31. "A Writer’s Freedom"

"As a writer you are free.
You are about the freest person that ever was.
Your freedom is what you have bought
with your solitude, your loneliness."
~Ursula K. Le Guin.

There are some things I’ve learned to leave alone and allow others to deal with -- not because they don’t concern me, but because those particular subjects get me all torqued up and I don’t have the energy and health that I used to and must choose carefully what I invest myself in, these days.

One of the subjects that I’ve learned to leave for others is religion. I no longer allow myself to be sucked into "discussions" about religion -- especially anything to do with "-isms": e.g. - creationism, fundamentalism, evolutionism, agnosticism, atheism, socialism, fascism, bushism, etc.. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own beliefs. I most definitely do, and used to be quite the activist. It just means that I no longer have a need to argue with anyone about them. I have better things to do with what little time and energy I have left.

I do make an exception, however, when I see someone being harmed by others’ "-isms". I especially take exception to someone fearing to "upset" believers in one of the "-isms" to the point that they are afraid they’ll get in trouble with them for writing about a particular subject -- whether it be fiction or non. I’m very big on the freedoms of speech, so all the "-isms" can express themselves, not just one. That "liberty and justice for all," part of the American flag pledge, means "all" -- not: "all those who talk, act and smell like I do." The following is a case in point.

A writer posted a question on the nanowrimo.org forums, asking for help. He was writing a novel in which the main character (MC) "dies and is judged, then is sent back to Earth to live his life over." His concern was two-fold. First, he needed info about Reincarnation -- and more specifically, Reincarnation and Christianity, because the MC was a Christian. Second, he asked if writing about Reincarnation would upset Christians too much. There was a definite tone of genuine fear in the post.

It was that second concern that instantly galvanized me to write a post that would answer his question about Reincarnation and, more importantly, empower him to write from his heart what he felt he should, without fear of reprisals of any kind -- from anyone.

I studied Bible/Theology and Church History for four + years, but wasn’t taught much of anything about Reincarnation -- except that "we don’t believe in that". Most Christian schools and churches really don't have much to say about it, so they conveniently skip over it. After I got out of Bible college I started studying on my own. This is what I found out in my own research over the last few decades:

Reincarnation was a commonly held concept of the early Jews. I already knew that Jesus and most of his early followers were Jews and they practiced what we now call Judaism in the Jewish Temple and synagogues. My research told me that many scholars now believe that not much was said about Reincarnation in either the Old or New Testaments, because it was so commonly held for so long by so many different peoples and belief systems, even before Judaism, that it wasn't thought necessary to discuss it. It just wasn't a issue for them.

So, Reincarnation became a natural part of the early Christians' belief system and practice along with many other things, like worshiping on Saturday, making live sacrifices in the Temple, eating only what are now called Kosher foods, circumcision of all males, head coverings, etc., etc., etc.. As the years passed, many of those practices were dropped or altered, for one reason or another -- often with a lot of heated debate. But not so with Reincarnation. Again, it wasn't an issue.

That is, Reincarnation wasn’t an issue until the mid-sixth century A.D. -- about 550 years after the beginning of the Christian Church -- when it was "banned" by the 5th Ecumenical Council in 553, which was manipulated by Emperor Justinius into banning the teachings of the church father Origen (185-253), who had spoken out in unmistakable terms on the question of the repeated incarnations of the soul:

"Each soul enters the world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defects of its past lives. Its place in this world is determined by past virtues and shortcomings."~De Principalis

"Is it not more in accordance with common sense that every soul, for reasons unknown -- I speak in accordance with the opinions of Pythagoras, Plato and Empedokles -- enters the body influenced by its past deeds? The soul has a body at its disposal for a certain period of time which, due to its changeable condition, eventually is no longer suitable for the soul, whereupon it changes that body for another." ~ Contra Celsum

In other words, Reincarnation didn’t become an issue until it became politically expedient. The Council was used by the Emperor to curtail the Pope’s powers and to pronounce a ban on the teachings of Origen, which happened to include Reincarnation. For some reason the Emperor really had it in for old Origen.

What astounds me is this. Even though only about five people were present for the council meeting -- not even the Pope was present -- the church accepted the ban and let it pass into established doctrine where it has remained for more than 1500 years! This makes the idea extremely difficult to correct, now -- especially since they first have to admit that they made a mistake. (Oops!) Since that's not likely to happen, any time soon, the subject of Reincarnation has played no role in modern Christian doctrine, in contrast with other world religions, except to say, "We don’t believe that." But they don’t know why! Most of them don’t know that the original Christians believed in Reincarnation for over 500 years -- let alone why the church all of a sudden nixed it.

I read somewhere that the Council banned Reincarnation because they wanted to discourage people from suiciding so they could come back and start over and maybe have a better life. Later, I read somewhere else that, that was just a "cover story", an excuse; that they actually didn't like the idea that they themselves might come back as a peasant or [gasp!] a woman and loose all their money and power. So they banned it. Maybe their motivations had to do with those reasons -- I don't know. I wasn't there. But I'll bet that the reason the ban was allowed to become and remain doctrine for a millennium and a half had more to do with politics, power and control over the parishioners and their valuables, than anything truly spiritual. (Ask me if I've gotten cynical in my old age.)

My point is this: Reincarnation is neither Christian nor non-Christian -- though some (not all) Christians are the only ones who seem to take issue with it these days (thanks to Emperor Justinius and the 5th Council). I consider it to be like gravity -- it's just the way things work. "Banning" it doesn't make it "not so". And life sure is a whole lot more interesting and hopeful with it.

So, if you want your novel’s MC to Reincarnate -- I say, have at it! The only people you're going to offend are those who don't know their church history; which, granted, is a lot -- but, hey, it's time they learned the facts, let it go, and moved on to something really important to get upset about, like ... well, you name it -- world hunger, child abuse, domestic violence, freedom of speech, and loving our neighbor as our selves.

Take care, Y'all and… Write On!

© Nanette Y. Francis, 2005. All Rights Reserved.