All over the world, people believe – or used to believe – in the transmigration of souls.

Over the centuries, the relationship between the body and the soul (spirit, psyche, consciousness, Ātman, etc.) has been described in various ways. Some say that only the soul exists, while the body is a kind of illusion. Others say that only the body exists, while the soul is a kind of illusion. Some maintain that the soul, although it exists, is associated with the body and dies with it. Others, taking a similar position, believe that after death, the soul can be reborn with the body (some Jews pay vast amounts for a place in the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, in the area where the Messiah is meant to appear). Some say that one soul can exist in many bodies; others that many souls can reside in one body.

Statistically speaking, the most popular belief on the planet – held by the main currents of Christianity and Islam – holds that the single soul inhabiting the individual body is immortal and passes to another world after the death of the body. The second most popular belief is that after death, the soul is incarnated in another body (in this world or another), and this continues until a goal is achieved. This concept is most commonly associated with Eastern religions, but its existence has also been documented both in the West and all around the world. In Western culture, this idea has various different names. The most commonly used concept of ‘reincarnation’ is a neologism that originated in the 19th century in French spiritual circles. The Greeks spoke of ‘metempsychosis’ and ‘ontogenesis’. Another term is ‘transmigration of souls’.

Karma condemnation

In ancient times, the belief in the existence of reincarnation was predominantly found in Indian