sometimes objected that by the hypothesis of reincarnation we are
required to go over the same ground again and again and learn what we
have previously learned. But the criticism has no foundation in fact.
There is undoubtedly some necessary recapitulation in the early part of
the incarnation, just as there may be in the early part of a school
term. But in the main we are thrown into new conditions which are
calculated to develop additional faculties. We return to the same
material world but we find it with a higher form of civilization than
when we were here before. Never before have we who are now here seen a
civilization like this, with its age of iron and steam and electricity,
with its marvelous opportunities for developing the mechanical faculty
in human nature. And that is another bit of evidence of the beauty and
utility of the evolutionary scheme. We come back always to greater
opportunities than we have yet known.

It is not only clear that the failure to remember the past has nothing
to do with our ability to use the skill and wisdom we have previously
evolved but it is equally obvious that it is the best of good fortune
that we cannot remember the past. If we could do so that memory would
keep alive the personal antagonisms of past reincarnations. Nobody will
deny that we have plenty of them in this incarnation or that the world
would be the better if we could bury some of the present antagonisms in
a like oblivion. If all quarreling neighbors were to suddenly lose
memory of their feuds it would be an undeniable advantage to everybody
concerned.

Nature's wisdom in veiling the past from us can be understood by
observing the pernicious effects of remembering too long the blunders
people make in this incarnation. Take the case of a very young man who
has charge of his employer's money and who, finding himself pressed for
ready cash, makes the grave mistake of "borrowing" a hundred dollars
without his employer's knowledge and consent. The young man really
believes he is borrowing it and knows just where the money is to come
from to replace it soon, and he thinks nobody but himself will ever know
anything about it. But to his consternation the money that was due him
in a few days cannot be collected in time and an unexpected examination
of his books leads to his arrest for embezzlement. He is convicted,
sent to prison for a year, and returns a marked man. Thoughtless
society closes its doors against him. He see