Not so much nationality or politics, but the conditions into which you will be born.  And of course, just as you may like living near the sea, perhaps your soul might preffer to be born in Europe if it has the choice.

Noobix - perhaps your life purpose this time round is to make Australians more aware of their Asian neighbours?

how can a soul decide where it will be reborn??
i thought that was already predestined?

Pre-destination in a sense is a matter of time having been "recorded". Just as we think the future is mutable and that we have a choice to (say) go to work or call in sick, pre-destination has already decided what we do in advance and, through things like the tarot, can show us what happens a week in advance. It's quite difficult to explain, but our choice has been recorded and is accessible in advance, but when we actually come to the moment when we make it, it seems as if we have the possibility of choosing between two options.

Hence time itself has already known where a soul will incarnate, but when it comes to the time for the soul to make its choice, it will make it under the assumption that it has a free hand in the matter. However it is already written down what choice it will make. If it makes sense - it is rather a paradox but it's how I explain it.

That's just my theory based on the fact that I have had to rationalise - for myself and other people - distinct clairvoyant "future sight". So I draw the Four of Swords in the tarot and know that on Wednesday I stay off work sick, but when it comes to Wednesday, staying off sick is about the only thing I feel like doing!!! Thus I knew in advance, and could have resisted it, but waking up on Wednesday with a sore head and aching all over, there wasn't really much choice in the matter when I had to make it. Given the cryptic nature of most clairvoyance, there is no possibility of accessing information for ourselves which will allow us to cheat fate unless it is already predetermined that we should do so. Warnings in dreams etc are simply directions from angels or spirits or subconcious to allow us to make judgments based on the maximum possible information, but the way I receive clairvoyant information directly precludes me from following advice, given that it is presented in such a form as to make accurate divination impossible. I can only prove things in hindsight, but I am getting better at looking for clues to prove my tarot reading etc right and thus being able to interpret signs more accurately. Also once you start acknowledging the powers that be, the easier it is for you to reach your goal and the more you are able to avoid bad things happening altogether. This does not change predetermination (as there are an infinite number of possibilities given that there are an infinite number of people out there doing infinite numbers of different things, which necessarily impact on what you yourself are doing, seeing, hearing etc) but it allows the clairvoyant to "surf the waves of time" in order to smooth the way to the things that are destined.

My view on predistination is that, if you understand every possible variable that influences something, then you can see the outcome.  Take a very simple mathematical equation for an example:

3x + 2 = 6

Now, everything that influences the outcome is written there, so we can see the result, what x will equal

x + 2 = 6/3
x + 2 = 2
x = 2 - 2
x = 0.

Now, if we know every variable influencing a situation in life, we can work out the result just like that.  But to do that we need to know every variable in the universe, and predicting the future is merely a matter of working out the equation for a few more lines to see what state it's going to be in.  The end result is what I guess you might call the end of time.

Not that I think math can explain the universe of course, it's just an analogy.  But all of our decisions that we make are based on the accumulation of past experience, and all of the current variables that we know about.  Our decision is therefore set in stone before we even make it, because what you do is always the best choice you can see at the time.  Hindsight is not 20/20, it merely has knowledge of more of the variables, and can see what was wrong with the decision that was made.  Anyway, back on topic, our decisions then set more variables into motion which will effect the variables and past experience involved in other peoples', or our own, future decisions.  So everything is already set in stone.  We only think we're making a choice.

As for my purpose being to make Australians more aware of our Asian neighbours, I doubt it :P  Although, I will be teaching Japanese in Highschool, and maybe Primary school too.