viernes, 20 de mayo de 2011

Astrologia espiritual 2, 1ª parte: Filosofia griega

Siguiendo con la narración que iniciamos en el articulo Astrología Espiritual I, empezaremos hablando de los filósofos conocidos como Sofistas y después de los Estoicos; esto nos llevara después a hablar de, la religión de Mitra, que fue el culto astral mas desarrollado y extendido entre los paises de la cuenca mediterránea y Asia Menor durante la época del Imperio Romano.

Para los filósofos estoicos, continuadores de las ideas de Heráclito y Demócrito, los seres humanos, en cuanto que tales, son idénticos en su naturaleza y todas las diferencias que encontramos en ellos son fruto de convenciones sociales muchas veces arbitrarias e injustas . Así llegan a posturas de carácter socialmente revolucionario propugnando un igualitarismo ante la ley como una lógica consecuencia de las leyes de la naturaleza cósmica:


El estoico Hippia de Elis, negaba los privilegios de los ciudadanos, no aceptando que se dieran discriminaciones ni siquiera entre griegos y extranjeros. De el es la idea de que las leyes naturales son el fundamento moral, distingue lo natural de la convención arbitraria o moda. Como científico descubrió las curvas cuadráticas. Alcidamas de Elea, llegaba mas lejos: negaba la licitud de la esclavitud pidiendo que se abolieran todos los privilegios de los amos sobre los esclavos. Su abolicionismo se fundaba exclusivamente en la realidad de naturaleza humana ya que esta no había hecho ninguna diferencia entre los seres humanos para que fuera racionálmente posible distinguir "el naturalmente amo" del "naturalmente esclavo", estas eran ficciones retoricas sin base en la razón, de lo cual que se aprovechaban los aristócratas en su beneficio egoista. Además negaban el sometimiento de la mujer al hombre dentro y fuera del matrimonio, propugnando la igualdad de derechos, de educación, etc entre los sexos.


Todas estas ideas fueron la base del desarrollo político de la democracia griega en su lucha con quienes defendían las desigualdades entre amos y esclavos, ciudadanos y extranjeros, hombres y mujeres, y trataban de justificar los derechos aristocráticos.

El sofista Protágoras de Abdera (-490 - -420 adc), discípulo de Demócrito, afirmaba con toda rotundidad que "el hombre es la medida de todas las cosas, de las que son en cuanto que son, y de las que no son en cuanto que no son." resumiendo así el pensamiento humanista de esta escuela. Su pensamiento sigue en todo a Heráclito. Niega la posibilidad de conocer nada acerca de los dioses, ni si existen o no existen, en este sentido se llama "agnóstico", decía : " Acerca de los Dioses, no tengo medios para saber si existen o no, o que clase de cosa podrían ser. Muchas cosas me privan de ese conocimiento, incluida la obscuridad del asunto y la brevedad de la vida."
"el hombre es la medida de todas las cosas, de las que son en cuanto que son, y de las que no son en cuanto que no son."


Sobre las leyes afirmaba que deben ser la consecuencia de un debate y consenso publico, por tanto estas podrían cambiar en futuros debates. Este relativismo es la esencia de la democracia. Político comprometido con la democracia de Atenas, al final de su vida, tras caer el sistema democrático, fue acusado de impiedad y tuvo de exiliarse pereciendo en un naufragio. El principal conocimiento de Protágoras lo tenemos de su adversario Platón, quien defendía al partido aristocrático, por lo que no es posible restituir sus ideas con suficiente credibilidad.
El gran escritor trágico Eurípides 480-405 adc , contribuyo en sus tragedias a divulgar algunas de las tesis fundamentales de la sofistica, sobre todo rechazando las tesis de los privilegios de clase y la esclavitud.
Para Eurípides, la democracia es esenciálmente igualdad de todos ante la ley (isonomía) y la tiranía pura arbitrariedad al servicio de uno solo.




Aunque nos aparte algo del hilo conductor de nuestra narración, hay que hablar de tres grandes filósofos de esta época Sócrates, Platón y Aristóteles, que están en el lado opuesto del estoicismo pero por ello es bueno hacer un breve resumen que los situe en relación con lo que nos interesa.
Los dos primeros, Sócrates y Platón, como representantes de la oligarquía aristocrática, se oponían a las tesis de la hermandad universal de la humanidad de los sofistas , con posturas idealistas menos comprometidas que dejaban a salvo las injusticias y desiguadades de aquella sociedad.
Sócrates, un filosofo comprometido con círculos de conspiradores espartanos que maquinaban para acabar con la democracia ateniense fue finalmente condenado a muerte. Aunque se le permitió huir al exilio, se suicido tomando un veneno. De el solo conocemos lo que escribió su discípulo Platón. De Sócrates destaca su método de razonar "la mayéutica" que consiste en dialogar de modo que el maestro mas que comunicar un conocimiento al alumno lo que hace es extraer ese conocimiento del propio alumno mediante las preguntas adecuadas. De los espartanos toma la forma austera y descuidada de vivir y vestir y su ideal aristocrático, esclavista y antidemocrático.



Influidos por Sócrates, los Cínicos llevaran al extremo su rechazo de la sociedad y sus doctrinas al tomar un sentido de protesta social de signo anarquista. No tratan en ningún momento de establecer los males que adolece la sociedad para intentar darle solución pues su postura es nihilista, pacifista en sentido negativo y antisocial en una época democrática. Algunas doctrinas pueden confundirse con las de la sofistica al contraponer el ideal de la naturaleza a las convenciones sociales, y por que el fundador de esta escuela Diógenes se consideraba ciudadano cosmopolita como decían los sofistas. Su respuesta a una sociedad injusta por las desigualdades sociales fue radicalmente opuesta a la de los sofistas, con sus ideas anarquizantes, predicaban un modo de vida en comunidad, de rechazo a la familia y al estado.


Platón, un filosofo vinculado a Sócrates, pues era su discípulo, suyo es el concepto de "amor platónico", una forma de homosexualidad intelectual que animaba a sus discípulos al desprecio por las mujeres como seres inferiores. Este concepto de homosexualidad antifeminista era de origen espartano, pues estos se organizaban en forma de hermandades de guerreros homosexuales descendientes de los invasores arios, para los cuales todos los demás habitantes descendientes de los nativos eran sus esclavos desde generaciones sin que tuvieran ninguna posibilidad de redimir su estado social. Platón plasmo su ideal político aristocrático en un tratado que titula la República, pero ese estado ideal que propugna no tiene nada de republicano en sentido moderno, sino mas bien es una dictadura donde los ciudadanos son reducidos al papel de esclavos sumisos y obedientes en todos los aspectos de la vida y a todas las horas del día y de la noche.
A diferencia de los sofistas Platón afirmaba que
"Dios es la medida de todas las cosas." 
rebajando así la dignidad humana al arbitrio del poder teocrático. La Academia, escuela fundada por este filosofo, seria el principal baluarte de la critica anti-astrológica, con Carneades como principal exponente. Con independencia de las ideas sociales y políticas de este filosofo, se le considera, con justicia, el padre de la filosofía y ya nadie a partir de el puede evitar su influencia. Al final del mundo antiguo, antes de sucumbir al cristianismo, los filósofos paganos se denominan neo-platónicos, confunciéndose los términos platonismo o helenismo como sinónimos de la cultura de la antiguedad.





El mas importante de los discípulo de Platón, aunque no comulgase para nada con sus ideas, fue Aristóteles, su filosofía mas coherente y sistemática roza el materialismo aunque sin conclusiones que le comprometiesen, de ese modo pudo llegar después a ser el fundamento de los intelectuales cristianos medievales. Aceptaba sin mayor problema que la humanidad se dividía en amos y esclavos como algo natural y a lo que no había nada que objetar. En sus concepciones éticas al referirse a los hombres esta refiriéndose a los "amos", pues los esclavos son "res" es decir "cosa" y por tanto no sujetos de relaciones éticas ni de derecho. Sin embargo, reconoce que hay algunos esclavos, que no lo son por naturaleza, sino por convención, parece aproximarse así tibiamente a los sofistas, consecuencia de esto es que solo admitía licita la esclavitud de los extranjeros. Estimaba que el hombre es por naturaleza superior a la mujer, el padre al hijo, el amo al esclavo, dentro de un programa social típicamente aristocrático. No obstante hay que tener en cuenta que de los mas e 400 libros que escribió solo quedan unos pocos, menos de una docena, por lo que no es posible conocer con precisión su pensamiento. Por un escritor del siglo II se conoce su testamento y a través de el su espíritu bondadoso y la orden de que se liberaran sus esclavos a su muerte. Considerado Aristóteles el filosofo mas grande de la antiguedad, titulo que en justicia puede otorgársele con independencia de sus ideas sociales y políticas, tuvo además el gran merito de trasmitirnos, sin ningún tipo de prejuicio ideológico, el pensamiento de sus predecesores, a los cuales conocemos casi exclusivamente por los comentarios que aparecen en sus escritos.Al parecer escribió un libro sobre astrología, ("de Astronomía") pero se ha perdido y de el solo queda la referencia de que existió. De su principal discípulo y heredero, Teofrasto, se sabe que escribió dos libros de Astrología: "Sobre la Astrología de Demócrito" y otro titulado "Historia astrológica" pero desgraciadamente solo se conoce el titulo. Este interés de Teofrasto por la astrología demuestra que la escuela que fundara Aristóteles, el Liceo, se interesó por estos estudios, al contrario que la escuela de Platón, la Academia, que siempre fue una fuerte adversaria de la adivinación y la astrología.
Los libros de Aristóteles se perdieron en su totalidad pero fueron recuperados de traducciones árabes, en un principio fueron prohibidos por la Iglesia, acusados de materialismo, sin embargo fueron después la base oficial de la teología católica al final de la edad media (conocida como "escolástica") lo que demuestra la amplitud y la ambiguedad de su pensamiento genial.


Terminado este paréntesis para ver las ideas de estos tres autores que resultaba inescusable mencionar ya que su influencia afecto a toda la cultura que le siguió, incluidos estoicos y cristianos, resumiré la idea que interesa recordar para la que sigue: La doctrina espiritual del panteísmo cósmico concibe el universo portador de un logos divino, suma de las partículas elementales de esa sustancia espiritual que esta en todos los seres humanos. Este logos que hace divina la naturaleza del ser humano es el que esta entrelazado e intercomunicado con el resto del universo en su conjunto (teoría de las correspondencias). De aquí se deriva que la astrología, se conciba como el soporte o argumento físico-material de la concepción espiritual del universo visible y su relación con la naturaleza espiritual del ser humano.


***************

jueves, 19 de mayo de 2011

El signo de Aries - 1







El signo de Aries se asigna habitualmente con el cordero divino que salvo al joven Frixo, hijo de Atamante, llevandolo sobre su lomo en un vuelo sobre el estrecho marino que separa Asia de Europa. La historia de este episodio se desarrolla en la Grecia antigua, cuando las primeras ordas de invasores arios trataban de modificar las leyes y las costumbres de las tribus autoctonas. La resistencia de estas y las luchas e intrigas que se produjeron en estos choques se narran en este relato mitologico.


Los antiguos habitantes de Grecia practicaban el matrimonio de grupo (matrimonio con relaciones sexuales por niveles generacionales dentro de un grupo, clan o familia) antes que los primeros emigrantes eolios trataron de introducir el matrimonio monogamo que exigia a las mujeres el prescindir de todos sus amantes obligandoles a la practica del sexo solo con un marido para asegurar la paternidad de la descendencia. En el matrimonio de grupo solo se aseguraba la maternidad individual, siendo la paternidad compartida entre todos los individuos del mismo nivel dentro del grupo o clan, por lo que la maternidad estaba muy considerada e incluso divinizada. Por contra, entre los arios invasores la paternidad se aseguraba reduciendo a las mujeres al papel de nodrizas y eliminando toda posibilidad de comercio carnal promiscuo y festivo.




Uno de los primeros jefes de clan de aquellos nuevos pobladores, un miembro destacado de la familia de los Minia, Atamante propuso la celebracion de su matrimonio, en la forma monogama aria, con la Gran Sacerdotisa de Yolco, Ino, y que las 50 sacerdotisas integrantes de su templo contrajeran matrimonio con sus jefes militares. De esta forma queria asegurarse la alianza con las tribus autoctonas, alianza que era en realidad una sumision en analogia a como se concebia el contrato matrimonial, de hecho se realizaba un sometimiento de la mujer al marido y del pueblo pelasgo a los invasores eolios. Este matrimonio, un autentico contrato politico, fue aceptado por el Gobierno de Yolco, necesariamente y a pesar de que vulneraba los derechos del pueblo centauro, los miembros de la hermandad del caballo que habitaban libremente en las laderas del monte Pelion y que eran los amantes de esas sacerdotisas de acuerdo con sus costumbres y leyes ancestrales. Este acontecimiento produjo numerosos disturbios y enfrentamientos entre los nativos y los invasores. Al fracaso militar de la resistencia nativa siguio la intriga de las mujeres por recuperar su antigua libertad y costumbres.




Con el fin de recuperar la perdida fertilidad de los campos intentaron hacer creer a los nobles y algo ingenuos eolios la necesidad de sacrificar a los dos hijos de Atamante, Frixo y Hele. Estos los habia tenido con su anterior esposa Nefele y su sacrificio a Zeus pretendia servir para conseguir el favor del Dios en la recuperacion de una cosecha de cereal que se creia perdida. A su vez. Ino, advertia a los niños a que escaparan de su padre para que salvaran sus vidas, pues este estaba dispuesto a sacrificarlos mortalmente.
Llegado el momento adecuado los niños escaparon con la ayuda tanto de Ino como de su madre Nefele, y, en su partida, se les entrego para que se llevaran consigo la piel de un carnero que a modo de bandera o estandarte presidia el templo de Zeus, simbolo de la ocupacion de aquellos extranjeros, propietarios de grandes rebaños de corderos. Con la desaparicion de este importante simbolo de los eolios se pretendia que aparecieran fisuras entre los diversos clanes que los componian , pues se presentaba el hecho como una indicacion de que Zeus estaba disgustado con el comportamiento de Atamante y por lo tanto indigno de presidir su confederacion.



Los niños, con el vellocino sagrado en su equipaje partieron rumbo a un exilio protegido y secreto en el reino de Ea en la Colquide en el extremo oriental del mar Negro, donde su rey Eetes, el hijo de Helio, les daria cobijo. Durante la travesia, el fuerte oleaje hizo zozobrar la embarcacion, pereciendo ahogada Hele, en cuyo honor se le puso a ese lugar el nombre de Helesponto (en la actual Turquia). Cuando Frixo llego a la colquide dejo el vellocino al cuidado de Medea, sacerdotisa del templo dedicado a Prometeo como un simbolo de la resistencia de los nativos pelasgos adoradores de la Gran Diosa Madre, hacia los invasores patriarcales eolios.





Mas tarde este acontecimiento seria el motivo del viaje de Jason y los Argonautas (los marineros del buque llamado Argos) para recuperar el vellocino dorado, cuya perdida habia llenado de verguenza a los eolios , del mismo modo que se siente verguenza por la perdida de banderas en una batalla en manos del enemigo.

En ese viaje Jason, gracias a la traicion de Medea consigue recuperar el Vellocino de Oro, osea la piel de ese carnero de pelo dorado para restituirlo a su patria. Posteriormente, este carnero fue asignado al signo de Aries de forma bastante arbitraria, cuando los griegos llegaron a monopolizar la cultura de su epoca, ignorando que el carnero de Aries era mucho mas antiguo que el carnero de Zeus, pues ya estaba consagrado al Dios egipcio Amon (el Dios de la ciudad de Tebas que alcanzo una gran difusion cuando esta ciudad se convirtio en la principal capital de Egipto) y localizado en el zodiaco babilonico muchos siglos antes de que los primeros griegos aparecieran en la historia.

sábado, 14 de mayo de 2011

DIA DE LA SEMANA EN QUE NACI


Para saber el dia de la semana que fue el dia que naci, lo primero es ver que dia fue el 1 de enero de cada año en la tabla siguiente:



1909 Viernes
1910 Sabado
1911 Domingo
1912 Lunes      
1913 Miercoles
1914 Jueves
1915 Viernes
1916 Sabado     
1917 Lunes
1918 Martes
1919 Miercoles
1920 Jueves     
1921 Sabado
1922 Domingo
1923 Lunes
1924 Martes     
1925 Jueves
1926 Viernes
1927 Sabado
1928 Domingo  
1929 Martes
1930 Miercoles
1931 Jueves
1932 Viernes    
1933 Domingo
1934 Lunes
1935 Martes
1936 Miercoles  
1937 Viernes
1938 Sabado
1939 Domingo
1940 Lunes      
1941 Miercoles
1942 Jueves
1943 Viernes
1944 Sabado     
1945 Lunes
1946 Martes
1947 Miercoles
1948 Jueves     
1949 Sabado
1950 Domingo
1951 Lunes
1952 Martes     
1953 Jueves
1954 Viernes
1955 Sabado
1956 Domingo  
1957 Martes
1958 Miercoles
1959 Jueves
1960 Viernes    
1961 Domingo
1962 Lunes
1963 Martes
1964 Miercoles  
1965 Viernes
1966 Sabado
1967 Domingo
1968 Lunes      
1969 Miercoles
1970 Jueves
1971 Viernes
1972 Sabado     
1973 Lunes
1974 Martes
1975 Miercoles
1976 Jueves     
1977 Sabado
1978 Domingo
1979 Lunes
1980 Martes     
1981 Jueves
1982 Viernes
1983 Sabado
1984 Domingo  
1985 Martes
1986 Miercoles
1987 Jueves
1988 Viernes    
1989 Domingo
1990 Lunes
1991 Martes
1992 Miercoles  
1993 Viernes
1994 Sabado
1995 Domingo
1996 Lunes      
1997 Miercoles
1998 Jueves
1999 Viernes
2000 Sabado     
2001 Lunes
2002 Martes
2003 Miercoles
2004 Jueves     
2005 Sabado
2006 Domingo
2007 Lunes
2008 Martes     
2009 Jueves
2010 Viernes
2011 Sabado
2012 Domingo  
2013 Martes
2014 Miercoles
2015 Jueves
2016 Viernes    
2017 Domingo
2018 Lunes
2019 Martes
2020 Miercoles  

Por ejemplo si naciste el año 1985, el dia 1 de enero de se año fue Martes


y despues contamos desde el martes tantos dias como se indique en la tabla siguiente segun el dia y el mes de nacimiento (uno mas si es bisiesto en las fechas posteriores al 28 de febrero):


Enero y Octubre  
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2
Febrero, Marzo y Noviembre  
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5
Mayo  
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3
Junio  
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5
Abril y Julio  
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1
Agosto 
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4
Septiembre y Diciembre 
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  0



Por ejemplo si nací el 15 de Agosto, ese día será 2dias después del Martes, es decir Jueves.


miércoles, 27 de abril de 2011

Chapter 7 (2) Elbert Benjamine

Facts and Fancies About Reincarnation, Part 1(2)
Viewed from the physical plane, we now see that the good consists of material and objective advantages, but that viewed from the plane of spirit the good consists of such subjective and spiritual advantages as are usually found in deadly conflict with advantages material. These two ideas of good antagonize. One cannot at the same time worship God and Mammon. They are just as opposite as the sun viewed from the earth, and the earth viewed from the sun. As a consequence of this dual viewpoint, the spiritual philosopher might accuse the Creator of injustice if he were born in easy circumstances, while the materialist might bewail his fate if born in humble surroundings. From this it must be plain that the popular conception of Karmic Law—reward and punishment meted out in terms ofmaterial advantages—is purely and completely a materialistic doctrine.

Returning now to a logical standpoint: All must admit that viewing it from the angle of soul progression we are unable to say, in any particular case, which are the good events and which the evil; for an event that is utilized by one soul may prove a hindrance to another. An event at one period of life may produce an opposite effect than if experienced at a different time. It will be seen, then, that any just system of reward must be based upon the momentary needs of the soul. And who shall say, at any given time, what experiences will advance the soul furthest in the long run and help it evolve its latent attributes? The experiences of life meet the transitory and constantly shifting requirements of the soul, but the apparent inequalities of this life—which of itself is but the tick of the second hand on the watch timing the soul’s infinite flight—these inequalities, I affirm, are indeterminate.
Another purely materialistic conception is the idea that nowhere in the vastness of the boundless universe can justice be meted out except on this speck of dust called earth. Millions of worlds crowd space, larger and grander than ours; electromagnetic, astral, and spiritual worlds, as well as those material. Planes interpenetrate planes, all swarming with intelligent life. The world of matter is concrete to our physical senses, but not so in reality. The electrons of matter are comparable—relative to their size in proportion to their distances—to the planets of our solar system. Electromagnetic, astral, and spiritual worlds are as real and tangible to the senses of their denizens as is the earth to man. In fact, as is the testimony of the many exalted souls who temporarily freed from the body have visited that glorious realm, the spiritual world is a world of increased consciousness. So, too, the astral spheres surrounding the earth are fully as actual as the material world. There the sensations of pleasure and pain are far more intense than those in the physical. Then why should the physical world be the only place where man can expiate his errors? The experiences of seers, prophets, and initiates testify that in the spheres interior to the physical man has every opportunity for atonement and purification, and every facility for progress. That the doctrine of Karma as taught finds a following at all seems tome to be due to the difficulty many have, even as they cannot imagine a country with different customs, of conceiving any reality beyond their immediate experience.
Then again, a system of morals based upon doing good for reward, either in this life or the next, is at heart a system of selfishness. And to hold that the earth is the only place where divine justice can be administered is materialistic. Yes! It is worse than materialistic; for materialism at least offers the encouragement of oblivion after death. But human reincarnation blights all hope by dooming to innumerable lives—with all their agonies and heartaches, amid worldly conditions that already have become to the pure in heart a hell of avarice, selfishness, sensuality, and carnal desire—in human form.
What, then, may we consider the cause of the apparent inequalities of life? They are the result of the quality and nature of each soul harmonizing with or antagonizing its environment. It attracts to itself an environment corresponding in vibratory rate to the thought-cells present in the astral body with which it has clothed itself. These thought-cells have been organized by its various experiences in lower forms of life. Experiences of a certain type impress their influence upon the sensitive astral form as a definite organization of energy. This organization of energy persists in the astral form when it is attracted to and becomes incarnated in a higher species of life and tends to attract it to experiences of a similar type. If the experiences have been inharmonious, it tends by vibratory affinity to attract other discordant experiences; but if the experiences were harmonious, it tends to attract other harmonious experiences of the same type.
The soul, in its involution through higher worlds, and its evolution through life-forms from mineral to man, attracted to itself experiences of a given kind because of its original polarity—its original quality of vibration. This original attractive and repellent quality arose at the differentiation of the soul as the result of cosmic need. That is, there was the need for a soul of definite qualities in the universal scheme of things, and this universal need, this void to be filled, through the agency of its angelic parents, gave the soul its basic trend. The influence of the thought-cells organized by experience is beautifully illustrated in astrology. The planets are not the cause of a person’s condition in life. They merely correspond to the thought-cells in his astral form. These thought-cells, and their organization within his finer bodies, are his character. His character, therefore, because of the strong and weak, harmonious and discordant desires of its thought-cells, attracts to him the conditions and events of his life. To be sure, these conditions and events are shown in the astrological birth chart, but only because a child is not born until its vibrations correspond with the vibratory rates received upon the earth from the planets. After birth the planets send him
energies that have an influence upon his actions, just as the weather and other factors of his physical environment also have an influence upon his actions. But it is really the activities of thought-cells within his astral form that attract conditions and events, the positions of the planets, by their stations and aspects, mapping these activities in the astral body. If they are harmonious, they denote prosperity, but if discordant, they signify adversity.
The fortune of a person, then, is the affect of the environment thus attracted reacting upon the character. And a character that is amartyr in one age, in another might be an object of adoration. A tyrant born at an opportune time and place might rise to the throne, while in a different environment might as quickly mount the scaffold. Human reincarnation would have us believe the martyr suffered torture because of sins in some past life, and the successful tyrant was given the power to scourge him to the flames because of good done in some remote incarnation. But the very good fortune of the tyrant in this life leads to actions, as material fortune often does, that will make him an object of commiseration in the future. I am loath to think the spiritual giants who have left their footprints on the sands of time have endured the suffering which has been their common heritage in expiation of past misdeeds; or that wealthy parasites, living in luxury upon the very heart’s blood of the poor, are thus being rewarded for beneficence in ages gone. Instead, I must adopt the old Hermetic teaching that, even as children on earth have physical parents, so do souls at their differentiation, before their descent into matter, have angelic parents. These angelic parents are not the creators of souls; but by their parenthood offer the conditions for souls to enter the grand cycle of necessity.
Souls, then, are differentiated by angelic parents in response to a definite universal need, and each is sent out to be educated to perform a required function in universal affairs. Its inherent character, persisting potentially from the moment of its differentiated existence as an entity, and determined by the universal need that called it into differentiated existence, endows it with definite attractive and repulsive qualities. Because of this basic polarity which it acquired at the moment of differentiation, during its cyclic journey down through spiritual and astral realms, and then evolving up through various forms from mineral to man, it is attracted more strongly to certain phases of life than to others. It is the qualities thus developed in lower impersonal forms, persisting as thought-cells within the astral body, that tend to attract events and environment of corresponding quality, harmony or discord, when the soul finally incarnates as man.
Now, a little observation will show that the object of Nature in life is diversity of expression, not identical expression. The requirements of universal life need souls of various qualities, even as civilization requires men and women adapted to many trades and professions. All men are not fitted to be artists, or musicians; and it is well that they are not, for the world needs those skilled in mechanics and those who produce food. Neither have souls the same destiny. All are essential in the cosmic scheme, and find their greatest joy in doing their appointed tasks. Blessed are they when they have found their work! And who shall say what is great and what is small in this universal scheme of things, or whom are the important ones? Should the hand criticize the foot for lack of equal dexterity, or the eye be envious of the ear, or the heart feel it has been unjustly treated because it is not given the work of the lungs? Souls differ as do the trees in the forest, not alone in magnitude, but as to their ultimate goal. Mature trees represent the kind of seed planted plus the environment since planting. A human represents the inherent nature of the soul plus its experiences while involving and while ascending through various forms from mineral up to man. But no environment will make a fir tree grow from an acorn, nor a soul springing from the planetary family of Saturn into an aggressive warrior. Oaks, firs, cedars, and fruit trees, each have an economic value. It would be difficult to say which is of most importance. Each species also differs in the size and quality of individuals. So also souls springing from the same family, state of spiritual life, and degree of emanation, differ one from another. Not only may they have different angelic parents, but their experiences previous to human incarnation may widely differ. Consequently, when they arrive at the human stage of their pilgrimage their educational needs, in order to round out their latent qualifications for universal usefulness, are very different.
The character at birth is the result of the soul’s past experiences reacting on its inherent quality, just as the character of a horse or a dog is likewise the result of past incarnations in still lower forms. That a man must have had innumerable human incarnations because he has a brilliant intellect is tantamount to saying a race horse must have had innumerable incarnations as a horse—at times being a wild horse, a farm horse, a dray horse, a buggy horse,—etc. in order to be a race horse. Or must we say that a setter must have passed incarnations as a mongrel, a terrier, a hound, a coach dog, etc.? Not so! The soul never incarnates in the same species twice. It is ever drawn to a species higher in the scale of evolution. It is a dog but once, and whether a cur or a life-saving New Foundland depends upon its transitory need for experience. A horse will be a horse but once, but whether a plug or a driver will depend upon its incidental polarity, and has nothing whatever to do with its sins or good deeds to other horses in past lives.
Likewise, the soul inhabits the physical form of man but once; and whether as a Bushman or a college professor depends upon its transitory need for expression. Then it passes to a higher form in the scale of evolution, which in this case is a spiritual form. To say that each man needs all possible experiences and all kinds of  human lives is to assume that Nature’s aim is identity of expression. But Nature’s aim, as a glance around must assure us, is specialization. This principle of division of labor and specialization of parts, as well as the development of individualism, is glaringly apparent in all her work.
Nor is the disparity between races of mankind so great as was formerly thought. The science of language has in later years made this plain. Even the Australian Bushman, when given the same educational advantages, is found to rival his European brother in attainment; although, of course, following the law of specialization, each race more readily becomes proficient in certain lines. But among human beings there are not, as among animals and birds and plants, different families, different genera, and different species. All belong to a single species—Homo Sapiens—the various sub-species, or races, being due, as sub-species usually are, to the affect of local
environment. Certainly, the savagery practiced in modern warfare by civilized nations cannot be
surpassed by the aborigines of any land. The love of pillage is just as strong in the breasts of our millionaires as in those of the lowly savage. To be sure, the average savage follows a stricter code of morals than that to be found in our populous centers of civilization. And it should be remembered that intellect is no mark of spirituality; for the intellectual geniuses have all too often been the scourges of mankind.
At first glance it would seem that the savage labored under a great disadvantage; but when we consider that responsibility can only be measured by opportunity, and that the savage usually makes as much of his opportunities as the civilized man, if not more, it alters our conception. For karma, if just, must deal lightly with those who err through ignorance, while punishing severely those who know the right and deliberately forsake it for the wrong. Yet where knowledge of spiritual things is concerned, the savage usually has the best of it; for living close to Nature he draws from her the knowledge of a spiritual life and frequently communes with the dead, while civilized man, having his inner senses blunted by artificial living, scoffs at all his dollars cannot buy.
The savage, therefore, when he passes to the life after physical death will have but a few foolish notions and fetishes to forget. But the civilized man will be encumbered by a thousand false scientific and religious teachings, as well as the fetish of his egotism. He usually is so sure nothing can lie beyond his preconceptions that he will free himself from them only with great difficulty.
But what narrow vision is it that would single out from the illimitable chain of existences that forms the cycle of the soul, this particular link of destiny as the only one needing consideration in the light of divine justice? Is the horse that is whipped, or the dog that is starved and beaten, or the deer wounded in the chase, so tortured because of sins committed in the past? If we look about us we find that suffering is Nature’s means of furthering evolution; for suffering is the common heritage of life as we observe it. The rose grows thorns and the cactus develops spines to escape the pain inflicted by foraging beasts. Man builds a new machine to escape the suffering of arduous toil.Weall have suffered in the lower kingdoms. To single out what a man suffers here, or what he gains here, from what he has gained in the past, and what lies before him in the superb vistas of the future, is to try to judge the size and splendor of a mountain range by looking at a single pebble.
Those who die young grow to maturity and are given all the opportunities for progress in the astral world. The mission of external life is to develop self-consciousness, and that once attained there is ample opportunity in higher spheres for further development. Whatever is necessary for the development and culture of man can be found there. A savage or a child can be taught there quite as readily as here. It may be asked, then, of what use is external life if its lessons can be learned elsewhere. It is a necessary experience for the realization of self-consciousness. But even as an animal species is one link in the evolutionary chain, and the soul incarnating in it passes at death to the next higher form regardless of whether it lived in Africa or America, whether it lived a few days, or for years, or whether it was permitted all the experiences common to the species or not; so man at death passes on in his evolution, even though on earth much restricted. And he will find, to recompense him for loss of opportunity on earth, other advantages on the next plane.
If a man’s miseries are due to karma resulting from sin, in his first incarnation when he had no evil karma he must have had all opportunities, all happiness, all blessings. It is surprising under such conditions that he should ever have sinned and brought the vengeance of suffering upon his head. Apparently everyone is sinking deeper in the mire of sin, for suffering is everywhere prevalent. And if we could not escape sin when we were free from malignant karma, how can we expect to live blameless lives with the weight of it now like millstones about our necks? If we explain human suffering and lack of opportunity by referring it to the just action if karma, we are then called upon to explain the justice of the equally great suffering and inequalities of the animal world. When man is born into human form the first time he has had no moral karma, for like the animals he has been previously irresponsible. But animals suffer in spite of their lack of karma, and animals of the same species have unequal opportunities. It is only when man attains self-consciousness and becomes morally responsible that he can make good or evil karma. Therefore, as in his first appearance on earth he had previously been an irresponsible agent, he could have had no evil karma. His condition then must have been determined by something besides karma. What this is that determined man’s condition in his first incarnation reincarnationists do not tell us. But certainly it is preposterous to suppose that all men in their first incarnation are born with the same or equal characters and opportunities, in equal environments, and undergo equal suffering. Nowhere in Nature do we observe any such equal condition. Is it not more probable then, that the same factors that determine an animal’s condition of life also determined man’s?
Even could it be shown that all people in their first incarnation had equal opportunities and equal happiness, there would yet remain to be explained the great injustice that gives to one person a character at his first human incarnation—before the intervention of karma—that enables him to triumph over evil and avoid generating much evil karma; while giving to another aweak and feeble character that has not the power to resist evil, and thus accumulates a terrific karmic burden. Before the intervention of this karma the individual could not have been responsible for the kind of character he possessed. But if characters were equal and opportunities were equal, experiences would be equal, and we would not witness the apparent inequalities that we daily observe. So, after all, that a soul is endowed with a weak character before attaining responsibility would seem as great an injustice as that of being given poor opportunities.
The justice of difference in character which, to account for the differences to be observed in lives, must be admitted if it be held that advantages are meted out justly, can only be explained by the obvious fact that there is need for various kinds of souls who undergo different experiences. Karma plays no part as amoral agent until moral responsibility is attained. Man is ushered into life once without such karma, then, and subject to the very inequalities karma was invented to explain. Numerous lives only increase the suffering, for suffering is common to physical life, none being entirely free from it. Karma serves no real purpose and removes the hope of being free from this suffering to a remote future. To justify the suffering of one life, reincarnationists have substituted equally unjust suffering through many hundred lives. Unjust, because in nearly all cases the one punished is entirely ignorant of why he is suffering. It is as if aman were to whip a grown dog for offenses committed when he was a puppy.
Karma has no power to force man back upon earth. Nature does not reverse her operations. The soul on the ascending arc of evolution cannot reincarnate in a lower form, nor can it thwart the purpose of the life-wave by repeatedly reincarnating in any one species of life. The life-wave carries man irresistibly to the next stage, which is above the physical. Karma really embraces the astral organizations which we have built into our astral bodies previous to and during earthly life. These, by the law of magnetic affinity, after death attract us to conditions corresponding to their vibratory rates and compel us to work out our redemption from evil face to face with the motive prompting every earthly deed, with conscience presiding as the judge.
The factors that determine man’s condition in life when born into human form, are the original polarity of the soul, plus the various thought-cells organized in the astral form through his experiences in the lower forms of life through which he has evolved. His condition at any time during human life is determined by the organizations of energy in his astral form at birth, plus those added by the various thoughts and deeds up to the time considered. Likewise, his condition immediately after death is determined by the thought-cells organized in his astral body up to the time of death. As morality or lack of it is most effective during human life in power to give these thought-cells special desires, atonement is not amatter of vengeance. It is a purification preparatory to a higher phase of life in which, if there is suffering, there is full knowledge of what caused it. We find, therefore, that human reincarnation as usually taught is illogical, unjust, purely speculative, hope destroying, and completely materialistic.
It is an orthodox teaching of the Orient; and orthodox beliefs of both East and West were formulated in a period when men knew almost nothing about how Nature operates. How Nature is actually observed to perform, the Universal Law of Compensation, and the true significance of pleasure and pain are explained in Course 19, Organic Alchemy.