Life and Death
This life offers us many questions, but not near as many answers. All we can do is put forth theories, and wonder which one is right. For each question life presents, there are probably almost as many theories as there are people. Some theories are alike, even seemingly identical. While others differ drastically.
Why are we here? What is our Purpose?
No one can say for sure. Some say we're just here to teach the Gospel of Christ. If that's it, why put anyone here to start with? Why did God go through the hassle of creating everything if he is omnipotent and knew sin would happen? Just to prove he could? Or maybe he didn't know sin would happen. In that case, why even offer the temptation of knowledge? Why not "people proof" the Garden of Eden as we "child proof" or "pet proof" our homes when a baby is born, or we get a new pet?
Or maybe it's not the we're here to "spread the word" at all. Maybe we're here simply to learn life's lessons. What lessons, you ask? The lessons that allow our spirit to move on to the next "level" of existence.
Here are my thoughts on the whole thing:
We're here on this earth, in this life, because of one of two things.
Either:
A) We just "graduated" from the "level" before this one,
OR
B) We still have lessons to learn from this "level" before going to the next.
Our spirit (the part that goes on when our physical bodies die) makes up who we are. When people say "It's what's on the inside that counts.", they're basically saying to look at the person, and who they are, not what they look like. Look at the spirit of a person, not the body. When our body dies, the spirit lives on. As far as I know, the majority of religious paths believe this. Christians believe your spirit (soul) goes on to either Heaven or Hell, as do some others. Many religions believe in reincarnation. (Depending on how you want to look at it, the Christian view of Heaven and Hell could be considered a form of reincarnation. With Heaven being the "level" if you learn your lessons, and Hell being the "level" if you don't.) I don't know how many other varying beliefs about death and the afterlife exist, but I think these are the two that are most common. But keep in mind, even within these two categories there are MANY different beliefs and theories.
When you die, your spirit still lives. It might hang around for a while in the spirit realm (what we call ghosts, or angels), or it may be "reborn" almost immediately. If that particular spirit has learned all it's lessns needed to go on to the next "level", it goes on. I don't know what the next level is, nor do I care to know. Without mystery in life, it would be too easy not to try.
Let's say you haven't learned all you need when you die. What happens? Well, eventually, your spirit will be born into a different body. Then you have a chance to learn more. Between the time one body dies, and the next one is born, though, you have some "free time". Some spirits seem to use this time to pick on those of us who are still living (or haunt if you prefer the pessimistic terminology), yet we never hear from others. Where are they?
My belief is that they are resting. They're getting ready for their next incarnation. (Unless they moved to the next level.) Some die tragically, and mourn themselves. (Or hang around to cause turmoil in the lives of those who may have caused their death.) Some may not understand that they are actually dead for a bit. Some have committed suicide, and may still be in the depression that drove them to that end. Just as in life, in death there are many possiblities. And I have to assume that a spirit has the option of not being reborn... of just staying in the "in between" area (some refer to this area as The Summerlands).
What is the Ultimate Level?
Who knows? Maybe it's Heaven (or a variation of). Maybe it's total spiritual enlightenment, and we go back to where we came from. Maybe we'll never know.
But it's like I said earlier:
Some mysteries are meant to be. If we knew all, and knew the ending, what would be the point in playing the game?
(Another metaphor to present here is this: If someone tells you how a book ends, or how a movie ends... do you really WANT to go through everything else?)
Which includes several links to other reincarnation pages.
