When I was a child, maybe 8 or 9 years old, I thought up the concept of reincarnation. I didn’t know it by name, and I didn’t know that anybody else had ever thought of it. What I did know is that I got a real charge out of contemplating the possibility that my soul could inhabit another body and I could live another life again after this one was over. The feeling I felt as I put the theory together in my mind was something I hadn’t felt before. It was a spine-tingling, euphoric, exciting sensation. Everything seemed to make sense at that moment, and for that moment I felt a sense of clarity, confidence, and peace about my future that overwhelmed my usual petty concerns and fears. I still remember it.

I later came to understand that the sensory and emotional phenomena I experienced that day are how most Mormons describe their encounters with the power of the Holy Ghost. I realized that the Holy Ghost had been giving me essential information about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, including the purpose of my life, and what awaits my eternal soul after this life is over. I was thrilled.

Then, I learned that reincarnation was a false “philosophy of man”, not a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and not a part of Mormonism.

-PWM