Inspiration from Our Founders
REINCARNATION AND REGENERATION RECONCILED
From the pages of- Unity-1917, Volume 47, pages 418-421
We are continually being asked by our readers, "How do you reconcile reincarnation with the idea of regeneration? First. let us understand that reincarnation is not of Divine origin, therefore is not a reality. The All-inclusive Principle of Life, which is God. beholds the creation of itself as living substance. God never made any provision for the death or rebirth of his off spring. Reincarnation is a makeshift set into operation when man fell short of expressing his Divine Self. Had the human family, Adam, continued to receive and obey the inspiration of the Lord God, there would have been no death; reincarnation would have had no place in the human experience.
Body, or manifestation, belongs to Being. It is the Holy Spirit of the Trinity, and the avenue through which God expresses himself. The wrong relation of Divine ideas in consciousness is sin, and sin brings forth death. Man is incomplete without his body, and when his body is lost in death, thought activities in the process of fruition again build their own vehicle of expression. The body thus built is not the manifestation of the original body idea of God, and has no permanent life in it until man is born of the Spirit and comes again into consciousness of himself as living, spiritual being.
The "counterfeit" or flesh body, is the product of generation, and is at birth the sum-total of the consciousness that begat it. At the reinception of the soul, which takes place at conception, parental influences begin and the character of the body is changed because of thought impressions. When man is born of the Spirit, he is given an opportunity to regenerate his body, or generate again the Divine ideas that make the body perfect. "Ye must be born again," said Jesus to Nicodemus.
The command, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," was given to God's Ideal Man, and pertains to the realm of Ideas. According to the Scriptures, man was not yet formed when this command was given, therefore, it cannot be interpreted to apply to flesh regeneration, or be used as an excuse for sexual indulgence. God blessed the "male and female" are the procreating nucleus, the father-mother principle of each idea. It corresponds to the positive and negative elements in chemistry that fuse and make a perfect whole(one). "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder". All ideas come into manifestation and this perfect inner union would find its expression in the without, and man (male) and woman(female) be joined together so that "they are no more two, but one flesh." This union would necessarily be a spiritual one, for only in Spirit is there perfect at-onement.
Generation is the picture of the false ideas in consciousness regarding the father-mother principle in Being. Instead of giving the substance of his mind to the bringing forth of the eternal, deathless, Divine Self, man has attempted to perpetuate his life though flesh offspring. As a result he entertains over and over again in the family relation all souls that he intimately touched in thought, until the world has become one continual round of death and birth, birth and death. This was the condition in which Jesus found the race when he came teaching the principle of regeneration, and, strange to say, this is the condition of the race in general today, through a new order of purity and harmony is gradually emerging out of the darkness of ignorance.
It is quite true that Scripture records do not show that Jesus used the word regeneration often, but he certainly expounded its principles. He recognized God to be the Father of Man, and the necessity of man being born of the Spirit before he could enter into life. He emphatically denounced the material marriage as a reality when he advised the Sadducees, seeking to know which of seven husbands should claim a woman as wife in the resurrection, that when "they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as angels in heaven." This "rising from the dead" is the process through which every student of Truth is passing. As he ascends out of the limitations of material thought into the realization of the pure ideas of Spirit, as his native real of Being, he becomes as the "angels in heaven," or at-one with the ideas of Divine Mind.
At this point of unfoldment man is functioning in regeneration, for regeneration is the liberation again in consciousness of the original ideas of Divine Mind, which in their harmonious relation bring forth a perfected, deathless body. "But" queries Thomas, "suppose one in regeneration loses his body?" Then he again comes under the provision of reincarnation, and builds his body according to his state of consciousness. Man is never without the consciousness of a body, and consequently a body would always be forthcoming.
So long as souls need a body in which to perfect themselves, just that long will the need be supplied. But let us recognize that there are purer and holier processes through which bodies may be brought into manifestation. Progression is the way of life. Perhaps the people in Truth who conscientiously object to demonstrating eternal life here and now, and so remaining always a living monument to the permanency of God's handiwork, could be utilized in giving bodily expression to those purer souls seeking a vehicle through which to perfect consciousness. And the masters in regeneration, having come into the consciousness of the original law of creation through speaking the Word, could render valuable service in ushering into expression bodies ready for habitation. There is no need of anxiety about a depopulate earth, or the feeling of lonesomeness at the thought of a childless world. Just as long as one needs a child for a plaything, or a symbol by which to grow, that need will be supplied. Thought processes are exact and demonstrable. We call into manifestation that which we most desire or that which we antagonize.
However, let us not overlook the vision of regeneration; of an earth peopled by a race of gods-men and women united in one holy purpose-transforming the earth into its original Edenic state of purity and holiness. Man's only purpose is to establish he kingdom of heaven in earth. While this is first an inner mental process, under the law of Mind, it follows that the without becomes as the within, and man be always permitted to behold his mental children-the manifestation of his ideas.
Let us be generous in our thought toward those souls who have made "themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake;" who found in God the fulfillment of their every desire. They have no quarrel with those who still prefer to cling to the ideas of reincarnation, because it apparently presents an easier way of living-an easier way for a few paces, but eventually an unsatisfactory one. There is no condemnation in the heart when one understands, "Follow thou me" speaks the Christ, of every soul.
One who really tasted of the joy, freedom and satisfaction of living in regeneration could never be induced to enter again
into the devious path of sense, with its fluctuating joys and sorrows. The daily crucifixions in regeneration (and there are many opportunities to overcome the flesh man) become a joy and a blessing, for the devotee, with clear seeing eyes, can discern that he is lying the foundation of an eternal habitation, a building not made with hands-a glorified, redeemed body. For in this way old things pass away, and all things are made new, and man becomes "a new creature in Christ Jesus."-1.M.M.