Past Lives & Present Problems

Manly P. Hall

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9780893143817: Past Lives & Present Problems

ISBN 10: 0893143812 ISBN 13: 9780893143817

Publisher: Philosophical Research Society, 1998

An essay addressing the burden of unfinished business from the past and planned destiny in the light of Buddhist teachings. Very few people realize that the doctrine of reincarnation is not a minority belief, but that it is presently contributing to the integrities of more than a billion human beings. Many of the world's most illustrious thinkers have accepted the theory of reincarnation as the most reasonable and practical solution to the mysteries of man's origin, purpose, and destiny. One of the principal objections to the concept is due to a popular misunderstanding. It has been assumed that it means the binding of the individual to an endless succession of physical re-embodiments, each of which is devoted to the payment of moral debts incurred at some remote time in the past, each incarnation leading to further karmic responsibility -- the pattern extending to infinity.

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From the Publisher:

The Philosophical Research Society is a nonprofit organization founded in 1934 for the purpose of assisting thoughtful persons to live more graciously and constructively in a confused and troubled world. The Society is entirely free from educational, political, or ecclesiastical control. Dedicated to an idealistic approach to the solution of human problems, the Society's program stresses the need for the integration of religion, philosophy, and the science of psychology into one system of instruction. The goal of this instruction is to enable the individual to develop a mature philosophy of life, to recognize his proper responsibilities and opportunities, and to understand and appreciate his place in the unfolding universal pattern.

About the Author:

Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) was a seeker and lover of wisdom (the very definition of a philosopher) he had the courage and raw energy to look for wisdom in places most men had long since forgotten or never knew existed. As the Philosophical Research Society's founder and first president, he began his career in an era when most Americans did not look toward other cultures and traditions without looking down. And yet, Manly P. Hall spoke and wrote extensively on the wisdom found in all ancient traditions, and the deep cross-cultural threads and many interconnected roots of modern religious expression. While neither guru nor saint (he made no claim of perfection, far from it), his work is exceedingly rare in its grand scope, detail and synthesis. He embraced the wisdom of every tradition and, with a fluid command of the obscure and complex contents of these traditions, worked to express their unifying truths. In his long career, spanning more than seventy years of dynamic public activity, Mr. Hall delivered over 8000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 200 books, essays, and magazine articles, and left the world one of the finest libraries in the field, as well as a University that continues in his spirit of universal learning. The Philosophical Research Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1934 by Manly P. Hall for the purpose of providing thoughtful persons rare access to the depth and breadth of the world's wisdom literature. PRS is entirely free from doctrinal, political, or ecclesiastical affiliation and provides an environment sheltered from any interest intending to coerce or convert. The institution's goal is to enable the individual to develop a mature philosophy of life, dedicated to understanding and appreciating one's own unique possibilities in the unfolding universal pattern. The works published by PRS, most of which are written by Manly P. Hall himself, probe the life mysteries and spiritual issues with which every inquisitive individual is concerned. Whether interested in creating a personal library of philosophical insights, or just beginning the search for enlightenment, one will find the works featured here valuable steps through the 'gates of wisdom' to the greater world around.

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