When you go to sleep and have a dream, “you” are doing something in the dream. But at the same time, there is your body asleep in bed! Who or what, is that other “you” that does act those things in Your dream?

Primitive man, who didn’t understand dreams as we do today, believed that a part of you actually left your body during sleep, and he considered that part your – soul. Now, if your “soul” could leave your body during sleep, then it could also leave your body when you died!

Based on this idea, there grew up a belief in reincarnation. It is also referred to as the transmigration of souls, and metempsychosis. It is the belief that at death the soul leaves the human body and enters the body of some other living thing, and thus is “born again,” or reincarnated.

It wasn’t only primitive man who held this belief. The ancient Egyptians made it a part of their religion. That’s why they embalmed bodies to prevent or delay reincarnation. Many great Greek philosophers such as Plato and Pythagoras believed this, too. It is part of the Buddhist belief, and certain sects of early Christians believed it, too.

The forms in which reincarnation is supposed to take place vary in different parts of the world. There are even many ways of picturing the soul that leaves the human body. In some parts of India, it is pictured as an insect. In many parts of Europe, it was pictured as a bird, usually a dove. It is also commonly shown as a butterfly.

Many people who believe in reincarnation hold that the soul enters the body of another human being. But there are those who think it enters the bodies of insects and animals, such as tigers, sharks, and alligators. And in some parts of the world, it is believed that the soul enters into flowers.