Dear Member,
By Enquiries
The Law of Periodicity
In concluding our last letter, we promised to discuss this time the Law of Rhythm and Cyclic Progression. We may begin our discussion by quoting The Secret Doctrine (Vol. I, p.17, 1978 edition), which asserts '...the absolute universality of the law of periodicity, of flux and reflux, ebb and flow, which physical science has observed and recorded in all departments of nature. Alternation such as day and night, life and death, sleeping and waking, is a fact so perfectly universal and without exception, that it is easy to comprehend that in it we see one of the absolutely fundamental Laws of the Universe.'
A magnificent concept found in many religions is that of the 'Great Breath', or the outbreathing and inbreathing of a Cosmic Being. Again, to quote The Secret Doctrine, 'The appearance and disappearance of worlds is like a regular tidal ebb of flux and reflux.' (Vol. I, p.17) We find in the whole majestic plan of creation, as it unfolds in time, an endless succession of great cyclic rhythms. It may be said that a Logos or Creative Spirit incarnates in successive worlds, each cycle beginning with the fruit of all previous cycles existing as potentials - not in terms of physical space, of course, but in terms of what might be called vibratory possibilities. Another way of expressing this is to say that the fruit of one cycle becomes the seed for new growth in the next cycle. Since the principle is universal, it must also apply to humankind and in it we find opportunities for endless growth.
The doctrine that we have lived before and will live again, a doctrine called reincarnation, means that we, as immortal souls, evolve to perfection through alternating periods of experience and reflection, activity and rest. We find a homely but enlightening correspondence in the cycle of eating and digesting, which might be said to have as its 'aim' the 'perfecting' of the physical body. Just as the food we eat is transformed through the processes of digestion and assimilation into the nutrients which the body needs, so experience gained by the soul during a period of activity in physical incarnation is transformed, during the periods of rest between incarnations, into the qualities the soul needs for further development - capacities, talents and powers.
To use an analogy from an equally familiar activity, when the soul has assimilated all it can from the last incarnation during the period of rest, it is ready to begin another grade in the great school of life in which we are all enrolled. There is no 'skipping' of grades in this school; we go on until we graduate. But even that does not mean the end of growth, for we take up post-graduate work in line with our particular development, according to our individual uniqueness. For cycles continue, even beyond our imagination to conceive them!
'For logic, consistency, profound philosophy, divine mercy and equity', says H.P. Blavatsky in The Key to Theosophy, 'this doctrine of reincarnation has not its equal on earth. It is perpetual progress for each incarnating Ego, or divine Soul, in an evolution from the material to the spiritual, from strength to strength, from the beauty and perfection of one plane to the greater beauty and perfection of another, with accessions of new glory, of fresh knowledge and power in each cycle. Such is the destiny of every Ego.'
It might be well to point out here that the term 'Ego' is used differently in theosophical literature than in modern psychology. Technically it relates to principles in human beings 'above' the level of the personality and for which the personality is like a set of tools. For all practical purposes, however, it can be designated, as in the above quotation, 'the divine Soul' which is, as H.P. Blavatsky says elsewhere, engaged in an 'obligatory pilgrimage...through the Cycle of Incarnation, or Necessity'.
Sometimes it is asked, 'If we have lived before, why do we not remember?' This is well explained in The Key to Theosophy: 'The principles which we call physical are disintegrated after death, together with their constituent elements, and memory along with the brain. This vanished memory of a vanished personality can consequently neither remain nor record anything in the subsequent reincarnation of the Ego. Reincarnation means that the Ego will be furnished with a new body, a new brain, and a new memory....It would be absurd to expect this new memory to remember that which it has never recorded.' And is this not a wise provision of nature? How dreadful it would be if the new personality, faced with the problems of adjustment to a new life on earth, had to be burdened with the tragedies, the failures, the mountainous trivia of previous existences! Egoic memories (for the Ego does remember) come into our personal awareness as our innate knowledge, as conscience, as our predilections, as the very powers we use in dealing with the circumstances of life, as our capacities and talents which are uniquely our own. The well-known actress Helen Hayes once said that she 'wiped her mind clean' of every past role before she attempted a new one, as otherwise she could not play the new role satisfactorily. So our minds must be wiped clean of our past roles on the stage of life, although the capacities we gain through playing those roles are part of our ability to play our current role with greater understanding.
Another question naturally arises in this connection. What of the time spent out of incarnation? What happens to the soul? There is in theosophical literature considerable information on this subject but, briefly, it may be said here that the individual consciousness continues; only the form is left behind, and this is a phenomenon as natural as birth. We see it taking place every autumn as the leaves fall from the trees; but we know that the life of the tree will express itself in new leaves in the inevitable cyclic return of spring. All forms are perishable, but life itself cannot be destroyed. The period between incarnations is a time of rest and renewal, of reunion with loved ones who have gone on before us, of assimilation of the experience of the past earth-life and, eventually - before we return again to physical existence - a period of happiness and bliss when the conscious Ego is, so the speak, enwrapped in its own self-existence. The length of time involved in any of these phases is determined by the character of our earth life: our thoughts, our habitual attitudes, our aspirations, and our actions. It has been well said that the heaven life is 'the harvest of earth's sowing'. When that harvest has been reaped and its fruits assimilated and built into Egoic powers and capacities, the desire and the need for further experience bring the Ego back to earth-life once again. The processes through which all this takes place are described in several of the books recommended for reading below.
In our next letter we will discuss the Great Law, called Karma, from which all other laws are said to derive. We conclude this letter with some inspiring words from Geoffrey Hodson: 'The attainment of perfection is rendered certain by the interior presence of an infinite, divine power ceaselessly at work within the Spiritual Self of every human being.'
Some Ideas for Study and Reflection
In what ways do we observe in nature the operation of the law of rhythm and cyclic unfoldment?
How does the law of rhythm seem to operate within a single lifetime?
Why is the idea of reincarnation the logical consequence of the law of periodicity?
Think of ways in which you as an individual can use the knowledge of the law of cyclic progression to live more wisely now.
Some Suggested Reading
There are a great number of books, written both by Theosophists and non-members of the Society, dealing with the subject of reincarnation, cyclic progression, the law of periodicity, and related topics. Only a few can be suggested here.
Reincarnation Explored, John Algeo
Through Death to Rebirth, James S. Perkins
Reincarnation, Annie Besant
Reincarnation in Christianity, Geddes MacGregor
Reincarnation, Fact or Fallacy? Geoffrey Hodson
Reincarnation: Phoenix Fire Mystery, Joseph Head & Sylvia Cranston
The Key to Theosophy, Quest Abridgement, Sections VIII & XI
