e been decomposed, and have descended from the vegetable world to the
mineral world, and again have come back from the mineral world to the
vegetable world, and, therefore, there has been a repetition--the answer is
that the blossom, the leaf and the fruit of last year were decomposed, and
these combined elements were disintegrated and were dispersed in space,
and that the particles of the leaf and fruit of last year, after
decomposition, have not again become combined, and have not returned. On
the contrary, by the composition of new elements, the species has
returned. It is the same with the human body, which after decomposition
becomes disintegrated, and the elements which composed it are dispersed.
If, in like manner, this body should again return from the mineral or
vegetable world, it would not have exactly the same composition of
elements as the former man. Those elements have been decomposed and
dispersed; they are dissipated in this vast space. Afterward, other
particles of elements have been combined, and a second body has been
formed; it may be that one of the particles of the former individual has
entered into the composition of the succeeding individual, but these
particles have not been conserved and kept, exactly and completely,
without addition or diminution, so that they may be combined again, and
from that composition and mingling another individual may come into
existence. So it cannot be proved that this body with all its particles
has returned; that the former man has become the latter; and that,
consequently, there has been repetition; that the spirit also, like the
body, has returned; and that after death its essence has come back to this
world.

If we say that this reincarnation is for acquiring perfections so that
matter may become refined and delicate, and that the light of the spirit
may be manifest in it with the greatest perfection, this also is mere
imagination. For, even supposing we believe in this argument, still change
of nature is impossible through renewal and return. The essence of
imperfection, by returning, does not become the reality of perfection;
complete darkness, by returning, does not become the source of light; the
essence of weakness is not transformed into power and might by returning,
and an earthly nature does not become a heavenly reality. The tree of
Zaqqum,(164) no matter how frequently it may come back, will not bring
forth sweet fruit, and the good tree, no matter ho