Lesson
12
Spiritual Evolution
THE beautiful
doctrine of Spiritual Evolution - that
gem in the diadem of the Yogi 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.
And, so far from
the spiritually awakened Man being
compelled to suffer continuous
involuntary rebirths, he is not reborn
except with his own consent and desire,
and with a continuance of consciousness
- this continuance of consciousness
depending upon the spiritual attainment
reached. Many who read these lines are
partially conscious of their past
existences in the flesh, and their
attraction to this subject is due to
that semi-consciousness and recognition
of the truth. Others, now in the flesh,
have varying degrees of consciousness,
reaching, in some cases, a full
recollection of their past lives. And,
rest assured, dear student, that when
you reach a certain stage of spiritual
awakening (and you may have reached it
even now) you will have left behind you
unconscious rebirth, and, after you have
passed out of your present body - and
after a period of spiritual rest - you
will not be reborn, until you are ready
and willing, and you will then carry
with you a continuous recollection of
all that you choose to carry with you
into your new life. So cease this
fretting about forced rebirth, and stop
worrying about your fancied loss of
consciousness in future lives. Spiritual
attainment is slow and arduous, but
every inch gained is so much further on,
and you can never slip back, nor lose
the slightest part of what you've
gained.
Even those who are
reborn, unconsciously, as are the
majority of the race, are not actually
reborn against their will or desire. On
the contrary, they are reborn because
they desire it - because their tastes
and desires create longings that only
renewed life in the flesh can satisfy,
and, although they are not fully
conscious of it, they place themselves
again within the operation of the Law of
Attraction, and are swept on to a
rebirth, in just the surroundings best
calculated to enable them to exhaust
their desires, and satisfy their
longings - these desires and longings
thus dying a natural death, and making
way for higher ones. So long as people
earnestly desire material things - the
things of the flesh and the material
life, and are not able to divorce
themselves from such things at will -
just so long will they be drawn toward
rebirth that these desires may be
gratified or satisfied. But when one
has, by experience in many lives,
learned to see things as they are, and
to recognize that such things are not a
part of his real nature, then the
earnest desire grows less and finally
dies, and that person escapes from the
operation of the Law of Attraction, and
need not undergo rebirth until some
higher desire or aspiration is appealed
to, as the evolution of the race brings
new eras and peoples. It is as if one
were to soar away up above the
atmosphere of the earth - beyond the
sphere of the earth's attraction - and
would then wait until the earth revolved
beneath him and he saw, far below, the
spot which he wished to visit, when all
he would have to do would be to allow
himself to sink until the force of
gravity exerted by the earth would draw
him to the desired place.
The idea of
compulsory rebirth is horrible to the
mind of the average man, and rightly so,
for it violates his intuitive sense of
the justice and truth of this great law
of Life. We are here because we wished
to be - in obedience to the Law of
Attraction, operating in accordance with
our desires and aspiration - yes, often,
longings - after our departure from our
last fleshly tenement, and the period of
rest which always follows a life. And we
will never be anywhere else, or in any
other life, unless by reason of that
same law, called into effect in the same
manner. It is quite true, that the
period between lives gives us an
opportunity to receive the higher
knowledge of the Spirit more clearly
than when disturbed by material things,
but even with this additional aid, our
desires arc often sufficiently strong to
cause us to reject the gentle promptings
of the Spirit, as to what is best for us
(just as we do in our everyday lives)
and we allow ourselves to be caught up
in the current of desire, and are swept
onward toward rebirth in such conditions
as to allow us to manifest and express
those desires and longings. Sometimes,
the Spirit's voice influences us to a
degree, and we are born in conditions
representing a compromise between the
Spirit's teaching and the grosser
desires, and the result is often a life
torn with conflicting desires and
restless longings - but all this is a
promise of better conditions in the
future.
When one has
developed so far as to be open to the
influence of the Spiritual Mind in his
physical life, he may rest assured that
his next choice of rebirth will be made
with the full approval and wisdom of
that higher part of his mind, and the
old mistakes will be obviated.
As a general
statement of truth, we may say that
those who actually feel within them that
consciousness of having always existed
and of being intended for an endless
existence, need fear nothing on the
score of future unconscious rebirths.
They have reached the stage of
consciousness in which, henceforth, they
will be aware of the whole process of
the future incarnations, and will make
the change (if they wish to) just as one
changes his place of residence, or
travels from one country to another.
They are "delivered" from the necessity
of the Unconscious rebirth, from blind
desire, which has been their portion in
the past, and which is the lot of the
majority of the race.
And now after this
long preamble, let us see what Spiritual
Evolution, as taught by the Yogis,
really means.
The Yogi Philosophy
teaches that Man has always lived and
always will live. That that which we
call Death is but a falling to sleep to
awaken the following morning. That Death
is but a temporary loss of
consciousness. That life is continuous,
and that its object is development,
growth, unfoldment. That we are in
Eternity Now is much as we ever can be.
That the Soul is the Real Man, and not
merely an appendage or attachment to his
physical body, as many seem to regard
it. That the Soul may exist equally well
out of the body as in it, although
certain experience and knowledge may he
obtained only by reason of a physical
existence - hence that existence. That
we have bodies now, just because we need
them - when we have progressed beyond a
certain point, we will not need the kind
of bodies we have now, and will be
relieved of them. That on the grosser
planes of life far more material bodies
than ours were occupied by the soul -
that on higher planes the soul will
occupy finer bodies. That as we live out
the experiences of one earth life, we
pass out of the body into a state of
rest, and after that are reborn into
bodies, and into conditions, in
accordance with our needs and desires.
That the real Life is really a
succession of lives - of rebirths, and
that our present life is merely one of a
countless number of previous lives, our
present self being the result of the
experiences gained in our previous
existences.
The Yogi Philosophy
teaches that the Soul has existed for
ages, working its way up through
innumerable forms, from lower to higher,
- always progressing, always unfolding.
That it will continue to develop and
unfold, through countless ages, in many
forms and phases, but always higher and
higher. The Universe is great and large,
and there are countless worlds and
spheres for its inhabitants, and we
shall not be bound to earth one moment
after we are fitted to move on to higher
spheres and planes. The Yogis teach that
while the majority of the race are in
the unconscious stage of Spiritual
Evolution, still there are many
awakening to the truth, and developing a
spiritual consciousness of the real
nature and future of Man, and that these
spiritually awakened people will never
again have to go through the chain of
continued unconscious rebirth, but that
their future development will be on a
conscious plane, and that they will
enjoy to the full the constant
progression and development, instead of
being mere pawns on the chessboard of
Life. The Yogis teach that there are
many forms of life, much lower than Man
- so much lower that we cannot conceive
of them. And that there are degrees of
life so far above our present plane of
development that our minds cannot grasp
the idea. Those souls who have travelled
over the Path which we are now treading
- our Elder Brothers - are constantly
giving us their aid and encouragement,
and are often extending to us the
helping hand - although we recognize it
not. There are in existence, on planes
beyond our own, intelligences which were
once men as are we, but who have now
progressed so far in the scale that
compared with us they are angels and
archangels - and we shall be like unto
them sometime.
The Yogi Philosophy
teaches that YOU who are reading these
lines, have lived many, many lives. You
have lived in the lower forms of life,
working your way up gradually in the
scale. After you passed into the human
phase of existence you lived as the
caveman, the cliff dweller, the savage,
the barbarian; the warrior, the knight;
the priest; the scholar of the Middle
Ages; - now in Europe; now in India; now
in Persia; now in the East; now in the
West. In all ages - in all climes -
among all peoples - of all races - have
you lived, had your existence, played
your part, and died. In each life have
you gained experiences; learned your
lessons; profited by your mistakes;
grown, developed and unfolded. And when
you passed out of the body, and entered
into the period of rest between
incarnations, your memory of the past
life gradually faded away, but left in
its place the result of the experiences
you had gained in it. Just as you may
not remember much about a certain day,
or week, twenty years ago, still the
experiences of that day or week have
left indelible traces upon your
character, and have influenced your
every action since - so while you may
have forgotten the details of your
previous existences, still have they
left their impress upon your soul, and
your everyday life now is just what it
is by reason of those past experiences.
After each life
there is sort of a boiling down of the
experiences, and the result - the real
result of the experience - goes to make
up a part of the new self - the improved
self - which will after a while seek a
new body into which to reincarnate. But
with many of us there is not a total
loss of memory of past lives - as we
progress we bring with us a little more
of consciousness each time - and many of
us to-day have occasional glimpses of
remembrance of some past existence. We
see a scene for the first time, and it
seems wonderfully familiar, and yet we
cannot have seen it before. There is
sort of a haunting memory which
disturbs. We may see a painting - some
old masterpiece - and we feel
instinctively as if we had gazed upon it
away in the dim past, and yet we have
never been near it before. We read some
old book, and it seems like an old
friend, and yet we have no recollection
of ever having seen it in our present
life. We hear some philosophical theory,
and we immediately "take to it," as if
it were something known and loved in our
childhood. Some of us learn certain
things as if we were relearning them -
and indeed such is the case. Children
are born and develop into great
musicians, artists, writers or artisans,
from early childhood, even though their
parents possessed no talents of the
kind. Shakespeare's spring from the
families whose members possess no
talents, and astonish the world. Abraham
Lincoln's come from similar walks of
life, and when responsibility is placed
upon them show the greatest genius.
These and many similar things can be
explained only upon the theory of
previous existence. We meet people for
the first time, and the conviction is
borne upon us, irresistibly, in spite of
our protests, that we have known them
before - that they have been something
to us in the past, but when, oh! when?
Certain studies
come quite easy to us, while others have
to be mastered by hard labor. Certain
occupations seem the most congenial to
us, and no matter how many obstacles are
placed in the way, we still work our way
to the congenial work. We are confronted
with some unforeseen obstacle, or
circumstances call for the display of
unusual power or qualities on our part,
and lo! we find that we have the ability
to perform the task. Some of the
greatest writers and orators have
discovered their talents "by accident."
All of these things are explained by the
theory of Spiritual Evolution. If
heredity is everything, how does it
happen that several children of the same
parents differ so widely from each
other, from their parents, and from the
relations on both sides of the house? Is
it all heredity or reversion? Then pray
tell us from whom did Shakespeare
inherit - to whom did he revert?
Argument after
argument might be piled up to prove the
reasonableness of rebirth, but what
would it avail? Man might grasp it
intellectually and admit that it was a
reasonable working hypothesis, but what
intellectual conception ever gave peace
to the soul - gave it that sense of
reality and truth that would enable it
to go down in the valley of the shadow
of death without faltering - with a
smile on its face? No! such certainty
comes only from the light which the
Spiritual Mind sheds upon the lower
mental faculties. The intellect may
arrange the facts, and deduce a course
of action from them, but the soul is
satisfied only with the teachings of the
Spirit, and until it receives them must
feel that unrest and uncertainty that
comes when the intellect unfolds and
asks that mighty question "Why?" which
it by itself cannot answer.
The only answer to
the query "Is re-birth a fact," is "Does
your soul recognize it as such?" Until
the soul feels of itself that the theory
is true - because it coincides with that
inner conviction, there is no use in
arguing the matter. The soul must
recognize it for itself - must answer~
its own question. It is true that the
presentation of the theory (we call it a
"theory" although the Yogis know it is a
fact) will awaken memories in the mind
of some - may give them the courage to
consider as reasonable the half-formed
thoughts and queries which had floated
around in their minds for years - but
that is all it can do. Until the soul
grasps and "feels" the truth of rebirth,
it must wander around working on the
subconscious plane of life, having
rebirth forced upon it by its own
desires and longings, losing
consciousness to a great extent. But
after the soul has begun to "feel" the
truth, it is never the same - it carries
with it memories of the past, sometimes
faint and sometimes clear - and it
begins to manifest a conscious choice in
the matter of rebirth. Just as does the
plant work on the sub-conscious plane,
and the animal on a semi-conscious plane
- and the man on the gradually
increasing planes of consciousness, so
does man gradually evolve from the
sub-conscious stage of rebirth, on to
the semi-conscious plane, and then on
and on, increasing his consciousness
from time to time, until he lives on
time conscious plane, both in his
physical life, and during the rest
period, and in the new birth. There are
men among us to-day (few, it is true,
but many more than most people imagine)
who are fully conscious of the past
existences, and who have been so since
early childhood, only that their days of
infancy were passed in a dreamlike
state, until their physical brains were
sufficiently developed to enable the
soul to think clearly. In fact, many
children seem to have a dim
consciousness of the past, but fearing
the comments of their elders, learn to
stifle these bits of remembrance until
they fail to evoke them.
Those who have not
awakened to the truth of rebirth, cannot
have it forced upon them by argument,
and those who "feel" the truth of it do
not need the argument. So we have not
attempted to argue the matter in this
short presentation of the theory. Those
who are reading this lesson are
attracted toward the subject by reason
of interest awakened in some past life,
and they really feel that there must he
some truth in it, although they may not
as yet have arrived at a point where
they can fully assimilate it.
Many of those upon
whom the truth of the proposition is
borne home by their inmost feelings or
fragmentary recollections evince a
disinclination to fully accept it. They
fear the idea of being reborn without
their consent or knowledge. But as we
have stated to them, this is a
groundless fear, for, if they are really
beginning to "feel" the truth of
rebirth, their period of sub-conscious
manifestation on that plane is passing
away.
Many say that they
have no desire to live again, but they
really mean that they would not like to
live just the same life that they have -
of course not, they do not want the same
experiences over again - but if there is
a single thing in life that they would
like; a single position they would like
to fill; a' single desire that they feel
needs to be satisfied in order to make
them happy, - then they do really want
to live again to secure the missing
thing. They are here because they wanted
to be here - or had desires which cried
for satisfaction - and they will live
again in just the circumstances needed
to gratify their desires or wishes, or
that are likely to give them the
necessary experience for higher
spiritual growth.
To the student of
this subject of Spiritual Evolution, a
great world of interesting facts open
itself. Light is thrown upon history and
the progress of mankind, and a most
fascinating field of research is
presented. We must resist the temptation
to go into this branch of the subject,
as it would lead us in attractive paths
which we are forbidden to take up in
these elementary lessons owing to the
lack of space. We may find room,
however, to say a little about these
matters.
The earth is one of
a chain of planets, belonging to our
solar system, all of which are
intimately connected with the others in
this great law of Spiritual Evolution.
Great waves of life sweep over the
chain, carrying race after race along
the chain, from one planet to another.
Each race stays on each planet for a
certain period, and then having
developed, passes on to the planet next
highest in the scale of evolution,
finding there conditions best suited for
its development. But this progress from
planet to planet is not circular - it
resembles a Spiral, circling round and
round and yet rising higher with each
curve.
Let us suppose a
soul dwelling upon any of the planets of
our planetary chain, in a comparatively
undeveloped state of spiritual growth -
occupying a low place in the scale of
evolution. The soul gains the
experiences coming to it in that stage,
in a number of incarnations, and then is
swept away toward the next highest
planet in the chain, together with the
rest of its particular race, and is
reincarnated there. In this new home it
occupies a plane distinctly in advance
of the one occupied in the last one -
its entire race forming the nucleus of a
new race there, some being pioneers
while the others follow after. But still
this advanced stage (as compared with
its stage on the planet just left behind
it) may be much lower in the scale of
progress than other races dwelling on
the same planet with it. Some of the
races, lowest in the point of evolution
on this earth, may have been much nearer
the highest stage of development on the
last planet inhabited by them, and still
they have progressed greatly by the
change - the highest on a lower planet
perhaps being less highly developed than
the lowest on one farther along the
planetary chain. Many of the races that
formerly inhabited the Earth, traces of
whom we occasionally find, have passed
on to a higher stage of development.
History shows us that race after race
came to the front in the earth's
development - played their part upon the
stage of action - and then passed on -
where? The occult philosophies furnish
the missing link of explanation. And our
race has grown from the stone-age stage
- and still further back - and will
continue to progress - and will then
pass on, making way for some newer race
which may be even now sending out
pioneers from some other planet.
This does not mean,
necessarily, that each race that history
tells us of has passed from the earth.
On the contrary, occultists know that
some, and in fact most of the races
known to history, have incarnated in
some of the races today. The confusion
is explained by the fact that each race
has several sub-races, which really
belong to the main race. For instance,
occultists know that the ancient
Egyptians - the Romans - the Greeks -
the Atlanteans - the ancient' Persians,
etc., etc., are now living on this earth
- that is the souls which formerly
incarnated in these races, are now
incarnated in some of the modern races.
But there are other races - prehistoric
races - which have passed away from the
earth's attraction entirely, and have
gone on to the higher planes of action
in the higher planets. There are a
number of planets lower in the scale of
progress than our earth, and there are
several higher, toward which we are
moving. There are of course, other solar
systems - other chains of suns - other
sub-Universes (if we may be pardoned for
using the term), and all this is ahead
of every soul, no matter how lowly or
how humble.
Our race, at
present, is going through a most
important period of evolution. It is
passing from the unconscious stage of
spiritual development, into the
conscious stage. Many have already
attained their conscious stage, and many
more are awakening to it. The whole race
will ultimately have it, this being
precedent to their moving on. This
gradual awakening to spiritual
consciousness, is what is causing all
this unrest in the world of thought -
this breaking away from old ideals and
forms - this hunger for the truth - this
running to and fro after new truths, and
old truths restated. It is a critical
period in the history of the race, and
many hold that it implies a possible
division of the race into two sub-races,
one of whom will he possessed of
spiritual consciousness, and will move
on ahead of the remaining sub-race of
slower brothers, who must work up by
degrees. But the races will again be
united, before it finally passes on from
the earth, as it is bound together by
the Law of Spiritual Cause and Effect.
'We are all interested in each other's
progress - not only because we are
brothers but because our own soul must
wait until the whole race develops. Of
course the more rapidly developed soul
does not have to be reincarnated simply
because its slower brother has to do so.
On the contrary the highly developed
soul spends a long period of waiting on
the higher planes of the Astral World
while its slower brother works out his
evolution in repeated births, the
sojourn in the higher planes giving the
developed soul great happiness and
benefit, as explained in other lessons.
Many of these "waiting souls," however,
choose to sacrifice their well-earned
rest, by coming back to earth to help
and uplift their brethren, either in the
form of Astral Helpers, or even by a
deliberate and conscious re-birth (which
is not needed for their development)
they deliberately taking on the body of
flesh, with all its burdens, in order to
assist their weaker brothers toward the
goal. The great teachers of the races,
have been largely composed of these
self-sacrificing souls, who voluntarily
"renounced heaven" for the love of their
fellow man. It is very hard to imagine
what a great sacrifice this is - this
coming back to a comparatively low
developed civilization, from a high
plane of spiritual development. It is
like Emerson doing missionary work among
the Bushmen.
Toward what goal is
all this evolution tending? What does it
all mean? From the low forms of life, to
the highest - all are on The Path. To
what place or state does The Path lead?
Let us attempt to answer by asking you
to imagine a series of millions of
circles one within the other. Each
circle means a stage of life. The outer
circles are filled with life in its
lowest and most material stages - each
circle nearer the center holding higher
and higher forms - until men (or what
were men) become as gods. Still on, and
on, does the form of life grow higher,
until the human mind cannot grasp the
idea. And what is in the center? The
brain of the entire Spiritual Body - The
Absolute - God!
And we are
traveling toward that center!
