this notion arose among primitive peoples

even anthropologists, ethnologists, and

philosophers can only speculate. In plant

life there is every indication of resurrec-

tion, or rebirth. Certain species seem to

wither and die, only to revive or be born

again at a later period.

The vernal equinox in the Northern

Hemisphere is a time when plant life is

renewed after the barren, moribund ap-

pearance of nature in winter. Perhaps

man, too, is reborn to live again among

mortals in some other form. At least,

nature would seem to suggest it.

Psychologically, thç desire to live again

among one’s friends and family, con-

tinuing the familiar ways of life one had

enjoyed, would certainly have as strong

an appeal as a promise of life in another

world which had never been experienced

personally. A cursory examination of the

history of this subject reveals that the

belief in a re-embodiment on earth has

been accepted by millions for centuries.

Today, the words reincarnation, trans-

migration, and metamorphosis are com-

monly and erroneously interchanged.

There is, in fact, quite a technical differ-

ence between their meanings. The doctrine

of transmigration supposes the possibility

after death of the soul of man entering a

plant, bird, reptile, or a bull; in fact, any-

thing that is animate.

Wherever it has been a religious doc-

trine, however, transmigration has been

governed by certain assumed super-

natural laws: the form in which the soul

incarnated being dependent upon its per-

sonal development, and the experience to

be gained dependent upon the form in

which the soul is placed or the punish-

ments imposed upon it. Usually, the

transmigration of the soul into an animal

has been accepted as an act of regression.

Primitive peoples are keen observers

of animal life and behavior because of

its being contiguous with their own

living. They presume a certain similarity

between the characteristics of animals

and the behavior of humans. To the

primitive mind, then, there was an actual

bond or relationship to the human per-

sonality by the law of similarity. Conse-

quently, it was not difficult for such

minds to assume that a particular species

of living things possessed souls of humans

that passed into them at death.

The Egyptians had three ideas regard-

ing the human personality after death.

One was the mystical union with God;

the second, transmigration into an animal;

and third, metamorphosis, or the volun-

tary entering of the soul into another

form. In the conception of the mystical

union, the soul was returned to merge

with God. It became one with the Divine

Essence.

In this idea, we find an ancient ex-

pression, which prevails in many esoteric

teachings today, of the highest form of

mystical pantheism. In the famous Book

of the Dead, a collection of religious

liturgies and descriptions of life after

death, we find such statements as “I am

Ra [a god]” or, “I am Thoth.” It was be-

lieved that when the soul united with

God, it was a complete apotheosis, the

absorption conferring on the soul a divine

power equal to that of God.

Other Egyptian Beliefs

Some Egyptologists are in doubt as to

what extent the Egyptians believed in

transmigration, or the passing of the soul

into animals. Some tomb inscriptions

seem to imply transmigration. Various

scenes show Egyptians driving swine be-

fore a god for judgment to be passed on

them as if they possessed a rational soul.

On the other hand, there are examples

of metamorphosis—the belief that hu-

mans attempt to transform into other

living forms. There are also indications

that the Egyptians believed that inanimate

objects could be transformed into living

ones, as the metamorphosis of a wax

model into a crocodile.

The Book of the Dead contains several

chapters of magical formulas, giving the

deceased the power to be transformed

into whatever he pleases—a hawk, a

god, a flower, or a reptile: “I am the

swallow; I am the swallow. I am the

Scorpion Bird [or white bird], the daugh-

ter of Ra.”

Since the civilization of Egypt covered

a period of thousands of years, its culture

advanced and declined at different times.

Prevailing religious conceptions over such

a long period of civilization were both

primitive and representative of advanced

abstraction. As in many lands today,

crude polytheistic beliefs and animism

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