Reincarnation: A Study in Human Evolution

"Were an Asiatic to ask me for a definition of Europe, I should be forced to answer him:—It is that part of the world which is haunted by the incredible delusion that man was created out of nothing, and that his present birth is his first entrance into life."— Schopenhauer . ( Parerga and Paralipomena , Vol. 2, Chap. 15) LONDON The Theosophical Publishing Society 161 New Bond Street , W. 1910 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE. Sketch of the Author's Life 5 Author's Preface 11 I. The Soul and the Bodies 15 II. Reincarnation and the Moral Law 42 III. Reincarnation and Science 99 IV. Reincarnation and the Religious and Philosophical Consensus of the Ages 159 Conclusion 301 SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. Théophile Pascal was born on the 11th of May, 1860, at Villecroze, a village in the South of France. His childhood was spent amid the pleasant surroundings of a country life. Shortly after his sixteenth birthday, a relative of his, a Catholic priest ministering in Toulon, seeing that the youth showed considerable ability, sent for him and presided over his studies in this large maritime centre. Before many years elapsed, he entered the Naval Medical School of the town, which he left at the age of twenty-two, with first-class honours. In his professional capacity, he took several trips on vessels belonging to the Mediterranean squadron. Four years afterwards he married, resigned active naval service, and devoted himself to building up a practice on land, becoming a homoeopathic physician in the great seaport itself. It was about this time that the young doctor became interested in Theosophy, owing to the kindly services of a former patient, Commander Courmes. The closest friendship and sympathetic interest in theosophic thought thus began, and continued during their common labours subsequently in Paris, Dr. Pascal entered the Theosophical Society in 1891, and during the course of the following year wrote a series of articles for the Revue Théosophique Française . These were continued year after year, and dealt with the most varied subjects: Psychic Powers; The Fall of the Angels; Kâma-Manasic Elementals; Thought Forms; Christianity, Prehistoric Races, and many others. The young doctor had previously made a deep study of human magnetism, which proved a most fertile ground for the sowing of the seed of the Ancient Wisdom. In 1898 attacks of serious nervous depression became frequent, forcing him to cease work of every…