Reincarnation - from lat. re, "again" + in, "in" + caro / carnis, "flesh", "reincarnation") - the transmigration of souls, inherent in a number of religious systems, as well as a representation that occurs apart from some religious system (in a personal worldview) about the posthumous existence of a person, the meaning of which is that the human soul returns to the world again and again in new bodily incarnations. Usually the chain of reincarnations has some purpose, that is, the soul undergoes evolution. This view was spread even in ancient cultures, from India to Egypt.
In different worldview systems, different classes of beings can be drawn into the chain of reincarnations: from representatives of one people to the whole set of intelligent beings (deities, spirits), different living beings (animals) and an unlimited set of objects (plants, stones, things).
In modern culture, the "factual base" supporting the belief in reincarnation is the cases when people seem to remember their previous lives, begin to identify themselves with a certain (not widely known) person from the past, to show unusual skills, for example, to speak unfamiliar to them language.
The idea that the soul after death returns to a new body in order to live another life. The belief in reincarnation is characteristic not only of the most developed religions of the East, but also of tribal societies around the world.
According to a 1981 Gallup poll, nearly a quarter of the American population believes in reincarnation. Although the Gallup poll did not take into account the details of this belief, it is likely that the corresponding perceptions of most Americans are borrowed from Hinduism or Buddhism - perhaps through spiritualism, spiritism, or theosophy. What many do not realize is that Hindu beliefs (from which the corresponding Buddhist ones evolved) grew out of a complex of beliefs characteristic of the indigenous tribal peoples of India. These latter beliefs were part of a complex of beliefs about spirits and souls that made up the widespread animistic worldview, animism is considered the earliest of the world's religions.
Animistic ideas about the soul are more complex and varied than Western beliefs. Different tribal societies hold different beliefs, which, however, can be seen as referring to the same set of ideas or principles. This indicates the possible existence of one common set of ideas, from which the different beliefs that exist to this day stand out.
One of the general animistic ideas about reincarnation is that the spirit of a deceased person after death undergoes separation, and one part of it goes to the Land of the Dead (see Life after death), where it becomes a generic spirit, the other returns to earth and animates a new body. Some tribal peoples believe that each person has more than one soul, in which case one of his souls can reincarnate and the other becomes a tribal spirit.
Tribal societies often believe that a person's name has spiritual qualities, even specifies the type of soul. Many Eskimo groups are convinced of the existence of the so-called “soul of the name”. This soul is its own part of the name, so giving a child a name also gives him a soul. If a child is constantly crying, then it is believed that he was given the wrong name and that if you find the right name and give it to the child, then he will calm down. Sometimes shamans are called upon, who must guess which of the ancestors insist on using their name.
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The idea that a child who cries incessantly has received the wrong name is common in many other societies in the Americas and Africa. A child is sometimes deliberately forced to cry in order to determine which of the ancestors incarnated in the body of a newborn. The baby is made to cry (for example, by splashing water on him) and the names of deceased relatives are called, and this continues until he calms down. The East African Nandi make the child cry by holding tobacco to his nose, expecting him to sneeze when the proper name is given. This name is given to the child, and it is believed that it was his baby who wore in a previous life.
Crying is not the only method used to identify a child in a past life. Very often, one of the parents has a dream that, as it were, portends that a certain person will be born again in their child. In many societies, children are examined for birthmarks or birth defects that may indicate who they were. Sometimes corpses are marked with marks that should allow tracing the path of the deceased in his future life. In West Africa, injury to children who die in infancy is extremely common, especially if one family has lost two or more children in a row. It is believed that the same child comes back again and again and dies young each time on purpose to inflict suffering on his parents. It is believedthat mutilating one of these children would make their perfume unattractive to the other. For this reason, the spirits will allow them to live a long time in the next birth.
Reincarnation can be made easier or more difficult through the burial method. Children are often buried under the floor of the house in the belief that this will make it easier for their souls to return to their mothers. Adults, whose spirits are stronger, and thus more dangerous after death, are often buried not in the house, but on the outskirts of the village. Some African tribes resort to other means of managing the incarnation process: people who, for one reason or another, are undesirable, are simply thrown into the bushes. Thus, their desire to return to this community is discouraged or their return is prevented.
Human beings can be reborn not only as human children, but also as animals. At least that's what many societies think. It is sometimes believed that the soul goes through a number of different animal forms before it ceases to exist. However, it is also believed that after the passage of this series, or perhaps the only animal life, a person is reborn as a human being. This belief was most likely the original one. In the animistic belief system, many animal species are considered to have souls. According to the native inhabitants of America, animals allow humans to hunt and kill themselves, as long as it is done properly and humanely. The hunter's observance of a certain procedure guarantees the reincarnation of animal spirits and the continuation of the species in the next season.
Of the several characteristics that distinguish animistic concepts of reincarnation from those of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, the most important is the concept of karma. Karma, which has been called "the moral law of cause and effect," suggests the notion that the circumstances of a person's present life are determined by their actions (good and not so good) in previous lives. What a person does in this life will play a certain role in determining his fate in future lives. This idea, inextricably linked for many people with their understanding of reincarnation, developed in the course of the development of animistic beliefs in the well-known Hindu concept of reincarnation. The concept of karma is absent in animistic ideas about reincarnation.
This is a very interesting point, because the concept of karma has not been adequately supported in the scientific research on reincarnation by Jan Stevenson and others. Stevenson has worked with children who claimed to remember past lives. In many cases, Stevenson not only looked at the verbal statements of children, but also took into account many of the "signs" of reincarnation that tribal peoples recognize - for example, birthmarks and birth defects, dream stories and fears that relate to trauma from a previous life. (such as death). In addition, anthropologists have also reported of children who claimed to remember previous lives, and these cases are extremely similar in form to situations faced by Stevenson. So it can be saidthat scientific research supports animistic beliefs rather than Hindu and Buddhist beliefs.
From the book: "Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits"