Just sharing, because I personally believe in reincarnation and many of the points brought up over the course of the thread mirror my own beliefs and understanding.
For me, reincarnation just seems to make the most sense. It's all based on growth. Concepts such as heaven or hell feel too absolute for me that both ideas somewhat cancel each other out. Reincarnation just seems to make the most sense. We all have to get somewhere.
Over the years, I've done my own research and meditations into the ideas of reincarnation, and to a smaller degree, ideas that connect to existence radiating through several frequencies and soul growth...
In my personal experience, I do believe that most of the lives I've experienced were as a female and my being born "male" in this lifetime was my way of spiritually growing and understanding universal balance. That being said, I do believe we have control over the way a lifetime will shape before our births. The crazy makes more sense from a metaphysical standpoint. Our lives are what we make of it, but so much of what has happened in previous lifetimes affects who we are today.
My experience as a "male" and my owning up to my inherent and unending femininity is part of my soul's personal progression through existence.
I had done regression mediation successfully in the past. The first allowed me to glimpse a life at least a hundred twenty years ago. I saw myself, and saw my parents, and when I had looked into my father's eyes, I experienced such tremendous fear. In my understanding, I had been a victim of sexual assault that scarred me enough to be institutionalized for some time. I had done mediations that allowed me to heal my past self. In another experience, I was able to get a glimpse at my own Akashic records.
It sounds crazy. But given my understanding of self, it makes so much sense to me.
It was all so long ago... There is a way to do it, but it requires so much. And even then, a lot of it is up to the mediator themselves to gauge as to what's the most comfortable way to attune themselves to those kind of frequencies.