In most beliefs involving reincarnation, the soul of a human being is immortal and does not disperse after the physical body has perished. Upon death, the soul merely becomes transmigrated into a newborn baby or an animal to continue its immortality. The term transmigration means the passing of a soul from one body to another after death.

Near-death experience accounts affirm that we do not immediately reincarnate after death. The reason is because time does not exist in the spirit realms, and reincarnation is not a linear process.

Humanity has often understood this just afterlife in one of two ways: Either each soul is judged and enters into the presence of God (heaven) or into God’s absence (hell) — or souls begin anew after death. This new start is popularly called reincarnation.