IF this life is a lesson, its to learn that we are ignorant. That we are not gods.
You have to try hard NOT to find disagreement in afterlife research. Some basics match, that's about it! And here an entire website filled with near complete unanimity. An example of of what I am talking about is found on afterlifedata.com.
Here is a thought: by creating categories to fall in via the grayson scale we are automatically throwing out a ton of data that would likely contradict each other. The scale was designed to find verisimilitude rather than crafted from a priori knowledge -- as it should be, no?
Furthermore, why should we expect similar experiences? A true skeptic has no prior conclusion. We all want a resting place. I doubt greatly we will find one.
My suspicion is that this life is about nothing so simple as learning a lesson. Maybe is is a higher dimensional process with some of the following objectives:
1) To test out various physical scenarios - i.e. we may be partly in test-pilot mode, not simply learning.
2) To learn knowledge about the physical world which simply isn't known out there. We tend to make the assumption
that everyone out there understands the total reality completely. This may not be the case, and indeed maybe it is a mistake to postulate infinitely powerful beings out there. Just because some/most religions claim there is an infinitely powerful being running the show, doesn't mean this is so!
3) To practice certain skills. This is distinct from learning, I think.
4) To try to hold this physical world together - not because it is all there is, but maybe because it is a very useful construction!
5) Maybe reality is growing all the time, and we need to pick up skills to take charge of new worlds!
6) Maybe people find vacationing on earth fun! If life is rough for you, that might seem unreasonable, but just as you might play a character in a video game who was having a really hard time, so pain and suffering experienced here may seem less important after we leave this life.
David