Let us proceed to the traditional and Scriptural evidence, and to begin with let us keep to the Bible; in the Book of Wisdom of Solomon (Wisdom VIII, 19-20), we read: “I was also a gifted child and it was my lot to have a good soul; or rather, being good, I came into an uncorrupted body”.

 

St. Augustine considers this passage as a demonstration of the pre-existence of souls and of reincarnation (De gen. ad litt., 10, 7). In the Talmud, a Hebraic work written in the V century by the most erudite Hebrews of that time, there is a passage that says thus: “The soul of Abel passed into the body of Seth, and later into that of Moses”.

There is no doubt that Jesus Christ had taught secretly his disciples this great truth, and also hinted at it in public, without developing it, keeping silent about the plan of creation which could not be understood by the masses and by the people of that time, because few were those cultured and evolved.

 

“I still have many things to tell you, but now you are not in a condition to bear them. When however he, the Spirit of truth, will come, he will introduce you to the whole truth; in fact, he will not speak on his own, but will say what he hears and will announce to you the things to come.”

 

Among the disciples of the Lord there was the conviction that an individual could have sinned before being born, that is in a previous life. This is confirmed by some dialogues related in the Gospels. For the followers of Christ and for those who were learned in spiritual matters, the dead could come back to live on earth, and in bodies and circumstances conforming to the law of compensation. In fact, one day Jesus, while going in the direction of Caesarea of Philippi, asked his disciples:

 

“ - Who do men say I am? - And they answered: - Some say that you are John the Baptist, some Elijah, some, one of the ancient prophets resurrected. - And he to them: - But you, who do you say I am? - Peter answered: The Messiah of God. -”

 

In the concept of the disciples, resurrection was reincarnation. The ideas about this were not very clear to the masses. The Tetrarch Herod asked about Christ: “Is he John the Baptist resurrected from death?” Therefore, he who was not initiated to the mysteries of the Kabbalàh, or secret science of the Hebrew prophets, had a vague and incomplete knowledge about the soul and the body. It was believed that a man could live again, but it was not known exactly in what way.

 

Resurrection was the popular explanation taught by the doctors of the Law, by the Rabbis, but the reincarnation was the explanation of the initiates, who indicated it by the revolutions of the soul, the Ghilgul. The Resurrection is of a God made Man, the reincarnation is of men.

Tommaso Palamidessi

excerpt from "SCRIPTURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION OF THE REINCARNATION"

from the 5th Booklet