Hi Debra: Great questions at many levels. Just don't seek answers from those who believe they have the answers. We know them as preachers, priests, rabbis, or perhaps holy men and women. There is a body of "soft" knowledge that is accumulating a lot of interest to me and to others. It comes to us from those who have experienced near-death experiences (NDEs). After reading and sorting through a large number accounts (see afterlife101.com). It's 156 pages long, with many details. The super-crunched version: We are not advanced enough to understand any of the important issues. Our task (lasting a very long time) is to accumulate knowledge about ourselves and purpose incrementally. We rotate to and from "heaven" in many incarnations while gaining in knowledge and wisdom. Perhaps we will have good answers in 50,000 or 50 million years. Meanwhile, we are each on spiritual treadmills, slightly inclined, and moving toward the great moment of enlightenment. We must accept reincarnation as the linking mechanism to get there. The cited website does a better job of explaining these issues. Thanks for posting.