Is reincarnation one of if not the oldest belief associated with the afterlife?

Question

What made this people believe we would be reborn into the world? And was there ever a end result or was it for eternity?

Answer 1

It is one of but not the oldest belief associated with the afterlife. Most ancient tribal societies believed that they would go to sacred council fires in an afterlife and be with their ancestors.

Answer 2

Here's an excerpt regarding beliefs from the new novel, The God of All Things:
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“There are thousands of beliefs regarding God,” said Dr.
Singh. “You could spend several weeks reading about these
beliefs - and still not finish reading them all - there are so
many of them! So now there’s a question we must definitely
ask - and that question is - how many of these beliefs are
true?”

“I think this is going to be a rather sensitive topic,”
remarked Martha. “People are very passionate about their
beliefs - and they won’t like anyone to question them in
such a manner.”

“You are absolutely right about that,” said Dr. Singh,
“but let me remind you that we are here to find out which
beliefs are true - and which are not. You remember the
lesson we had on beliefs?”

“Yes,” said Jim. “We believe - only when confronted with
the unknown or unseen.”

“That’s right,” said Dr. Singh. “But if we must believe
anything - it must be the Truth. The Truth that we find using
our power of reason.”

“And not indulge in guesswork,” added Marie.

“Very good, Marie,” said Dr. Singh. “If you remember -
some examples of the unseen and unknown are?”

“A murder,” said Jim.

“Someone telling you a dream?” said Amy.

“Events that you did not witness personally,” said Richard.

“Good, very good!” Dr. Singh was visibly pleased. They
had not forgotten. “So let’s take the example of a murder. A
man named Simon is found dead. The Truth is unknown at
this point. So how would it be if people came up with all
kinds of explanations and theories to explain his death? One
may say a giant spider bit him. Another might say a martian
from outer space came and killed him. Others may say
Jonathan his friend killed him - or it was his girlfriend Sue
who poisoned him and so on and on.”

“But all that is guesswork,” said Marie.

“Right - it is guesswork,” agreed Dr. Singh. “Do you
think the detectives or the police would ever find the killer -
if they indulged in guesswork? Would it be okay if they
arrested everyone in the city? Supposing someone - a stupid
detective - came up to you - and said that he was arresting
you for killing a man named Simon - what are you going to
say?”

“I would say....” replied Andrew at once. “What’s your
proof that I did it!?”

“Exactly!” said Dr. Singh. “You need proof. You need
evidence. If you believe anything - you need to have evidence
or proof to support your belief. Otherwise your belief
is blind. It’s nothing but guesswork and conjecture.”

“People believe in many gods and goddesses,” he went
on. “They worship the sun, the moon, the rocks, the trees -
human beings like themselves and even animals. They
believe in all kinds of things. And they have all kinds of
stories to explain how this world came about. The question
is - how do they know that these stories are true? When the
earth was created, no one was around. And the first people
did not write nor have records about what they did. So how
do these people who have come up with all these stories
know how the world came about? How do they know about
the gods and goddesses that they worship? What’s the proof
and evidence to show that these stories are true?”

“There’s no evidence,” said Richard.

“So what does that mean?” asked Dr. Singh.

“It means that their stories are nothing but conjecture.
It’s all guesswork,” said Jim.

Martha had a frown upon her face. She didn’t like what
she heard. She respected the beliefs of other people even if
she believed differently. At the same time - she had to admit
that Dr. Singh was right.

“People can’t see God - so they indulge in a lot of guesswork,” explained Dr. Singh. “And you have seen that there are all kinds of ideas and beliefs about Him. The question is - which of these beliefs is correct? All beliefs cannot be right since there is only one Truth. So what we are going to do - is use our very powerful and effective - elimination formula.”

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Excerpt taken from Chapter 29, The God of All Things

Answer 3

I don't know if it is the oldest but it is certainly old. Some of us can remember other lives so we don't have to "believe" in the normal sense of the word.