Incarnation cycle and lives in other dimensions
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Basically, I follow a Brazilian spiritualist who has seen spirits since childhood and has been having conscious astral travel since she was 29. She has written books about the spiritual world, how metaphysical matters work, and so on. So, regarding incarnations, what I'm sharing here comes from her work on the subject.
Before incarnating on Earth, individuals spend time in the spiritual realm planning their next life. According to the source, this realm is divided into different zones known as Astral Houses (Casas Astrais) essentially large spiritual communities or cities located in the etheric layers surrounding Earth. Each House serves a specific purpose: some are meant for rest, others for healing, and still others for study.
Most of the life planning occurs within the Third House, which functions as a major center for education and preparation for the next earthly journey. Free will is fully preserved in this process,nothing is imposed. In the company of spiritual mentors, individuals examine what their soul needs to develop, map out their goals, and choose the lessons they wish to learn,such as learning to share or becoming more independent. They also select the family environment best suited to support that growth. For instance, if the soul needs to learn to share, it might choose to be born into a large family.
Before transitioning into a physical body, individuals are prepared by these mentors within the Astral Houses, so they may retain a measure of emotional wisdom that helps mitigate the hardships of human existence. When the time comes to be born, the soul is sent through a kind of transport channel that imparts specific energetic qualities, which are meant to support the fulfillment of its mission and shape its aura.
Ultimately, the purpose of reincarnating on Earth is soul growth and self-discovery. The text explains that Earth serves as a place where diverse souls come to make abstract spiritual ideas tangible and concrete. Through the exercise of free will and the living of human experiences, individuals develop their "mental body," heal internal imbalances, and come to understand their true nature. This journey is not merely individual,by growing oneself, one also contributes to the broader evolution of all beings on the planet.
So, essentially, our goal on Earth is to properly develop those lessons within our soul. In other dimensions, the etheric energetic layers are far more present, and with our current density, we would not be able to live there,it would basically injure us and energetically 'expel' us. This phenomenon does occur here on Earth, but on a much smaller scale.
There are compulsory incarnations. Some individuals have lived so intensely in earthly materiality that, at a given moment, they cannot accept or manage to live within the astral spheres. As a result, they decide to return to Earth as quickly as possible, without any planning. This occurs through dark spiritual colonies, whose purpose is to forcibly incarnate spirits in order to lead them toward harmful paths and involution on Earth. Again, this happens with the spirit's free will, but sometimes the spirit is deceived, as these colonies may promise that they will incarnate as the children of relatives and so on, and sometimes they succeed in that.