by Manly P. Hall

LIFE is more powerful then life and death itself” ~ by unknown

While in Manila I chanced to walk a short distance out into the country and stood for some time watching a slow-moving, mud-covered water bull dragging an antique plow through the ooze of a partly submerged rice field. Hour after hour the great animal waded through the mud, now and again shaking its massive head to free itself from the tantalizing swarms of flies. Behind the bull walked an aged Filipino, his tattered trousers rolled above his knees and his homespun garments bespattered with ooze and grime. To wade day after day through the half-inundated paddies constituted the life of the water bull; to follow with his hands upon the plow constituted the life of the man. (more…)

by William Walker Atkinson

The beautiful doctrine of Spiritual Evolution, that gem in the diadem of the Yogic Philosophy is sadly misunderstood and misinterpreted, even by many who are its friends. The mass of uninformed people confuse it with the crudest ideas of the ignorant races of Asia and Africa – believe that it teaches that the souls of men descend into the bodies of the lower animals after death. And under the guise of high teachings regarding Reincarnation, many promulgate theories holding that the soul of man is bound to the wheel of human rebirth, and must live in body after body – whether it will or not – until certain great cycles are past, when the race moves on to another planet. All of these misconceptions, however, are based upon the real truth – they are the truth, but not the whole truth. It is true that the soul of a brutal, selfish, bestial man, after death, will be drawn by the force of its own desires toward rebirth in the body of some of the lower and more beast-like races of man – it has failed in its class work, and has been sent back to a lower grade. But the soul that has once reached the stage of even primitive Manhood, never can sink back into the plane of lower animal life. As bestial as it may be, it still has acquired something that the animal lacks, and that something it can never lose. And likewise, although the race – as a race – must wait until certain periods are reached before it may move onward, yet the individual who has risen beyond the need of immediate rebirth, is not compelled to reincarnate as a man of the present stage of development, but may wait until the race “catches up” to him, as it were, when he may join it in its upward swing, the intervening period being spent either in the higher planes of the Astral World or in conscious temporary sojourn in other material spheres, helping in the great work of the evolution of all Life. (more…)

by Rendol Snell

The old conception of the Creator as a big, superior kind of man, who spoke face to face with wise men of old, telling them the plan of creation and destiny of the world, has been outgrown, so that it is the privilege of any person to investigate for himself the great problem, “What am I?”

Science has been making great strides to solve the mysteries of nature but there yet remain many problems unsolved. One of these is the origin and nature of life and the important question of life after death. A few paragraphs here will be devoted to explaining the theory or, better, hypothesis of reincarnation and some problems connected therewith.

To put the matter in simple words, the writer believes that life returns again and again on the earth. Not only human life but all life.

This theory, under the name “transmigration,” was taught by Buddhism in a crude form and is believed in by at least one-third of the population of the earth, who are more or less under the influence of Buddhist teaching. Like all great fundamental ideas, there are perhaps few parts of the earth where the idea has not been present in some dim fashion. (more…)

by Manly P. Hall

Reincarnation is controlled primarily by the law of karma, a manifestation of the universal law of cause and effect. The personality is subject to the various laws governing thought, emotion, energy, and form. For this reason it is never possible for the personality to escape the consequences set up by actions in the various substances of which [the many reincarnated] bodies are composed.

In the Gnostic school the permanent entity is called Anthropos, or the man. The incarnating ego which is emanated by the entity is designated Anthropos Son of Anthropos, the man that is the son of the man. The ego is called by the Neo-Platonists the “summit of the personality,” the self which endures for the span of one life. (more…)

by Manly P. Hall

Forgiveness of Sin Versus Karma

The belief in the doctrine of the forgiveness of sin is entirely inconsistent with a recognition of the immutability of universal law. Either life is a series of fortuitous circumstances dominated by the principle of chance, or the law of consequence bestow upon each that which is merited by previous action. There can be no compromise; the human mind must accept either law or chaos, either pattern or confusion, as the rule of action.

Frequent efforts have been made to blend the doctrine of vicarious atonement with the laws of rebirth and karma. Ingenious explanations have been offered to prove that under certain conditions and for certain people law is tempered by grace. This is only wishful thinking, man’s old theological upbringing overshadowing his philosophical attainments.

It is well within the memory of modern students that various fabricators promised to make man mightier than the Law. It has been erroneously taught that karma might be overcome by breathing through the right nostril, meditating on the kundalini, or supplicating an adept. Various schools of metaphysical philosophy have built up huge followings by assuring human beings without the courage of their convictions that karma can be dissipated with a mantra, and that the whole character and temperament can be reformed by an affirmation. (more…)