[A visiting] American then asked about reincarnation.
‘Abdu’l-Baha 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 (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha aboard the Cedric, March 27, 1912; recorded by Mahmud Zarqani, His secretary and chronicler during His travels in the West; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)