There's this guy, I think his name is Ian Stephenson, he is a psychiatrist and he has collected hundreds of interviews with young children from different parts of the world who claim to have been re-incarnated and in many cases provide details of their previous lives that turn out to be true when checked. Things they would have had no way of knowing, unless they and their parents and their "previous families" were in a very well-coordinated conspiracy to deceive Dr. Stephenson. Which is unlikely given the number of cases, plus they would have nothing to gain by lying, they weren't getting paid for their testimony or anything.

That's not absolute proof that reincarnation is real but it's compelling evidence, and it confirms my gut feeling that I've been on Earth before.

By the way, about the spirit possession thing you a talk about: if you look at a pentecostal church and see them getting 'in the spirit', and then look at a Voudoun ceremony and see them getting 'possessed', you couldn't really tell the difference. People act the same, rolling and jumping around, speaking 'in tongues', etc. So, how you know they're not getting 'possessed' by the same 'spirit', only one know it as 'Jesus Christ' and the other know it as a 'loa' or an 'orisa'?

By the way all who have a misconception of voudoun should know is not no 'devil worship' or nothing like that, is an ancient African (mainly Yoruba) tradition that has been fused with some elements of Christianity (like the orisas- spirits, forces of nature, aspects of God- are identified with different saints, since the slaves were not allowed to worship in their undiluted original fashion). The word 'voudoun' is ONLY used to refer to the positive aspects of this tradition- worship, healing ceremonies, etc. Those who manipulate the forces involved in voudoun for selfish or evil ends are shunned by true voudoun practitioners, and what they practice is not called 'voudoun' but something else (can't remember the name they call it). I am not a practitioner of voudoun but I respect the tradition to the fullest. It was also very influential in helping organize and encourage slave rebellions, many Haitians attribute their being able to defeat even Napoleon to the power of the 'loas'.

Finally, you mentioned Confucious and Buddha... just wanted to let you know that true Confucians and Buddhists do not worship Confucious or Gautama Buddah or believe he will 'save' them, they just follow their teachings. They are viewed as teachers, not gods. Confucianism especially is not really religious at all, it's more a set of guidelines on how to behave, how to govern a country, etc. Some Buddhist traditions have become more 'religious', worshipping Buddha, but that was not the original doctrine of Buddhism. According to this belief system, 'salvation'(living the best life possible, freeing oneself from the cycle of birth and rebirth to achieve union with the divine) comes not from accepting Buddha as some kind of god, but from following the "Eightfold Path" to enlightenment that Buddha taught.

raspek rootka, just throwing in my two cents and trying to clear a couple things up.