The Transmigrat of Souls

’ H AR P E R S LI B RARY of LI VI N G T H OU G HT T H E TRA N S M I GRAT O F SO U LS BY D A LF RED B E RT H LET . O ! P RO F E SS O R 0 1 T H EO L O G Y I N T H E UNI VERSITY OF BASLE T RA N S L A T E D B Y H REV . AYT R M A . C . H J O , HEADMASTER OF PLYMOUTH COLLEGE LONDON AN D N EW YOR K H A RP ER <9 BROTH ERS E M R E S T RE T W 45 A L B A L E , . I 909 CON T E N T S PART I I DEAS AN T ECE DE N T T O T H E B ELI EF I N M ETE M PSYC H O S I S C H A P . P A GE T H E S O U L C AN B E S P I . BELIEF THAT THE E A ’ RATB D FROM MAN S BODY T H E II . BELIEF THAT O RGANISMS OTHER THAN H UMAN POSSESS S OULS ANIMAL S OULS PLANT SOULS SOULS IN OTHER MATERIAL O BJECTS TH E T I II . BELIEF IN THE RANSMIGRATION OF SOULS FROM O N E BEING TO ANOTHER 24 TRANSMIGRATION FROM MAN TO MAN 24 TRANSMIGRATION FROM M E N TO ANIMALS 29 TRANSMIGRATION FROM M EN TO PLANTS 4 2 TRANSMIGRATION FROM M AN TO INANI MATE O BJECTS PART II M ETEM PSYC H O S I S PRO PERLY S O CALLE D ' I C . PRELIMINARY ONSIDERATIONS M P II . ETEM SYCHOSIS AMONG THE CELTS vii 27 1 6 3 6 CONTE NTS C H A P . P A G E M P III . ETEM SYCHOSIS IN INDIA VEDIC - BRAHMAN BELIEFS BUDDHIST BELIEFS I V T H E G K M P . REE DOCTRINE OF ETEM SYCHOSIS V T H E M P . BELIEF IN ETEM SYCHOSIS IN OTHER ! UARTERS IN THE BI B LE AND IN JUDAISM IN ISLAM IN THE CHRISTIAN W ORLD VI C . ONCLUSION viii PART I ID EAS AN TECED EN T T O T H E B ELI EF I N M ETEM PSYC H O S I S THREE presuppositions are n ecessarily ante ce dent to an y belie f in the transmigration o f souls . I The e e man a . b li f that has soul which can m i be s eparat ed fro h s material body . The e e no n m n an 2 . b li f that hu a org isms n m a n an d e a e en in (a i ls , pla ts , p rh ps v an imat e obj e cts) possess souls o f like n ature . The e e the l o o f men an d 3. b li f that sou s b th o f lower organisms can be transferre d n m n from one orga is t o a other . T H E T RAN S M I GRAT I ON OF S OU LS C HAPTER I T H E BEL I EF T HAT T H E SOU L CAN B E S EPARATE D F ROM MAN ’ S BODY ET us first consider the belief that man has a soul which can be separated from his body , or , to express the idea by a metaphor , that the connection of the soul with the body is that of a guest with a house in which he stays and lives , with the imten tion of leaving it after a certain lapse of So time . far as we can tell , this idea can be ! traced to the earliest periods of man ’ s mental history . In modern times the popular conclusion that a soul exists , is usually deduced from the phenomena of thought , perception , and will man THE- TRANSIMI GRAT I ON OF SOU LS has a soul , because he can think , feel , and will . In the uninterrupted activity of these normal intellectual functions , we so S believe that we may observe , to peak , u the p lsation which indicates their vitality . Primitive man reasoned very differently his attention , like that of a child , was first attracted , not by the normal and its con ab stant regular recurrence , but by the normal , which struck him as strange and extraordinary . Now man was confronted by one abnormal fact , which even now he as has not entirely ceased to regard unusual , the fact of death . Death , then , must first be considered when we ask what led men to infer the existence of the soul . What is the chief fact that distinguishes the living man from the dead ! The only S outward ign is the cessation of respiration . With the last breath a something leaves it the body , which existed within during W life . A indow or door is thrown open when a man dies , a custom still widespread 4 SOU L S E P A RATE D F ROM B ODY among our own country folk . Similarly , , F Hottentots , iji Islanders , Samoyeds , Indians , Siamese , Chinese , and others make a hole in the roof of the house or hut in which a man dies , apparently with the obj ect of offering free passage to the mysteri ous something which leaves the body at death . I speak of the mysterious some thing but the poet of old unhesitatingly gives it a name , in describing the death of Orpheus Th f e fa h ir e ea e o e t e a . soul, br th d rth , th n d d in This breath or spirit- soul (in the most different languages the word soul origin ally means simply breath) thus withdraws from the eye of man , which has no power to perceive it . But suppose for a moment that primitive man , whose psychological knowledge is not equal to ours , sees a dream and dreams , perhaps , that his dead friend is hunting with him as in days gone by he sees him string his bow , shoot his arrow , T H E TRA NSM IGRATION OF SOU LS h as pursue the animal he hit , and call upon his friend to follow a conversation ensues , as h as happened often enough in his life so H ow time , and forth . is the dreamer to explain these experiences when he wakes ! The body of his dead friend lies motionless Y e t in the grave , a prey to corruption . it was the form of his friend that he saw in ’ was his his dream , and it friend s voice that he heard : with his own eyes he saw i h s . him , with own ears he heard him speak ! What is he to understand To conclude , as was we should conclude , that it merely a dream is so obvious a statement that we can hardly conceive of any other reply . But the power to discriminate between dream illusions and reality is by no means innate in man and must be acquired by experience ° only after a long course of development was it attained . A very different conclusion offered itself to primi tive man : what he saw and heard in his I : sleep was , n reality , his friend but the 6 SOU L S E P A RATE D F ROM B O DY f appearance could not have been that of — the body resting in the grave of this early man was well assured Hence it must have been a something be ilder in l g y like the dead body , a second ego , a double , and in a word , the mysterious something that had left the body with the last breath . Such , in fact , is the con clusion with which we meet among primi is tive tribes . Instructive also the form in which it appears , in the words placed by n Homer in the mouth of Achilles , whe his e d ad friend , Patroclus , appears to him in a dream Go ! of a e I e e th e a o ds truth , th n , w n in sh d wy hous e s of H ade s S an d o do a e e no pirit f rm bid , but within th m is unde rstanding . F o r in this s e lfs am e nig ht th e fo rm o f th e h aple ss P atro clus H o vered abov e me and w ept with s ore lam e ntati o n and a w iling, S a e e e and a e o e to f p k his b h sts , m rv ll us lik himsel ! w s h e an om — I 1 0 —1 0 a t t . I A xx . ph L D iii , 3 7 T H E TRA N SM IGRATION OF SOU LS This belief in the existence of a soul that can be separated from the body is deeply rooted in the mind of man . The theory seemed to provide an explanation of all in dream experiences . The dreamer , for stance , finds himself in a distant region which he had visited long before . His body h as not moved from the couch on which he lies it is therefore his soul which has left him to renew acquaintance with that distant spot : the soul returns with the impressions gained by its experience S and the dreamer awakes .

Load more