Nature or Nurture? - Heredity from a Cosmic Point of View

by Robert Wilkinson

From The Magic of Space, another gem for your consideration. It's all about how you relate to you, your parents, your inherited lineage, and some other beautiful things to consider. For a much larger view on what's happening regarding your cosmic inheritance, read on.

From Chapter 3, "Gods and Men Out of Space,"

There seems to be a definite mental aptitude or predisposition inherited in a family, and certain gifts accumulate and combine in a wonderful personality in some descendant, but it is an admitted fact that it is very seldom that a celebrated name stands at the top of the family in the line of descent. A man, as a rule, does show the characteristics of his ancestors, for the spirit-soul, that which starts a new physical existence, at birth draws its bodily substance from that which heredity bestowed on it. But that Being already possesses in his own nature, the characteristics of this medium, which it uses for its descent.

Instead of inheriting any characteristics and abilities from his ancestors, anyone who will give the subject any thought will see that this would be a great injustice, as it would make a successful life for some -- only depending upon his ancestors. But, as has been stated before, the most celebrated name stands at the bottom of a line of family descent, which shows us that the bearer of that name needed that particular ancestry to build the body necessary for the expression of his personality. This does not mean that his actual, personal qualities were inherited. This would be opposed to all sound logic, and the laws of nature. If personal gifts were inherited, they would be found at the beginning of a line of descent, and then transmitted to its descendants. These stand at the end, and show that they were not transmitted.

It seems almost impossible to believe that so many intelligent people can believe solely in physical heredity, and that it should be possible for two tiny germs alone to contain nothing but the inherited forces fo their ancestors. On the other hand, if you accept the correct theory that at the time of conception the conditions were right for the "spiritual germ," and for that individual to start a new physical existence, then you must admit that it is possible for our Creator to create life in any way He wishes, and that the physical germs might contain the inherited forces, but it certainly is illogical to believe that He would permit the fate of a child to rest solely with the parents. It is more reasonable to believe that when conception takes place, the child born to that family is not born by chance, but that he enters the world through this physical means because the conditions are just as they should be for his evolution. Man is not built by purely inherited forces from without, for a spiritual Being, an individuality, exists in the aura or magnetic field of the mother before life, and helps fashion the new body.

If you will study man carefully, you will find that he has an inner life which is continually trying to express itself. This could not come from heredity, but must have been originated in former lives. Parents are not generators in the full sense of the word. They are the means through which the organic substance is supplied. When a soul enters another physical existence here, it is known in advance what the temperament, character, tendencies, etc., of its parents are. This is why the children show the particular combination of the characteristics of the parents. No parents can originate the real ultimate center of a personality. Neither do they possess the power to hinder a personality in its development. Every individual pre-exists, as regards the fundamental form of his spirit, for no individual, from a spiritual point of view, resembles another. The forces shaping a being are the result of causes existing in former lives.

Somehow I always knew it wasn't my parents' fault! If psychology took these paragraphs into consideration, we'd have a whole new approach to personality integration.

(Originally published 17 July, 2005)

© Copyright 2006 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Julie]

I really enjoy your articles. Could you tell me who wrote the Magic of Space and where I could get a copy? Thank you. Julie

[donna]

This is a really cool article! If this assertion was wrong, then how could ascended masters appear on the earth? It would assume that enlightened people like Ammachi (Mata Amritanandamayi Ma) are born of equally enlightened parents, and we know they are not. Cool stuff!

[s]

Curiously, the other week T told me that when I was a little girl, she picked me to be her mommy. Then she turned to my husband and said, "When you were a little boy, I didn't know you." Hee!

[Robert]

Hi Julie - I regret to say it has been out of print for many years, and most copies able to be procured via internet run hundreds of dollars. It was said to be authored by "Triton," a "Tibetan Dakini," though I have reason to believe the author is one of the true "Masters of the Wisdom" as known by theosophists everywhere on Earth. You can find more pieces from this work in my archives. Just sitegoogle "Magic of Space" and you'll drink deep from its wisdom in this cantina. I'll try to resume posting more in the future.

Hi donna - Yes, like the symbol of the lotus whose roots are in the muck, it floats on the water, and its flowers send fragrance into the air, we also usually arise from muck, float on the body of Divine Mother, and release what flowers we are able as we exist within the Universal Life. Amma is truly a living example of how little family and outer circumstances matter when it comes to demonstrating our Spiritual Selves. We are far freer, powerful, loving, wise and intelligent than we suspect.

[Robert]

Hi s - Yours came in while I was composing the response to the previous comments. Great story of an aware child (with a great sense of humor!) We each play all kinds of roles across lifetimes with those we are "related to," as well as those we believe we are "not related to," and far more connected than we usually suspect. We are truly "all our relations."