Franklin Merrell-Wolff addresses a group of university students about the possibility of reincarnation. He admits that it is not a conception open to mathematical proof, but argues that neither is the birth of an organism or the existence of an external world apart from consciousness. He affirms his faith that the universe is reasonable and just, and that because of the law of karma, we may get meaningful answers to the questions we put to it. He goes on to outline two approaches to the possibility of reincarnation, offers a rationale for reincarnation based on Jung’s psychological types, and presents what he calls his “pseudopodal” theory of reincarnation in which the real entity that we are sends forth a series of karmically related rays into the evolution but does not itself ever incarnate. He suggests that the purpose and meaning of life is to arouse a consciousness of Consciousness without the aid of any phenomena.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff presents a theory of reincarnation based on the Taraka yoga schema in which a distinction is made between an inner entity, or “Monad,” that does not incarnate and an outer entity, or personality, that rides upon the back of the aggregates. The personalities are said to be epiphenomena that are karmically related but only persist through an incarnation and the after-death states until the Monad from which they emanate sends forth another ray. Wolff likens this process to the way in which an amoeba travels by sending forth a “false foot” that it then withdraws to crawl around. While the false feet are related, they are never the same. Wolff provides examples from descriptions offered by Jung and Ramakrishna. He goes on to discuss tulku incarnation and how it may apply in the lives of Buddha, Shankara, and Christ.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff discusses the meaning of death in the psychical sense within the context of the material presented in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. He outlines Aristotle’s conception of a psychosomatic unity and the Platonic conception of the soma being a habitation for the psyche. He goes on to present several testimonies of near-death experience including Jung’s lengthy description in Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff continues his seminar on death with a discussion of the progress through the bardo. He describes the confrontation with the projections of the gods of benevolence and anger and the nature of the devachanic experience as presented in Theosophical literature. He goes on to offer an analysis of the waking and dreaming states and suggests that entering the bardo state may parallel the movement when we go to sleep. He then raises the question of what the appearance of mathematical thought may be when objectified in the bardo. He considers the implications of motor death preceding sensory death in connection with the dying process and the need to allow sufficient time for the sensory or cognitive death process to be completed. He raises the question of the possibility of natural death, the length of the human life cycle, and the most favorable circumstances for an ideal transition.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff recounts a lengthy description of an after-death experience that he meant to include in the audio recording “Seminar on the Problem of Death.” He then proceeds to offer a discussion of certainty and dogma in science and religion and maintains that since there is no certainty deriving from our conceptual understanding in either science or religion, the best we can do is to dare upon probable truth when approaching the mystery of the dying process.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff considers five hypotheses regarding the continuation of consciousness after the death of our physical organism: first, that consciousness is an accident of evolution and that death therefore implies the cessation of consciousness; second, that psyche and soma are not separate or separable and the death of the soma implies death of psyche; third, parallelism, or synchronicity, which holds that the processes of disintegration that take place in the soma upon death are also reproduced in the psyche; fourth, that the relationship between psyche and soma are “interactive” and that states affecting one also have an effect upon the other; fifth, that the psyche inhabits the soma and provides for a continuation of individual consciousness by maintaining a correlation with a subtle vehicle or substance not involved in the physical death.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff continues the discussion of the meaning of death by presenting a sixth view that ultimate Consciousness is constitutive of all things and that the psyche and soma are both of the same stuff, thus eliminating the problem of the relationship between psyche and soma and the continuation of consciousness after what we commonly consider the death of the physical organism. He elaborates upon the first fundamental of The Secret Doctrine in which it is affirmed that the Ultimate may be viewed from the standpoint of substance, dynamism, and consciousness. He offers the experience of going to sleep and dreaming as an analogy of what happens to subject-object consciousness when one dies. He discusses the trance state and his ability to hold the relative consciousness intact observing, analyzing, and reporting on the transcendent state, and he suggests that this technique may offer a means whereby one could maintain continuity of consciousness during the dying process.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff discusses three elements of his yogic discipline: philosophical material from The Secret Doctrine, the self-analysis of Shankara, and aspiration. He describes the shift from “point-I” to “Space-I” consciousness and comments about the witness on the sidelines that embraced both states. He issues a caution about avoiding an imperfect Realization that may result in a massive inflation. He goes on to elaborate on the notion of a non-fixed Nirvana and the Realization of Paranirvana, and suggests that this Realization might prove to be essential preparation for realizing the highest degree of consciousness during the dying process. He affirms that the evolution of reason is necessary for the attainment of mastery, and that mastery, not nirvanic withdrawal, is the supreme achievement that lies before man. Shifting topics, Wolff discusses the similarity between the concept of the photon jump in subatomic physics and the movement from one plane of consciousness to another, and he likens the latter to a leap from objective consciousness to the inner consciousness beyond the transition of death.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff discusses the audio recording series, “The Meaning of Death,” with those present at the forty-seventh Convention of the Assembly of Man. Wolff also clarifies his position on organizational dues and the acceptance of money or gifts for the rendering of a spiritual service. He then comments upon the problems of maintaining an academic career while on the yogic path and the need to employ sensory images and conceptual patterns to suggest a way of consciousness that is neither sensuous nor conceptual. He concludes this conversation by discussing the importance of being able to maintain the relative consciousness on the sidelines in order to record the shift to higher states of consciousness.

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In this recording, Franklin Merrell-Wolff discusses the possibility of a conscious death, which he regards as “the most desirable kind of death that one could attain.” He suggests that this possibility is dependent upon two things: First, one—by resolving to continue living—must have lived beyond the point where karma would normally produce one’s death, for after this point one is at liberty to terminate one’s own life without involving the guilt of suicide. Second, one must be able to effect a division in consciousness whereby a portion of the consciousness observes while another portion goes through the transition of death. Wolff recalls that he perfected this type of division in consciousness during his experiences of 1936.

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