The Existence of Reincarnation in Different Religions

Is there an afterlife, do we just cease to exist, are we reincarnated? Is death the end of our consciousness and existence? These questions have tried to be answered by certain religions and beliefs and science but nobody truly knows what happens. Even with hundreds years of research, Science cannot prove when or where life began. Death is an equalizer and no matter what you are or whom you are in life you can try, however cannot avoid death and we all have to face the reality of dying. Einstein believed that no one could understand the universe, except through his or her own imperfect perspective. Most people go to religion when we ask the question what happens after we die, others believe science is the way to go because it gives the opportunity to confirm or refute any concept including life after death; however you can never be 100% certain even with science, my belief is that our mind and consciousness are reincarnated and the knowledge is passed along to the next person.

There are many religions that believe in reincarnation such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Reincarnation (which is also called transmigration or metempsychosis) defined, in religion and philosophy, is the rebirth of an individual that persists after death, whether it pertains to the consciousness, mind, or the soul. The part of reincarnation I believe in is that our consciousness, mind, and soul transfer to another newborn body. The reason I believe this is because of all the instances of thoughts and knowledge. We all have a moment where we stop and think did this happen before and how do I know this. There are actual stories of developing children (ages 4-8) where they have thoughts and memories of past wars and knowledge of a past life and they were never even exposed to this knowledge before. An argument is that children have wild imaginations but if they never even knew of past history facts how did their mind and consciousness even think of that. There are many stories of this including one that I found intriguing. A two year old was getting his diaper changed by his father, the two year old then said “When I was your age, I changed your diaper,” in which the father smiled awkwardly and brought it up to his wife and then they approached the child again. The child believed he was the father’s deceased grandfather and had memories of the grandfather’s sister who died by murder and also had memories of how he died as well. I myself have had memories I have no business having. When I was very young (4 years old) I would have vivid memories about sitting in a classroom with the old time chalkboard talking about physics and spacecraft’s with the equations on the board. There is no possible way I could have these memories as a small child because at that age I was not in school and any shows I would watch would be cartoons. When I approached my parents about the memories I had as a child they told me I used to say crazy things all the time and chalked it up to wild imagination of a child. After they said that I asked them what kinds of shows you watched that would make me have memories of in depth equations on the board and me sitting in the classroom discussing aerodynamics, they shrugged it off and told me I could’ve picked it up anywhere.

Thirty-three percent of Americans (This is also including 29 percent of Christians) think reincarnation is real and 10% report being able to recall their past lives. There are many famous people who believe in reincarnation including Henry Ford at the age of 26 who said “Work is futile if we cannot utilize the experience we collect in one life in the next. When I discovered reincarnation it was as if I had found a universal plan….Time was no longer limited….The discovery of Reincarnation put my mind at ease. ” An argument against reincarnation is that from the Catechism of the Catholic Church stating: Death is the end of man’s earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When “the single course of our earthly life” is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: “It is appointed for men to die once.” There is no “reincarnation” after death.

In which a rebuttal to that argument is that thought of mind is too linear. To truly understand reincarnation and to think about life after death you must think outside the box and think deep down inside and expand your mind. Another argument comes from the bible itself saying, 'Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment ' (Hebrews 9:27). A spiritual group is quoted this as an argument against reincarnation stating “This makes it pretty clear that a person only dies once and is not given a second chance at life through reincarnation. ” However, this bible verse is not black and white at all. A man does only die once but that does not mean his essence or memories do not pass on to another person and he is not reborn.

I wanted to find out what other people thought about what happens after we die. I work in a small office of 3 (including myself) and the results I found were interesting. We all had different opinions on this subject. One coworker said she believes nothing happens. We simply die and that is that. There is no soul and there is no passing of memories. She said the person lives on through others as a literal sense which is if my family member dies I keep that person alive through memory and that is it. Once the memory of that person is gone they are then gone. Her philosophy is strictly science based which is fact driven. My argument of that are the stories that science cannot debunk. I told her my history and my memories as well as some other stories. Her only argument to my philosophy was that they are stories by a person whose brain is still developing. All that person would need to do is either see or hear and their brain could put the pieces together. My other coworker believed that there is a heaven and hell and that once we die, depending on what you did in your life, you were sent to there to live on for eternity and to watch over your extended family.

In conclusion, to truly answer the question what happens after we die? We have to think deep down and feel what it means to you because the answer is inside us. This question can be answered in so many different ways. You can believe in fact or faith and even both. I believe it is reincarnation because of my own experiences throughout life and because of the facts that it brings. Most people go to religion when we ask the question what happens after we die, others believe science is the way to go because it gives the opportunity to confirm or refute any concept including life after death; however you can never be 100% certain even with science, my belief is that our mind and consciousness is reincarnated and the knowledge is passed along to the next person.