Reincarnated vs New Souls

HAVING told you of man's beginning as a new soul, do you want to know by what process an old soul reincarnates?

In the first place, you must understand he only returns to earth when, and if, he is ready and desirous of doing so. The higher guides in consultation decide on a suitable environment, and then explain and discuss their reasons with him; they also give him special teaching in company with others who are ready to return also. When the time arrives and the physical body of the infant is in the early stage of its growth, the chosen spirit is sent to earth, where it remains in close juxtaposition with its future mother until by degrees the spirit becomes merged into her aura, and the "cord," which will ultimately connect the spirit with its new body, forms and, penetrating the mother's physical organism, attaches itself to the child.

The spirit then gradually decreases in size (concentrates, as it were), and at the time of birth is suitable for the little body, which it envelops and partly interpenetrates. The process is exactly the reverse in this one respect to that of a new soul, which has to grow from the "drop" I told you about, but is analogous in every other respect. It is a natural, reasonable, and simple process, and though it seems so "extraordinary" to you it's only because you are unused to the idea. I don't think it is any more wonderful than the growth of the physical organism. Just think how wonderful this would seem to a stranger from another planet if in his world people multiplied by some other process. He would hardly believe it when he was told that in the warmth, and darkness, and shelter of its mother's body a tiny germ grew to be the complex thing we know man's body to be in a few short months. From the time the spirit comes to earth for this reincarnation his spirit mind becomes numbed and unconscious, and he awakes in the new body with a new consciousness, a "clean sheet" as it were. Some people think that a spirit is reabsorbed into a "general consciousness," a "world soul," as it were, before it returns, but this is not correct; all personality would be submerged, it would be like pouring a cup of water into the ocean and trying to collect it again. The difference between a reincarnated and a new soul is this: one has to grow a subconscious mind and the other has only to develop it. The new soul has the "germ" or "cell" of a mind when it comes from God; it is not ready-made.

The reincarnated spirit finds it easier to grow mentally because it has the advantage of an experienced subconscious underlying the conscious mind. In the case of a new soul the conscious mind does not have the advantage of this impetus. An old soul can choose and pick out that which is permanent and valuable from that which is beautiful but temporary, and can trust his intuition and follow his instincts, if he tries to get into touch with his subconscious mind, for this will always direct him rightly. Most people want to do what their senses dictate, for this is generally a pleasant road; the other may not be. But man must learn to control selfish desires; it is essential for his own evolution as well as for the good of others. Each time he gains mastery over himself he moves along his road of evolution. This is more difficult for a new soul, as he has to learn by experience; an old one has a reservoir of this to draw upon. Personality is born of the conscious and subconscious development; it expresses itself in manner and emotion, it is produced by exercising mind and will power.

Claude's Second Book, L. Kelway-Bamber, New York, 1920

© Raimond Spekking / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (via Wikimedia Commons)