The next best realm is the realm of humanity, and although humans do suffer here, they have the greatest chance of reaching enlightenment from this realm. Third is the Asuras, realm of the angry gods. This is a warlike state where the soul is at the mercy of angry beings. Fourth is the realm of the hungry ghosts that are bound to the very outside of human existence, and unable to satisfy their cravings, living in a world of dissatisfaction and longing. The fifth realm is that of animals, the second least desirable realm due to the way animals do not have self-awareness in order to achieve their liberation. The least desirable realm to be reincarnated in is hell, where the mind is constantly in distress and torture.
It is rational to accept the Buddhist view of an afterlife; it is both consistent and coherent. Physically, reincarnation and nirvana make sense due to the belief that energy cannot be created or destroyed. When a body dies, the energy that kept the body alive must go somewhere, therefore a transfer of the energy into new life is plausible. Though many say that laws of physics would need to be re-written if reincarnation were true, using science to explain the soul is impractical, if not impossible. The soul has been brought up in many aspects of