Did our souls choose to come to earth — and why?

taking a closer look at the idea that our souls specifically chose this lifetime, this body, and even this moment.

Something I hear in spiritual circles a lot is the idea that our souls somehow chose to come to earth — and, specifically, that our souls chose the exact circumstances of the lives we are living.

According to this concept, before we emerged as screaming babies, our ancient spirits selected our parents, challenges, identities, and life paths.

To me, this concept feels like a sister idea to karma and a sibling of faith in a higher power. Within this paradigm, rather than our lives being predetermined by our past actions, our souls actually elected the paths that we are on.

It’s a comforting thought, and though it sounds outlandish, I don’t think it’s altogether less plausible than the idea that some great God in the sky wove the fabric of every moment of our lives.

Personally I don’t know how I feel about this idea. If this is the case, then terrible suffering and awful circumstances were somehow our souls’ choices, and this just seems implausible (though I do struggle with the existence of suffering in general, which you can read more about here).

Yet there is also comfort in having faith that all of this was a choice, just as there is deep comfort in believing that we are all part of a greater divine plan. Whether you believe in god or your soul or some blend of both, it does feel good to believe you are being carried forward by a deep and benevolent force.

Sometimes I even believe this, truly. When I look at the intricate structures that shape every leaf and tree and flower on this lakeside land I’ve come to call home over the past few months, it’s hard not to believe there is a greater genius at work — a consciousness that flows through everything like a river, drawn from an oceanic source of love, wisdom, and infinite abundance.

So did our souls choose to come to Earth, with its magnificent flowers and its countless mysteries? The logistics of the soul-selection process do admittedly grow a bit fuzzy when you think about them in detail. Like — Is there some huge round table where our souls sort through possible life paths, examining various lessons that they need to or want to learn? Is there a higher board of directors that approves or denies various path selections? Do we have to sign some kind of waiver clarifying that we agree to forget our true selves, we agree to participate in an illusion of separateness, and we will not pursue litigation if life on Earth does happen to be rather painful?

Then there is the question of the overall goal of this incarnation. Why would our souls choose to come to Earth, where there is so much suffering and so much beauty, especially if they’re in some kind of state of communion, unity, or timeless knowledge up there in the soul-realm? I think there are many possible answers to this. One is the more Buddhist answer: that our souls are seeking total enlightenment or transcendence, and that only by choosing certain life paths that allow us to purify certain actions and karmas can we leave the wheel of soul-reincarnation entirely.

Another possibility is that our souls come to Earth for the same reason that we go on any kind of trip: to experience beauty, wonder, magic, and challenges that help us grow. Sometimes I think life itself might be one giant trip (of the psychedelic or travel kind — you choose), and anyone who has done psychedelics or navigated an airport in order to get somewhere knows that these travels aren’t easy. That’s not why we embark on them. We embark on trips to know ourselves more deeply, and to experience oneness with something greater than ourselves, and to explore the beauty of the world.

Maybe that is why we are here. Maybe it’s all about the journey.

Maybe we are simply here to be compassionate and spread love. Maybe many of us are here simply to help all the other lost souls on Earth and to guide people towards the light. This idea holds a lot of weight in spiritual communities — that some of us are here as “lightworkers,” meant to bring luminosity to a dark world — but it’s also basically the core idea of many religions: be kind. Love each other as yourself.

Maybe love is why we came here in the end. Love certainly is the sweetest part of life, as well as the most painful.

Yet we love anyway, because it is so worth the risk, and maybe that’s why our souls came here. Because it was worth the risk. Because the pain was worth all this beauty.

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Regardless of why we came here, if our souls did choose this life and if all of this was predetermined by the parts of us that are eternal and all-knowing, that does feel strangely comforting. It feels nice to know that I’m not alone and that I’m protected by a higher source, something in touch with something much greater than me.

So much of being human to me feels like walking around in a dark room, running my hands against the walls, feeling the outlines of things but never fully able to see. I think I sense the presence of higher entities, I think I sense the presence of magic, I think sense the presence of spirit. I know feel the flow of creativity in me, alive and sparkling. I feel that all this could be part of a divine plan, either plotted by our souls or God, but I can’t quite see the details of this plan.

Going by all that’s happened so far, though, I can kind of understand why my soul may have chosen this life. I incarnated into an incredibly lucky situation and have been generally incredibly lucky, and I have always been met with a great deal of abundance and love.

Yet it appears my challenge and task in this life is to develop love for myself — to learn to live with and alchemize some of the shadows that tend to follow me — and to figure out how to bring my creative gifts into the world. I sometimes have the sense that I lived many lives before where I suffered deeply, and I believe I had good karma that led me to this place in my life thus far. I often pray I won’t waste it, this wild and precious dream of a life.

Of course I could be wrong and I don’t know how things will go. I would never presume to know more than time itself.

I also think I may be here in this time of ecological decay for a reason. Perhaps I simply chose to came here because I saw the suffering that was here and wanted to help.

Maybe it’s all pre-written. Maybe my soul plotted everything out. Maybe I wrote it out in some cosmic cafe like I now write my stories.

Maybe I even imagined myself here, writing this as the wind rolls in from the lake and the trees shiver and dance and my heart feels both heavy and so, so alive.

What would she say, that great immortal soul? Probably something like: Everything is working out as planned. Don’t fear; trust the process. Your soul is here to grow. Step into your power and sing. Be the love and change you wish to see. The simple things, the great cliches that all thought leaders have been telling us over and over.

And if it’s all a game? If it’s all a great psychedelic trip, all a great journey into the illusion of time and space and skin?

Might as well enjoy this experience of having a body and a mortal self when possible. Might as well choose compassion and love over everything.

Might as well dance.

So now, I will close my computer and take a boat across the lake to ecstatic dance, and I’ll do just that.