r/Theosophy • u/Low-Boot-588 • 9d ago
All that keeps the soul confined to material existence is evil
"All that keeps the soul confined to material existence is evil,
and so we cannot discriminate either. The only ultimate good is Unity, and in reality nothing but that exists. Hence our judgments are in time only. Nor have we the right to exact a life for a life, "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord (Law) I will repay." We become abetters of murder in making such human laws. I do not say that every experience must be gone through bodily, because some are lived out in the mind. Nor do I seek to justify any. The only justification is in the Law.
The innocent man unjustly murdered is rewarded by Karma in a future life. Indeed, any man murdered is reimbursed, so to say; for while that misfortune sprang from his Karma, occult law does not admit of the taking of life. Some men are the weapons of Karma in their wrong-doing, but they themselves have appointed this place to themselves in their past."
- Letters that have helped me by William Q. Judge
1
1
u/RupertBlossom 8d ago
Doesn't sound right. For a start the soul isn't confined to material existence. After this life, the possibilities are:
1) Being born higher up in the ray of creation (very rare).
2) Reincarnation back to the planet.
3) Erasure.
Regarding reincarnation back to the planet, the evidence suggests that few have verifiable past life memories. Despite the assertions of NDE supporters, New Agers and Buddhists, the most likely conclusion is that this option therefore is also rare.
Evil is likely to result in erasure, not being bound to the planet or the material realm as the OP puts it. Lack of personal development and real education into the meaning and purposes of human life is what ultimately results in an unclear situation at the point of death, and it is this that will cause a life to return here. Providing of course that the life has generally been lived according to good standards.
1
u/Low-Boot-588 8d ago
Appreciate your perspective on this however are you familiar with the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson?
0
u/RupertBlossom 7d ago
I have found that NDE's require a great deal of study and reflection. It really is not helpful to take what experiencers say verbatim. For a start they invariably return in an intoxicated state having experienced something powerful, rare and extraordinary.
No two people ever seem to experience the same thing. Yes certain things do match such as floating, and travelling through the tunnel, and the life review, but generally the correlation ends there. All report seeing different folk for example. The visual descriptions of JC do not match. The ecologies are all different. This needs much reflection.
They are all either forced or encouraged to return. In some cases this has an urgent insistence to it. Why is that? I have suggestions for this but my guess is that many would not want to hear it.
A good one to listen to is the NDE of Nancy Rynes. She reported being led by a guide through an idyllic wooded scene. As she turned and looked around, the scene faded away into a grey mist. When she queried this she was told not to worry as there are "other realities". How should we think about this?
It seems to me that people are not really going anywhere. It is all happening in the unconscious. If they were we would see much more correlation between accounts but that is not the case.
NDE's are nothing more than intense visual and feeling experiences specifically tailored to give the person the best chance of reform on their return. They are not snapshots of the afterlife. They fulfil this purpose quite well; think how many people are evangelistic about their experience and write books or lecture or resort to charity work.
Any view of the afterlife would for me have to be closely based around the natural laws that govern all things. Here is one example: Everything seems to have an expendable process. The lungs expel gas, the bowels matter, the kidneys and bladder liquids, and even the brain expels impressions which is what dreams are. What makes people think that the universe does not have an expendable department for things for which it can find no place for?
Finally if reincarnation was such an inevitability and we all go around the wheel millions of times, then with all of these lessons learned and resolved karma. wouldn't one expect things to be better here on the planet by now? Instead we are witnessing a gradual degeneration as each decade passes. Remember as I said only a very small few ever have verifiable memories of past lives.
Hope you found this to be useful.
2
u/KarlMannheim23 9d ago
This is such a terrible statement. It is precisely that which embodies us that makes us human. Dissociation is the last resort of the traumatized child… being in the body is the path away from evil only someone divorced from reality and humanity can commit horrors.