wine to

,

it r eads the announcement of the betrothal

,

before it and eventually burns it in that

,

spot in order to give the message a form

,

in greater congruity s o to s ay with the

,
‘

position of the deceased .

5 0
 F RO M ! B E I N G T O B E I N G
( !

A large number of the examples which we

have hitherto quoted in illustration of the
belief that the human soul can be rein
c arn a t e d in another human body or in ,

some non human org anism might well b e

-

considered as examples of metempsychosis

proper . But this term is perhaps more
correctly restri cted to cases where we find
a connected series of transmigrations where , ,

in other words the life of an individual

,

forms but one li nk in a chain of re i n c ar

nations it is more satisfactory to regard ,

as we have done the belief in isolated

,

instances of metempsychosis as the most

important of the antecedent beliefs pre
supposed by the idea of metempsychosis
proper Thus in the preceding pages Our
.
, ,

instances have b een purposely chosen from

th e most di fferent races and climates for
the very diversity of our sources of in forma
tion S hould arouse the impression that the
belief in metempsychosis was not confined
to any one race or group of races but was ,

S I
THE T R A N S M I G RA T I O N O F S OU L S

the common property of mankind The

study of comparative religion or of com
p a r a t i v e philosophy,
if undertaken from
the historical point of V iew must leave us
,

profoundly impressed with the fact that ,

the further we retrace early theories of life

and of nature the greater is the similarity
,

which such theories display whereas if we

follow the development of these ideas from
their source downwards an increasing ten
,

d e n cy to diverge is constantly apparent .

H ence the antecedent ideas necessary to

the belief in the transmigration of souls in ,

the restricted sense of the term are to be ,

found throughout the world Why then .

, ,

did not the belief in metempsychosis become

universal To produce this result a further
condition was required ; the belief in .

metempsychosis in its proper sense can only

begin at a particular stage of intellectual
development and moreover can only
, , ,

arise among peoples possessing that special

disposition to compare facts and make
5 2
 F ROM BE I N G TO BE I NG

deductions from them which is necessary

,

to the development of any such belief as

this. The S emitic peoples for instance
, ,

were far too realistic in their mode of thought

for the belief in metempsychosis to take
root among them Such traces of the theory
.

as may be found among them are due to

foreign influence .

53
 PA R T II

M ET EM P S Y C H O S I S P RO P E RLY SO C A LL E D
THE TRA N S M I G R A TI ON OF SOU L S

able omission will be that o f the E gyptians ,

who would perhaps occur to the casual

reader as soon as he heard the term metem
psychosis mention e d We may be referred
.

to a famous passage the Greek historian

Herodotus in which he says
,
now the
E gy ptians are the fi rst who have afi r med
the opinion that th e human soul is immortal ,
and that when the body decays the soul
invariably enters another body upon the
point of birth When it has thus succes
.

s i ve ly passed through the bodies of all the

animals on earth , in the water and in the ,

air it returns once mo re into a human body

,

upon the point of birth and this circle of ,

migrations it completes in three thousand

years . As it happens a large number of
,

inscriptions have provided tolerably com

p l e t e information concerning the true nature
of Egyptian ideas upon the condition of the
so ul after death and the observations of
,

Herodotus as above quoted remain un

, ,

confirmed It is true that in certai n chap

.

5 8
 P R E L I M I N A RY C O N S I D E RAT I O N S

ters of the so called Book of the Dea d the

-

soul is cre di ted with the capacity of trans

forming itself upon occasion into other
beings and of taking the form of a golden
,

sparrow hawk of a lily of a sa cred ram of a

-

, , ,

crocodi le etc But in these cases it m ust

, .

be carefully remembered that the trans

formation is not due to any natural law to
which the soul concerned is subj ected but ,

is rather represented as a special privilege

which may be conceded at times to the
souls of skilful magicians ; nor d oes the
statement imply more than an attempt to
secure greater sanctity for the dwell ers in
the ne x t world by providing them with un
usual powers o f self transformation
-
On
the other hand the doctrine of m e te mpsy
,

c h o s i s in its strict form invariably regards

reincarnation as the inevitable destiny of

the human soul ; liberation from this
necessity is the great ideal and hope of the
soul and is considered to be at most the
, , ,

more or less remote goal of a toilsome

59
THE TRA N S M I G R ATI O N O F SOU L S

course of self redemption The succession

-
.

of these reincarnations is determined by

existing theories upon moral retribution or
religious and ethical purification so much
will be apparent when we consider the
beliefs of the Indians and Greeks among
,

whom metempsychosis assumed its classical

form.
 C H AP T E R II

M E T E M P S YC H O S I S AM ON G T H E C E L T S

UR knowledge of the Celtic religion

in general is extremely vague and of ,

Celtic ideas upon metempsychosis we know

very little . C aesar however in his De
, ,

Bello G allico ( VI xiv 4) tells us that the

, ,

Druids — —
the Celtic priests believed that
the soul did not die but passed from one
,

individual to another : they regarded this

belief as a great stimul us to morality of
life and felt no fear of death A somewhat .

later writer Di o d o rus Si c ul us says when

, , ,

describing the G auls that at meals they

,

woul d O ften dispute about t ri fl e s and chal

lenge one another to duels for of the end
,

o f life they make no account In fact the .

,

opinion o f Pythagoras (see below) prevails

among them that the souls of men are
,

61
T H E T RA N S M I G RA TI O N O F SO U LS

immortal and come to life again after a

,

certain term of years entering other bodies

,

( V
, xxviii ) However the value of this ,

statement is con siderably modified by the

’

author s following words upon the occa

sion of a burial many cast letters upon the
,

funeral pile which they have written to

,

their dead friends in th e hope that the dead

,

will read them A somewhat later state

.

ment by the histori an Valerius M aximus

( I I vi
, 1 0),
says that the G auls lend one
another inconceivably large sums of money
on the mere promise of repayment in the
ne x t world These scustoms would rather
.

incline us to believe that the dead had to

expect a common life beyond the grave ,

and not reincarnation for another life upon

earth .Accordingly the observations of,

t h e ancient historians upon Celtic belief in

metempsychosis are to be accepted with
caution nor should I venture to give a
,

definite list of the successive reincarnations

in which the Celts believed as other writers ,

62
 AMONG THE C E LT S

have attempted to do upon the evidence of

other and even more doubtful statements .

At any rate the words of a famous sixth

,

century bard upon his own reincarnations

are su fficiently definite He asserts that he
.

became a lynx a dog and a stag then a

, , ,

spade an axe a c o ok a stallion and a goat

, , , , ,

and finally a grain of corn which was ,

swallowed by a hen The question has

.

also been raised whether these beliefs

were indigenous and common to all Celtic
tribes : it h as been conj ectured that indi
vidual Druids borrowed them from Greek
colonists. To these questions no final
answer can as yet be given .
 C H AP T E R III

M E T E M P S YC H OS I S I N I N D I A

VE DI C -
B RA HM A N B E LI E F S
NDI A is the country in which the belief
in the transmigration of souls has
chiefly flourished Opinions concerning the
.

date of its first appearance are divergent .

I am inclined to think that the date can well

be placed at a very early period although ,

the oldest monuments of the so called -

Vedic literature S how very scanty traces of

the belief However an early Indian code
.
,

requires that upon the occasion of a sacrifice

a fragment of the o ffering to the departed
spirits should also be thrown to the birds ,

because we are taught that our fathers

glide along taking the form of birds
,
For .

our purpose an acquaintance with the

,

classical form of In dian metempsychosis

64
THE TR A NS M I G R ATI O N O F S O U L S

conceptions the Indians applied to par

t i c ul ar animals If for instance we examine .
, ,

the list of punishments for theft we fin d ,

( ! ,
I I 6 1 6 9)
-

he who from greed steals

precious stones pearls corals or other , , ,

valuables will be born a gol dsmith ( the

,

name of a bird) h e who steals gol d will -

become a rat he who steals honey a ,

stinging insect he who steals milk a crow , , ,

he who steals sugar cane j uice a d og the -

thief of butter becomes an ichneumon of ,

meat a vulture of lard a heron o f oil a

, , , , ,

winge d stag beetle of salt a cricket of -

, , ,

sour milk a Balaka bird of S ilk a par

, , ,

f ridge of flax a frog o f cotton a crane

, , , , ,

of a cow an iguana ( a species of lizar d ) o f

, ,

syrup a flying fox o f scent a musk rat

, , , ,

of green vegetabl e s a peacock o f any , ,

cooke d food a porcupine o f uncooked foo d

, , ,

a hedgehog of fire a heron of household

, , ,

utensils a wasp of bright coloure d clothes

, , ,

a guinea fowl o f a stag or elephant a wolf , , ,

o f a hors e a tiger o f roots and f ruit an ap e

, , , ,

66
 M E T E M P S Y C H OS I S I N I N D I A

o f a woman a bear of water a black and

, , ,

white cuckoo of a cart a camel of cattle a

, , , ,

h e goat
-
He who deprives another of his
.

property by force or eats sacrificial o ff erings

of which no sacrifice has been made un ,

doubte dl y becomes an animal Women .

who commit theft bear corresponding guilt

and become the females of the animals
above enumerated .

E lsewhere in the same code the punish

ment appointed for a faithless wife is to
become a j ackal after death ( V 1 64 I ! , , ,

while if sh e is faithful to her husband during

his life or after his death sh e will have the
privilege of union with him after death .

F urther ( ! I I 5 5 ff ) he who kills a Brah

, ,

man after a long progress through dread ful

,

hells i s to be reborn as a dog pig ass came !,

, , , ,

cow goat sheep stag bird etc The soul

, , , , , .

of the Brahman who i s addicted to for

bidden drink enters the bodies of great and
small insects moths carrion eating birds
, ,
-

and destructive animals M en who take .

67
THE T RA NS M I G RA TI O N O F SO U L S

pleasure In mfli c tin g pain become c arn i vo r

o us animals those who eat forbidden food
become worms ; thieves be come creatures
which devour their own kind (such as fish ,

The worst fate is reserved for those

who commit adul tery with the wife of a
priest or teacher ( the s o called dea dly s in
-

in the leg al code ) their souls are to return

hundreds of times into grass shrubs creep
, ,

ing animals carnivorous animals with claws

,

and cruel dispositions G enerally speaking

.
,

the opin ion naturally prevails that the

threatened reincarnation is not a final
punishment but is merely the prelude to
,

another birth s o that the series extends

,

through an infin ity of time the code

speaks of successive migrations thg mgh t e n fi ‘

l u
t h o sa n d mill ions of lives ! ( VI,

E J
I t is immediately O bvious that dogmas of
this kind are not the pure result of simple
popular belief we s e e the handiwork of an
educated priesth ood for s o comple x a
,

system could only have been the result of

68
 M E T E M P SY C H O S I S IN I N DIA

comparison and inference The code of.

Manu is the first attempt to systematise the

world of living things and to subordinate
the several classes of life The direction .

to be followed by the soul on i ts migrations

is then determined as threefold according ,

as the man by his deeds h as fitted himself

for the world of go ds of men or of animals
, , .

Within these three worlds di fferent grades

are distinguished In the animal world
.
,

for instance the lowest species are those

,

without powers of locomotion : then come

the small and great insects the snakes and, ,

tortoises on a higher plane are elephants ,

horses lions tigers and boars ; highest of

, , ,

all are certain mythologi cal animals It

must also be noticed that among these
animals as i f they were upon the same
,

level are place d men of d e spise d castes

,

an d savages : s o relative is the value

placed on human life as such The theo
l ogi an s the penitents the s ac rifi c e rs and
, , ,

the learned are placed highest i n the hum an

69
THE TR A NS M I G RA TI O N O F SOU L S

scale by this religion which fact su ffices to

,

betray its priestly origin .

’
This doctrine as s e t forth in M anu s code ,

which teaches that man receives retribution

for his misdeeds by becoming what they
are h as been well criticised by H e rder as
,

follows : how lightly does the cruel man

suffer for his cruelty if his soul enters the
,

body of a tiger The former tiger in human

.

shape now becomes the reality untroubled

by conscience or the sense of duty which ,

pricked him at times in his former state .

N ow he may rage and mangle as hunger ,

thirst and appetite bid him at the prompt

, ,

ings of an instinct which only now can be

satiated Such was the desire of the human
.

tiger Instead of punishment he receives

.
,

reward He is what he wished to be an d

.

what he was but very imperfectly while in

human shape .

Later Brahman theology apparently dis

played a tendency to connect the souls of
the departed with the waning and waxing
70
 M E T E M P SY C H O S I S I N I N DIA

moon The s o called Upanisha d s the philo

.
-

sophical scriptures which Paul D e usse n , ,

their translator d eclared to be to the ,

Ve d as what th e N ew Testament is to the

Bible state ,
all who l e ave this world go
,

directly to the moon By their lives its .

waxin g crescent is increased and by means ,

of its waning it brings them to secon d

birth But the moon is also the gate of the
.

heavenly worl d an d he who can answer ,

the questions o f the moon is allowed to

pass beyond it He who can give no answer.

is turned to rain by the moon and raine d

down upon the earth He is born again .

here below as worm or fly or fish or bird

, , ,

or lion or boar or animal with teeth or

, ,

tiger or man or anything else in one or

, ,

another plac e accor ding to his works an d

,

to his knowle dge S o when a man comes to .

the moon the moon asks him who art

, ,

thou ! If he answers rightly the moon ,

allows him to pass onward and he comes ,

to the world of fire then to the world o f ,

wind the n to the worl d o f gods etc

, , .

71
THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N O F SOU L S

While these words give us the impression

of a course of development gradually rising
to high er planes wi thin the same literature
,

the round of transmigrations is sometimes

represented as a circle as in the lines ,

His m o t h e r t h a t wa s b e c o m e s hi s wi fe
H is wi fe t h a t wa s b e c o m e s his m o th e r
H i s fa t h e r b e c o m e s h i s s o n ,

A n d hi s s o n a g a in b e c o m e s his fa t h e r
, ,
.

T h u s in th e ci r c l e o f th e S a ms a r a !
,

Lik e a s th e buck e t s up o n th e wh e e l
Re v o lv e so t urns h e e v e r b ackw a r d s
,

T o hi s m o th e r s br e a st a n d to his birth
’ !
.

B U DD H I ST B E LI E F S
Bud dhis minherited the Brahman belief
in metempsychosis The use of the term .
,

however in speaking of Bud dhism is of

,

questionable legitimacy for Bud dhism does ,

not accept that which we have terme d the

first necessary con dition antecedent to a
belief in the transmigration o f souls the ,

existence of a personal soul Bud dhism

d irectly rej ects this conception and for it ,

i . e. c o urse of m i gr t i o n
a .

72
THE TR A N S M I G R A TI O N O F S O U L S

p erhaps never been seriously accepte d by

,

many people a nywhere in the worl d Thus .

the belief in sou l transmigration remained

-

unshaken an d in p opular theory even the

,

Bud dhists consi d ered that one an d the

same soul went through the whole round of
reincarnations Bud dhist doctrine even
taught that he who wo uld attain complete
enlightenm ent must reach the moment when
he succeeds in arousin g recollection of his
former states of existence by means of con
t i n ue d spiritual introspection That r ec o l
.

lection arose in Buddha and in this respect

,

he became a pattern and example to his

followers In such a frame of mind ,

e arnest,
purified cleansed steady freed
, , ,

from d ross d ocile pliabl e firm impregnable

, , , , ,

I d irected my mind to gain knowledge by

recoll ection o f earlier states of existenc e .

I remembered many former states as one

life then as two lives
,
then as a hun
dred thousand lives : I remembered the
times of many creations and many times of
74
 M E TE M P SY C H O S I S I N I N D I A

decay of the world and death

,
there
was I such was my name such my family
, , ,

such and such my profession and my rank ,

such weal and woe d id I experience and ,

such was the end of my life : there a fter

death I re entered life elsewhere
-
d ead ,

I re entered life here Thus I recalled many

-
.

different forms of previous existence .

These previous existences of the master

became the subj ect matter of p101i s legends ,

which were elaborated to serve the cause o f

Buddhist ethical theory with all the extra
vagance native to Indian imaginations .

’
Buddha s special mode of behaviour in all
his previous lives was made the pattern to
be followed by his devote e s in every con
c e i v ab l e situation
. Thus the numerous
e difying narratives of his reincarnations
provide a complete code of moral precepts .

As is well known sympathy is the chief

,

Buddhist virtue An inspiring e x ample of

.

the practice of sympathy is given for ,

instance in the following anecdote In one

, .

75
 THE TR A N S M I G RA TI O N O F SOU L S

of h is
f previous lives Buddha was incarnate
as a hare It happened one day that a
.

hungry Brahman came and asked him for

food . Buddha had nothing to give but ,

would not send him away empty What .

was to be done G o he said at l ength

, , ,

collect wood and light a fire I will roast .

H is
!
myself and you shall then eat me .

suggestion was carried out N aturally the .

poor hare had nothing to lose ; he was

rewarded for his sympathy by a re in c ar
w a ti o n upon a correspondingly higher plane

Opportunity for virtuous action of this

.

kind will eventuall y come to everyone

for Buddhist imagination did not readily
conceive a conclusion to the succession of
reincarnations The number o f them seems
.

to be infinite as may be inferre d from the

,

f ollowing conversation o f Buddha with his

disciples . What think ye ch i ldre n wh e th e r
, ,

is greater the blood that was shed at your

,

beheading upon the long j ourney from birth

to death and from birth to death or the ,

76
 M E T E M P S Y C H OS I S I N I N DI A

water of the four great seas As we

unde rstand oh master the teaching d eliv
, ,

ered by the enlightened one we have shed ,

upon the long j ourney from birth to death

and from birth to death more blood at our
beheading than there is water in the four
seas. G ood my children good is it that
, ,

ye thus understand the teaching I have

delivered to you : more blood indeed , ,

children on this long j ourney hastening

, ,

ever from birth to death and from birth

again to death have ye shed at your b e
,

heading than there i s water in the four seas .

F o r long ye children a s cattle and calves

, ,

have ye shed more blood at your beheading

than there is water in the four seas ; for
long ye children as bu ffaloes and buffalo
, ,

calves have ye S hed more blood at your

beheading than there is water in the four
se as
. Thus the speech continues it is an
e xcellent example of the general style of
Buddhist e xhortation with i ts circum
,

s t an t i al repetition of each several clause in

77
THE TRA N S M I G R A TI ON O F SOU L S

a sentence it proceeds to treat successively

of the reincarnation of men as sheep and
lambs goats and kids deer an d stags swine
, , ,

and sucking pigs fowls pigeons geese etc

-

, , , ,
.

This may su ffice as a d escription of the

Indian doctrine of metempsychosis i n its
classical form to pursue its progress
'

among the many later sects (such as the

famous S ikhs ) would l e ad us beyond the
limit of our space .
 C H AP T E R IV

T HE G RE E K D O C T R I N E OF
M E T E M P S YC H OS I S

H ETH E R there was any di rect con

n e c ti o n
between the Indian belief
in metempsychosis which we have j ust de
scribed an d the Greek d octrine remains an
open question The Greek historian Hero
.

d o t us thought that his countrymen ha d

borrowe d the theory from the Egyptians .

This supposition is excluded by the facts

we have already state d concerning the
E gyptian f orm of the belief Historically
.
,

it can apparently be demonstrated to have

first appeared in Thrace upon the northern
,

frontier o f Greece To Thrace belongs the

.

legendary figure of the famous singer

Orpheus from whom the mysterious sect
,

of the Orph i c i took their name Their .

d octrin e s are highly coloured by poetical

79
THE TR A NS M I G R A TI O N O F S OU L S

imagery but the following are the main

,

points which concern our present investiga

tion : soul and body are united by a com
pact unequally binding upon either ; the
soul is di vine immortal and aspires to
, ,

freedom while the body holds it in fetters

,

as a p ri s o ner.
7 \
D eath dissolves this com
pact but only to re imprison the liberated
,
-

soul after a short time : for the wheel of

birth revolves ine x orably Thus the .

soul continues its j ourney alternating b e ,

tween a separate unrestrained existence

,

and fresh reincarnation round the wide ,

circle of necessity as the companion of

,

many bodies of m en and animals (E rwin

!

Rhode : Psyche ) To these unfortunate

“

prisoners Orpheus proclaims the message

of liberation that they stand in need of the
,

grace of redeeming gods and of Dionysu s

in particular and calls them to turn to G od
,

by ascetic piety of life and self purific ati on -

the purer their lives the higher will be their

,

next reincarnation until the soul h as ,

80
 THE TR A NS M I G R A TI O N O F SO U L S

four previous earthly lives in human form .

He was able even to point out the place in

the temple of the goddess Hera where the ,

shield hung which he had used during his

,

former life as E uphorbus at the siege of

\
\
Troy ,
where he w as killed by M enelaus .

At a later date h i s s o ul entered the body of

‘

a cock upon one occasion These state .

ments exposed him to a considerable amount

of ridicule One of his bitterest mockers
.
,

Lucian represents a certain Mikyllus as

,

asking this cock whether the events of the

Troj an war which the cock must have
,

witnessed as E uphorbus had actually hap ,

pened as Homer related them What .

could Homer know of them ! replies the

cock at that time he was himself a camel
in Bactria
M any however regarded these theories
, ,

more seriously It is di ffi c ul t to s ay how

.

far the people as a whole were influenced by

them but their e ffect upon poetry and
,

philosophy was unmistakable : at least

82
 THE G RE E K D O CTR I N E

three names in this connection must be

mentioned the poet Pindar the philosopher
, ,

E mpedocles and P l at ov
,
i n d ar considered
that the soul must pass through at least
three earthly lives before it could escape
the compulsion to reincarnation Upon .

the last occasion when it was sent to the

upper world by the queen of the lower
world it received the privilege of entering
,

the body of a king hero or sage After

, , .

death the soul went to the Islands of

the Blessed where undisturbed enj oyment
,

awaited it and was honoured as a hero

,

by m enr To the philosopher E mp edocles

fl

belong the lines which he spoke in reference

to himself
Thus in fo rm e r liv e s h av e I b e e n a b o y an d a g irl
,

A bush an d a bir d a n d a fish with o ut sp e e ch ih/

th e d e pths o f th e se a
!
.

As this strange fragment of autobiography

states E mp edocles e x tended m e t e m psy
,

c h os i s to the world of plants F e w adherents.

of the belief have gone to this extreme even ,

83
 THE T RA N S M I G R ATI O N O F SOU L S

in India In Buddhism for instance the

.
, ,

limitation of metempsychosis to the animal

world became a dogma though only after ,

long discussions of the que s t i o nfi Plat o also ’

diverged from the earlier philosopher upon

this point : in general Plato also regarded
,

the soul as passing through several bodies ,

at least three ( as di d Pindar) an interval of ,

a thousand years elapsing between each

\
reincarnation The soul chose its new
position in life for itself ( this is a point
peculiar to Plato ) always in accordance with
,

the character which it had acquired during

its fo rmer e xistence s o that the soul was
,

symmetrical with the body which clothed

’
it. Thus man s moral action ultimately
determines whether he rises upwards or
sinks to the level of the animal world The .

upward path eventually enables him to

avoid the necessity of reincarnation and
leads him home to the realm of eternal
!
an d n n tro ub le d being .
f

N eo platonism so far as metempsychosis

-

84
 THE GRE E K D O CTR I N E

’
was concerned followed its master s teach
,

ing E ventually Greek beliefs coloured the

.

less independent philosophical thought of

the Romans especially prominent at Rome
was the school of the Se xtii whose doctrin e s
,

were borrowed from Pythagoreanism ; traces

of this school are apparent in the writings of
Virgil who lived about the same time after
,

a thousand years have completed a cycle of

existence for the blessed in Elysium God ,

s ummons them in a body to the stream

of Leth e where they drink the waters of
,

oblivion and return to the upper world

desiri ng new births .
 C H AP T E R V

THE B EL I EF IN M E T E M P S YC H O S I S
IN OT H E R ! U A R T E R S

IN TH E B I B LE AN D I N JU DAI SM

HE
belief in the transmigration of souls
continually recurs sporadically even
within religions in which such a belief
should find no place Upon the occasion of
.

a public debate I have heard laymen main

tain the opinion and support it with numer
ous Biblical quotations that both Old an d ,

N ew Testament taught this belief A .

quotati on regarded as of primary import

ance is the verse of Psalm xc : Thou
turnest man to destruction an d again Thou ,

sayest Come again ye children o f men

, ,

S t J ohn ix 2 the question of the youn g

.
, ,

men i s also quoted

, M aster who sinned , ,

this man or h is parents that he was born

86
 IN O TH E R QU A RT E R S

blind ! What view are we to take o f

these passages ! In Psalm xc 3 Luther s , ,
’

translation is the obvious cause of mis

conception . Luther uses two di fferent
expressions while i n the original text the
,

same word occurs twice : Thou all o west

mankind to return to dust and sayest , ,

R eturn ye children of the earth

, ( that is
to say to dust)
,
In other words both ,

halves of the verse according to the rule of

,
-

the s o call ed
-
synonymous parallelism ,

make precisely the same statement and ,

both refer to G enesis iii 1 9 which says that

, ,

the fate of man is to return to the dust

from which he is taken This is the only .

interpretation consistent with the general

sense of the passage which is after all the
, , ,

important point for the poet is only con

cerned with the contrast between the
E verlasting G od and the transitory life of
—
man the creature of a day who dies by an ,

’
early death owing to G od s anger on account
of his sin f ulness ( V 7 .

87
THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N O F S O U L S

As concerns the passage in S t J ohn ix 2

.
, ,

it has been urged that the supposition of

the disciples who considered that a man
,

might be born blind on account of his own

sins is only intelligible upon the assum p
,

tion that the person concerned had passed

through a previous state of existence in
which he had committed the sins in question .

This conclusion can hardly be avoided and ,

we must th e re fo re assum e that the full force

'

of these words and their general implica

tion were not realised by the di sci ples at the
moment when they put their question to
J esus or by the writer who puts it in their
,

mouths In any case it may readily be

.
,

conceded that the J udaism of that age ,

notwithstanding its e x cl usiveness had not ,

entirely escaped the overwhelming influence

of Greek intellectualism and was therefore
,

by no means entirely ignorant of the theory

that souls existed before their incarnation
in bodies though this would not of itself
,

j ustify the supposition that any universal

88
THE TR A N S M I G R A TI O N O F SO U L S

G od . The soul then bows and prostrates

itself before the King of kings but i s un ,

will ing to leave the world in which it h as

hitherto lived for another Then G od says .

to it : The world into which I send thee

sh al l be fairer for thee than that in which
!
thou hast lived hitherto Then the soul
.

enters the body of a mother and receives a

promise from the angel that conducts it ,

that it shall enter Paradi se if it keeps G od s

’

co mmandments The R abbis certainly and

.

constantly insisted upon the fact that the

soul enters the body in a state of purity ,

but this assertion is in fundamental con

t radi c ti o n to the continual reluctance of
the soul before G od to exchange the world
in which it has lived for another If this .

theory concerning the obj ection of the soul

in an earlier state of existence to undergo a
change be carried a little further we shall ,

reach the idea expressed in S t J ohn ix 2 .

, ,

that actual sin can be commi tted in a pre

vi o us state of existence N o ris it perhaps
.
, ,

90
 IN O TH E R QU A RT E R S

surprising that no further instances can be

adduced from contemporary J ewish litera
ture The fact however remains as may
.
, , ,

be seen at the first glance that the theory ,

of a soul in an earlier state of existence i s

very far removed from the theory of metem
psychosis proper .

E qually impossible is i t to regard as

inspired by this belief the familiar state
ments that J ohn the Baptist or E lias or
J eremiah had returned to earth in the
person of J esus ( M att xvi .Such passages
,

as M atthew xiv 2 Luke ix 7 f

, ,
demonstrate ,
.
,

beyond cavil the fact that this opinion was

merely the outcome of that belief in a
resurrection which all pious J ews held at
the beginning of the Christian era This .

belief h as been placed in a false perspective

by the J ewish historian J osephus who ,

represented it as peculiar to the Pharisees in ,

a manner that might seem to S how them as

accepting a migration of the soul : this ,

however is due to h is habit which almost

, ,

91
THE TRA NS M I G R ATI ON O F SOU L S

amounts to mania of representing the,

J ewish parties as schools of philosophic

thought He personally at least declares
.
, ,

his belief that the souls of the righteous ,

after a soj ourn in the holiest part of heaven ,

may return in un d e file d bodies after a

certain lapse of time ( J ewish War I I I ,

viii
,

Traces of the Greek doctrine of metem

psychosis are also apparent in the works
of Philo a writer representative of Greek
,

J udaism and an early contemporary of

,

J esus He considers that a fall from G od

.

is the only reason why the soul i s bound to

this earthly life i e to the body The ideal
, . . .

of the soul is to aspire to direct contempla

tion of the Deity only the wise and virtu
o us c an attain this obj ect during the earthly

life and success is not complete until after

,

death when the soul returns to its original

,

incorporeal state He who cannot avoid

.

the sins of sense is compelled to enter

another body after death .

92
THE TRA NS M I G R A TI O N OF SO U LS

metempsychosis is extorted from extra

vagant interpretations of Biblical texts .

These pedantic hair splitting methods o f

-

exegesis are found to produce an even more

brilli ant result in the supposed discovery
,

that the soul of Cain must have passed into

the body of J ethro and the soul of Abel
,

into the body of M oses because J ethro gave

,

M oses his daughter to wife A similar idea .

,

that a bond o f sympathy between two men

pointed to their relationship in a former
life was not alien even to such a writer as
,

G oethe as we shall afterwards s e e

,
.

IN I S LA M
The great religions of the world I slam ,

and Christianity have no o fficial place for

,

the reception of metempsychosis the doc

trine made its way for the most part into
, ,

those sects which were especially open to

foreign influence S uch among the Moham
.
,

m e d an s were the sects of the s o called

,
-

Mut a z ili t es the Druses and the N o ss ai ri an s

,
.

94
 IN O TH E R QU A RT E R S

! uite recently an American ,

S amuel I ves ,

Curtiss explored th e Hermon and Lebanon

,

distri cts the homes o f the Druses and

,

N ossai ri an s more thoroughly than any

,

previous traveller and extracts from his ,

diaries provide some information upon their

beliefs It appears that after the sacrifice
.
,

of the usual o ff erings the so ul of the dead

,

man may go fo rth by an opening over the

house door and enter the body of a chil d
on the eve of birth only the soul of a
man can enter a human body the souls of
bad men enter animals These statem ents .

are in almost literal agreement with the

account given of the Druses of the Hermon
in the twelfth century by the learned R abbi
J oseph of Tudela who ma d e a j ourney to
,

the east .

I N TH E C H R I ST IA N W O RLD

Within the Christian world the doctrine

of metempsychosis was adopted during the
first centuries by isolated Gnostic sects ,

95
THE TR A N S M I G R A TI O N O F SOU L S

and especially by the so called M anich aeans -

in the fourth and fifth centuries : it was

invariably denied by the o fficial church as ,

represented by T ertullian Iren aeus Origen , , ,

Augustine etc We are reminde d of the

, .

passage quoted previously from the U p an i

shads when Bishop Ep iph an i us the famous
, ,

opponent of all heretics says of M ani the , ,

founder of the M anich aean sect that he con ,

c e i v e s the souls of men and other living

things to rise after death from the twelve

signs of the Z odiac in figures of light .

Thence they reach their vessel The moon .

and s un are ships The smaller ship bears

.

the burden for fifteen days while the moon ,

is gro n full : after fifteen days the

burden is transferred to the larger ship the ,

s un
. This great ship the s un carries them
, ,

to the aeon of life and to the place of the

blessed This however is the destiny only
.
, ,

of the good or true i e real M anich aeans

, ,
!
. . .

As regards the less good M ani recognises ,

three classes of men in general beside the

96
THE TR A N S M I G RA T I O N O F SOU L S

may seem of the M anich aeans who regarded

, ,

the animal world as inferior in the scale of

creation to the vegetable world .

In the M iddle Ages the tra d itions o f

M anich aean gnosticism were continued by
the numerous sects known collectively as
Cathari The acts of the Inquisition pro
.

vide much interesting matter from which

we may gain a knowledge o f their theory of
metempsychosi s : these documents have been
admirably co ordinated by the famous
-

ecclesiastical historian I gna z von D Olli n ge r

in his Contributions to the History of
M e di aeval S ectarianism .The Cathari b e
li e v e d that the soul was forced to migrate
from body to body until it became re
,

incarnate in a member of the sect that it ,

might then be absolved of all guilt by the

sacrament o f the laying o u of hands and
-

be received into Paradise after death .

“ ’
When souls they taught
,
leave men s
,

bodies after death they are so tortured by

the demons of the air that th e y yearn to
\
98
 IN O TH E R QU A RT E R S

find protection in some body H ence .

these souls will enter even the bo di es of

animals and many could well remember the
,

period of their soj ourn in a horse hide -

.

\
They could even relate how when they ,

were horses they lost a shoe at this or that

, ,

place : curious believers then made search

at the place in di cated and actually found a
rusty horse shoe This story o f ten recurs
-
.

in the statements of the Cathari It is a

striking instance of the power of suggestion
in matters of faith M any believed that
.

they had passed through hundreds of bo di es .

Paul was said to have passed through

thirteen bodies according to some and
, ,

through thirty two according to others

-

, ,

!
before he attained the grace of G od .

Connected with the belief in metempsychosis

is the prohibition against killing and eating
animals which was no less binding upon
,

the Cathari than upon the M anich aeans and

Indians .

This belief a ffected medi aeval sch ol as ti

99
THE TR A NS M I G R A TI O N O F SOU L S

c is m
and did not indeed lose its influence
, ,

until modern times : it is apparent b e

neath the vigorous lines of the philosoph e r
o f the R enaissance Gior d ano Bruno ( 1 5 48 ,

1 600)

Go th e n ,
fo o l , an d tre mbl e b e n e ath th e sw o rd of

D e ath .

T r e mbl e an dq u ak e a t th e t a lk o f f o o ls : i n
q uiv e ring a ng u ish
List t o th e fo o lish pra t e o f th e cr o w d a s if th o u ,

w e rt n o thing ,

N o thing in s o o th but th e d ust o f th e e arth a n d

, ,

a cl o d f r o m th e fa ll o w .

I s n o t thy b o d y fo r e v e r tra ns fo rm e d an d flo w s it ,

no t e ve r

I nt o th e riv e r o f tim e ! A n d in c e a s e l e ss a lt e r
n afi o n

D o th it n o t c a st Off th e o ld fo r th e n e w e v e r ,

l o sing an d ga ining !
A rt s o m ad a s to thin k th a t thy p o o r c o rp o r e al
subst a nc e ,

Wh e th e r in wh o l e o r in p art fo r e v e r sh all b e as ,

it h a s b e e n !
A rt s o m a d a s to d r e a m th a t th e b o n e s an d th e
fl e sh o f thy b o yh o o d
S till s h a l l abi d e with th e e n o w ! th a t th o u c o m e st
unch a ng e d to thy m anh oo d !
S e e st th o u n o t h o w thy limbs r e n e w e d in th e ,

pro c e ss o f ch ang e ,

1 00
TH E TRA N S M I G RATI O N OF SOU L S

picture which borders upon caricature and,

is not likely to be regarded seriously by any

one who learns the complacency with which
he prided himself upon discovering the
’
eli xir of li fe and the philosopher s stone .

It was he who devoted his acumen to prov

ing in his first published work that Hebrew
was the natural language of mankind and ,

would naturally rise to the lips of every

human being even of the deaf and dumb
, ,

were it not for the disturbing influence of

human society ! In 1 662 he was called
before the Inquisition at Rome to answer
for his heretical belief in metempsychosis ,

but he did not attain the honour of martyr

dom .

Only passing mention need be made of

E manuel S wedenborg the famous founder
,

o f the N ew Church o f th e Heavenly

J erusalem ( 1 688 He cannot be
considered as a support e r of metempsychosis
in the full sense of the term But he evolved
.

one idea which is for instance the basis o f

, , ,

1 02
 IN OTH E R QU A RT E R S

the whole of the In dian system o f belie f and ,

carrie d it to its logical consequences with

greater consistency than any other thinker
this was the i d ea that a man becomes after
death what he is and what he does in his
ear thly life Thus for ins tance he says
.
, ,

All spirits in the he lls appear in the form

of their own evil for everyone there is an
e ffigy of h i s own evil because the interiors
,

an d exteriors act in unity and the interiors

,

are visibly exhibited in the exteriors which ,

are the f ace the body the speech and the

, , ,

gestures etc On the same line of thought

, .

is his statement elsewhere that those who ,

possess bestial natures who are for instance

, , ,

sly as foxes afterwards appear in the actual

,

f orm of these animals .

During the classical period o f G erman

literature metempsychosis attracte d such
attention that that period may almost be
styled the flourishing epoch of the doctrine .

R eference has been already made to G oethe ,

who was inclined to explain a bond of

1 03
THE TR A N SM I G R A TI O N O F SOU L S

sympathy between men as due to some

relationship in a former state of existence .

Ah , in th e d e pths o f ti m e g o n e by
T ho u w a st my sist e r o r my wi fe ,
!

he says to F rau von S tein and he writes to ,

Wielan d ( probably in April I can ,

not explain the significance to me o f this .

woman or her influence over me except by ,

the theory of metempsychosis Y e s we .

,

were once man an d wife N ow our know .

ledge of ourselves is veiled and lies in the ,

spirit world I can find no name for us the

.
—
past the future the All !
,
In a l e tter to
,

F rau von S tein under date J uly 2 1 78 1 we , ,

also read How well it is that men should

d ie if only to erase their impressions and
,

return clean washed .

These i d eas se e m to have been in the air

’
at that time and continually occupie d men s
,

min ds .
—
Lichtenberg ( 1 742 1 799) says o f
himself : I cannot avoid the idea that I
died before I was born in his Aph o r
isms also we meet with the transmigra
1 04
THE T RA NS M I G RA TI O N O F SO U L S

bodies was based on a new system o f

thought . Possibly this new system was
merely the oldest of all Lessing
.

refers to the theory of metempsychosis as

nothing more than a hypothesis and ,

even at times as a freak o f imagination .

But in 95 of hi s work the E ducation of

,

the H um an R ace
!

,
he says Is this
hypothesis ridiculous merely because it is
the oldest because the human intellect
,

’
adopted it without demur before men s ,

minds had been distracted and weakened

by the sophistry of the schools On the
contrary says Lessing in a fragment the
, , ,

first and earliest opinion in matters of

speculation is invariably th e most probable ,

b e cause it was immediat e ly accepted by the

soun d un d erstan d ing of mankin d H ence .

attempts have be e n made to us e th e doc

trine o f metempsychosis as a key to explain
’
the whole of Lessing s treatise This how .
,

ever i s a mistake : he merely uses the

,

doctrine upon a special occasion as a means

1 06
 IN O TH E R QU A RT E R S

to j ustify the action of G od against the

argument that His scheme for the education
of the human race e xcludes a number of
individuals from His blessings This is
.

not s o ,
says Lessing on the contrary ,

the path by which the race i s to arrive at

perfection must be trodden by every indi
vidual man ( early and late ) But can he be
.

supposed to have traversed this path in one

and the same life ! Can a man be both a
sensual J ew and a spiritual Christian in one
and the same life Can he surpass both of
these in one and th e same life ! S urely not :
but why should not every individual have
lived more than one life in this world !
93
, Then in,
high enthusiasm Lessing
,

pours forth the eloquent passage which forms

the f amous conclusion o f his E ducation o f
the H uman R ace his
,
religious Testa
ment as it has been called 96
Why should I not at one time have taken
those steps toward perfection which can
bring but temporal rewar d s an d punish
1 07
THE TR A NS M I G R A TI O N O F S O U L S

ments to men ! Why again should I not

, ,

have made at another t i me that progress to

which our vision o f eternal reward is s o
great a help Why should I not return as
o ften as I am capable of acquiring fresh
knowle dge and further power ! Do I
achieve s o much in one soj ourning as to
make it not worth my while to return !
N ever ! Or is it that I forget my former
,

soj ourn ! Well for me that I forget The .

recollection of my former state would

enable me to turn my present condition to
but poor account And have I forgotten
.

for ever what I must forget for the time

being Or is it that I shoul d lose s o much
time ! Lose time What nee d have I for
haste Is not the whole o f eternity mine
The whol e o f e ternity belongs to the
indivi d ual an d h e may us e it to rise upon
,

the long ascent of sel f d evelopment Such

-

is the idea o f Lessing which is f ound more

,

philosophically expressed in a fragment

belonging to the year 1 777 that man may
,

1 08
THE TRA NS M I G R A TI O N OF SO U L S

for instance the sense of sight responds to

,

light so special senses could and certainly

,

will respond to electrical and magnetic

stimulus and will inform us directly whether
,

bodies are electrified or magnetised which ,

information can now be gained only by

means of special research A new world of .

the most marvellous phenomena will then

be open to us of which we can now conceive
,

no more than early opticians knew of light

and colour .

As Lessing tells us his theory of metem

,

psychosis was based upon the ideas of

Charles Bonnet a physicist of G eneva who
, ,

wrote a treatise in F rench in 1 769 upon

philosophical palingenesis (rebirth ) giving ,

many s o called proofs to S how how from

-

the original matter of the brain all created

beings were transformed from corporeal to
’
ethereal natures Bonnet s ideas seem to
.

have fallen upon fruitful soil elsewhere In .

1 770 Lavater translated his treatise into

G erman with annotations and his social ,

I IO
 IN O TH E R Q U A RT E R S

environment also shows how the belief in

so ul transmigration haunted the minds of
-

that age But not always were the best

.

minds attracted and as the d octrine gained

‘

adherents it lost seriousness for which reason ,

it probably became once more unfashionable

and discredited Light is thrown upon this
.

downward course by manuscript entries in

the diary o f a woman of Z ii ri ch who may ,

be quote d as an eye witness o f that interest -

ing period S he says. The friends of

Lavater at Copenhagen believe in a trans
migration of the soul They believe that .

’
several of J esus apostles live again on
earth without any recollection o f their
,

former lives as apostles Prince Karl O f .

Hesse was the apostle Peter and the Danish ,

minister of state Andreas of Bernsdorf was

, ,

Thomas Lavater was once King J osiah o f

.

Judah ; then he became Joseph of Arimathea ,

and then the reformer U lrich Z wingli The .

apostle John I s still alive as J esus fore ,

told knows who he is and can remember

, ,

III
THE TR A NSM I G R ATI O N O F SOU L S

his life with J esus He travels much about .

the world and can assume di fferent forms

,

in order to avoid recognition He is a free .

mason and first visited Prince Karl of Hesse

,

to ask his help as a brother mason Prince .

Karl gave him some help and then dis

missed him without paying any attention
to him or reali sing with whom he was
talking . S hortly afterwards the Prince
received a letter from another mason re ,

r ach i n g him for h i s neglect of this import

p o

ant traveller and telling him that the man

,

was S t J ohn who would visit him again

.
, .

J ohn did in fact return and m ade himself

, ,

known to Peter whose attention was now

,

aroused . Such is the account given

by the lady o f Z ii ri ch The fact that this .

royal Peter failed to understand the real

character of his saintly mendicant brother
was due to the strange ill usions of suggestion :
from this point of view the story will appear
to be correctly placed in the book from
which I have quoted it ( Otto S toll Sug ,

1 12
THE TR A NS M I G R ATI O N OF SO U L S

the Bu ddhist ideas which the West has been

only too rea dy to receive A conspicuous .

instance o f th e fact is to be found in S chopen

hauer His references to metempsychosis
.

are certainly favourable he praises it as a

most admirable statement of theory in
mythical form and d eclares : Never h as
a myth an d never will a myth be more
,

closely connecte d with philosophical truth ,

which is di fficult to grasp than this prim aeval

,

doctrine pro f essed by a most noble and

ancient race An d again
.
!
The myth of
the transmigration of souls has this great
a d vantage that it contains no elements
,

except those which lie be fore our eyes in

the S phere of act uality s o that it is able in
,

consequence to provide ocular proo f of its

conceptions — a statement which shoul d at

least be qualifie d with a note o f interroga

tion S chopenhauer has e ven been include d
.

by some critics among the professed a dh e r

e nts of this belie f Consider for instance
.
, ,

th e passage in his Parerga and P aralip o

I I4
 IN OTH E R QU A RT E R S

mena Constantly as the pieces playe d

and th e masks worn upon the stage o f the
worl d may change yet the players remain
,

the same throughout W e s i t in company

.

an d talk and grow excited eyes light up and

voices ring clearer : but so di d others si t a
thousand years ago : they and the scene
were the same and so shall it be a thousand
,

years hence The mechanism which pre

.

vents our realisation of this fact is time .

To assert that the players are identical

might seem tantamount to admitting the
theory of metempsychosis But in this very .

passage S chopenhauer makes a d efinite

d istinction between metempsychosis the ,

t ransference o f the s o calle d soul in its

-

totality to another body an d the theory ,

which he supports palingenesis or rebirth

, ,

the d ecomposition and reconstruction of a

personality in which process the will alone
,

persists assumes the form of a new organism

, ,

an d receives a new intellect In this .

!

sense must b e interpreted anoth e r famous

1 1 5
THE TR A NS M I G R ATI O N O F SOU L S

“
passage in his work ( The Worl d as Will
!
an d Imagination ) where he sp e aks o f the
mysterious connection b e tween the d e ath
of an existing individual an d the birth o f a
new personality as shown by the f act
,

that the more individuals die the more are ,

born . E very new born being enters its

-

new existence j oyously and enj oys it as a

gift ; but there is and can be no gift in
question ; His new life is bought by the age
and death of an organism that has live d its
span but contains the indestructible germ
,

from which new life springs The ol d and

.

the new are one being To show the link

.

connecting them would be to solve a very

di ffi cult problem How impossible it was
.

for S chopenhauer to solve this problem by a

direct appeal to metempsychosis must b e
plain to everyone who has graspe d his
fun d amental principle that N ature is care ful
of the type and not of the in di vidual and ,

that her chief endeavour is the maintenance

of the species .

I I6
THE TR A N S M I G R A TI O N O F S O U L S

first part of the play gives utterance to a

,

similar thought In each of the changing

.

generations was one soul in which A dam

,

rose again in purity : he was mighty in

M oses the lawgiver he ha d strength to
'

subdue the world in Alexan d er o f M acedon

he was almost perfect ( Julian the apos
,

!
tate is speaking) in J esus o f N azareth
,
!
.

1 18
 C H AP T E R VI

C ON C L U S I ON

N conclu ding this brief review o f the

systems un d er which the doctrine of
metempsychosis has been formulat e d in the
course of history we may venture to quote ,

a passage which will carry us back s e veral

centuries it is probably its noblest expr e s
sion for all time ; it is taken from the
famous Persian mystic Dj e l al eddin R umi - -

( 1 2 07 and may be rendered as

f ollows
“
A s t o n e I d i e d a n d r o s e ag a in a p l a n t ,

A p l a nt I d i e d a n d r o s e a n a nim a l
I d i e d a n a nim al a n d was b o r n a m a n !
.

cp H. r d r s “
eT h u g ht
e f
’
t h Ori g i n do G r w th o f e an o o

Chi ld L ife
!
a S .

W hen thy m o th e r s w o m b th u t o kes t thy l ife

in
’
o o

F r o m t wa i n nd ll u n c o n s c i o us f thys e l f
,
a a o ,

P l n t l i ke w s t h an g i n g o n a n o th e r s h e a r t
’
a -

,
a ,

D i d s t g r o w to a n i m a l a n d a ch i l d o f m a n
—
,

S o s a y th e y c a m e s t t th e l i g ht f d o
y o a .
!

F r o m th e po e m Th e Eg o , .

1 19
THE TR A NS M I G R A TI O N O F S O U L S

Why sh o ul d I fe ar ! Wh a t h av e I l o st by d e a th !
A s m an d e ath sw e e ps m e fr o m this w o r l d o f me n
,

T h a t I m ay w e a r a n a ng e l s wings in h e a v e n ’

Y e t e e n a s a ng e l m a y I n o t a bi d e
’

F o r n o ught abi d e th s a v e th e fa c e o f G o d .

T h u s o e r th e a n g e l s w o rl d I wing my wa y
’ ’

O nw a r d s a n d up w ar d s unt o b o un d l e s s h e ights
,

T h e n le t m e b e a s n o ught fo r in my b r e a st ,

Rings a s a h a rp s o ng th a t we must r e turn

-

T o H im .
!

In such words as these we can catch the

expression of that instinct which leads all
men whether they live under an E astern or
,

Western sky directly to the conclusion that

,

they are not complete we feel that we

are growing and aspiring and that one life ,

is not enough to enable us to reach that

perfection whither we are urged by the i n
most depths o f our being Or do we not .

feel that o ur progress within this one life

must force us to cry in the fine words of
Rii cke r t :

O h ! fo r l o ng e r li fe ! T h o u kn o w e s t t hy faults
a

a n d fa i l ings ,

H o w th e y fo r bi d th e e ye t to m ak e thy h o m e with
th e a ng e ls !
!

1 20
THE TRA NS M I G R A TI O N O F SOU L S

theory is based upon the supposition that a

personal divine power exists an d dis
penses this retributive j ustice an d that the ,

soul must climb a long steep path to ap

proach this power does metempsychosis ,

preserve its religious character This how .

,

ever is not all : th e theory is also the ex

,

pression of another idea which gives it a ,

philosophical character It is the earliest .

intellectual attempt of man when consider ,

ing the world and his position in it to con ,

c e i v e that world not as a li e n to him but as

, ,

akin to him an d to incorporate himself an d

,

his life as an in dispensable an d eternal

element in th e past and future of the worl d
with which it forms one comprehensive
totality I say an eternal element because
.
, ,

regarded philosophically the belief in metem ,

psychosis seems a kin d of unconscious antici

p a t i o n of the principle now known as the
conservation of energy N othing that .

has ever existed can be lost e ither in life

l h c all e d my tt ent i o n to th e fo ll o w i ng
T h e p ub i s e r h a s a

v h t n W n e r ( bo rn
e rs e o f C r i s i a a
g i n w h i ch h e e x

1 22
 CO N C L US I O N

or by d eath All is but change an d hence

.
,

souls do not perish but return again an d ,

ag aI n I n ever changing f orms -

M oreover .
,

later developments of metempsychosis es ,

p e c i al ly as conceived by Lessing can with ,

out di fficulty be harmonised with the

modern idea of evolution from higher to
lower forms .

But at this point we se e the truth as soon ,

as the depths are plumbed a little d eeper ,

of a statement o f G oethe ( to E ckermann ,

on 1 S eptember 1 8 2 9) Immortality the

, ,

nature of the soul and its connection with

the body are eternal problems concerning
,

which philosophers can give us no help .

Historically as we have clearly seen through

,

out our examination o f this subj ect the ,

p r e ss e s th e th o u g ht o f a m e t e m p s ych o sis d ur i n g th e c o urs e

o f l i fe
!

Y e a thy fr a g r a n t br e a th —
.

, wh o kno w s !
M a y l e n d fr agr an c e to th e r o s e
All th e l o v e th a t i t e xpr e ss e d
M ay b e r o s e bu d s a t thy br e as t
B r e a th s o f d is t an t ch i l d h o o d ye t
G r ee t th e e i n th e v i o l e t
!
.

1 23
THE TR A NS M I G R ATI O N O F SO U L S

b e lie f in metempsychosis is pro foun d ly

rooted in the superstitious theory o f the
worl d the s o calle d
,
-
animism main
t ai n e d by primitive man whose chil d like
,

S implicity le d him to regar d every being in

his environment as ma d e in his own image ,

of which again his i d ea was no less simple

as in S hort endowed with souls an i m ae

like h i s own Are our views to remain upon

.

th e l evel of the beliefs of primitive man !

S urely we should not run the risk of also

losing ourselves in the contemplation of the
obj ect i ve world but should rather consider
,

that the time is at hand to think of the

manhood within us and to differentiate this
element from all external beings below the
level of humanity But at the same time
.

we do not thus strengthen the claim of our

o wn souls to a past of their own : in d eed,

a mo d ern thinker cannot evade the strong

impression made by scientific instruction in
the facts of heredity Assuming that my
.

soul has entered my present body after a

,

1 24
THE TR A NS M I G R A T I O N OF SOU L S

the w ell known th e osophist S innett the

-

suspicious e l e m e nt to m e is th e wor d
mysterious. Just where we require
enlightenment mystery seems to prevail ,

an d this f act is enough to show that metem

psychosis can never be more than a hypo
thesis a t best It is a hypothesis utterly
.

incapable of explaining such facts as the

increase of degeneracy in families of drunk
ards : the children bear the h e avy bur d en
that parents and grandparents have raise d ,

each member adding his own contribution

to the whole . M any have witnessed the
tragical struggle waged by the children o f
such parents striving with all their might
,

an d shrinking from no laudable endeavour

to shake o ff the crushing burden an d per ,

haps falling at last beneath its weight The .

f act is that we can never break with a past ,

though it is f oreign to us Consciously we

.

may refuse to a d mit i ts connection with

ourselves but unconsciously under the
, ,

mask o f what we d esire to be there will

,

1 26
 CO N C L US I O N

always b e a hint o f what we have acquired

from oth e rs an d perhaps from our near e st
,

an d d earest .

E achw o r d th a t we m a y s p e ak a n d in th e fa c e
,

E ac h fe a tu r e i s a n o t h e r s y e t i s Ou r s
’
, ,

O ur v e r y o wn ye t l e nt u s but fo r u s e
,
.

T h us e v e r ch a ngin g a lt e r n a ting c r e e ps
, , ,

T h e h o l d e r o f a n o th e r s g o o d s th r o ug h li fe
’
.

“
H e r de r The Ego
,
.

P assm g reference h as been made to the fact

that t h e doctrine of metempsychosis is i n
consistent with the constant increase o f the
worl d s population
’
Whence come these
—
.

ever increasing souls Undue stress how ,

ever must not be lai d upon this argument

, ,

which I s admittedly anthropomorphic an d

inadequate as a means of criticism .

When the idea of strict moral retribution

becomes dominant in the theory o f met e m
psychosis the moral importance o f the doc
,

trine is materially limited by the fact that

the indi vidual soul in process of migration
through several bodies preserves no re c olle c
tion o f form e r exist e nces or of actions per
1 27
THE TR A N S M I G R ATI O N OF SOU LS

formed d uring them Buddha Pythagoras

.
, ,

and others are certainly said to have be e n

able to view the whole series of their former
lives These however are purely m i rac u
.
, ,

lous cases and whatever view of their

,

occurrence may be adopte d the f act remains

,

that or d inary mortals d o not enj oy the

advantages o f this special capacity But .

may not the ordi nary man di scover within

himself some dim traces of this memory o f
past lives ! M any have found themselves
in circumstances which they seemed to
know by past experience though unable to
,

state that they had ever encountere d a

similar situation in their present lives I .

came to places and found myself in circum

stances where I coul d have sworn that I ha d
already been I saw people with whom I
.

thought I ha d live d and upon whose old

!
acquaintanc e ship I was rea dy to rely
these words Her d er places in the mouth of
his Th e age s in his first dialogue upon the
transmigration of the soul But when his .

1 28
THE TRA NS M I G R A TI O N O F SOU L S

come They will come before him with all

.

the scenic decoration in which he first

conceive d them or in which some d ream
,

of his youth first created them The situa .

tion will become an agreeable delusion to

his mind as every act of recollection which
,

is easy and fruitful in idea is d elusive : he

will regar d it as an inspiration from another
worl d because it comes in that character
, ,

namely without trouble and with a wealth

,

o f imagery One single feature in the scene

.

immediately before him may suffice to

recall this past one single chord vibrating
to his heart will arouse the slumbering
melodies of past times These are moments
.

of sweetest exaltation especially amid wild

,

and beauti ful scenery or in pleasant con

,

verse with those whom we unexpecte dly

regar d as frien ds of an older time because ,

we are sweetly deceived in them or they ,

in us : recollections of para dise not of a ,

human li fe already lived but of the para ,

d ise of youth o f chil dhood and its happy

,

1 30
 C O N C L US I O N

dreams which came to us sle e ping or waking ,

and are in very truth real paradise Thus

, , .

palingenesis is a truth not so marvellous ,

however as you supposed but very natural

, , .

If we wish to test an instance one comes ,

to us almost unsought in H Old e rli n s wor d s

,
’

to Diotima which were written about the

,

same time .

D i o tim a N o b l e b e ing
M in e b y kinship s h o l y t i e
’

S ist e r e re my h a n d I g a v e th e e
, ,

L o ng I kn e w t h e e l o vingly .

’
We are reminded of G oethe s words con
cerning his former relationship with F rau
von S tein (se e above p . But H Old e rlin
does not like G oethe directly assum e
, ,

acquaintanceship or relationship in an
earlier state of existence It is enough for .

him to refer to the dreams of his childhood

within the limits of this present life and he ,

therefore continues as follows

“
T h e n i t wa s in w a n d e ring d ay d r e a ms
,
-

H e e dl e ss o f th e c h e e rful d a y ,

T h a t b e n e a th th e sp r e a d ing bra nch e s

I in h appy b o yh o o d la y
, , ,

1 3 1
THE T RA NS M I G RA TI O N OF SOU L S

T h e n th e M ay tim e o f my s o ul
-

S l o w un fo l d e d
sw e e t d e ligh t ,

A n d I f e lt thy h e a v e nly b r e ath

O e r m e a s th e Z e phyr lig h t
’
,
.
!

Assuming then that experience of this kin d

, ,

can merely revive an d intensify certain dim

recollections of early life in this world an d
that we cannot recall any earlier state of
existence what is the use of believing that
,

this life i s an expiation for the guilt which

we have incurred in former lives or what ,

does it matter in what form we are born

again if no memory can connect this present
,

mode o f existence with any th at may be

to come
The solution of this great problem of
e xistence which metempsychosis professes
to o ffer thus leaves in general many d i ffi
, ,

c ul ti e s unanswere d therefore if the theory

,

be examined from the religious point of view ,

it i s more than ever difficult to recognise it

as the means speciall y chosen by G od for
uplifting the human so ul to Himself But .

in these matters we can only conclude by

1 32
 ’
H A RP ER S LI B R A RY O F
LI VI N G T H O UG H T

P e r vo l u m e : Cl ath 6d . n et, L e a th e r 3 3 6 d . . ne t

C OU N T LEO T OLS T OY
T HE T E A C H I N G O F JESUS
s e t s t u d e n t s th in king —Cl t W ld
W i ll ! '

zrzs za n
°

or
C u ld t b e a m r e h e l p fu l b k t pu t in t th e h a d s f
. .

r e l g i us t ea c h rs —
o no o oo o o n o
D ly C l m l
' '

i o e . az zr o c e.

PRO F A RNOLD M EYER .

JE S U S O R P A U L !
T h e a u t h r h e r e urg e s t h a t a lth ug h i t w as J sus wh l e d
o o e o
m a n kin d t th e in t i m a t e c mm un n w i th G d
o Fa ther i t o io o as a
w a s m a i n ly S t P u l wh f un d e d th a t f rm f C h ri s t i n i ty
,

a o o o o a
w h i h th ug h h in d e ing a n d e mb arrass i ng in m a n y w ay s t
.

c o r o
d y al e pr e d c ap b l e f spr ea d i ng t h e t ea ch ing f Jesus
,
a , on ov a o o .

W M FLI ND ER S P ET R I E . .

PERSON A L RELI G I ON I N EG Y P T
BEF O RE C H R ISTI A N IT Y
T a c e s th e d e e l p me n t f b e l i e f in th e c rea t i
r v o W rd o ve
‘
o
’

a d p t e d b y th e u th r f th e F ur t h G sp l wh ga e i t a
,

o a o o o o e o v
w s ig i fi
,
ne n N tl
ca n c e . E h -
or z er n c o.
“
S h ws w h a t C h r i s t i n i ty m ea n t t
o t h s e wh a t u a lly a o o o c
h ea d t h e t ea ch ing f th e W y
r o a .
!

P RO F W ILLI AM W REDE .

T H E O RI G I N OF T HE N EW
T EST A M EN T
Co rr t ing c e t a in in h eri te d pin i ns th e t w e ty s e e n
ec r o o on n -
v
wr t i ngs f th e N e w T e s t am e n t a n d th e i r f rm a t n i n t
i o o io o one
w h l e I t gi e s the m h we e r fre s h i n t ere s t a s th a tu a l
o v o v a e c
d u m e t s f t h e firs t C h r i s t i n g e n e r a t i ns
. , , ,

oc n o a o .

PRO F c H B ECKER . . .

C H RIST I AN I T Y A N D I SL A M
A s t u dy f t h e si m i l ri t i e s d i ff e ren c e s a n d th e in t era t i n f
o a c o o
i d e s b e t w ee n th e t w s ch l s f r e l i g i us th ug ht a n d a d i s
,

a o oo o o o
f th e p ssib i l i ty f a M s l e m e p a ns n
,

i
c u ss o n o o o o x io .

HARPER81 BROTHERS, 45 Albemarle Str eet, London, W .

 H ar p er
’
s Li br ary of L i vi n g T h o ug h t
A l g e r n o n C h ar l e s S wi nb ur n e
T H R E E P L AYS O F S H A K ES PEAR E
Le o T o l s t o y
TH E T EA C H I N G OF JE S U S
W M F l i n de r s
. . Pe t r i e
P E R S ON A L R E L I G I ON I N EG YPT BEFO R E
C H R I S T I AN I T Y

Si r O l i v e r Lo dg e
TH E E T H E R O F S PA C E ( I l l us tr a te d )
Pr o f W i l l i a m W r e de ( U n i ve rsi ty o f B r e s l a u )
.

TH E O R I G I N O F T H E N E W T E S T AM E N T
Pro f . C H B e c k e r ( C o l o n i a l I ns t
. . .
, H a m burg )
C H R I S T I A N I T Y A N D I S L AM

Pr o f S v a n t e A r r h e n i u s ( N o be l I ns t
. .
, S t o c kh o lm )
THEL I F E O F TH E UN I VE R S E ls . 2 vo .
( I l l u st r a ted )
Pr o f A r n o l d M e y e r ( U n i v e rs i ty o f Z ur i ch )
.

JE S U S OR PA U L !
P ro f D A B e rt h o l e t ( U n i v e rs i ty o f B as l e )
. . .

TH E T R A N S M I G R A T I ON O F S OU L S
F o r th com i ng

Si r W i l l i am C rook e s
D I AM ON D S
P ro f Ern e s t A G a r d n e r ( U n i v e rs i ty o f Lo n d o n )
. .

R E L I G I O N A N D A R T I N A N C I E N T G R E EC E
P r o f Re i nh o l d S e e be rg ( U ni v e rsi ty o f B e r l i n )
.

R E VE L A T I O N A N D I N S P I R A T I O N
T h eo do r e W att s D u n t o n '

P O E T I C A D E ! U A C Y I N T H E T W E N T I ET H
“ !

C EN TU R Y

P r o f P V i n o g rado i f ( O xfo r d U ni v e rs i ty )
. .

R O MA N L AW I N M E D I E VA L E UR O P E

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