Reincarnation is a vain hope of worldly-minded (and/or worldly) people who wish to awaken after death to seem themselves on earth for another go-round.
After all, though a valley of tears, life on earth isn't so bad. Let's face it -- how many of us are anxious to die? And even for those of us who are enduring great suffering -- how do your sufferings compare with Hell? No offense, but they're nothing compared to life in Hell.
There's a saying, "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't."
Earth has its ups and downs, but at least we are "in our element" down here -- we can deal with it. We can handle it, more or less.
But aspects of the next life (including the strictness of God's judgment, for example) should rightfully terrify us. Many saints were afraid of God's judgment.
And even if we're suffering, we should prefer to keep living here, because at least here we can grow in grace, help save souls, and merit for heaven. And 10 minutes as a cancer patient here is worth 10 years submerged in unspeakable fire in Purgatory -- not counting the fact that the cancer patient can actually grow in holiness and gain merit!
As we get older, the world is taken from us a piece at a time (beauty, health, strength, mobility, sight, hearing, friends, independence, way of life, house, familiar routines, the world we knew, etc.), to prepare us for death -- a mercy of God, as it were.
But most young people especially want to stick around for some time.
"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now."
Topic: reincarnation (Read 2225 times)