When my dear father-in-law was dying a couple of years ago, I had just begun to read about the Wiccan religion, and had found quite a few explanations for some strange things that had happened in my life and was willing to give the unprovable parts of their beliefs the benefit of a doubt. I didn't know how to energy heal yet, so I couldn't help him fight it.... but I felt so sorry for him. He'd been fighting cancer for so long, and had already lasted 3 or 4 times longer than expected.
We visited, and he seemed quite cheerful and we finally went home, and then we got a call in the middle of the night that he'd died. It was October 31, All Hallows Eve. The night that is supposedly when the "veils between the worlds" are thinnest. I think he finally saw something that night that made him less afraid, and finally stop clinging to his body and cross over.
I could never have entertained this theory in my previous mindset, nor have believed my mother-in-law a bit later when she told us she thought she'd had a message from him: A palm frond she'd loaded into the back of her van appeared on the driver's seat while she went back into the building. She told us that she thought he'd done it, and that it was supposed to mean that everything was all right between them now. I found out later that they'd had serious trouble in the last couple of decades of their marriage.
Anyway, I guess my point is this: When I was being logical and rational and Oh So Scientific and rejecting all supernatural explanations, I hurt for MUCH MUCH longer than when I accepted the fact that there just might be more to the universe than meets the eye, or that we can explain.
Perhaps there is another dimension that we cannot see or measure, but that interacts with our 4 dimensions in a limited fashion. That perhaps the soul or chi energy or higher self originates there, and is drawn back when the physical connections with the body die. Perhaps that soul does get to play the game again, as a different character. Perhaps souls do compare notes about their previous lives and laugh about who did what to who before they jump back into the game for another round.
It's really impossible to tell from this perspective, but it doesn't hurt anything to toy with the idea. And if it helps get over emotional pain faster, why not use that whatever religious or philosophical mental framework works for you? I've been there, without the support of a belief system, and it was pretty bleak. I don't physically do anything different now that I've incorporated so many religious ideas into worldview... but what goes on inside my head is pretty cool sometimes- especially when it appears to have a real world impact.
The only concerns I have about my worldview right now is that it might not be appropriate for all personality types. What I have is a stripped down version of basic psychic powers without ANY morality attached. It is a neutral force, neither good nor evil in itself- how the person uses it determines that.
I think most religions try to teach morality to go along with the psychic stuff because there are a lot of types of person who would not be nice without a clear moral code, and a clear punishment lined out for transgressions. I don't think I need that part of any religion. I really don't enjoy hurting others, and try to avoid it as much as possible. I was this way long before I learned of Karma and/or the Wiccan rule of three. So that part of any religion is just so much static to me.
There seems to be some *truth* in every religion that I've looked at so far-- a basic system of how to use "supernatural" systems to provoke change in the world -- and so I tend to keep looking for those tidbits of stuff that actually works. I even snagged some stuff out of Christianity when I read the atheist's annotated bible, book of Matthew. There was a part where Jesus was scolding his followers for praying the same way all the time and I've found that this is useful. NEVER get into a rote way of saying a prayer, or shaping the forces the way you want. Do it different EVERY time, and your results will be that much more powerful. At least have several different ways to ask for the same thing and rotate them, so you don't get mentally dull. Intent is everything in this sort of thing and if you get in a habit shaping the energy in the same way EVERY time, it ceases to work.
I'm making it sound like I crazy magical stuff every day, but the only thing I do every day is maintaining my own health. I'm on a rather strict diet right now, and every night before I go to sleep, I "meditate" and envision anything that's working wrong in my body being set right and encourage the fat stores to be accessed properly and generally just keep everything going right, because every time I've been on a diet before- I've gotten sick and quit after a little while. Now I'm into my third month, and have not been sick at all and am still on schedule as far as weight loss goes.
Doing this EVERY night makes it rather challenging to think of different ways to envision it every day, but apparently I've got a good imagination.
The first step is always to let down the "shields" of my aura so I can do an energy exchange. Sometimes I do this by envisioning the shields as a Star Trek style forcefield, and I flick a switch and they disappear with an appropriate hum! 
Sometimes the shields are a shell of ice and the temp goes up and they melt and run away. Sometimes they are smoke, and a puff of wind poofs them away. Sometimes they are like the shields on Batman's car, and they fold away. And on bad days, they can be bricks, and I have to pry them off one at a time after breaking the mortar. 
Anyway, I digress. When I read a religious, psychic or otherwise metaphysical text or even a medical book, if I find ONE useful thing in the whole book, I consider my time well spent.
That stuff about your brother is very interesting, Ethel. Native American spiritual traditions are something I really know nothing about. I'm probably too focussed on the purely mental aspect of all this. My dad works as an archaeologist, though, and any time they find Native American remains, by law they have to call in a shaman (is that the word?) before they can proceed with the dig. Once they found a child's burial somewhere in Eastern Texas, and called in the local shaman, a young man, and as he did his thing over the grave, my dad says a small dust devil kicked up not far away and came close and circled the shaman and the onlookers and then disippated.
They were all amazed, and my dad says the funniest expression was on the shaman's face, like: WOW! This stuff really WORKS!
My dad never tells supernatural stories like that, so this one really made an impact on us.
