The next statement will really get under a lot of people's skin. I do not believe in either Heaven or Hell.. I never have. Even as a child, I never believed as most kids did, that Heaven was somewhere up in the sky and Hell was deep down in the pits of the earth. If there is such a place as Hell, it's where we are right now, on this planet!(I bet I really ruffled a bunch of feathers with that!)
What I do believe is that the body in which we reside during our stay here on earth is simply a means of transportation for us. It consists of flesh and bones and a variety of chemical compounds, all of which are native to our planet. The real "being" inside each of us, call it our heart (not meaning the organ in which we depend on to keep our physical bodies alive), our soul, whatever you like, is however real, and it is pure energy. While we are here on this earth, our energy is trapped inside of this body, and each of us is given a certain life expectancy in which we may use it. Once this body has either worn itself out, or is destroyed, our souls are free to leave, and the human body returns to it's natural form, back to being part of this earth. To me, that gives a real meaning to the words, "Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust".
Once we are back to our natural state, that being a source of energy, and free of the confinements of our human form, we are free to do as we will. For some, they may choose to stay around this planet for a while, perhaps to watch after loved ones, before they decide to go back to wherever it is that we've come from,(Heaven to most people), others may prefer to leave immediately. I also believe that there are some that actually don't realize what is happening and don't know what they are to do next. To me these would be the newer souls that haven't yet really comprehended what it is that they were actually put here for. I think that the older souls know what is in store for them and are eager to return "home" , where they can see what else they can do to farther their perfection process. Or perhaps choose to stay, and not return to the human form. I believe that we all have this choice. While we are here on earth, most of us think that if we were given the choice to either remain in our pure form, which would be so much better than life on this earth, or to return in human form, we would certainly choose the former. But I think that our souls are so eager to learn and so eager to please our God, that we actually crave the knowledge that we gain while we're here living in this form.
I also believe that we are able to choose how and where we come back, To me, this would account for many things, one being the closeness we feel for certain people immediately after meeting them.. And the strong love that two people can feel for each other. I believe that most of us choose to come back to the place where we can be near the same beingings, or some of the same beings that we have always been familiar with.
Another thing that I believe is that each one of us is born with much, much more abilities, and have far more resources within our ownselves than we will ever realize. Everyone knows that it's a proven fact that we actually only use a very small portion of our brains. It would probably take the human species thousands of years to ever realize the full potential of the human brain, if he ever could.