There’s a misconception that science can regulate every idea and concept that is expressed. Very frequently, spiritual and religious ideas lie outside the realm of science.
In the case of reincarnation, concepts of consciousness and soul are addressed, as well as the possibility of a higher power that regulates the process. (As there is more than one set of beliefs involving reincarnation, no particular religions need be mentioned.
For a working definition, let us say that reincarnation is the continuity of a soul over a series of lifetimes, linked to only one individual at a given time. Consciousness of prior (or future) lives is not a requirement, but not excluded either. The process of reincarnation after death may either be random, or directed based on a set of behavior-related rules.
The soul is as yet a purely metaphysical concept. Science has never detected or recognized any object, force, or energy that can be identified as a soul. A lack of detection and identification is not a proof of non-existence. (Anyone who argues otherwise must also maintain that neutrons did not exist before the 1900’s.) Since science cannot rule on even the existence of souls, it certainly cannot dictate whether they are continuous, or terminal.
Consciousness is a concept that men of science and philosophy have sought to define for ages. Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” and modern-day brain-wave mapping all address the topic. No sound definition of what consciousness is exists, but as the study of the mind continues, one may yet solidify. Meanwhile, without a certainty as to what consciousness is, it is not possible to test whether a soul is somehow entangled with consciousness, or whether consciousness itself may be the interaction of soul with flesh. Ideas may abound, but they are untestable notions, and have no bearing on science at present.
The mechanism by which a soul passes from one life to another cannot be determined scientifically either. If souls could be detected and identified, possible experiments over lifetimes could track how behaviors affected subsequent lives. It would then be observed whether “good” people were given to better future lives while the “bad” were downgraded to poverty or even animal forms. It would be determined whether there was a time that elapsed before souls were reincarnated – perhaps as a part of a waiting list for new births. Perhaps disconnected souls could be detected, as they wandered about looking for a new body, suggesting a random process. Perhaps the process would be highly ordered, suggesting a cosmic force at work. All such things are only speculation, scientifically speaking.
Is reincarnation scientifically possible? No. Is reincarnation scientifically impossible? No. With no current scientific data, reincarnation is not a topic that can be evaluated scientifically. There is plenty of room for belief in reincarnation, and science has nothing to say on the matter.
