hopefully we can all look forward to the day we find out the truth and i'm sure there'll be a few surprises and in the meantime all beliefs are equally valid and interesting, just as life on this planet is equally important and neccessary. x

Surprises..I bet.

Take it easy!

I don't feel it is as simple as simply learning one lesson, then incarnating.
There are many lesson the soul has to learn, and if we do not learn just ONE of them, having been allowed thousands of years to do so, then we wil return. To get the chance to learn it again.
We are allowed the opportunity each life, to spiritually progress. If we choose to not do that each progressive incarnation becomes more challenging. Until the awakening of the need for learning.

Time between incarnations varies based on karma(a murdered soul will incarnate sooner then one who committed suicide), as well as the souls activity between incarnations. Much can be learned in spirit realms, and time perception is not so slow when not embodied.

I know have incarnation times between thirty or so years to 5 years after the last death. This is in the past century. Further back I am aware of live more spread apart by time, and do not know how many lives could have been lived in the in between time. When there's gaps on centuries I can't be sure if there are more life times in between.

Some who have done all the growing they had to do here moved up to a higher plane with their physical bodies. Perhaps we incarnate in bodies so we can develop them to a high enough state that we can then bring them to a higher plane.

My mother had told me once, that it is the belief of budhism that a soul is to pass 18 hell before each reincarnation, and depending on your sins here on earth, there are guides that help each soul to pass these hells....