Reincarnation
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Reincarnation (literally, "becoming flesh again") is a supernatural idea common to many religions and many forms of New Age like thinking. It is an idea that relies on mind-body dualism, in that it necessitates a soul separate from the body.
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[edit] In religion
The idea varies from religion to religion. The idea is most prominent in Hinduism, which believes that the soul moves through a life-death-rebirth cycle known as samsara. The exact form and status in which a person is reborn is decided by his or her choices in the previous life, a concept called karma.
Buddhism believes in a similar form of reincarnation of all beings, until and unless a state of soul-perfection (nirvana) is reached, and Taoism also includes such a concept.
[edit] In Christianity
Christianity is not generally thought of as having "reincarnation" as part of its doctrine. However, there is some Biblical evidence available if people want to try and shoehorn reincarnation into it. Some of these passages are quite tedious and often require either stretching the imagination or taking the concept of "born again" a little too literally. Another theory is that reincarnation was part of the initial doctrine of Christianity but was abolished sometime in the 4th or 5th century.[1] Basically, if you're going to try and control people and have them do what you say in this life, then its probably a bad idea to claim that they get a second chance by being able to reincarnate.
[edit] Past lives and memories
Since a soul is understood to be the human identity, and human identity relies on memories and genetic makeup, true reincarnation would involve total (or near-total) recall of the previous life in addition to identical wiring of the neurons thereby preserving the individual's unique personality.
Some hypnotherapists claim to be able to "regress" patients into past lives, essentially claiming to unlock these unconscious memories. However, no one has objectively demonstrated memories of a previous life, such as knowing a closely-kept secret known only to Napoleon's family, for example (even though thousands of people were Napoleon). The result is that even if reincarnation was true, it would be pointless, because it would be the same as a person suffering total amnesia and starting their life over.
Interestingly, those who have discovered their previous lives have demonstrated that there were far more Egyptian pharaohs and queens than mud encrusted plebs who served under them. This extends to other royal personages, samurai, high priestesses and other interesting job descriptions.
Whatever the case may be for the rest of lifeforms, it is a well known fact that cats are reincarnated eight times before going not gently into that good night.
