3. "Life is what you make it"
Well, ok. Yes, to an extent that is true if you mean that life hands you a variety of experiences which you can make better or worse, depending on how you process and work with them. Other than that, please refer to #2 above and understand that we began this journey with a very specific wireframe containing nodes and nexus points of people, places, events and props with which to proceed on a learning adventure. How we work with those things determines "what life is for us" ... within those parameters. Think of your life as a TV episode of "Survivor" or "Paradise Island" - with all sorts of material to evoke ego responses and develop your id*.
*What is the id? -- article by simplepsychology.org?

4. "Karma is a bitch"
Whoa. Let's slow this one down a bit. What is karma, anyway? It is a law of physics, spiritual physics. Think of it as a kind of life ledger - a way of keeping balance of soul energy accounts; transactions and interactions. When a soul inflicts wounds upon another, or violates a spiritual principle of some kind, a "karmic debt" is created. That debt needs to be 'paid' or cleared, so the ledger (the record of your overall life experience) can be balanced. We are given opportunities to settle our karmic accounts both in the present lifetime, and in other lifetimes past and future. Shamans believe you can heal or clear karmic issues in your current lifetime, and transcend the timeline because in the spirit realm there is no time. It's like looking at your hand sideways. You only see one finger extended, with all the others stacked behind, but existing simultaneously. Pretend those fingers are past, present and future - all existing at once. Time is one of the lower vibrational elements which gives us material to work with for our growth and learning. It is very useful, it is mysterious, it can be manipulated, and it will be a while before it is fully understood.

Some people think they can cancel out their bad deeds by doing good deeds. It might be possible in some cases, but in your current lifetime, it would be the same as owing money to one person, but paying it to someone else. It doesn't work that way. You need to make amends with the one you owe. If that's not possible, you may need to settle the account some other way, or make a soul contract to come back in another lifetime together with the ones you owe, in a new situation, and have an opportunity to make ammends. Many people do this, and squander the opportunity so they have to repeat the situation over and over through many lifetimes until they get it right.

If, say you were perpetrator of some kind of mass slaughter in one lifetime, you may choose to come back in a future lifetime as the victim of some mass atrocity. Maybe you persecuted Jews or Black people, or some other minority, or women. You might live a subsequent life as one of those people in order to learn, grow, and clear the debt(s).

Philosophy:

5. "What's it all about?" It comes down to this.
We are here attending the EARTH ACADEMY OF NEGATIVE LEARNING. I call it that because it is a scientific fact that energy rotates counter-clockwise around planet Earth. The default energy, therefore, is negative. It takes extra effort to go against the tide and persue positive things such as health, wholesomeness, virtue and spiritual light. Within this paradigm, our life is a field experiment similar to a holodeck session like we saw in the Star Trek series.

-or- you can think of life as an episode of "Survivor" or "Paradise Island".

You can also think of your life as putting on a grand theater production. Our purpose is to learn, grow (spritually) and experience. We need people, props, events and settings in order to have a robust oeuvre, or composition. In this way, we can see the people, the drama and all the surprises in our lives as something wonderful and very meaningful.

I believe our parents and our family members are designed to set up life challenges.
A happy, supportive family provides certain experiences rich in learning material, just as a tormented or isolated life does. Everything is valuable for our learning and growing.

In short, life is designed to present experiences for us to explore ourselves and develop the person we will ultimately become. We may carry past-life and/or ancesral issues which are unresolved. This is our chance to clear karmic debts and resolve certain issues (complete karmic lessons) once and for all. We may be studying a certain paradigm from many aspects which require multiple lifetimes to play out. We may simply want to experience certain things. But for these wonderful opportunities, we need material to work with.

I tell the organic farmers in my area that the shit in their lives is the compost required to grow godliness. The light bulb goes on and they get it.

In Conclusion:

"When love has carried us above all things . . . we receive in peace the Incomprehensible Light, enfolding us and penetrating us. What is this Light, if it be not a contemplation of the Infinite, and an intuition of Eternity? We behold that which we are, and we are that which we behold; because our being, without losing anything of its own personality, is united with the Divine Truth." ...Ruysbroeck