If there's one thing I've learned on my life's journey it's that any organization, institution, formal/informal group, etc has one thing in common: control. We can choose what we agree with and willingly join, submitting to that control. I did that when I agreed to join the Navy. Shoot, even SMF has controls that I follow willingly. Churches, employers, politics, social media, etc, it's all about control, and I choose the ones I follow or avoid. I've explored, joined, and left or changed my direction from many, MANY institutions over the decades. In every case, it was something they did I believed was wrong that made me choose a different path.
On topic, there are those who believe we're not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience, and that we've chosen where and when we want to be born. Maybe...maybe not, but there are examples of reincarnation that are quite compelling.
Is my perspective correct? It is to me. Take it. Leave it. Mull it. It doesn't matter. I've been an award-winning recruiter for several organizations, and I've learned four things from one of them about what motivates people. Folks want to live and be healthy; love and be loved; they want a little variety; and they want to feel important. If an organization offers those four factors in a balanced way, it will usually get my attention, engagement, money, etc.
Finally (or not), another story on the afterlife topic. My wife and my mother did not get along well for reasons not worth mentioning. I too didn't have the greatest relationship with my mom. When my wife and I were on the long drive home from mom's funeral, my wife fell asleep in the car about an hour after we left my dad.
After a while, my wife opened her eyes, turned to me and said, "I just had a long dream about your mother. She's in a peaceful, loving place, and wanted you to know she's fine." My wife never remembered her dreams. In fact, to that point in her life, she believed she didn't have dreams. She said that one was like watching it happen. Just a dream? Probably, but it was nothing I ever would have expected from my wife.
It has been enjoyable getting to know folks beliefs on the topic, whether from personal experience, organizational exposure, or intellectual contemplation. Maybe everyone's right. Maybe everyone's wrong, but one thing is certain; we'll all know at the end.
Ray