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REINCARNATION
ITo the Editor of -the' SikrATORQ §n1,—I. have read with interest. Mrs. Besant's article, The Idea of Reincarnation," published in your issue for October 29th'.. The shortness of the article necessarily' restricts the full statement of the, case for reincarnation, but even so the theories postulated produce an untenable position.
The -Progression of the spirit through the earth life, purgaterii, Paradise to heaven is more or . less on fours with the spiritualist and -Roman Catholic doctrines of spiritual volution, and may be admitted as reasonable and logical. Dot is it-reasonableto suppose that,.having entirely eliminated 411 " CraVings of the lo*ei passions," and having spent 2,000 bears—or, apparently, a longer or shorter period, as may be Chosen—in unalloyed happiness and ideal conditions, the spirit would choose. to return to the earth sphere ? And how can the supremely high state of development which must have been attained during residence in heaven possibly be adVanced by returning to the comparatiVelY low and prithitive state Of the spirit living even on the highest plane of earthly spiritual- experience?' And 'can 'any' reason be established Which would induce such a change? True, Mrs. Besant States that the desire for new experiences draws the spirit hack to earth, and that it is guided by the angels to " a physical hody most suitable for its needs " ; but is not such a reason strongly reminiscent of the sow returning, to it
wallow ? . .
Again, that " our congenital ,criininals are very likely murdered savages of our.. Colonial Bush, returning to profit by our civilization," appears to me as mere. balderdash. In what way a savage would be benefited by returning from the spirit world—where, presumably he, as well as his white brother, has progresSed—to became a triminalin a " civilized " community, passes comprehension.
I quite fail to see how " reincarnation makes life intelligible." Why, " if every soul is newly created, one is embodied in a congenital criminal, and another in a saint," is surely a matter of biology and 'physiology, seeing that-the body is produced by a purely physical process, and that each physical body Must have a spiritual body, i.e., a soul. • But if each new body does not possess a new soul, when did the creation of souls Cease ? And what laws regulate the supply and demand for souls ? Perhaps some believer in the theory of rein- carnation will elueidite -these inysteries.—I aro, Sir, &c.,
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