Very interesting, as reincarnation is one of those metaphysical topics I'm most fascinated with. You can certainly count me into the camp of those who simply can't not believe in reincarnation. I'm a cat person too, FWIW. And oh yea, probably a natural born Platonist. Whenever I get into drawn-out arguments with those pesky "Aristotelians", I often get the impression that those types are prone to getting too mired in particulars, and as a result, can't see the forest for the trees.
On that snippet from Phaedo, I'm reminded of the first substantial set of teachings on reincarnation I ever received (this made a lasting impression and was something I simply couldn't unlearn). I believe the teachers synthesized ideas from the Western esoteric tradition with the yogic lineage they were students of. Anyway, in the lecture on "life, death, and reincarnation", they explained that the vast majority of human souls have very little say on what their next life will be like (immature souls will too-likely chose a life of wealth, luxury, and cheap thrills). Beings they called "Recording Angels" do much of the work when it comes to lining up karmically-suitable rebirths for the soul in question. These beings sound a lot like the Norns of Norse mythology, or like the Lords of Karma from CosDoc. It's only when the soul gains an advanced level of maturation and knowledge they can get begin to partake in the process of choosing their next incarnations. I think Plato's tale perfectly illustrates precisely why it is a foolish idea for immature souls to pick their next lives; the tale seems like a warning, illustrated by a rather unfortunate "what if" scenario.
Now he was one of those who came from heaven, and in a former life had dwelt in a well-ordered State, but his virtue was a matter of habit only, and he had no philosophy.
In the aforementioned lecture, a vivid example is given of a soul who has been a pious Christian and thus very religious and morally-focused throughout their past few lives, yet hasn't cultivated any real spiritual wisdom or esoteric knowledge. They get into their idealized "Christian heaven" afterlife realm, reside in a blissful state there for quite some time, yet after a certain duration they begin to get bored, due to all the latent desires of the material world that's still very much a part of their soul and overall karmic profile. Eventually these desires exert a gravitational pull on the soul, which results in the rebirth phase kicking into gear and birth into a karmically-suitable human body/life being the end result. If that soul is to cultivate something more substantial than mere moral development (i.e. the need for meat for men, not just milk for babes, they will require a meatier spiritual path, i.e. some combination of occultism, philosophy, and mysticism.
Overall, I'm reminded of some remarks JMG has made about the parallel paths of moral and mental development the soul must undergo. Luckily, we're in a situation now where there's multiple avenues to explore wrt to both of these types of development; there's many cruddy and soul-crushing things when it comes to the era we now live in, but one of the great advantages is the plethora of spiritual options now available to us here in the modern West. In a time and place where dogmatic monotheism is the only game in town and is forced on everyone at the point of a sword, this isn't so; spiritual options are very limited. I think the buffet table we know have in front of us is something to be very thankful for, even with the dangers of "choice paralysis" that is sometimes a downside of this sort of opportunity.
Whichever way our culture proceeds, I do really hope that the availability of reincarnation teachings is something that sticks.
no subject
On that snippet from Phaedo, I'm reminded of the first substantial set of teachings on reincarnation I ever received (this made a lasting impression and was something I simply couldn't unlearn). I believe the teachers synthesized ideas from the Western esoteric tradition with the yogic lineage they were students of. Anyway, in the lecture on "life, death, and reincarnation", they explained that the vast majority of human souls have very little say on what their next life will be like (immature souls will too-likely chose a life of wealth, luxury, and cheap thrills). Beings they called "Recording Angels" do much of the work when it comes to lining up karmically-suitable rebirths for the soul in question. These beings sound a lot like the Norns of Norse mythology, or like the Lords of Karma from CosDoc. It's only when the soul gains an advanced level of maturation and knowledge they can get begin to partake in the process of choosing their next incarnations. I think Plato's tale perfectly illustrates precisely why it is a foolish idea for immature souls to pick their next lives; the tale seems like a warning, illustrated by a rather unfortunate "what if" scenario.
Now he was one of those who came from heaven, and in a former life had dwelt in a well-ordered State, but his virtue was a matter of habit only, and he had no philosophy.
In the aforementioned lecture, a vivid example is given of a soul who has been a pious Christian and thus very religious and morally-focused throughout their past few lives, yet hasn't cultivated any real spiritual wisdom or esoteric knowledge. They get into their idealized "Christian heaven" afterlife realm, reside in a blissful state there for quite some time, yet after a certain duration they begin to get bored, due to all the latent desires of the material world that's still very much a part of their soul and overall karmic profile. Eventually these desires exert a gravitational pull on the soul, which results in the rebirth phase kicking into gear and birth into a karmically-suitable human body/life being the end result. If that soul is to cultivate something more substantial than mere moral development (i.e. the need for meat for men, not just milk for babes, they will require a meatier spiritual path, i.e. some combination of occultism, philosophy, and mysticism.
Overall, I'm reminded of some remarks JMG has made about the parallel paths of moral and mental development the soul must undergo. Luckily, we're in a situation now where there's multiple avenues to explore wrt to both of these types of development; there's many cruddy and soul-crushing things when it comes to the era we now live in, but one of the great advantages is the plethora of spiritual options now available to us here in the modern West. In a time and place where dogmatic monotheism is the only game in town and is forced on everyone at the point of a sword, this isn't so; spiritual options are very limited. I think the buffet table we know have in front of us is something to be very thankful for, even with the dangers of "choice paralysis" that is sometimes a downside of this sort of opportunity.
Whichever way our culture proceeds, I do really hope that the availability of reincarnation teachings is something that sticks.