LIFE’S PROBLEMS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10991, 29 August 1921, Page 3

LIFE’S PROBLEMS

"RE-BIRTH OFFERS SOLUTION.” Under the auspices of the Church Universal, Mr Vivian H. R. Deacon gave an interesting address at the Town Hall concert chamber last anight on "Rebirth : Its Solution to Life’s Problems.” There was aj good attendance in spite of, the rain. At the opening of the service Mr Gilbert Hearn sang very acceptably "Queen of Angels.” DOCTRINE OF REINCARNATION. The idea of re-birth, cl re-incarna-tion, of repeated embodiment in the flesh, stated Mr Deacon, offered a solution of many of the problems of life. The doctrine of re-in carnation was, he ©aid, a part of the early Christian teaching. For example, Christ himself remarked of a certain man, "This is Elijah, who was to come”; and he. repeatedly asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" thus showing that in that day it was a common thing to ask of a prophet or a teacher who had been an a previous incarnation. Referring to the population problem, Mr Deacoa pointed out that many believers in reincarnation hold that the number of souls reincarnating in and developing on this earth, <is a fixed number. Among the problems that could not possibly be solved without an understanding or reincarnation. was that, of the difference in mental and moral status of the genius and the savage. The difference was simply one of age, not, of kind. It was the difference between the sapling and the oak, the difference between the child soul and the elder soul; and we could forgive actions on the part of one of thewe child that we could not possibly forgive an the case of one elder soul. The case of Booker T. Washington, the well-known negro teacher and leader in tho United States, had been a great puzzle to many people? but he explained that Booker T. Washington had probably had before many white incarnations, and he had possibly reincarnated his last time as a negro in order to win tho confidence of that race,"induce it to accept reforms for its own benefit at the hands of the white man, and enable the race as a whole to evolve to a higher plane. RATANA A WHITE INCARNATION? * It whs quite -possible an the same way, said Mr Deacon, that Ratana, the Maori healer, had had white incarnations in the past, and had A special work to do among the Maoris to-day. We knew that we were living at a peculiarly important period just now. We knew that an ignorant and backward people must have a sign or a wonder to gain their attention.; and, therefore, it might bo that the Rulers had found if necessary to have' this special ofitpouring of spirit among the Maori® to-day in order to hasten the evolution of the Maori race, so that the lower forms could dde out, and the whole of the race could go forward on the upward path. An understanding of the doctrine of reincarnation, claimed Mr Deacon, would enable us to deal much more humanly and successfully with the problem of the criminal classes. W© should then realise that crime was duo to backwardness of development and to diseased conditions, and should bo dealt with, not by punishment as such, but by careful training and tho treatment appropriate for disease.