I think of mind as a process using memories stored in the brain and
sensations provided by the brain, that can be thought of as a sort of
life process (the flame on a candle, a wave on the water -- that sort of
thing). When brain dies what becomes of this process?
If it weren't for the observation that waves can perpetuate without a
medium (well it's more complicated than that but there is no aether),
maybe the process that is mind can go on even though the body has
died. This is pretty much standard Theravada Buddhism that the "life
spirit" goes into a womb and is reborn, except see it as the
conservation of sentience.
Trouble is the memory and most of the personality are in the brain and
die, and the new baby has its own genes and life experiences and is a
different person. This would not seem to be a formula for "going
on." It is more like making a big deal out of the fact that the atoms
that make up our body get recirculated through the
biosphere. Substitute life spirit for atoms and you get much the same
result, not terribly profound and not particularly different from simple
extinction.
Mozart (and most great artists of all fields) had a distinct voice from the youngest age, and he has not reappeared.
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