I'm fairly sure - given my experience in this life - that there is a God, and he is aware of each individual, and cares about their growth. He helps them grow throughout life, so it doesn't make sense that He would put all that effort into developing my personality and then just kaput?
So there is something. It may be reincarnation with the idea of continuing the personal growth, maybe in another form.
What I think that is important is to take full advantage of this life to become the best person you can possibly be. There are so many basic lessons that need to be learned - like the balance between greed and charity, between hedonism and asceticism, between love and hate.
I'm pretty sure that we get wiser in a fundamental sense each time we go around the cycle, and maybe eventually we build up enough karma to reach the next plane, and then we keep growing.
The plain fact is that MOST human beings that have ever lived have believed in a Creator of some sort, and life after death, of some sort. That does not prove it, per se, but it does indicate that humans have an instinct towards those beliefs. Which is interesting.
I find no benefit in fighting that instinct, and a great deal of comfort in my belief. It may be a narcotic of the masses, as Marx said, but if so, it's a necessary one for me.
As for the body, there is an old proverb:
The worms crawl in
The worms crawl out
The worms play pinochle on your snout.
CZAR