r the name of
Re-incarnation, by means of the great volume of literature issued by
The Theosophical Society and its allied following. No longer is the
thought a novelty to the Western thinker, and many have found within
themselves a corroborative sense of its truth. In fact, to many the
mere mention of the idea has been sufficient to awaken faint shadowy
memories of past lives, and, to such, many heretofore unaccountable
traits of character, tastes, inclinations, sympathies, dislikes, etc.,
have been explained.

The Western world has been made familiar with the idea of the re-birth
of souls into new bodies, under the term of "Re-incarnation," which
means "a re-entry into flesh," the word "incarnate" being derived from
the words "_in_," and "_carnis_," meaning flesh--the English word
meaning "to clothe with flesh," etc. The word Metempsychosis, which we
use in this lesson, is concerned rather with the "passage of the soul"
from one tenement to another, the "fleshly" idea being merely
incidental.

The doctrine of Metempsychosis, or Re-incarnation, together with its
accompanying doctrine, Karma, or Spiritual Cause and Effect, is one of
the great foundation stones of the Yogi Philosophy, as indeed it is of
the entire system of systems of Oriental Philosophy and Thought. Unless
one understands Metempsychosis he will never be able to understand the
Eastern Teachings, for he will be without the Key. You who have read
the _Bhagavad Gita_, that wonderful Hindu Epic, will remember how the
thread of Re-Birth runs through it all. You remember the words of
_Krishna_ to _Arjuna_: "As the soul, wearing this material body,
experienceth the stages of infancy, youth, manhood, and old age, even
so shall it, in due time, pass on to another body, and in other
incarnations shall it again live, and move and play its part." "These
bodies, which act as enveloping coverings for the souls occupying them,
are but finite things--things of the moment--and not the Real Man at
all. They perish as all finite things perish--let them perish." "As a
man throweth away his old garments, replacing them with new and
brighter ones, even so the Dweller of the body, having quitted its old
mortal frame, entereth into others which are new and freshly prepared
for it. Weapons pierce not the Real Man, nor doth the fire burn him;
the water affecteth him not, nor the wind drieth him nor bloweth him
away. For he is impregnable and impervious to these things of the wo