Taking a genuine interest in and honoring our ancestors, as seen in traditional Chinese and other cultures, also seems to fit somewhere in all of this.  Before we become parents, the idea of replicating ourselves may appear egocentric, even to the point of arrogance.  But after we’ve had children—especially if we’ve also begun to explore our family tree—our sense of our position in the grand scheme of things is likely to become simultaneously more reassuringly solid, as well as more humble, as we come to realize we’re simply the latest extensions of a very long line.
 
Particularly if we’re aware of individuals in our lineage who are especially worthy of high regard, we can come to see that, far from being self-centered, carrying on the line of these worthy people (and with it, their life force) is actually more a form of respect.

Also, given that people on the verge of death are far more likely to say they’re seeing family members than strangers, if we want to understand souls and the ways they may interact with us, I can think of no more promising subject to study than the special bonds of biological kinship.

This is especially the case now that we have books like Ed Yong’s An Immense World documenting the astonishing range of ways in which other animals apprehend one another and the world at large. Against this background, I’d be surprised if we discover that we humans don’t have some sort of currently-unrecognized mechanism for detecting kinship.