I appreciate your comments, and yes, there certainly have been a fair number of hucksters in these communities over the years.

For me, I suppose I've long just naturally felt like reincarnation is reasonably likely, mostly because I see how cyclical everything is and because I've had experiences that have made me comfortable that consciousness is not coming from/created by matter.

I used to get into arguments with people who felt differently about it but these days I prefer to just let people have their perspective as they let me have mine.

I will say for two decades I've done extensive reading on/listening to Near Death Experiences and that's also made at peace with where I'm at.

Anyway, if you do want to look into some scientific research on reincarnation, Stephenson's really the gold standard so far as I can tell.