Hazrat Inayat Khan continues with his explanation that the soul, in its purity is none other than the seed of the Divine, and that while some acquired characteristics may be passed on, the journey of the soul is unique. The previous post is here.
The shooting forth of the soul from the consciousness can be symbolized as an arrow. The arrow shot up in the air goes up as far as the will and power of the bow-man has destined it to go, and when it reaches its utmost height its return journey begins. The death of the physical being is the return of that arrow. Of course, on its return it may perhaps be detained on its way, as the arrow is sometimes caught in the branches of a tree, but it returns some day or other to the earth, its own element. It does not go up again from there by any means. So it is with the human soul, which, after finishing its course on earth, returns to its origin, drawn by its power of attraction.
When we look at the world we see that everything makes a circle. The plant grows from the seed to its developed state and returns to dust. Man grows from childhood to youth, to maturity, and then to old age. This, it is said, is an argument for our passing through many lives. But it is not the circle which journeys but the point which, journeying, forms the circle and returns to the place from which it started. It is the consciousness that performs the journey and not the individual soul.
The drops of water in a fountain go up, some higher, some lower, some go a very little way, some rise very high. When each drop falls down, it sinks into the stream, flowing away with it, and does not rise again, although the water of the same stream rises and falls again in drops, which proves to us the fact that it is the water which rises and falls continually, not the drop; yet apparently it rises and falls as drops, though the portion of water in every drop is different.
One argument which the reincarnationists bring forward in support of their doctrine is that sometimes unusual genius or gifts are found in a child who does not seem to inherit them from its ancestors and cannot have acquired them from its surroundings. Sometimes in the slums a child is born which has great poetic genius which could not be traced to its father or mother, nor to its forefathers; or it shows a great musical gift which was not found in its father or grandfather or ancestors.
The soul before coming to the face of the earth, on its way towards manifestation, for a very, very long time gathers the impressions of those souls whom it meets on its way, and takes on their attributes. In this way the attributes of the past souls are manifested again. A soul may receive the impressions of one soul or of a few souls or of many souls.
The soul on its way towards manifestation may meet the soul of a genius in poetry or music and take with it these impressions. When some very great or very good or philanthropic person has died, you will find that soon after a child of like qualities will be born to balance the world. A child may be born with the qualities of Alexander the Great. This is because the new soul coming out towards manifestation has met the soul of Alexander and has become impressed with all his qualities or part of his qualities. Such a one may assert, ‘I am the reincarnation of Alexander.’ But the soul of Alexander does not return. If it did, then every soul that has left this life would know of his former lives.
To be continued…