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Word Gems exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Reincarnation On Trial Vague and Tentative Assertions
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Here's what I've noticed: Consider, for example, the book I mentioned, Flashes of Light from the Spirit-land. Therein, the communicating afterlife-entity offers plain and clear statements about the nature of authentic marriage; that, it is the blending of Twin souls; that, this is the only marriage that will survive in the next world. He sees this romantic interaction in Summerland with his own eyes, as have many others, and reports to us authoritatively. So far so good. taking refuge in the vague and undefined, hiding in a remote and unverifiable future But when he begins to discuss reincarnation, the assured tone suddenly wavers. Now he speaks of his "belief," a ratcheting down of confidence. He feels that there is evidence for "R," but offers none, has not actually seen any. He says that others around him, his group of friends, comfort each other with the same view, but, it seems, no one has actually witnessed or has firsthand knowledge of the reincarnation process. With all of his bluster, at the end of the day, he pulls from his empty pocket an unsigned promissory note, a-hope-and-a wish for reincarnation. "It'll happen in the distant future, you'll see," they comfort themselves.
Why do you have to believe? shouldn't you know? - you're over there, aren't you? All this strikes me as very strange. Let's think about this. Reincarnation, if true, would require the coordinated efforts of a large team of advisors and helpers. It is often said that reincarnation is necessary for one to learn important lessons; therefore, like hiring the cast for a major movie, one would need to choose the right parents, the right future wife, the right friends, the right school mates, the right first and second cousins, the right work mates, etc., etc.; and all of these cast-members would have their own coordinating logistics to assemble, with a view toward intersecting one's own! All this massive orchestration would funnel toward those particular lessons which, purportedly, one is required to learn. The nearly-infinite interplay of all attending elements to one's life becomes staggering to contemplate. If reincarnation is true, we should expect to find various Spirit-world "government agencies," a vast network of human services, devoted to this monumental task. In fact, so great would be the undertaking, with millions or billions in the Spirit world about to be involved, that, one suspects, little else would get done. Yet, in the hundreds of books and articles I've read containing testimonies from the other side, not one offers any detail about these sorts of mechanics in reference to reincarnation! In Father Benson's books, we learn that the afterlife, in fact, does have its "government agencies," so to speak, regulating matters such as hospital-care for new arrivals; a huge library system; concert halls; and even a kind of "zoning commission" that one must heed before building a new house. But all these civic institutions are utterly minor compared to what would be the gargantuan task of organizing a return-trip to the Earth; especially, they say, as we will need to reincarnate many hundreds or thousands of times. If reincarnation is true, we should expect to find detailed chatter of it everywhere: "How long until you go back? I wanted to see my grandmother before leaving but she's already shipped out - now she's on her way to be a Dutch farmer. Last time, I myself was a maid in a rich person's house, but this time, I think I'll be a part-time wrestler and work in the coal mines."
If reincarnation is true, we should find evidence of it everywhere over there, as the planning involved might take many years of preparation. Think of Marty in Back To The Future trying to help his future parents fall in love so that he might be born. Consider all of the details, the care, the finagling to make it happen, and how easy it was to mess it up. If reincarnation is true it should virtually dominate the thinking and efforts of all who live over there. But there is little - better to say, no - evidence of this. Our friend, speaking in Flashes of Light from the Spirit-land, tries to convince himself and his readers that he knows something about reincarnation - but is operating on mere rumor and hearsay evidence. By his own admission, he has seen nothing that would lend substance to his claims. His circle of acquaintances suffers under the same delusion, as they reinforce each other in mutual misperception and projected desire.
corroboration is the best - maybe the only - evidence of reality D. Elton Trueblood, philosopher and theologian, advisor to three U.S. Presidents, once said this: "Many people seem to suppose there is some absolute test [of reality] in ordinary sensory experience, but reflection shows that none exists. I see an object and the question may arise whether this is just a figment of my imagination or is really there. I go over and touch it, but this does not prove my original contention [as I may be mistaken, hallucinating, or dreaming, etc.] ... The fundamental test of objectivity is the test of agreement, and indeed there is no other."
Philosophers debate the "problem of knowledge." How can we be certain that something exists since our senses so often deceive us? Can we know anything for sure? We can, but only by corroboration of testimony: "If all experiences are merely subjective, how does it come about that there is such a remarkable similarity in the accounts of the world on the part of those working separately? How does it happen that hundreds of men count the same number of limbs on a tree?" (ibid.)
If one person counts 952 branches on a tree, we might say that he could be mistaken. If two independent counters arrive at 952, we are obliged to be a little more certain. But if 5 or 500 or 1000 people, each working independently, conclude that a tree has 952 branches, we must begin to accept this assertion as fact, beyond reasonable doubt. Father Benson speaks of those civic buildings in the Spirit-lands - the libraries, the hospitals, the concert halls, the universities. If he, as a lone voice, spoke of these things, we could not reasonably assure ourselves of their existence. But when many others, also reporting from the afterlife, attest to these same institutional structures, we can begin to have a measure of confidence. We have a large number of corroborating reports which deny reincarnation; further, these reports speak of a coming world filled with and dominated by other activities, ones philosophically opposed to reincarnation; a world with little room for the vast preparations required to make reincarnation feasible. Do you see? On one hand, we have actual detailed reports of how things work on the other side without reincarnation; but regarding those who believe in reincarnation, all we have is wishful thinking and empty assurance that it will happen just around the corner. Again, in my readings on this subject for 20+ years, I cannot bring to mind one example of afterlife entities offering detailed information of a society structured to a grand reincarnational effort. One more point on this. There are those, in this world, who claim to remember past lives, and even the process by which this came to be. We will explore possible origins of these "memories." Testimonies are but one piece of the puzzle; credible information-sources become another area of concern - which I touched upon in the previous article.
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