Reincarnation

[Enmisueños]

Many Baha'is have come to the Faith as part of a long and sometimes arduous search for what is true.  The question of reincarnation remains open to some Baha'is, even though the Baha'i Writings do not recognize it.  I know what 'Ab'dul-Bahá has written on the topic.  I'd be interested if any Baha'is (or not-Bahai's) care to discuss this.  I will say that due to certain experiences of mine, I have questions that are not addressed by 'Ab'dul-Bahá.  Perhaps someone can point me to further Writings on the topic.

As human being who lives both experientially and experimentally (in the way George Fox used the term), I find it difficult to conclude that no one comes back, ever.  As a Baha'i, I have to let this be the last word:

"We must use writings of the Prophets as our measurement. If Bahá'u'lláh had attached the slightest importance to occult experiences, to the seeing of auras, to the hearing of mystic voices; if He had believed that reincarnation was a fact, He, Himself, would have mentioned all of these things in His Teachings. The fact that He passed over them in silence shows that to Him, they had either no importance or no reality, and were consequently not worthy to take up His time as the Divine Educator of the human race."

   (Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 538)

[Parsa]

Thanks for the post. I think the gist of Abdu'l-Baha's argument is in regards to the purpose in returning. If the purpose is to progress spiritually, how would coming back as a new person and basically forgetting everything you learned (or mistakes you learned from) help you? Perhaps if we lived longer, some of us might have more time to straighten ourselves out, but I don't really see that as true anyway. This world is a matrix just as the unborn child is in a matrix. We grow spiritually, growing our spiritual "senses", our spiritual eyes and ears and limbs, so that we can be born into a new world as a spiritually healthy beings. Of course recognizing that we are spiritual beings is the first step.