Now, this earthly reincarnation idea is what we have been driving
at since the beginning of this particular article. What is the
argument against prior and subsequent existence here? It is
this:

"If I am to live here again, I must have lived here before. If I
have lived here before I do not know it, and I do not look
forward with pleasure to future existence here in which I shall
not know myself."

This is a reasonable objection, certainly. Reincarnation without
consciousness of former existences would miss half the fun. ----

But it is possible to be in too much of a hurry. Let us suppose
that as yet we are not sufficiently developed to carry from
one existence to another the memory of former existence. Suppose
the time is to come when we shall suddenly advance as far beyond
this intellectual stage as this stage of intellect is beyond that
of the Bushman. Is it not conceivable that we may suddenly be
enabled to recall all former existences and to remember all the
various happenings of our former lives? May we not say, "There
is Mrs. Jones. I was married to her six million years ago, and
we quarrelled"? It seems quite hopeable.

You cannot deny that it is possible. For instance: You now
lead a continuous existence. You know that you were alive three
days ago and you remember what you did then. But a baby four
weeks old does NOT know that he was alive three days ago and he
does not know what he did then. He has not reached a stage where