The physical plane is where our soul currently projects its consciousness through fleshly bodies. It is also called the “earth plane”. The sojourn of the soul here resembles the stage of human growth from the beginning of walking to the developmental levels of kindergarten. The physical body is the suit that the soul wears during this stage of growth. This temporary suit is soul-animated so that we can talk, walk, eat, see, hear, taste, touch, and experience the sensual pleasures of this dimension.
We are currently very limited on the earthly plane, limited in our ability to travel throughout the universe, and limited in what we can do in our lives. This limitation, however, is for our own good because we are still in our early stage of soul development. If we had no limits to what we can do at this “kindergarten” level of soul growth, we would be wreaking havoc throughout the cosmos. So, in a sense, we are marginalized to the far reaches of Planet Earth until we learn specific lessons, the most important being to love one another unconditionally.
Once his physical suit reaches its “expiration date”, the body is ready to be discarded and the soul transcends the physical realm into the etheric realm, a sub-plane of the astral realm. The etheric plane is for entities in states of transition. It is here on Earth, but its vibration is that of the ether, so it is really a hybrid of the physical/astral realm. This is the place where many have reported seeing entities we call “ghosts.”
Eventually all souls pass into the astral realm to begin their astral life. After living its astral life, the soul casts off its astral body in preparation for its descent back to the earthly plane where it begins another life in the physical body. This cycle of “death and rebirth” between the physical realm and the astral realm repeats hundreds or thousands of times until the soul graduates and no longer needs to reincarnate. The more lives it lives, the older the soul becomes and this is evident from the talents it has accumulated over a multitude of lives in a variety of cultures and historical periods. Earth is just one of countless planets or physical planes for which souls incarnate during their early stages.
During your dream state, the physical body becomes unconscious but the astral body becomes conscious. The soul forms an “etheric double” and sometimes begins astral travel. This is when the astral body travels to the astral realm and can communicate with loved ones or explore its former “home” in the astral sphere. During your nocturnal journeys, the astral body is always connected to the physical body with a silver cord. Sometimes people feel a “jerking” or “dropping” sensation just before they wake up. This is indicative of the astral body returning to the physical body. Lucid dreams, flight dreams, and vivid dreams are examples of the intensity of astral travel.
Eventually, the infant soul reaches the level of growth where it no longer needs to reincarnate or “reincarcerate” back into the gross, dense physical dimension. You can still do it if you want, but it’s not required. This is known as astral ascension.