This was played on a loop in a room at Ghost Party in Los Angeles on October 30.
Reincarnation is believed by 40 to 50 percent, I estimate*, of humans. It’s believed in some form by adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese folk religions, Daoism, Shinto, Sikhism, Jainism, certain Sufi orders, Alevism, Alawism, Kabbalistic Judaism, esoteric Christianity, Spiritism, Santería, Theosophy, and the Druze faith, plus many non-religious people and most Indigenous groups, from the Inuit, Hopi, and Quechua to the Sámi, Hmong, Igbo, Zulu, and Australian Aboriginals.
The further back one goes, the more widespread the belief. It was shared by the ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans; the Manichaeans; the Maya, Aztecs, and other Mesoamericans; the Inca and other Andeans; Greeks across 1,100 years, including Pythagoras, Plato, Plutarch, and the Neoplatonists; some Romans (Ovid, Virgil); the Essenes and Hermeticists; and Christian sects such as the Gnostics, Marcionites, and Cathars. It was also accepted by the pre-Christian Celts, Slavs, and Germanic tribes, and presumably the vast majority of Indigenous groups.
Today, reincarnation is denied almost only by materialism and the orthodox Abrahamic religions. But a surprisingly large number of people apparently disregard official doctrine on it—28 percent of Christians, 25 percent of Muslims, and 25 percent of Jews in the U.S. believe “people will be reborn again and again,” according to a 2023-24 Pew survey. Overall, 31 percent of adult Americans believe.
*The Pew survey found that a median of 33 percent of adults across 35 countries believe in reincarnation. But the regions with the most belief in reincarnation—Africa and East Asia—were under-represented compared to Europe and North America, and the survey did not include Indigenous groups.
Some books I referenced:
Reliving Past Lives (1978) by Helen Wambach (PDF)
Life Before Life (1979) by Helen Wambach (PDF)
Children Who Remember Previous Lives (1987) by Ian Stevenson
Children’s Past Lives (1997) by Carol Bowman
