When the Soul Awakens: The Path to Spiritual Evolution and a New World Era

Nancy Seifer and Martin Vieweg are theosophists of the Alice Bailey variety. This means that they're of a slightly different theosophical heritage as I am - I'm a Blavatsky person. Unlike Blavatsky, Alice Bailey was not afraid of the word 'God' - she uses it a LOT, for something that at the time few Christians would have recognized as their God.

That is: For her and the authors of this book, God is the underlying consciousness of everything, quite literally. It's not just the foundation of our own consciousness, but that of the earth as well, of the solar system, of the Galaxy. Or to quote the Christian Bible 'In Him we move and have our being' (quoted by the authors).

This is no longer such a strange idea as it was in the early 20th century. Few people can imagine a God with a beard on a cloud any more.

The main debate in Western civilization is about the soul, or the essence of consciousness. To put it simply the question is whether consciousness is a weird side effect of material evolution, or whether perhaps consciousness is the reason we are here in the first place.

Nancy Seifer and Martin Vieweg answer that question with a very definite: the reason for human beings is that they are vehicles for consciousness, just like animals and plants btw. Consciousness is not limited to humans, however we do have a special place in the universe, in the evolutionary scheme.

In other words: not only is consciousness more than just a side effect of physical evolution, human consciousness is part of a trend in nature - from lower consciousness to higher consciousness. From finding consciousness in the lowest life forms, to becoming aware of our Divine background. Or in the words of Alice Bailey:

"Know thyself" is the first great injunction and long is the process of attaining that knowledge. "Know the Self" comes next and when that is achieved, man knows not only himself but all selves. (p. 28, quoted from A Treatise on Fire, p. 1237)

Fundamentally spiritual consciousness includes not just a realization of our own Divinity, and Oneness with the Divine, but also the unity of everything else in the Universe with that Divine essence.

The reason William James is quoted so much in this book is twofold. First of all he proved that the ordinary methods of the science of his time could not say anything about the Soul - neither that it existed, nor that it didn't. Science just didn't have the tools to deal with the question. While most scientists since have used this as a reason to simply ignore the question and often to assume that the soul is non-existent, William James decided to tackle the issue from a different perspective.

In his 'Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature' he set out to record spiritual experiences and to show their lasting value to humanity. In this way he sidestepped the scientific question with a pragmatic approach: it is there, it is useful, so let's not ignore it shall we? (my words)

The chapter rebirth discusses the historical background of the laws of reincarnation and karma.

Unfortunately the weakness of this type of book comes out here. Generally people don't really like nuance and historical accuracy. On page 74 we read that 'according to certain Hindu scholars Patanjali may have lived as far back as 10,000 BCE.' This is VERY misleading, though not faulty. Western scholars date Patanjali in the 2nd century BCE, but I'm sure there are Hindu scholars who insist that he should be dated earlier.

This is relevant mostly because it makes it even more uncertain where the idea of reincarnation originates. Seifer and Vieweg leave this question wisely open, but do hint at an Indian origin. Given how dominant a cultural idea it has been there, unlike in the West where it was always a minority belief, this does seem likely. But bringing Patanjali's supposedly ancient background into this does not make me trust the book any.

The book goes on to repeat the Bible verses that have convinced generations of Esoteric Christians that Jesus DID teach reincarnation to his disciples (and the reference to parables makes it easy to believe a meaning was hidden for the common follower).

Also predictably, the evidence that Jesus was indirectly connection to the Essenes (through John the Baptist) is repeated.

Then, of course, the Gnostics are brought into it.

I hope the reader of this review will forgive my cynicism. I've been hearing all these arguments for over a decade, and then spent a few years at university - and there the lines connecting the argument, were cut with scientific skepticism. And where it was made clear to me that we may know more about the 'Gnostics' now than a century ago, it's still a matter of debate whether they were a Christian sect as this book suggests. In fact, it's a matter of debate whether there was a sect there at all.

From the Gnostics we move on to H.P. Blavatsky and Edgar Cayce, 19th and 20th century proponents of reincarnation. Both started out with only lukewarm sympathy for the idea, but turned out evangelists for it later on.

Last but not least we read of the 20th century researcher Ian Stevenson's who investigated the reports by young children who claim past lives. This research is indeed the strongest argument in favor of reincarnation. It reports numerous instances of children who knew things about the families they claimed to have been part of before their birth that others in the neighborhood were unaware of.

All in all this chapter does once more make it clear how useful this book is as a summary of beliefs in alternative and esoteric circles as well as the usual arguments in favor of them. Being a book by believers, it does not deal with any arguments that throw doubt on the claims.

... the spiritual path is never pleasant or comfortable, though joy is surely among its ultimate rewards. (p. 93)

It's good to be reminded of that, especially with all those books and speakers these days telling us to seek worldly success as part of the spiritual path.

In theosophy the spiritual path of this lifetime is seen as part of an evolutionary journey that takes many lifetimes.

What has eluded our comprehension, causing material living to seem meaningless to those who intuitively sense that there must be more, is the dual nature of the evolutionary journey. In the first stage, the path of human evolution, the individual "unit of consciousness" grows through experience in the material world, gradually developing an integrated persona. The goal of this stage is the coordination of body, emotions, and mind into a harmonious whole that can function effectively on the material plane. In the second stage, the path of spiritual evolution, this integrated personality learns to become subordinate to the Soul. The goal of the spiritual path is to transform the personality into an instrument of divine service.