We live here within the waking dream, sometimes forming very close emotional bonds with some others. When one of these close one’s physical form dies, nothing happens to their essence/awareness, as that is impersonal and indestructible AND already one with our essence. If the departed one was not liberated already (as is usually the case), Vedic teachings say what was incomplete about them remains as latent impressions (like unfinished desires and karma) which then returns for a new life to be completed. This could take many lives according to Vedic teachings – though Buddhists do not speak of rebirth. When such a one is reborn, they are naturally attracted to relationships with others (also reborn) who were with them in a previous existence. Past life readings and hypnotic regressions often point to this. Perhaps this speaks better to what you proposed? (Of course, all this is happening in our imagination – our waking dream – until we wake up from it.)
