Did you choose this?

Were you in a conscious state capable of making choice before physical incarnation?

I feel there's a state after death, but before reincarnation, this state is identical to the DMT flash, it's uncomfortable, disorienting, there's no time, there's no consistency in events, you are lacking a body, and everything is in constant motion and change, you grasp at your past identity, and like grabbing at smoke, you despair as it all slips through your hands, you long for the stability of a physical incarnation, so you "jump" into one.

Now, if you could realize that this space after death but before reincarnation is actually nirvana, and curb your urge to incarnate, you would have reached freedom from standards, freedom from life death and re-birth.

So yes, I'm sure we choose this, but it's not a choice made from long thought, it's a choice driven by emotion, so it's possible that you can jump into undesirable incarnations if you panic...

This is all just speculation, and it's in the terminology of Buddhism, though the concepts were initially objective and coincidentally alligned with Buddhist language.

-eg