One of the mysteries in life is life after death. Just what does happen when we die? Where do we go? Is this life all there is? These types of questions have plagued mankind for centuries. Religions of yesterday and today have tried to explain what happens to the spirit after the death of the physical body. Over the centuries there have been many theories as to what occurs to the soul when the body dies.

One such belief is called reincarnation. In different cultures this belief has gone on for thousands of years. Of course, each culture has its own version of it. In today’s modern population the belief of reincarnation is accepted by approximately 2/3 of the world’s population.

In Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal Experience it sates that reincarnation is “The return of the soul or essence after death to inhabit a new physical form.” Reincarnation is also in our every day vocabulary. According to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary of 1988 reincarnation is “rebirth in new bodies or forms of life. A rebirth of a soul in a new human body.”

First of all what you need to understand is that reincarnation is an ongoing process. When the soul decides to incarnate into this life it is for the sole purpose of learning. Within this life time we live, learn, love and may or will possibly make mistakes. When we make choices in that life time we create Karma and meet a variety of soul mates which are the individuals or group of individuals that incarnate during that life time. When this individual passes the soul returns to the spirit realm where it will continue to grown, take on new tasks and examine its life on the earthly plane.

Over time this individual may decide to incarnate in another life time. During this life time this individual will live his/her life building relationships with soul mates and balancing their Karma or creating new ones. Before incarnating in their current life the soul sees a blueprint of what this life will be like. If this life time benefits him or her he/she may choose to incarnate in to it or not incarnate into it. If he chooses not to live this life time then the spirit needs to look for another physical form to inhabit in order to accomplish its new lessons.

When the individual dies she/he returns to the spirit world where he retains the memory of both life times. This process continues until the soul is complete. When the process is complete then he can go home to God.

Over the course of many lifetimes we live many lives as separate individuals. When we leave this life we return to the spirit world as whole souls. We are filled with a lifetime of memories of the variety of lives that we have lives.

Is this confusing? I interpret it this way. It is simple. If you think of an actor or actress, here we have individuals who portray different characters in different movies. When the movie is done the actor returns to his normal life. Over the years this same individual continues to play different characters in movies, theater and television.

However, this person always returns to his life with his friends, hobbies and family while the character’s lives ended in the production. While this actor lives he will hold dear the memory of the characters that he portrayed through the years. The same premise can be applied to the soul when and individual passes on while the soul retains each life time memory.

Now the question remains why don’t we remember our past live when we reincarnate into a new life. According to various traditions forget fullness of past lives is necessary to the process of reincarnation.

Reincarnation is a part of our life cycle. If you examine it more closely you will begin to believe that it does exist. There are different cultures that discuss the theory of reincarnation and have a belief in it. As of right now there is no hard physical evidence for science to evaluate. There is proof in the little things in life. Then there is the fact that you recognize someone who you never met before. Then there are individuals who experience past life memories through hypnosis. When this person investigates this information they discover that this person in the past life actually existed. Then there are the children who are exceptionally gifted; some say that it is a left over memory from their former life.

Believe it or not even society and nature reflect the theory of Reincarnation. We use water in dams to create energy for our cities. When a tree dies then rots in the ground it provides nutrients for the soil and the undergrowth and insects. This only names a few examples of how life goes on through change.

It is only common sense our world is filled with objects dying then their energy is transformed into another form or use. Life does go on. Our soul is energy. Doesn’t it stand to reason that it goes on but in a different form? Reincarnation is a fact of life and a simple concept to understand.