When the metaphysical community speculate about past lives, they are usually localizing it to experience on earth. The multiverse hypothesis is the notion one could possibly be existing right now somewhere else literally but in a different physical locale. The problem i have with the idea of death is not so much the finality but that even through billions of years of evolution, you may have existed before and pop up in some way, probably not exactly each time but close enough that it was you and will be again. People assume this is the first and last time they have ever existed but you may have existed many times before between vast stretches of space/time made of the same stardust as before and will never know. The localized version is the idea you carry some memory from one to the next besides genetics, which does have some validity to the notion of past lives as you may have inherited more genes from a particular ancestor etc. But you may have existed before. We tend to forget it is an assumption you never existed before. When we are gone, there is no evidence we ever existed just as you'll never know if a universe will re-create you once again by chance with all the variables among the monumental odds. Depending on your perspective, that's hopeful in that you may exist again and just pop up somewhere like a mushroom like where am i at this time? Who woke me from my RIP and for what NOW?
