REINCARNATION IN MODERN THINKING 1

REINCARNATION IN MODERN THINKING 1

“I believe... that the soul of man is immortal and will be treated with 

justice in another life, respecting its conduct in this.” 

—Benjamin Franklin 

The concept of reincarnation 

It seems to offer one of the most attractive 

explanations of humanity’s origin and 

destiny. It is accepted not only by adherents 

of Eastern religions or New Age spirituality, 

but also by many who don’t share such 

esoteric interests and convictions. To know 

that you lived many lives before this one 

and that there are many more to come is 

a very attractive perspective from which to 

judge the meaning of life. On the one hand, 

reincarnation is a source of great comfort, 

especially for those who seek liberation on 

the exclusive basis of their inner resources. 

It gives assurance for continuing one’s 

existence in further lives and thus having 

a renewed chance to attain liberation. On 

the other hand, reincarnation is a way of 

rejecting the monotheistic teaching of the 

final judgment by a holy God, with the possible 

result of being eternally condemned 

to suffer in hell. Another major reason for 

accepting reincarnation by so many people 

today is that it seems to explain the differences 

that exist among people. Some are 

healthy, others are tormented their whole 

life by physical handicaps. Some are rich, 

others at the brink of starvation. Some 

have success without being religious; others 

are constant losers, despite their religious 

dedication. Eastern religions explain these 

differences as a result of previous lives, good 

or bad, which bear their fruits in the present 

one through the action of karma. Therefore 

reincarnation seems to be a perfect way of 

punishing or rewarding one’s deeds, without 

the need of accepting a personal God as 

Ultimate Reality. 

Reincarnation in the moderning thinking 

Understanding your past lives can be beneficial 

to improve the decisions you make in 

your life today. 


There are some simple tell tale signs that might indicate that you 

have had a past life and that it may be affecting or even interfering 

with your current life. 

Why you like some people and dislike others 

People you have an unexplained like or 

dislike of. This can lead to getting involved 

with someone in this life with whom you 

shared very intense emotions in a past life. 

Emotions tend to leave imprints from life 

to life and the stronger the emotion, the 

stronger the imprint. A very strong love 

can transcend from one life to another. So 

too can a harmful relationship. Unless you 

understand this, you may find yourself in a 

very unhealthy relationship and not know 

why. Often we travel together from one life 

to another with the same group of people. 

Someone who is a friend in one life can be a 

stranger in this one and by the same token 

an enemy in a past life can turn into a friend 

or even be born again as your own mother 

or father. 

Unexplained interest in various cities, 

cultures and countries 

You may have an unexplained longing for 

a place you’ve never been, such as Ireland, 

China, or Italy, for example or a culture 

you’ve never been exposed to. This may 

mean that in a past life you had lived in that 

location. For example, if you have gone to 

a place for the first time but seem to know 

things about it you would have no way of 

knowing, can mean that you have at one 

time lived in this place. A famous example 

of this happened to General George Patton 

twice – once in France and once in North 

Africa. He believed he was a reincarnation 

of the famous General Hannibal. He even 

wrote a poem about it his belief in reincarnation. 

Through the travail of the ages, 

Midst the pomp and toil of war, 

Have I fought and strove and perished, 

So as through a glass, and darkly 

The age long strife I see 

Where I fought in many guises, 

Many names, - but always me. 

Do you have recurring dreams? 

Often recurring dreams such as being 

drowned by large waves, fear of heights or 

being killed in some manner can indicate 

that in a past life you met your death that 

way. Usually, these memories also stick in 

your mind and are very close to the surface 


ecause of the amount of fear such a death 

produced. Frightening incidents in your 

past can also create unexplained phobias in 

your current life, such a fear of hospitals, 

needles, fire, or being left alone. Making the 

decision to face these can lessen and even 

end fears you may have in this life that cannot 

be explained. 

Having interests, talents or skills 

that don’t run in your family 

Possessing certain skill sets may also be a 

result of past lives. For example, why are 

certain people born baseball players, or musicians 

– for example, was Beethoven just extremely 

talented or had he been a musician 

in a past life? What about great people like 

Gandhi? Did his environment produce him 

or his genetic make up or did he develop 

the skills and characteristics that helped him 

be a great man over a series of life times? 

Where does your high math aptitude or 

musical aptitude or ease with learning a new 

language come from? Your parents? Your 

schooling? Or was it always in there waiting 

and just seemed to come out naturally in a 

way that perhaps surprised even you? 

Preferring one sex over another 

Then there are physical attributes and even 

sexual preference. What sex you are can 

change from one life to another. If you feel 

you are in the wrong body or if you feel 

attracted to someone of the same sex this 

could be simply because you were the opposite 

sex in the last life. Physical imprints, 

not just emotional ones can move from 

lifetime to lifetime and be strong enough 

to cause you to feel as if you should still be 

male or should still be female or should still 

be attracted to those of the same sex as you. 

Likewise, such things as birthmarks and 

physical ailments can follow you from one 

life to another. 

There are many ways to further investigate 

or to deal with these issues if you decide 

this might be something that is happening 

to you. One is regressing yourself. Another 

is to find a qualified past life regression 

therapist. 


GREAT BRITAIN 

33% 

PORTUGAL 

31% 

AUSTRIA 

& 

ITALY 

N. IRELAND 

FRANCE 

29% 27% 26% 

SPAIN 

23% 

7% 

19% GERMAN 

18% HOLLAND 9% FRANCE 

24% EUROPE BRITAIN 

CHRISTIANITY 33% 

Cathilics, 

Monothisite, etc 

Hinduism 14% 

Islam 21% 

Shiite 

Sunni,etc. 

Buddhism 6% 

Chinese traditional, etc. 

indigenous 6% 

African Traditional 

NONRELIGIOUS 16% 

Judaism 0.22% 

Sikhism 0.36% 

REINCARNATION IN WORLD RELIGION 5

Recent studies have 

osophists and students 

data from 1999-2002 

indicated that some 

of esoteric philosophies 

that a significant mi- 

Westerners accept the 

such as Kabbalah, and 

nority of people from 

idea of reincarnation 

Gnostic and Esoteric 

Europe and America, 

including certain con- 

Christianity as well as of 

believe reincarnation. 

temporary Christians, 

Indian religions. 

Graph: 

is the 

EIRE 

SWEDEN 

modern Neopagans, followers 

of Spiritism, The- 

Graph: 

shows 

the Demographic survey 

number of adherents of 

Major Religions. 

22% 

BELGIUM 

THERLANDS 

20% 19% 11% 

NORWAY 

Belief in Rincarnation Increases; 

In God decreases (1968–1990) 

Reincarnation In the World Wide View 

Once the Eastern concept of reincarnation 

arrived in Europe, its meaning changed. 

During the Middle Ages it was a doctrine 

reserved for the initiates of some occult traditions 

such as Hermetism and Catharism, 

who had taken it over from Neo-Platonism. 

A wider acceptance of reincarnation was 

promoted in the Western world beginning 

only in the 19th century, by Theosophy, and 

later also by Anthroposophy. Then came 

the Eastern gurus, the New 

Age movement, and as a 

result we witness a wide 

acceptance of reincarnation 

in our society today. However, its modern 

version is substantially different from what 

Eastern religions affirmed. Far from being 

a torment out of which man has to escape 

by any price through abolishing personhood, 

New Age thinking sees reincarnation 

as an eternal progression of the soul toward 

higher levels of spiritual knowledge. Thus 

what reincarnates is not the impersonal atman, 

but an entity which is currently called 

the soul, an entity which preserves the attributes 

of personhood from one life to the 

next. This compromise obviously emerged 

from the desire to adapt the reincarnation 

doctrine to Western thought. The concept of 

an impersonal atman reincarnating was too 

abstract to be easily accepted, so Westerners 

needed a milder version of this doctrine. 

Although this tendency may offer evidence 

for the soul’s yearning for a personal destiny, 

it doesn’t bear too much resemblance to classical 

Eastern spirituality, which rejects it as a 

perverted view. 


3Main ways Ultimate Reality is defined in the religions of this world: 

A Personal Being 

One who thinks, remembers, hears, speaks, plans, responds, expresses emotion, demonstrates 

character, exercises will and makes choices and judgments based on reason). 

An Impersonal Being 

A non-thinking, non-hearing, non-speaking, non-emotional, non-volitional, non-responsive 

‘cosmic energy force’ from which all personal beings originate and into which all personal 

beings will ultimately be absorbed. 

An Eternal Principle 

A system of rules and laws that govern the universe). 

My Own Assumption regarding 

merge different nature of Gods 

People thought the three great monotheistic 

religions of the world seems state irreconcilable 

positions concerning the nature of the 

personal God. But, in fact that these three 

interpretations of ‘Ultimate Reality’ 

are actually one and the 

same. Though appearing 

to be uniquely different, 

they can easily be merged 

in syncretistic harmony. 

How is it possible? Can a 

personal God who constantly 

expresses himself emotionally 

and makes rational choices be the same as a 

‘Universal Principle’ that exists apart from 

emotion and is governed by nothing more 

than a system of cosmic laws? If all world 

religions spring from the same eternal 

Fountainhead—as separate, yet related 

‘divine streams,’ they should all bear a strong 

resemblance to their original ‘Source.’ If 

they are all unique parts of a common 

global spirituality, their interpretation of 

Ultimate Reality should be identical, or at 

least run parallel. Think about the concept 

of three Ultimate Reality after you read 

the views in this book, you will discover it is

6 Basic Theories of Afterdeath 

1 2 3 

Materialism: 

Nothing survives. Death 

ends all of me. It is the 

natural accompaniment 

of atheism. 

4 5 6 

Paganism: 

A vague, shadowy 

semiself or ghost 

survives and goes to the 

place of the dead, the 

dark, gloomy Underworld. 

This is the standard 

pagan belief. 

Reincarnation: 

The individual soul survives 

and is reincarnated 

into another body. It is 

usually connected with 

the next belief by the 

notion of Karma. 

Pantheism: 

Death changes nothing, 

for what survives death 

is the same as what was 

real before death. In this 

Eastern mysticism view— 

all separateness, including 

time, is an illusion. 

Immortality: 

The individual soul 

survives death, but not 

the body. This soul eventually 

reaches its eternal 

destiny of heaven or hell, 

This is Platonism view. 

Resurrection: 

At death, the soul separates 

from the body and 

is reunited at the end of 

the world to its new, immortal, 

resurrected body 

by a divine miracle. This 

is the Christian view. 

certainly not the case to merge them. In the 

next section, I will prove the existing of soul. 

Together, we can witness conciliable positions 

among the many religion(remember 

the gods of the Vedas, the Brahman of 

Vedanta, Vishnu of the theistic movements 

founded by Ramanuja and Madhva, and 

Ishvara of the Yoga darshana) in different 

case stydies. In my assumption, the ultimate 

reality of the gods can be merged. On the 

other hand, the path is lying across all of the 

different religion are unobstructed with the 

agreement of reincarnation. 


Buddhism 

ORIGINS & HISTORY 

Founded by Siddharta Gauta; the Buddha 

520 BC, NE India. 

ULTMATE REALITY 

Varies: Theravada atheistic; Mahayana more polytheistic. 

Buddha taught nothing is permanent. 

Christianity 

Founded by Jesus Christ 

30 AD, Israel. 

A God who’s a Trinity of Father, Son, & Holy Spirit 

Confucianism 

Founded by Confucius , 

551–479 BC, China 

Not addressed 

Hinduism 

Indigenous religion of India 

One Supreme Reality (Brahman) manifested in 

many gods 

Islam 

Muhammad, 

622 AD, Saudi Arabia 

One God (Allah in Arabic) 

Jainism 

Mahavira, 

550 BC, eastern India 

The universe is eternal; many gods exist. 

Judaism 

The religion of the Hebrews, 1300 BC & 

the destruction of the Second Temple, 70 AD 

One God, Yahweh (YHVH). 

Shinto 

Indigenous religion of Japan. 

Polytheism based on the kami, ancient gods 

Sikhism 

Guru Nanak, 

1500 AD, Punjab, India. 

One God (Ik Onkar, Nam) 

Taoism 

Lao-Tzu, 

550 BC, China. 

Pantheism - the Tao pervades all. Yin-yang - opposites 

make up a unity. 

Zoroastrianism 

Zoroaster in 6th cent. BC, Persia. 

(Official religion of ancient Persia. May have influenced 

Judaism and Vedic religion.) 

One God, Ahura Mazda, but a dualistic worldview 

in which an evil spirit, Angra Mainyu, is almost as 

powerful. 


Big Religion Chart of The World’s Eleven Main Living Religions 

ADHERENTS 

360 million 

2 billion 

5-6 million 

900 million 

1.3 billion 

4 million 

14 million 

3-4 million 

23 million 

20 million 

HUMAN SITUATION & PURPOSE 

Avoid suffering and gain enlightenment and 

release from cycle of rebirth. Eternal heaven or hell 

or temporary purgatory. 

All have sinned and are thereby separated from 

God. Salvation is through faith in Christ and, for 

some, sacraments and good works. 

Purpose of life is to fulfill one’s role in society with 

propriety, honor, and loyalty. 

Humans are in bondage to ignorance and illusion, 

but are able to escape. Purpose is to gain release 

from rebirth, or at least a better rebirth. 

Humans must submit (islam) to the will of God to 

gain Paradise after death 

The soul is uncreated and eternal and can attain 

perfect divinity. Purpose is to gain liberation from 

cycle of rebirth, by avoiding all bad karma, especially 

by causing no harm to any sentient being. 

Obey God’s commandments, live ethically. Focus is 

more on this life than the next. 

Humans are pure by nature and can keep away evil 

through purification rituals and attain good things 

by calling on the kami. 

Overcome the self, align life with will of God, and 

become a “saint soldier,” fighting for good. 

Purpose is inner harmony, peace, and longevity. 

Acheived by living in accordance with the Tao 

AFTERLIFE 

Reincarnation until gain enlightenment. To understood 

differently than in Hinduism, with no 

surviving soul 

Eternal heaven or hell (or temporary purgatory) 

Not addressed 

Reincarnation until gain enlightenment. 

Paradise or Hell. 

Reincarnation until liberation 

Not specific. Beliefs vary from no afterlife to shadowy 

existence to the World to Come 

Death is bad and impure. Some humans become 

kami after death. 

Reincarnation until resolve karma and merge with 

God. 

Revert back to state of non-being, which is simply 

the other side of being. 

0.2 million 

Judgement followed by heaven or hell. Hell is temporary 

until final purgation and return to Ahura 

Mazda. 

Judgement followed by heaven or hell. Hell is temporary 

until final purgation and return to Ahura 

Mazda. 


History Review of Reincarnation 

The reincarnation of an entity which is the 

core of human existence (atman or purusha) 

in a long cycle that implies many lives and 

bodies, is not so old a concept as it is claimed 

today. Neither is it a common element for 

most of the oldest known religions, nor does 

its origin belong to an immemorial past. 

The classic form of the reincarnation 

doctrine was formulated in India, but certainly 

not earlier than the 9th century BC, 

when the Brahmana writings were composed. 

After the Upanishads clearly defined 

the concept between the 7th and the 5th 

century BC, it was adopted by the other important 

Eastern religions which originated 

in India, Buddhism and Jainism. Due to the 

spread of Buddhism in Asia, reincarnation 

was later adopted by Chinese Taoism, but 

not earlier than the 3rd century BC. 

The ancient religions of the Mediterranean 

world developed quite different kinds 

of reincarnationist beliefs. For instance, 

Greek Platonism asserted the pre-existence 

of the soul in a celestial world and its fall 

into a human body due to sin. In order to 

be liberated from its bondage and return to 

a state of pure being, the soul needs to be 

purified through reincarnation. In stating 

such beliefs Plato was strongly influenced by 

the earlier philosophical schools of Orphism 

and Pythagoreanism. The very first 

important Greek philosophical system that 

adopted a view on reincarnation similar to 

that of Hinduism was Neo-Platonism, which 

is in the 3rd century AD, under certain 

Eastern influences. 

In the case of ancient Egypt, The Egyptian 

Book of the Dead describes the travel 

of the soul into the next world without 

making any allusions to its return to earth. 

As it is well known, the ancient Egyptians 

embalmed the dead in order that the body 

might be preserved and accompany the soul 

into that world. This suggests their belief 

in resurrection rather than in reincarnation. 

Likewise, in many cases of ancient 

tribal religions that are credited today with 

holding to reincarnation, they rather teach 

the pre-existence of the soul before birth or 

its independent survival after death. This 

has no connection with the classic idea of 

transmigration from one physical body to 

another according to the demands of an 

impersonal law such as karma. 


Reincarnation in Hinduism 

The origin of samsara must be credited to 

Hinduism and its classic writings. It can’t 

have appeared earlier than the 9th century 

BC because the Vedic hymns, the most ancient 

writings of Hinduism, do not mention 

it, thus proving that reincarnation wasn’t 

stated yet at the time of their composition 

(13–10th century). Let us therefore analyze 

the development of the concept of immortality 

in the major Hindu writings, beginning 

with the Vedas and the Brahmanas. 

Reincarnation in Buddhism 

Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent 

self that reincarnates from one life 

to the next. The illusion of an existing self 

is generated by a mere heap of five aggregates 

(skandha), which suffer from constant 

becoming and have a functional cause-effect 

relation: 1) the body, also called the material 

form (rupa), 2) feeling (vedana) - the sensations 

that arise from the body’s sense organs, 

3) cognition (sanna) - the process of classifying 

and labeling experiences, 4) mental 

constructions (sankhara) - the states which 

initiate action, and 5) consciousness (vijnana) 

- the sense of awareness of a sensory 

or mental object. The five elements are impermanent 

(anitya), undergo constant transformation 

and have no abiding principle or 

self. Humans usually think that they have 

a self because of consciousness. But being 

itself in a constant process of becoming and 

change, consciousness cannot be identified 

with a self that is supposed to be permanent. 

Beyond the five aggregates nothing else can 

be found in the human nature. 

Reincarnation in Taoism 

Reincarnation is a teaching hard to find 

in the aphorisms of the Tao-te Ching (6th 

century BC), so it must have appeared later 

in Taoism. Although it is not specified what 

reincarnates, something has to pass from 

one life to another. An important 

scripture of Taoism, the Chuang 

Tzu (4th century BC), states: 

Birth is not a beginning; death is not 

an end. There is existence without limitation; 

there is continuity without a starting point. 

Existence without limitation is space. Continuity 

without a starting point is time.

REINCARNATION IN MODERN THINKING 1

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