ks employment in vain.
Nobody wants an ex-convict. He explains that he had no criminal intent
and that he really was guilty of only an indiscretion and that he paid
back the money later. But the world is too busy to listen. It sees only
the court record, and that was against him. The public forgets, or never
knows, the extenuating circumstances. But it never forgets two
things--the verdict of guilty and the prison. The young man would almost
give his life for a chance to wipe it all out, but it is impossible. It
stands against him for life. But nature is wise. She does not permit our
vicious traits to extend their injury too far. If we could remember from
incarnation to incarnation that man's misfortune might afflict him for
thousands of years. But by the wise plan of closing all accounts at the
end of each incarnation the mischief of remembering the blunders of
others comes to an end. In the next incarnation all start with clear
records again.

One of the objections that one sometimes hears against reincarnation is
that it seems to separate us for long periods, if not forever, and that
even when we meet those we have previously known and loved, there is no
memory of the past. The answer to the first point is that the separation
is wholly on the lower planes and that the time spent on the higher
planes is often twenty times that given to the lower. Separation is, of
course, unavoidable on the physical plane, even where people live
together in the same home. The average man spends most of the day at
his office and sleeps about eight hours during the twenty-four. He is
really separated from his family most of the time. But there is no such
separation on higher planes and there is spent most of the whole period
of evolution. The second point--that we do not now have the pleasure of
knowing that our friends are those we knew and loved before--is not an
important one. What is really important is that we again have them. If
the ties of affection have been strong between us in the past there will
be instant friendship when we meet for the first time in this
incarnation. Those with strong heart ties are certain to be drawn into
very close association life after life. It has been observed through the
investigations that egos have been husband and wife, or parent and
child, again and again. The probability of such close relationships
depends upon the strength of the ties of affection. But if such real
bond between the souls is la