This is one of those things that I have no direct experience, so I can't say.. I am just willing to listen. I have had this idea of a before life/ past life based on a few ideas. One, there are some people out there who are quite destructive. They're harmful to society. You might say they are new souls, they still have a way to go for progress. And there are people who have more of a peacemaker personality, and also the term "an old soul," someone quite mature for their age. These might have had gone through already a lot more to reach their stage.
And the second idea is when people say, "finding yourself." What does that mean.. Sometimes you think it's about creating your ideal self. But then in my experiences I've felt my likes, interests, abilities etc have already been decided and I just need some kind of event that will awaken it. It's been this way for me since I was a child, but in contrast I've met a lot of older children/pre-teen or even adults (ie. 25 years) who can't answer if you ask them what do they want to do for a project or what to have for dinner. There is no built-in personality there. They have to create it or I'm not really sure what to think... (now that I've read about 'crystal auras' where the person takes on the aura of the other person).
And just recently/few months ago I've come across some interviews that say there is no history. They are just concepts. The world functions in different dimensions simultaneously. If you meet yourself in a past life, it is not actually the past, but in another dimension. I didn't really get into this topic at the time, so I can't remember all the reasons why this man said these things. But it goes along the idea of 1D, 2D, 3D (we're here, i think), then 4D and 5D (which we are headed to). And in 5D, the concept is that time and space are malleable. You can decide your future by looking at your set of probable futures. There are several paths you can take. It's the reason people have different ideas of what the world is to them. In one person's world, the most popular colour is brown and that is all she sees. And in another person's world, it is green and that is the truth for him. Person's own 'bubble of reality.' And these are flexible and can be changed by you by thought.
Anyway I chose "both" in your poll.
deduction. But I also feel this to be true. It makes sense to me that one would enter the spirit world for a period of time before the come to their next lifetime. This is sort of a planning phase. Figuring what this life will entail, what goals will be in place, what should be experienced, ect. One might also have work to be done in the spirit world that can not be done in this world, or other worlds like this.
