I get a lot of variations on this question. “Why would I ever choose to come back to Earth? It’s horrible here and my life sucks. As soon as I get to the other side, I’m staying there!”
I also get: “How can I prevent myself from being reincarnated? I’m so afraid of being sent back here, only to suffer again like I’ve suffered in this life. What do I have to do to earn a good life?”
In this article I’ll explain a little more about reincarnation, suffering, and the choices you have.
First, rest assured that no one is going to make you come back to Earth if you don’t want to. It’s entirely your choice if you want to come back. Now some of you are thinking, “Well good then, I’m never coming back!” Don’t be so sure. More on that in a minute.
Secondly, no one was sent here to suffer. No one was sent here with some predetermined plan of suffering. Bad things happen, things that hurt us, no doubt about it. But suffering is a choice. Suffering is the decision you make to view your life as horrible versus seeing what you have to be grateful for. You can stop suffering at any time.
Third, think of Earth as a playground or a park. You came here to play. Maybe you play on the slide, or sit on a swing, or play in the sand. Maybe you interact with other kids, or maybe you play alone. Maybe you play baseball in the park with a team, or maybe you just take a walk in the grass and climb a tree once in a while. Sometimes you go to the playground and have fun! And sometimes you go to the park and are attacked by bees or bullies. Sometimes you enjoy the park, and sometimes you come home and say, “Rough day at the park.” But then what happens? You go back again.
No matter how horrible your day was at the park, you give it another shot. Maybe next time you go to the park, you take a ball and invite other kids to play with you. Maybe the next time you go to the park, you decide you’re going to take a walk instead of trying to get 100 kids together to build a sand castle with you. The park offers so many different experiences, you’d be hard pressed to experience them all in one visit.
So let’s say you’re at the park and some kids kick sand at you and bury you up to your eyeballs. You’re not having fun at all. You go home and complain to your parents, “Hated the park. Mean people at the park. Never going back!” Your parents smile kindly at you with empathy. After a time, you get over it and decide to try the park again, and this time you have an amazing and wonderful time at the park. You come home and tell your parents, “Today was awesome! A bunch of us got together and decided to play baseball. I loved it. Had such a good time. Can’t wait to go back!” Your parents smile kindly at you.
Life is just a bunch of days at the park. When you have a bad day, you vow never to go back. When you have a good day you can’t wait to get back and play again. But the park is just the playground. You decide what experience you’re going to have there.
So before you decide you’re never coming back, realize that once you get “home” you’ll have a different perspective on life, and it may come as a complete surprise to you that you decide to go play again. If you could realize now, while you are still here, that there are many ways to enjoy the park, you might find this life isn’t as bad as you think it is.
