Moses de Leon, a Jewish mystic of the Kabbalah, describes an ancient proposition found in many cultures. Many traditions regard the soul as having existed from eternity, but in a state of potentiality. It can only unfold in experience. What the soul, the abiding conscious identity, lacks is experience related to the growth of other-centeredness, or love. As many traditions such as Buddhism claim, this life, along with the experiences gained in other planes of existence, provides a kind of school in which one learns how to love in every-expanding ranges. If we embrace this notion that life's purpose is to teach us to transcend ourselves, our tendency to put our own needs above the welfare of the community eventually dissipates.
— Wayne Teasdale, The Mystic Hours