Richard Webster

Memories of past lives

Antecedents

The most famous student of Socrates - Plato - a firm believer in reincarnation and said: "Know that if you get worse, you will fall to the worst souls, if better - for the better, and with each change of life and death you will suffer as one can suffer in such a case "4. Plato's ideas about reincarnation had a profound impact on the whole of Western philosophy and have not lost their value even today.

Later, the idea of ​​reincarnation took Greek Gnosticism. He played an important role in the early Christian belief. In the second century AD, Clement of Alexandria argued that we are developing in many reincarnations. Origen, one of the most important theologians of the time, agreed with him.

The Bible seems to also accept the idea of ​​reincarnation. Thus, in the Gospel of Matthew (11:13-15), Jesus tells his disciples, who was John the Baptist in a past life: "... For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you want to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear, "This statement is confirmed by the Gospel of Matthew (17:12), where Jesus says," ... but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased, so and the Son of man suffer of them. " In another case, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" The answer was, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets" (Matthew 16:13-14) .

Pupils again mention reincarnation, when Jesus asked the man who was blind from birth: "And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? "(Jn 9:2). It is obvious that this man could not have sinned before birth, if not sin in a previous life. It is interesting that Jesus rebukes the disciples for such thoughts and replied: "... did not sin, neither he nor his parents, but it is for it were the work of God" (John 9:3).

 

Unfortunately, in 553 AD II Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, it was announced that reincarnation is a reactionary doctrine. Christian church immediately renounced the idea of ​​reincarnation and its supporters forced to go underground. Reincarnation was again declared a heretic I Lyons (1247) and Florence (1439), the Ecumenical Councils. Everyone who believed in these ideas, the risk of being burned alive at the stake.

Despite everything, the belief in reincarnation is not dead. Apparently, the most famous of clandestine sects were the Cathars, the extermination of the Inquisition. It is interesting that the Bible contains only the favorable mention of reincarnation 5.

During the Renaissance in Europe, there is a surge of interest in the ideas of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Kabbalah. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the few who accepted the idea of ​​reincarnation. In his "notebook" we find some expressions indicative of his belief in the immortality of the soul. It is known that Giordano Bruno was convicted of heresy and to be executed in 1600. Before being burned, he turned to the Inquisition with the following words: "I believe and I believe that souls are immortal ... As the soul can not exist without the body as well as the body without the soul, it goes from body to body." 6

The idea of ​​reincarnation can be found among the Jews in the Kabbalah Zohar 7 and 8. Numerous mentions of reincarnation are also among the Indians in the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, and the Koran refers to it favorably 9. In Buddhism, the ultimate goal is the liberation from the endless cycle of rebirths and achieve Nirvana. In fact, the idea of ​​reincarnation and its variants can be found in the traditional beliefs of the majority of the peoples of the world. 

/ To be continued /