Hi guys, kinda new to this site. I posted this on another forum, but it is so pertinent here that I couldn't resist reiterating it for the folk here.

Consider the metal iron. Although it is the most abundant metal on the Earth, it is only found in nature in combination with sulfur and oxygen. In order to isolate the iron, our Iron Age ancestors learned that they could use fire to burn away the impurities leaving pure iron behind. This process is called smelting. The more times one does this, the more pure the iron will become.

I view death as a kind of smelting process. Whatever right and just works you have wrought throughout your life are like atoms of iron. Likewise, whatever unjust works you wrought are atoms of various impurities. The process of death is like a fire which burns away these impurities, leaving your spirit clean, but not yet whole. The more pure your spirit, the easier and less painful this process becomes. We all continue this cycle, hoping to live our life in such a way that will leave no impurities to be burnt away when we die. Having acheived thus, the pure spirit passes through the fires of death unscathed and there he remains, never to return to the mortal world.

So in short, yes; reincarnation does occur and is an inherent part of existence.