Instead of saying we come here to learn, I think it’s more accurate to say we come here to experience.  We experience an enormous range of emotions, thoughts, and states of being.  We’re not even able to know why things are the way they are or consciously process all of it, but on other levels it is being processed.  And it is satisfying some soul need we have, even though we’re rarely aware of what those things are. 

I think one reason why this physical plane is such a great school as well as playground is precisely because of how slow and dense it is here.  And I believe that for everything we’re learning and experiencing here on this plane, there’s a direct correlation to the nonphysical higher realms where everything translates in ways we can’t even fathom here.  Kind of like how a dream makes sense while you’re dreaming it, but once you wake up some things are not even able to be translated and make no sense at all. 

One night I went to bed feeling troubled by the problems that exist in this World. Suddenly I found myself in an expanse of space and I heard a voice say, "It's a school, a way of learning" and then I felt, "so  don't stress out." (This doesn't mean that there is no need for us to do things that help others.)

On another occasion while I had the same sort of thoughts I heard a voice say, "I could end this anytime I want, but then I would have to start over."

I figure that the first being to exist, God if you prefer, didn't initially know what his being is capable of, what it is all about, so he had to figure it out. We are a part of the learning process. If you were a being that existed, would you want to remain ignorant of what your being is capable of, what is possible, or would you try to figure it out?

I suppose God could've downloaded a bunch of programs into us when he created us, but that would've interfered with our free will.

One night I went to bed feeling flustered with how my day had gone. I was shown a boat on still water. It wasn't getting anywhere. I got the impression that if we aren't challenged while here, don't experience any waves, we don't grow, we don't get anywhere. I don't regret the difficulties I have gone through. They have helped me grow. Going by what I have read and heard, many other people have found the same for their lives.

Our Souls need to have some way to learn. For example, we couldn't fully understand what unconditional love is and choose to embrace such a way of being, if we didn't also understand what conditional love is like. The same is true of other positive attributes such as humility, respect for others, honesty and gratitude. These are precious qualities we can live according to once our Souls understand about their value and embrace them. Experiencing "contrast" is a way to learn.

I have considered this matter a lot, and going by what I have figured out, we choose to incarnate here. This is so even when we experience difficult lives. If you think about it, a lot of difficult lives can be predicted ahead of time.  For example, a Soul knows when it will have to deal with abusive parents. Another example, a Soul knows if it is incarnating into a Country that has a lot of difficulties. Yet Souls choose to live such lives. Perhaps our Souls have a enough resilience to deal with such challenges.

As you know, I believe in the Disk viewpoint Bruce Moen spoke of. My experiences and research tell me that it is true. If you read the reincarnation post I have on this forum, you'll see that it speaks of reincarnation in a Disk kind of way. It explains that some NDErs have found that our Soul exists in a disk-like kind of way, we are just extensions of our Souls. (I don't mean that such NDErs saw their Soul as a Disk). Add to the list of NDERs I mentioned on that thread, Peter Panagore and Nanci Danison.

In a few of his interviews Peter said that he saw that his Soul is divided into many sections. On one occasion he said that his Soul is about ten thousand times bigger than his self that is in a body.

Nanci spoke of her Soul in such a way in recent interviews that can be found on Youtube.