That's my understanding as well--and if reincarnation does in fact exist that's the way it should be.
I have to believe it does not exist. There's the substance and the modes. Everything that you can see, touch, etc. is a "mode" of that substance. When a mode is no longer here (e.g. death), it deteriorates into other modes (transfer of heat/energy). But the main core of everything is "substance". You are a mode of this substance. Just like atoms are a mode. Everything in the universe is a mode, and the underlying thing is substance. The fact that something is a mode means that it is subject to change and influence by other modes. Modes never last forever, but the substance itself does.
Everything is a "cause-and-effect" situation. Everything has a cause, except the substance itself.
Then there's the mental aspect. Every mode has a mental aspect. By mental, I do not mean "to think", I mean a mental aspect in the sense that all modes have to exert some kind of "form", hence they have a mental aspect. There are an infinite number of "aspects".
Another idea for the mental aspect is that there's the physical and the mental of particular modes, like humans, for example. There's the bare physical aspect (substance, modes, etc.) and then there's the mental aspect that gives connections to the brain. Without this mental aspect everything would just be physical and you would not experience anything.
But I don't think that's the idea of it. The idea is that all modes exert some sort of form, so that means they have a mental aspect if they are a mode.
It's very hard to explain, but this is what I believe.
