In this section I'll be giving brief descriptions of some religions. To go into too much detail of the religions we discuss would take a great deal of space and reading, and we are only interested in the basics. I do, however, encourage all of you to do your own research into any religion or scripture or scientific principal in this book catching your interest that I'm not able to cover to your satisfaction.

For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of reincarnation, and although it may change some from place to place, the main theory is that we live more than one lifetime. We live one life, learn what we can from it, and then continue the cycle, living one after another, learning more and more as we go.

Many theorize that we live as many lifetimes as we need to in order to learn all that we need to learn to evolve spiritually. They believe we will eventually reach the "top of the ladder" so to speak at a goal. This goal is a higher spiritual plane of existence.

Probably the theory of reincarnation that most of us are familiar with is the Hindu belief. It teaches that a person lives one lifetime, is judged for actions at death, and spends time in heaven or hell being rewarded or punished for their deeds. Once the fruits of their deeds (their Karma) are exhausted, they return to earth to learn more. (Some believe that one reaps the fruits/punishments of karma in heaven/hell, and returns to be reborn when that is done. Some believe that one's karma follows from life to life, punishing or rewarding them during their next incarnation.)

This entire existence is a very long road of learning and improving and eventually will lead to oneness with the Creator, when one will no longer have to suffer one's ignorance. Our entire existence and purpose is to reach the end goal of returning to that from which we came - the Divine.

All deeds gather 'karma', similar to "what goes around comes around". Good deeds gather good karma, bad deeds gather bad karma. We will each reap the fruit of our karma eventually, and learn in the process.

While the Hindu idea of reincarnation is most familiar to many, there are a lot of different beliefs in a form of rebirth, continuance, pre-existence, or reincarnation. Some are similar, some are different. The more you look into them, the more similarities there are to find. Let's discuss a few.

Ifa is an African religion. They believe it is necessary for people to establish a good relationship with the universe in which they live, causing harm to no one. In the Ifa form of reincarnation, the individual repeatedly returns, after death, to greet the earth, while part of that individual's essence always resides in heaven as a spiritual double. Perhaps you can see the similarities between Ifa and the next concept we'll discuss, Buddhism.

Buddhism is one of the largest religions in the world. It is and eastern religion, originating in China, and there are a couple of different sects. Most Buddhist religions don't even believe in reincarnation, surprisingly enough, although it is commonly assumed that they do. What they believe is that what each of us knows as "I" is actually the "All", with no separation except the illusion of separation. The "All" creates this illusion in order to experience itself in different aspects. In order for someone to reincarnate, there would have to be a "Someone" separate from the "All".

This is the doctrine of Anatta. The concept of Anatta is basically that the "All" (which is what all of us who think we are individual really are if we could only see the big picture) experiences itself through whatever exists at the time. In order to do so, the illusion of separation must occur so that different viewpoints can be seen. For instance, I cannot see myself if I'm me. I would need to be at a different point in space to view me, a different 'viewpoint'. If I became you, and put you in front of me, I could experience me from a different point of view. So the "All" created different points of view in order to experience itself. Therefore reincarnation does not exist, since there is no separate being to leave one body and enter another, everything is simply a different viewpoint of the "All" .

Buddhists do, however, use the term "rebirth", to refer to a new experience or existence after the old one has passed. Rebirth also does not refer specifically to a physical body, but rather whatever existence you move into after the one being experienced is over.

This is along the same lines as the fundamental beliefs of Scientology, a religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950's

Continuing on to Judaism, the fourth division of the Kabala, (which is the book of the Jewish religion that deals with mysticism), is the 'dogmatic Kabala', which has 4 sections. The 4th section of that is the Zohar, or the Book of Splendor. An entire section of the Zohar deals with the "revolutions of souls'. In the soul's revolutions, it completely loses the memory of the acts that have led to judgment. The concept of gilgul neshamot, the reincarnation of souls, is spread throughout the mystic part of Judaism.

Despite this, basic Judaism does not deal with or promote the idea of reincarnation, preferring for its followers to focus on this lifetime and their present actions. There is concern that if one knew definitely that they were going to be reincarnated, they would not take the care and attention of resolving their basic ethical dilemmas and lessons in the now, but rather may be apathetic toward growth and learning.

As far as the Native American cultures and religion, the Native American beliefs vary. There are beliefs that the soul is reincarnated, that the souls go to another place, and some believe that we just can't know what happens after this life.

Zoroastrianism is a religion that was founded in 1000 BC in Persia (some sources say much earlier). Zoroastrianism teaches that for three days after death the soul remains at the head of its former body. The person's deeds are entered into a ledger of sorts, (similar to the Book of Life in Christianity where all deeds are recorded) and the soul goes on the journey to judgment which will land it in hell, heaven, or a "middle ground" for a time. Then after the great battle between good and evil there is a final judgment where the bad will be destroyed completely and the good will be resurrected into immortal, youthful bodies. There are many similarities to this and some forms of Christianity.

In Tibet, the Dalai Lama is the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He is said to be the incarnation of Compassion, who has chosen to stay with his people instead of going to a higher spiritual plane of existence in order to help them. When he dies a search is made for his new incarnation. Dalai is Mongolian for Ocean, and Lama is Tibetan for "Spiritual Teacher". Thus, the Dalai Lama is the "Ocean of Wisdom".

In a similar vein, the Karmapa is the supreme spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu, school of Tibetan Buddhism. Each time he dies he leaves a letter predicting when, where and in whom he will be reborn. He is regarded as the embodiment of all the blessings the previous Karmapas.

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