Volume 7, Issue 5, page 7

IA Denial of Reincarnation
What You Believe, That Is
By B. E. ROESSLING, Ps. D.

Exec. Sec., Florida Society for Psychical Research
ANY believe in reincarnation. Some nothing more than a widespread superstition.
even claim to remember, and have He has studied the belief from every angle,
proof, of their former lives. place, and viewpoint, and briefly states that
However, oddly those who profess reincarnation is not a religion, not a scito remember usually tell of hav- ence, not even a demonstration, because it
ing been a king, or queen, or lacks basic unity. He was in India, studying
the effects of this belief upon the Hindu mind.

someone famous enough to have However, the Hindus are falling away from this
made their mark on history. None age-old superstition. Krishnamurti, the famous
seems able to recall ever having Indian lecturer, in an address on the individ1 been a lowly person, or a thug, ual's freedom of thought, declared that the
unless there is some advantage to having theory of reincarnation is for the lazy and not
been a thug. Like Robin Hood, or Captain for the alert. Educated free-thinking Hindus
Kidd. Or even one of the soldiers who reject it as a fading and unreasonable relic
"remembers" his part in the crucifixion. of the past.

It is undeniable that there are persons who

Supporters of reincarnation defend their seemingly remember some of their so-called
"creed" with the claim that it is "the only former lives and insist that they have proof.
fair way" -- that reincarnation adjusts all life It is, however, inheritance which produces
cycles. For example, if one is born poor and these imaginary factors, and not race memory,
sickly in this life, in the next life they'll as some may think. Let us tackle the scienbe rich and healthy. Carrying this idea fur- tific view of reincarnation, and you will unther, maybe if you lose your legs while a baby derstand these "imaginary factors".
in this life, next time you'll come back with The human -- male and female -- has 24 chromofour legs, evening up the locomotion cycle, somes in each of its reproductive cells. (All
altho we don't recall any reincarnationists living things have chromosomes in their creahaving carried their "logical thinking" to tive cells.) These chromosomes are microscopic
this logical "ultimate". ribbons composed of chromatin, which contain
Belief in reincarnation seems to be growing hundreds upon hundreds of genes. These genes
because it is now being taught by some well- are the hereditary qualities and charactermeaning but misguided teachers of theology. If istics of each person.
followers of this seemingly innocent doctrine,
this illusion of occult philosophy, could only
realize the consequence of their tenet and
could be convinced of its misleading result,
they would shun it like a politician shuns
paying off the national debt. And there is a
similarity, since a reincarnationist also is
more ready to wait and pay for his alleged
"sins" in some future existence.

Starting from the beginning, or what many
believe to be the source, of reincarnation, we
have India, with its occult religions -- principally Buddhism. However, there are as many
branches of Buddhism as there are divisions of
Christianity. G a u tama, the Indian prince,
prophet and teacher, and founder of Buddhism,
did not originate the teaching of the transmigration of the soul, or the return of the
spirit to be born again, as the Theosophists
believe. Gautama's denial that there is any
basis for the belief of reincarnation follows:
"The doctrine of karma or retribution in
this life is undeniable, but your theory of
soul transmigration has no foundation. I. can
discover no spirit who remains the sam? and
migrates from body to body. The karma law may
bring about the rebirth of character, but never a transmigration of.the 'self'."
The theory of reincarnation became mostly a
dogma thru the teachings of Indian priests.
Dr. J. M. Peebles, one of our foremost psychical researchers, says that reincarnation is
As mentioned, the chromosomes, chromatin,
and genes are found in the sex cells of both
the male and female. If an egg is fertilized,
the sex cell in this fertilized egg will divide -- by mitosis or cell division -- and become
one cell containing both the female and male
genes. From this one cell, the new individual begins his or her growth. The genes are,
of course, derived from both parents who inherited their genes from their parents who in
turn inherited theirs from their parents, until
we eventually come to a point where the genes
are in fact inherited from both the female and
male ancestor. The new individual may, therefore, have characteristics of the great-grandfather or great-grandmother, or even a farther
removed ancestor. The genes are ultramicroscopic grains, and the amount increases with
every generation, altho the parent of the new
individual may have only a few genes to contribute themselves. It is the vigor of the
predominating genes which supply the characteristics.

Bear in mind, however, that it always takes
a pair of genes in just one, sex cell which
transmit all qualities and characteristics,
but one gene always predominates because it is .
stronger than the other. This more vigorous
gene may control the color of the eyes and
hair, or the shape of the nose and mouth, or a
good or bad articulation, or length of arms or
legs, or quick or slow thinking, or a wellSEPTEMBER, 1960 The ABERREE 7