isnt reincarnation a bit like slavery or imprisonment

when i imagine it. i think of our souls being on earth away from their natural state. it sounds like slavery or imprisonment when you think that you keep reincarnating & are not even aware of another existence besides life on earth.

[WhiteWarrior]

So is college :) I think we choose to reincarnate, knowing we will forget for the duration. If you enroll into something of your own free will it can still be a bad experience but you are the one responsible for giving it another try. Be it army service or school or parenthood... or life.

[skygazer]

yes it is like imprisonment, or some intelligence's twisted video game.

We choose to come here. No imprisonment. :) We just don't remember what we chose and what we came here to do. Yes, it's a lot like a game or school. Learning how to navigate in all the negativity, to rise above it, to love people who make us angry, etc. This is why we are here. To learn to be connected and remember we are, while we are in individual bodies :)

Great response, Laura. If I can add a thought --
My teacher described it like this: the Earth experience is like a theatrical play. A story is being performed that we helped write and placed ourselves into, to gain experience, learn some lessons, associate with our associated spirits, etc.
Spirit world is backstage, watching the production, and part of our conscious spirit being is there communing with the others in spirit, but our conscious "blind" mortal being is on-stage, playing a role, oblivious to the off stage environment (because it would interfere with a complete, authentic experience in the mortal realm). Our mortal being goes through the "show" taking the experience, being "in the moment" and learning the lessons that our spirit mind set up for us before we came into this life. When the show ends (death) our mortal body goes back to the Earth but our immortal spirit being goes back to the off-stage spirit world existence where time and space is completely different from what we knew on Earth.
The bottom line, he said, was this: while we're in the production we have to focus on the experience and respond authentically. That's why there is a veil between the mortal existence and the spirit world.

I just love that analogy.

[Amilius777]

It is a choice. You DON'T have to come back. Not everybody does. Especially not to Earth. There are countless worlds, galaxies, and planets out there that operate on other levels of consciousness and dimension. There could be an entire solar system next to ours with no Three dimensional lifeforms, but on a higher dimension there could be an entire advance civilization of beings in spiritual forms. Or there are other humanoid forms in the universe we can reincarnate into.

Only some belief systems say you are forced back here. That is such a load of ****. That takes away free will and your own choices. Do you see why Orthodox Christianity did not include reincarnation into their dogma? Number one reason is because they couldn't control it. It is complete free will. Some Eastern masters say we are forced back here due to karma. Such a load of bullocks. Makes it sound like karma is this unbreakable law.