Reincarnated?

[BrownEye]

it's not so much the facial characteristics that get passed on from one lifetime to the next, but some other, intangible essence of the person.

I find many to follow a line of DNA.

Along those lines can you imagine that you know you will come back through your descendant in two generations, and must program your own children properly, in order that you in turn are properly setup for your own return? If we all worked in this fashion the world would be quite different. We would take care of our children in the way we are supposed to, and we would pay more attention to what is happening in the now.