Metempsychosis

Dedicated to all Trans-migrators !

Followers of Eastern doctrines,
Believe in Metempsychosis,
This expresses the theory of,
The trans-migration of the human spirit,
To incarnate from one body to another,
Be it human or animal,
or even as an inanimate,
Its into that of another,
But these theories however, differ,
From the doctrines of reincarnation,
Which holds that man is an evolving,
Being progressed through,
Repeated human embodiments,
There was however, a man,
Rene Guenon,
Who in a chapter,
Of his book in 1923,
Which he "The Spiritist Fallacy",
Concerned with the concept,
Of Reincarnation,
Said that there is no such concept,
In Eastern religion,
Claiming that this is a modern concept created,
By spiritist and theosophist authors,
In particular Allan Kardec,
Who was apparently inspired,
By a fatally flawed,
Understanding of trans-migration,
And Metempsychosis too,
Whilst the Australian aborigines
Believe that an infant,
Is a reincarnation,
Of deceased ancestors,
And that the soul is,
Continually reborn,
It is also interesting to note,
That Indonesian peoples,
Hold that ancestral souls reside,
In sacred animals,
Similarly, several tribes in western Amazonia,
Avoid eating certain animals, such as deer,
Because they believe,
Ancestral souls have entered,
These animals’ bodies,
Metempsychosis is a fundamental doctrine,
Of several religions,
Originating in India,
In Hinduism, the individual soul,
Enters a new existence,
After the death of the body,
When the sum total,
Of past moral conduct,Or karma,
Determines the condition,
Of the soul and the quality,
Of its rebirth,
The new age also bears doctrines,
Of altered consciousness,
As in The Celtic version of Metempsychosis,
It does not have the ethical aspect,
Of its Indian counterpart,
The Druids of Gaul supposedly taught,
That after death the soul,
Left one body to enter another,
But the second body was not necessarily earthly,
Who it might be is anyone's guess,
Examples of Metempsychosis in pre-Christian Irish legends,
Indicate that these trans-migrations,
Occurred only in the lifetime of heroes,
The belief in trans-migration was rare,
In ancient Egypt,
Although occasional instances,
Occur of a soul uniting with a god,
Or in the soul even entering,
An animal for a lifetime,
Or a voluntary Metamorphosis of a person,
Into another form,
For his own benefit,
Going round another time,
The Greek version, an indigenous product,
Appeared in the Orphic Mysteries,
But its best-known proponent was Pythagoras,
He believed that souls were reincarnated,
In various bodily shapes,
Whilst Plato’s views on Metempsychosis,
Are derived from these same sources,
Plotinus believed that future destiny depended upon,
The life of the soul in previous incarnations,
And the Jewish treatment of metempsychosis,
As found in the kabbalah,
Was limited by the need to conform,
To orthodox scriptures,
Hence the theory of transmigration was tolerated,
Rather than approved,
The Jewish theories, derived,
Mainly from Gnostic,
Manichaean, and Neoplatonic,
sources,teach that man has absolute free will,
But that his soul is tied and sullied,
By contact with matter,
That fits the bill,
Demon imperfect souls try to prevent,
The ultimate fulfillment,
Of the finite divine plan,
Punishment and atonement for sins,
Is achieved by another incarnation,
But before this happens,
The now impure soul flits,
Around and about as a disembodied spirit,
If the pious suffer,
It is believed to be,
For sins committed,
In a previous existence,
At the end of the cycles,
When all the incarnated souls,
Are once again pure,
The Messianic period begins,
It is interesting to note that,
No theories of trans-migration are admitted,
Into Christian religion,
But Metempsychosis is a funny state to be in!

Copyright: Kazytc: 2005.