@alex I have a little different perspective on that. I don't KNOW any of this. It's just what my muse feeds me. Could be all fiction.

I think we incarnate with a particular set of physical, mental, and psychological traits, with the purpose of playing/learning for a little while. When done, we go back to whatever is outside (God? Soul? Unmanifest personality?), and at some point decide to do it again.

Some of us create whole universes, and act as godhead there.

Some of us are aware enough that we can run multiple incarnations at the same time. Bodies are avatars (as in the movie).

"The universe isn't bad, for a high school science project. That Yahweh fellow shows promise. I can't wait to see what he creates when he grows up." -- Bill St. Clair