Reincarnation and the Law ofKarma

Chapter III

The Romans and Greeks.

One unfamiliar with the subject would naturally expect to find the Ancient Romans well advanced along the lines of philosophy, religion and spiritual speculation, judging from the all-powerful influence exerted by them over the affairs of the whole kown world. Particularly when one considers the relationship with and connection of Rome with ancient Greece, it would seem that the two peoples must have had much in common in the world of thought. But such is not the case. Although the exoteric religions of the Romans resembled that of the Greeks, from whom it was borrowed or inherited, there was little or no original thought along metaphysics, religion or philosophy among the Romans. This was probably due to the fact that the whole tendency of Rome was toward material advancement and attainment, little or no attention being given to matters concerning the soul, future life, etc. Some few of the philosophers of Rome advanced theories regarding the future state, but beyond a vague sort of ancestor worship the masses of the people took but little interest in the subject. Cicero, it is true, uttered words which indicate a belief in immortality, when he said in 'Scipio's Dream': "Know that it is not thou, but thy body alone, which is mortal. The individual in his entirety resides in the soul and not in the outward form. Learn then, that thou art a god; thou, the immortal intelligence which gives movements to a perishable body, just as the eternal God animates an incorruptible body.' Pliny the younger left writings which seem to indicate his belief in the reality of phantoms and Ovid has written verses which would indicate his recognition of a part of man which survived the death of the body. But on the whole, Roman philosophy treated immortality as a thing perchance existing, but not proven, and to be viewed rather as a poetical expression of a longing, rather than as an established, or at least well grounded, principle of philosophical thought. But Lucretius and others of his time and country protested against the folly of belief in the survival of the soul held by the other nations. He said that : "The fear of eternal life should be banished from the universe; it disturbs the peace of mankind, for it prevents the enjoyment of any security or pleasure." And Virgil praised and commended the philosphical attitude which was able to see the real cause of things and was therefore able to reject the unworthy fear of a world beyond and all fears arising from such belief. But even many of the Roman philosophers, while denying immortality, believed in supernatural powers and beings and were very superstitious and childlike in many respects, so that their philosophy of non-survival was evidently rather the result of temperament and pursuit of material things than a height of philosophical reasoning or metaphysical thought.

And so, the Romans stand apart from the majority of the ancient peoples, in so far as the belief in Reincarnation is concerned. While there were individual mystics and occultists among them, it still remains a fact that the majority of the people held no such belief and in fact the masses had no clearly defined ideas regarding the survival of the soul. It is a strange exception to the general rule and one that has occasioned much comment and attention among thinkers along these line. There was a vague form of ancestor worship among the Romans, but even this was along the lines of collective survival of the ancestors and was free from the ordinary metaphysical speculations and religious dogmas. Roughly stated, the Roman belief may be expressed by an idea of a less material, or more subtle, part of man which escaped disintegration after death and which in some mysterious way passed on to combine with the ancestral soul which composed the collective ancestral deity of the family, the peace and pleasure of which were held as sacred duties on the part of the descendents, sacrifices and offerings being made toward this end. Nevertheless, here and there, among the Romans, were eminent thinkers who seemingly held a vague, tentative belief in some form of Reincarnation, as for instance, Ovid who says: "nothing perishes, although everything changes here on earth; the souls come and go unendingly in visible forms; the animals which have acquired goodness will take upon them human form"; and Virgil says: "After death, the souls come to the Elysian fields or to Tartarus and there meet with the reward or punishment of their deeds during life. Later, on drinking of the waters of Lethe, which takes away all memory of the past, they return to earth." But it must be admitted that Rome was deficient in spiritual insight and beliefs, on the whole, her material successes having diverted her attention from the problems which had so engrossed the mind of her neighbor Greece and her older sisters Persia, Chaldea and Egypt.

Among the Greeks, on the contrary, we find a marked degree of interest and speculation regarding the immortality of the soul and much interest in the doctrines of Metempsychosis and Reincarnation. Although the great masses of the Grecian people were satisfied with their popular mythology and not disposed to question further, or to indulge in keen speculation on metaphysical subjects, still the itellectual portion of the race were most active in their search after truth and their schools of philosophy, with their many followers and adherents, have left an indelible mark upon the thought of man unto this day. Next to the Hindus, the Greeks were the great philosophers of the human race. And the occultists and mystics among them were equal to those of Persia, India, Chaldea or Egypt. While the various theories regarding the soul were as the sands of the sea, so many were the teachers, schools and divisions of thought among these people - still the doctrine of Reincanation played a very important part in their philosophy. The prevailing idea was that the worthy souls pass on to a state of bliss, without rebirth, while the less worthy pass the waters of the river of Lethe, quaffing of its waters of forgetfullness and thus having the recollection of their earth-life and of the period of punishment that they had undergone by reason of the same, obliterated and cleansed from their memories, when they pass on to rebirth. One of the old Orphic hymns reads as follows: "The wise love light and not darkness. When you travel the journey of Life, remember always, the end of the journey. When souls return to the light, after their sojourn on earth, they wear upon their more subtle bodies, like searing, hideous scars, the marks of their earthly sins - these must be obliterated and they go back to earth to be cleansed. But the pure, virtuous and strong proceed direct to the Sun of Dioysus." The teachings of the Egyptians left a deep impression on the Grecian mind and not only the common form of belief, but also the esoteric doctrines, were passed along to the newer people by the elder.

Pythagoras was the great occult teacher of Greece and his school and that of his followers accepted and taught the great doctrine of Reincarnation. Much of his teaching was reserved for the initiates of the mystic orders founded by himself and his followers, but still much of the doctrine was made public. Both Orpheus and Pythagoras, although several centuries separated them, were students at the fount of knowledge in Egypt, having travelled to that country in order to be initiated in the mystic orders of the ancient land and returning they taught anew the old doctrine of Rebirth. The Pythagorean teaching resembles that of the Hindus and Egyptians, in so far as is concerned the nature of man - his several bodies or sheaths - and the survival of the higher part of his nature, while the lower part perishes. It was taught that after death this higher part of the soul passed on to a region of bliss, where it received knowledge and felt the beneficent influence of developed and advanced souls, thus becoming equipped for a new life, with incentives toward higher things. But, not having as yet reached the stage of devlopment which will entitle it to dwell in the blissful regions for all eternity, it sooner or later reaches the limit of its term of probation and then passes down toward another incarnation on earth - another step on the Path of Attainment.

The teaching was further, that the conditions, circumstances and environments of the new earth-life were determined by the actions, thoughts and mental tendencies of the former life and by the degree of development which the several previous earth-lives had manifested. In this respect the teaching agrees materially with the universal doctrine regarding Reincarnation and Karma. Pythagoras taught that the doctrine of Reincarnation accounted for the inequality observable in the lives of men on earth, giving a logical reason for the same and establishing the fact of universal and ultimate justice, accountable for on no other grounds. He taught that although the material world was subject to the laws of destiny and fatality, yet there was another and higher state of being in which the soul would rise above the laws of the lower world. This higher state, he taught, had laws of its own, as yet unknown to man, which tended to work out the imperfect laws of the material world, establishing harmony, justice and equality, to supply the apparent deficiencies manifested in the earth-life.

Following Pythagoras, Plato, the great Grecian philosopher, taught the old-new doctrine of Rebirth. He taught that the souls of the dead must return to earth, where, in new lives, they must wear out the old earth deeds, receiving benefits for the worthy ones and penalties for the unworthy ones, the soul profiting by these repeated experiences and rising step by step toward the divine. Plato taught that the reincarnated soul has flashes of remembrance of its former lives and also instincts and intuitions gained by former experiences. He classed innate ideas among theses inherited experiences of former lives. It has been well said that 'everything can be found in Plato,' and therefore one who seeks for the ancient Grecian ideas concerning Reincarnation and the problems of the soul, may find that which he seeks in the writings of the old sage and philosopher. Plato was the past master of the inner teachings concerning the soul and all who have followed him have drawn freely from his great store of wisdom. His influence on the early Christian church was enormous and in many forms it continues even unto this day. Many of the early Christian fathers taught that Plato was really one of the many forerunners of Christ, who had prepared the pagan world for the coming of the Master.

In 'Phaedo,' Plato describes the soul and explains its immortality. He teaches that man has a material body which is subject to constant change and subject to death and disintegration; and also an immaterial soul, unchangable and indestructible and akin to the divine. At death this soul was severed from its physical companion and rose, purified, to the higher regions, where it rendered an account of itself and had its future allotted to it. If it was found sufficiently untainted and unsullied by the mire of material life, it was considered fit to be admitted to the State of Bliss, which was described as Union with the Supreme Being, which later is described as Spirit, eternal and omniscient. The base and very guilty souls undergo a period of punishment, or purgatory, to the end that they may be purged and purified of the guilt, before being allowed to make another trial for perfection. The souls which were not sufficiently pure for the State of Bliss, nor yet so impure that they needed the purging process, were returned to the earth-life, there to take up new bodies and endeavor to work out their salvation anew, to the end that they might in the future attain the Blissful State. Plato taught that in the Rebirth, the soul was generally unconscious of its previous lives, although it may have flashes of recollection. Besides this it has a form of intuition and innate ideas, which was believed to be the result of the experiences gained in the past lives and which knowledge had been stored up so as to benefit the soul in its reincarnated existence.

Plato taught that the immaterial part of man - the soul - was a complex thing, being composed of a number of differing, though related, elements. Highest in the hierarchy of the soul elements he placed the Spirit, which, he taught, comprised consciousness, intelligence, will, choice between good and evil, etc. and which was absolutely indestructible and immortal and which had its seat in the head. Then came two other parts of the soul, which survived the dissolution of the body, but which were only comparatively immortal, that is they were subject to later dissolution and disintegration. Of these semi-material elements, one was the seat of the affections, passions, etc. and was located in the heart; while the other, which was the seat of the sensual and lower desires, passions, etc., was located in the liver. These two mentioned lower elements were regarded as not possessed of reason, but still having certain powers of sensation, perception and will.

The Neo-Platonists, who followed Plato and who adapted his teachings to their many conflicting ideas, held firmly to the doctrine of Reincarnation. The writings of Plotinus, Porphyry and the other mystics, had much to say on this subject and the teaching was much refined under their influence. The Jewish philosophers were affected by the influence of Platonic thought and the school of the Essenes, which held firmly to the idea of Rebirth, was a source from which Christianity received much of its early influence.