She has a right to believe that. If I was in your shoes and she was truly my friend, then I would look past her beliefs and accept her for the person she is.

I think even Carl Sagan said that there are so many stories out there about children who clearly remember their past lives that, while he did not believe in reincarnation himself, that it might be a subject worth investigating.

I personally believe that there is no god or other deities out there in the great beyond. Reincarnation, however, intrigues me. Do we really know for sure if our existence merely winks out when we die? Is it possible that our consciousness travels away and into another dimension or plane of existence?
I think it is interesting as hell to ponder. I don't have any personal recollections of a past life. However it would be nice to think there is more than this dimension, this life.
Let your friend have her fantasy. If it makes her happy, what's the harm? Just be her friend. If her behavior gets creepy or uncomfortable, tell her you'd rather she kept it out of your relationship. If she values you as a friend she'll oblige.

Why does it require a response? Do you intend to argue with them? Let them believe what they want.

Also, in reference to the science talk about energy. Yes, energy can not be created nor destroyed, but some of y’all are overthinking it; energy is only transferred. Otherwise you’d have to consider that you could also be reincarnated as a cheeseburger that another person is consuming.

Your body is constantly transferring energy in the form of heat your entire life. When you die, your last amount of heat is then transferred into the world surrounding your corpse. Furthermore, assuming you are not coated in formaldehyde, your corpse becomes food energy for the plants and fungi. And so continues the circle of life.

Continuing this tangent, let’s assume you die on a farm. And your corpse is consumed by the plants, and those plants are harvested and then consumed by a man, and that energy coincidentally went through to produce a sperm which by sheer luck implanted into an egg. Then you might argue “reincarnation”.

Einstein taught us that all matter is a form of energy, so since energy can neither be created nor destroyed, we have always existed and will always exist in some energy form.

No reason to think energy souls or entities don't exist, and quantum physics already tells us different dimensions exist.

"For physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." -Einstein.

well roughly 20% of americans believe in reincarnation that figure goes up or down dependant where in the world you are. Ok it sounds bonkers but as far as beliefs go it doesnt require anything from you except the odd sideways stink eye as demonstrated

Reincarnation is an extraordinary claim, it requires extraordinary evidence, or it is merely another form of faith or magic, just another religion.

Welcome back.

Check this out. If she has some concrete observations, send her here. There might be some truth to these observations, the explanation of which we don't know so far.

[med.virginia.edu]

Edit: I just read other comments. I'm sorry that while you live in the US, you are in the vatican/saudi/Iran of the US. It just feels horrible to a person like me who idolized this place for so long (founding fathers visions, FDR, JFK, MLK, scientists..) to have found out that no place is perfect .

Now regarding the phenomenon of transfer of consciousness or awareness aka reincarnation etc etc, I was born in a sect that believed that and was surrounded by stories (never first person always someone who knew someone) of people who usually die violently, come back as recently born children as soon as they learn to talk to tell either who killed them or where they hid some wealth or simply tell intimate details (my philosophy teacher interviewed some and was never convinced). Some were Muslim some were Christian although my sect's creed believes that they only reincarnate in each other. Unlucky me! Needless to say, it sparked my interest and was part of my self discovery and liberation/enlightenment away from "belief". In my circles however people continue to share these stories. The belief is found among Buddhists and Hindus and many weird small sects here and there, since and in addition to ancient Greeks, Egyptians...

Interestingly, I found out that the phenomenon was noted in secular societies, religious backgrounds that didn't believe in reincarnation. That professor of child psychology in the university of Virginia went one step and started collecting evidence and studying the phenomenon and things point to something we don't understand yet and may have ignored. Don't be surprised, modern science has ignored and lost a lot of ancient knowledge. In the field of medicine, mechanics, optics... You would be surprised. Hell, we even lost most of Tesla's work. We're not efficient and good natured by any means. There are many possibilités and chances lost when ignored for financial, economic, lack of investment, or tragic reasons. Alas

I'm sure there is something equally foolish that you believe in as well. Let it go

I tried to keep my post short, and I feel by comments here, I certainly didn't articulate myself well.

The Pentecostal remark was made to be humorous. I live in a very religious region where snake-handling, speaking in tongues, and tent revivals are the norm. Went to Catholic school for 8 yrs, mass twice a week, religion classes every day, confession twice a yr. I have never known a single person my entire life that has been a non-believer like myself. I have never spoken to anyone about my beliefs as they are unwelcome and unwanted. When my friend of 17 yrs expressed similar views to mine, I finally felt like I had someone to relate to on a level I never had before.

Last week, we found out a relative of a good friend took their life. I made a comment to her that maybe it's possible that people who believe in everlasting life and an eternity in heaven could reconcile taking their life with a bit of greater ease than a non-believer who feels that when it's over, its over. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "oh no no I believe in reincarnation, I know this is not my first time here, I have been here many times". To me this was new info, surprising, strange to me, and quite frankly I feel the concept to be a bit far-fetched. Sorry, just my opinion.

So no, it doesn't have to warrant a comment, and yes, she and I will be good friends till the end of time, and no I don't get my panties in a bunch when someone's views differ from mine. It was simply a comment that surprised me and disappointed me, as I thought we were on the same page about religion and spirituality. No worries, I just have no one to relate to on these specific matters that are important to me. It's all good man, was just looking for some insight. Wasn't trying to sound like an ignorant, judgemental piece of shit.

Peace, love and happiness to all

If the foundation of your friendship is based solely on being atheist then your friendship is broken. If there is more to the friendship than belief and non-belief then respect her as you would expect her to respect you. It all depends on the value you place on the friendship.

Of the friends I have, some are believers, some are not.
Yet we all get along very well.
Just because we believe, or not believe in different things, has no bearing on our friendship.
We value each other for the person that we are.

Honestly, I don't care what anothers belief is.
If they are good people, well, that's good enough for me.
Given of course that one or both of you don't try to force each other to belilieve, or try to ridicule the other, I don't see why it would mater.

I think you , and quite a few others on here, would have a much calmer life if you didn't feel it necessary to get triggered by someone else believing in fairy tales. ?

I would like to know how thousands of women were Cleopatra all at one time. Why do people not remember coming back as someone that was unknown in history? There seems to be some romance in the thought or having been somebody in a past life when people think their current life is insignificant.

The terms 'non religious' and 'reincarnation' are not reconcilable.

She's not non religious

I'd ask, if the subject was brought up, why and how they thought that this works. Then leave it alone. If they continue, ask about other magical thinking topics like ghosts or laying on of hands. Over time, and around logical thinkers, things change. That's why a lot of us are on this site.

I'm fine with the concept of reincarnation and carrying good/bad karma from past lives....if that helps someone deal with the problems of this life and work on clearing their karma by doing good deeds and living a good life, fine. If people need these concepts to help them deal with their current life and work toward "earning a better life" in the future, fine.

No wars have been fought over reincarnation....no one has burned anyone at the stake for not believing in it....and no one sends out suicide bombers to non-believers of reincarnations.

It's far less dangerous a belief than is the Gawdawful of Abraham.

Read the books by Dr Jim B. Tucker of the University of Virginia, and then decide for yourself what is the truth.

Well she certainly will be recycled.

That sounds exhausting. One life is enough for me.

Moo ving On!

Reincarnation is another religion. Its like you the group who think there were someone else in another life. They just don't have a place to hand over their money so they can live of the member ship. Reincarnatists believe it how they live their life to what life form they come back as. That is like heaven and hell thinking. Those who believe they lived as someone else in a past life are varied some say its how you lived others say its a gamble. Each group has different ideas and degrees on how it works.