Guest/Mr. J (if I may call you that- obviously you are much more Mr. Jennings these days than you are the dark one), it is my notion that before we ever 'return' we vow/decide/are determined to make a success of the life situation that has been laid before us. Perhaps not totally for the sake of our own 'record', perhaps it is the life of someone else who has vowed to succeed in a different situation of which we will be a part.

Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we merely survive, sometimes we succumb to pressures that are downright evil.(There is plenty of time; we don't punch in 9 to 5.)

Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we merely survive, sometimes we succumb to pressures that are downright evil. But in every case, it is something that the essence of ourselves undergoes, not something that either damns or elevates us forever.

It works for me.