LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
FREE-WILL AND REINCARNATION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Si,—Whilst in fall agreement with the ideas of your admirable -article on "The Limits of Free-Will," yet there are considera- Alone which a thorough believer in reincarnation may legiti- mately advance, and which, taken into account, must greatly -expand our conceptions of the value and position of Free-will in opposition to Necessity. I plead for continuity of view in this matter, and the doctrine of "equality of opportunity." 'Obviously we cannot obtain this if we limit the sphere of action of the free-wilier, or that which I may call the per- sisting ego, to one life. On the other hand, admitting the logical hypothesis of reincarnation, free-will can be shown to be the real master of the situation, being the constant creator in the present of the causes and affinities which will limit its action in the future. Taking this view, necessity is seen, not to be pre-arranged or external to men, but self-created, and -arising solely from the actions of the free-willing ego itself.
I think we may apply to the solution of the problem of Free-will versus Necessity, the idea advanced by Mr. S. Laing in" Modern Science and Modern Thought," when he speaks of " a fundamental law which may make the polarity of good and evil a necessary condition of existence." This theory -corresponds to the teaching of that masterpiece of Oriental 'wisdom, the" Bhagavad Gita,," respecting the pairs of opposites which make up the universe. Take away either conception, and the other must perish with it. Thus Truth is found, as usual, betwixt two extremes.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Belmont Lodge, Frome, March 29th. E. ADAMS.
[We publish this letter as remarkable evidence of the thesis .we have so often maintained, that the governing ideas of Asia would ultimately exert a direct influence on European minds. The writer, of whom we know nothing, clearly holds -the first tenet of Buddhism to be true.—ED. Spectator.]
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