Reincarnation: A Myth of Rebirth

Abstract

This dissertation examines perspectives on reincarnation from Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, early Christian, and Gnostic traditions as well as Western Hermeticism and Theosophy. While these views differ in significant respects, I argue that the purpose of reincarnation is to enable a soul to gradually improve or evolve through a series of lifetimes. The study asks three major questions: If one believes that what one does in this life echoes in the next, can this accrual of experience lead to refinement of the soul’s consciousness and behavior? Why have some cultures embraced belief in rebirth while others have rejected it? How does the history and mythology of reincarnation serve the modern psyche and reconnect us to the world soul?
These questions are also dramatized in a fictional component of the dissertation in the form of three mythopoetic stories. Four fictional characters gather in a space called the green room to discuss their prior incarnations before rebirth in a new context in which they have the opportunity to make use of lessons learned. One story is a midrash on Adam’s first wife from Genesis. The second takes a deep look into the pre-Cretan labyrinth of Daedalus used as sacred space for initiation into the mystery of rebirth. The third imagines Celtic Christian Patrick as he introduces Jesus to the Ireland of Druids.
In both the theoretical and creative portions of the dissertation, I assert that evolution occurs collectively on the stage of history as well through the inward pilgrimage of souls entailed by the Jungian concept of individuation. Reincarnation, as it is understood in this dissertation, contributes to the re-enchantment of the cosmos, a worldview in which souls gather experience
and wisdom that contribute to their refinement and that increase their capacity to be partners with the earth in an evolutionary process that is much greater than our species’ egocentric concerns.