[An American passenger aboard the ship asked ‘Abdu’l-Baha
about reincarnation]
‘Abdu'l-Bahá answered:
It is not as people have understood. What is intended is the
return of pre-existent attributes and perfections in new forms. Moreover, in
all realms of existence the spirits are in a state of development; for
instance, the mineral spirit ascends and progresses to the vegetable kingdom,
and the vegetable spirit to the animal kingdom, and the animal spirit to the
human kingdom. In like manner, the human spirit ascends into the divine worlds
and the exalted realms.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Responding to a question aboard the
Cedric, March 27, 1912, recorded by Mahmud Zarqani; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)
