One idea of immortality is that the atoms of which our molecules and thence our cells, muscles, etc., are constituted are neither created nor destroyed and are therefore immortal. And indeed these atoms go on endlessly combining and recombining in perpetual and eternal activity. But such a view, if it excludes other aspects of immortality, must necessarily deny that there is a non-physical aspect of the individual that survives death.

We postulate a non-physical component -- call it soul or ego or thetan or self or whatever name you wish -- that by some mechanism escapes from or abandons the body upon death to pursue a separate existence in its own right. Now we can explore that ego's innate capabilities, its origin and ultimate extinction, the boundaries limiting its activities, even descriptions of the immortal component itself.

A widely taught idea is that the newly-created soul traverses once through life to an identity-preserving non-physical eternal reward, either tranquil or tempestuous; there is no chance to undo mistakes once made. Some interpose an intermediate station in which a soul not yet worthy of tranquility may remain to expiate the sins committed in the physical realm and then ascend to tranquility. Evidently there must be a realm beyond the physical and there must be some sort of organization, which imposes a political structure and therefore a Most-High Being. A newly- created soul is obviously not a reincarnated soul.

Some teach bodily resurrection in the hereafter so that the spirit is once again clothed with a body; this is part of my own heritage. As a youngster it troubled me that there may be conflict -- heaven forbid -- created by remarriage of those separated by death or divorce -- How would they be paired? And what apparent age would I have so both grandparents, who knew me as an infant, and grandchildren, who knew me as an oldster, would have equal claim to recognition? Infirmities are banished; peace will reign; love will rule, forever and ever, amen.

And some teach that a chosen few -- some 100,000 -- of the worthy will be physically resurrected at some point in the future to inhabit a physically reconstituted Earth. This teaching does not necessarily support a spirit realm and I am unaware that they speak of the residence of the soul during this interim. Evidently the reconstituted Earth must reflect a specific degree of scientific exploitation, so there is a question of the period in history that will be reconstituted. Moreover, an outside agency must choose the worthy since no one would willingly exclude himself, hence deity is necessarily a part of this teaching.

Again, there is only one passage through life, but a soul on the Other Side can create other souls and imbue them with his memories and then through continued contact with his progeny continue to experience the physical realm; he may create as many as he wishes, many living concurrently and often in psychic contact with each other.

Fundamental to most teachings of reincarnation (rebirth of the soul in another body) are Karma and the persistence of memory. Our sub-conscious memory banks carry full recollection of all experiences in each and every life, even though they have passed from physical-life recollection. Hypnotism and other second- party techniques have been used to encourage recollections of things beyond a subject's conscious ability to recall; similarly, through past lives regression, a person may tap recollections of one or another of his past lives or may tap attendant reflections from the spirit realm such as Karmic lessons, out-of-body experiences or contacts with beings in the spirit realm. Upon joining a newly created life a benign amnesia blanks conscious recollections of past lives even though they are retained by the sub-conscious. Since the carrier of these recollections vacates the body upon death without an attendant loss in body weight, it must be without mass. (Since memory is ordinarily thought to be a physical thing tied up with nerves and nerve connections in the brain, persistence of memory requires we postulate some other mechanism for memory by the spirit.)

Karma is the enforcer of absolute justice. If in a prior life others have been seriously harmed by our actions and retribution not exacted in that life then there is stored negative Karma, which must be atoned; acts in this life may store Karma against future physical lives. (Though I have never heard it suggested, we must surely store positive Karma as readily as negative.) Karma should not be confused with predestination, where free will is compromised by the agency outlining the predestined course; Karma is more the selection of circumstances conducive to acts or events to balance the scale of justice or to provide needed lessons, and the free will of the individual is not affected in any way. After all, in the larger sense, if the scales of justice are still unbalanced at the end of one life there are further opportunities so that justice ultimately cannot be denied.

How or by whom is Karma assessed? Some say that the individual in the spirit realm is possessed of all knowledge and wisdom and will determine for himself what is necessary to effect absolute justice or to learn mandatory lessons so as eventually to escape the wheel of rebirth. (Freedom to determine one's own Karma -- no political structure, we are all equals -- surely leaves a mechanism for self-serving that could greatly hinder absolute justice. Moreover, the list of lessons must be somehow established, as must be an end point where justice will have been achieved.) But with a political structure in the spirit realm it is reasonable to expect that Karma would be reviewed by responsible authority so as to ensure proper objectives for the physical-life-to-come. And with Karma thus established, a suitable birth setting may be sought to best effect these objectives.

At what point does the soul-to-be-reborn enter the body of the newly-created life? It must be after formation of the zygote and before the new-born begins to assert a personality. Does the soul enter when or shortly after the Karmic vehicle is selected?

In a scheme requiring neither deity nor spirit realm, the soul of the dead passes immediately to a new born so there is continuity in the spark of life; disparities in numbers of deaths and births is accommodated in part by exchanges between castes or between humans and other species. I am unsure how Karma is assessed since there is neither time allotted for evaluation nor Evaluating Committee. Further, one must ascend to the highest caste to become eligible for escape from the wheel of rebirth to nirvana (release into nothingness or absorption into the universal spirit, which carries with it loss of individual identity).

Most teachings of reincarnation I have encountered speak not of the origin of the soul. Reincarnation embraces both pre-existence and post-existence with description of neither origin nor destination (other than nirvana). Such was likely the teaching of the early Christians, since I have been told (unable to confirm) that the Second Synod of Constantinople in A.D. 553 purged the holy writ of the doctrine, leaving resurrection as the fate of the soul. (Barring physical resurrection, reincarnation differs by allowing -- not requiring but allowing -- multiple traverses through life.)

Context For Individual Continuity: The Spirit Realm