Theosophical Study Paper No 03

Author(s): Theosophical Society in Australia
Publisher: Theosophical Society in Australia

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not be a mere empty profession. I will not pause there, but will take the two great doctrines of Reincarnation and Karma.
Now what differences ought to appear in a life in which the doctrine of reincarnation is definitely held? First of all, looking at life with that wider horizon should give us a patient strength and absence of hurry which are not very characteristic of modern life. With the loss of the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul from Christianity, and the consequent endlessness of heaven and hell, the whole fate of an everlasting condition was made to depend on this single life. Inevitably, with that change of thought, hurry became one of the marks of life. Just as in a boat where there is danger of wreck there is a panic and struggle, so with all those who believe in that nightmare of an everlasting hell and the dream of an everlasting heaven, this element of hurry enters into life—so much to do, such vast issues, and so brief a time. Life becomes a struggle in which failure is to be met with everlasting pain. With the loss of belief in reincarnation, to be 'saved' also lost its ancient meaning—that the cycle of rebirths was over, and that the man had become "a pillar in the temple of my God to go forth no more." The old Christian idea was not to be saved from hell, but from the ever-recurring cycle of rebirth, the perpetual 'resurrections' in the flesh of which Tertullian spoke. "To him that overcometh” was the promise, and according to the text the victor became a pillar in the great temple of humanity, no more to go out, but to support that temple as a mighty upholding strength. That splendid idea of salvation has turned into the petty individual salvation of a single unit of the human race. But when it is realised that we have many chances, that every failure brings success a little nearer, and that the last failure is the threshold of success, then a great strength grows into the life. There is plenty of time, endless opportunities, and the fall of today is the rising of tomorrow. And slowly, as that thought of reincarnation becomes part of us, a principle to be lived, we find our life take on the calmness, the serenity, which come from the consciousness of an immortal life.
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