The work opens by posing the fundamental enigma of human suffering and moral inequality, arguing that traditional dogmas fail to account for the harsh realities of existence. The author posits that evolution requires the continual return of souls to earth through successive rebirths, transforming unformed germs into self-conscious spiritual beings. The first major section defines the soul and its subtle vehicles, specifically the astral and mental bodies, explaining how these finer sheaths preserve memory and consciousness independently of the physical brain. Following this, the moral law of cause and effect, or karma, is presented as an absolute system of adjustment that neither punishes nor rewards arbitrarily, but exacts precise restitution for every disturbance of universal harmony.
The text then engages with scientific observation, demonstrating that physical germs and heredity alone cannot explain extraordinary human faculties like genius or innate tendencies, which necessitate the existence of an invisible causal body. Finally, a comprehensive historical survey traces the doctrine of palingenesis across ancient India, Egypt, Chaldæan traditions, Celtic druidism, Orphic Greece, the Kabala, and early Christian esotericism. The narrative contends that this unbroken consensus of the ages offers the only rational explanation for the human journey from ignorance to ultimate perfection.
