In my case i believe in reincarnation, i really like the buddhist take, it admits "life" is sort of a game and you have to win (attain enlightenment) to finish the game so you can finally escape the endless cycle of Samsara., you also need to leave the world without any attachments to reach Nirvana, that's why some buddhist monks meditate during months so they can die while meditating and leaving no attachments behind.
There's another take i like and it's the gnostic take, it basically states that the demiurge created this world and the archons rule over it, they're some kind of entities that turned the earth into a prison planet to farm the human suffering, and they like to feed from that suffering (or loosh, aka the energy humans produce from bad emotions)
If you think about it, this theory really does make sense considering all the suffering we get to experience in our lives and how much suffering exists in the world.
Also the light at the end of the tunnel is actually a trap to trick you into reincarnating again, they shower you with an almost orgasmic sensation of love that pulls you towards the light and usually in front of that gate of light you'll see those that were important to you (partners, friends, family members, even Jesus...) and these people will tell you to follow them into the light to trick you. Once again the goal according to gnosticism to escape this prison is to leave it without any attachments to the material plane, because if you're still attached to the experiences of your ego/ human life you'll also feel a need to walk into the life and reincarnate.