Birth Death Cycle

In the previous section we promised to cover the topic of the birth/death cycle of humanity, and we will do so now.

Let us recall the Principle of Reflection, which states that matter functions as a mirror for Being; that life-forms in matter offer patterns of expression for Being; and that Being experiences and moves through these patterns by being ‘bound’ in some sense to these patterns in time.

Therefore it follows that every such experience has a beginning in time, and also an end. In relatively primitive stages or states of Becoming, a fragment of Being does not know how to bind or to unbind itself from these patterns. Therefore it is required that the binding and the unbinding be automatic. We’ll now discuss what this means.

If the life-form is to truly mirror the natures and attributes of a given fragment of Being, then it is required that a unique life-form be developed exactly for this purpose. That is, the life-form must be developed so as to correctly reflect important aspects of that Being. This then requires the life-form to receive inputs from that fragment of Being, while the form is being developed, so that patterns of the physical form will reflect those of Being.

If the reader gives some further thought to the above requirement it should then become clear that we are talking about birth and embryonic development, viz. the establishment of a unique seed pattern that develops into a viable new life-form within a protected high energy ambience (the womb), and the ongoing development of that life-form into maturity. The very process that man associates with genetics and embryonic development is a requirement at the dense material level, and not simply a convenience or an accidental emergence. Though the development of the embryo itself is automatic, throughout much of this process a fragment of Being must be actively involved in contributing its own energies into the physical pattern so that reflection is possible. It is also important that the development not be disturbed by extraneous energy sources. Through such a process the creation of a new reflective life-form is facilitated. Indeed, if it weren’t for the Principle of Reflection such a mechanism of expression would make little sense from a spiritual perspective.

Perhaps the reader has grasped some significance of what this means. The genetic pattern and the resulting embryo development must be actively imprinted upon by energies from Being for reflection to take effect. Therefore any perceived imperfections in that development can often be considered as manifestations of similar ‘imperfect’ patterns within Being. For example, if energies contributed on the emotional plane have significant distortions, it is well possible that the embryonic heart may be under-developed. Each and every body part, organ and tissue of the life form in development carries a reflection of the energies and patterns that are projected by the fragment of Being binding to it. Manifestations of ‘defects’ are made easier by having the physical life forms themselves being genetically prone to such issues. Thus much of hereditary and congenital problems found in physical life forms usually have deeper origins in Being itself. In this context we must point out that a life-form need not, and usually does not, represent all of the patterns and energies resident in a fragment of Being, but only a useful subset at any time.

Once Being experiences manifestation through a physical life-form, it is usually captivated, enraptured or caught up in that experience and unable to dissociate its new identity from its true essence. In such a situation Being is not able to observe and understand its manifested patterns well. Therefore it is first required to temporarily separate (or project) a portion of Being which is to be bound to the life-form in question. The portion thus separated develops into the personality (in the case of a human form), whereas the former functions as the inner observer or the inner eye, sometimes called the higher self. Without such a scheme Being may find itself ‘lost’ in matter and the Prime Directive: ‘Being, Know Thyself!”, would no longer work. As the reader might be aware, various spiritual traditions discuss “The Self” and its nature. The Principle of Reflection provides a basis for why such a dichotomy exists.

Death is the mechanism by which a projected fragment is automatically unbound from the life form and is then enabled to re-integrate with its witnessing higher portion. At this time all the experiences and memories of the personality (the lower self) are made available to the higher. Now this is not to imply that there is no communication between the higher and lower portions during manifestation. Quite the opposite is the case. The higher self establishes multiple links with the physical life form as it develops and matures - links through which many attributes and characteristics are projected into the personality. Through these links the wisdom of the higher self is also available to the personality. The same links are used to transmit assimilated experiences from the personality back to the higher self. We discussed these concepts in the chapter ‘Tree of Life’ in our book, “The God Principle”. The links are sometimes called ‘chakras’ in eastern literature.

At ‘death’, which is but the termination of a temporary phase of experience, the lower portion (the personality) reintegrates or merges into its higher self and various experiences and memories are assimilated into the higher portion. At this point Being may embark on yet another projection into matter so as to complete its current phase of experiences. Usually it takes a number of such projections and experiences within a given pattern before Being moves on to another pattern.

The reader might be thinking that we are talking about reincarnation. This is not quite the case. Reincarnation as it is generally understood is a caricature of what actually happens. Subsequent projections of Being may have little to nothing common in essence with earlier projections, so it is incorrect to say that a personality reincarnates. It is however correct to say that attributes and tendencies that once formed a personality may find future expression in a different mix of personalities. But the consciousness pattern of one personality need not and usually does not continue as such in another. In this sense, there is no reincarnation. However the term is a useful abstraction in discussions, provided there is a proper framework of understanding of the background. We discussed this further in the chapter “Path” of the book, “The God Principle”.

In the next section we will discuss the apparent loss of memory and its main purpose when Being projects personalities into matter.