The Mature Soul

The largest change in perception we make during our time on the planet is when we move from the Young Soul Age to the Mature Soul Age. Fairly suddenly, we move from looking forward and outward [‘How can I get ahead?’ ‘What do I need to do to get a leg-up on the competition?’ ‘How do I keep up with the Joneses?’] to looking backward and inward [‘What’s it all about?’ ‘Why does it matter?’ ‘WHAT matters in the larger scheme of things?’ ‘In 100 years will anyone care?’]

Along with these questions comes a deepening of relationships. People are no longer seen as competitors or barriers to be overcome but as companions— other entities to share experiences with, fellow-travelers, people to work in cooperation with [rather than to compete against.]

All that said, the personality can have its own agenda [see a later post for the creation of the personality]— so it may still want things like money and/or power over others.
Having access to those skill-sets through the Soul, the personality can pull off such an approach but it won't have the Big-Push from the Soul to achieve those goals that it would have had back when the Soul was Young. Once the lessons concerning money and external power have been learned, the skills are inherent but future personalities can remain poor as church-mice and unable to have any influence whatsoever on large numbers of people for all the Soul cares.
If the personality does pull off those objectives, Mature Souls are more likely to carry them through applying a more Mature moral sense to that lifetime than a Young Soul would. [Think Robert Redford and Sally Field who obviously value their relationships and have managed to acquire major amounts of influence and money. ['You like me! You really like me!' is an obviously Mature statement.]
Likewise, the more liberal politicians may acquire external power and their approaches include such moral matters as caring for the poor, pushing educational issues, working for civil and women's rights, seeing to it that our troops can access health care or education, etc. etc. [Think Barbara Boxer, Bella Abzug, Robert and Edward Kennedy (JFK was late Young).]

Right now, though, the primary goals the Soul wants to develop are relationships, cooperation and emotions and the soul will be gung-ho to work with the personality to pick its way through that formidable maze— which is plenty to tackle during any given lifetime or set of lifetimes.
In fact, the Mature Cycle takes the longest of any Soul Age to move through for almost everyone.
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After the years of youth and early adulthood comes the time of middle age. Much of what can be said about Mature souls is what would be said about people in middle age. They are at the peak of their lives: beyond the folly of youth, yet before the decay of old age. Like people in their 40’s and 50’s, much of their experience is behind them. That is, they have subconscious access to depths of experience not present in younger souls. They constantly evaluate whether their life goals are being achieved, and what they would do differently if they could start again.

Matures have a strong tendency to be introspective. This incessant self-evaluation can lead to psychological difficulties. They are in the "mid-life crisis", so to speak, of the Maturation scale. These souls seek to comprehend everything and there is very little that escapes their scrutiny.

One place for Mature souls to seek out knowledge is in such places as libraries and colleges. Mature souls are great believers in education. They go to school for different reasons than Young souls do. Young souls get educated to further their careers. Most Mature souls, on the other hand, seek knowledge for its own sake. They truly want to understand.
They often pursue knowledge on their own, reading widely or taking night-school classes on whatever subject is of interest to them. They often do this rather than seeking a formal degree. The courses that Mature souls take are less likely to further their occupations and more likely to be for personal improvement. Mature souls care more about what they are learning than about the grades they make or how it can further their status or financial goals.

Mature souls are in a searching mode all their lives. Personal fulfillment is their constant quest and they never quite achieve it to their own satisfaction. Mature souls are complex — the most complex of the entire cycle. There is so much going on in their psyches other people cannot fathom it and even they themselves do not fully understand what is going on. The Mature soul Age is the most challenging of the Ages. Mature souls are agitated, sensitive, and touchy.

Another phenomenon of this age level is that of angst. Soap operas as shown on TV may be the products of Young Souls but Mature Souls are living them. The fact that their relationships matter deeply to them brings with it the ability to be hurt by the people they are relating to—this can take an enormous toll on a person.

Since Mature souls are relatively evolved in their consciousness, their behavior is, generally, very ethical. They are working on the finer points of human relationships. They value the feelings and opinions of other people. It hurts them when others do not think well of them. Even so, they can be somewhat nonconformist and even a little bit rebellious in their natures.

As a result of all of the above, Mature Souls are the most likely to seek psychological counseling. They truly want to grapple with their problems, their emotions, their relationships. Likewise, the majority of psychologists are themselves Mature Souls — and they probably have a lot of psychological churning that they themselves are working through. They want to understand the significance of everything, and why people do what they do.

Earlier Soul Ages just aren’t into this mindset: Infants are too busy simply surviving to bother. Babies can’t stand the idea that they could, possibly, be wrong about something; the stigma is too great for them to handle.Youngs are both too busy and perceive such a need as a ‘sign of weakness.’ For the first time, Mature Souls begin to recognize the true strength self-examination requires and throw themselves into such endeavors.

The 1960’s and 1970’s had a mature flavor about them as pop psychology took off in the US and Europe. Recently it has waned but, I predict, it’s still being practiced at a quieter level and will return to public awareness in the near future. Meanwhile, the stigma is steadily shrinking as more and more people seek to understand their own inner feelings more fully.
If their difficulties cannot be dealt with through counseling, people may turn to alcoholism or other drug abuse as a form of self-medication. This method of anesthesia is more prevalent in this Soul Age than any other. Mature souls will not often allow themselves to do physical harm to other people, like younger souls might, so they turn their frustrations concerning others upon themselves.
Young Souls supply the drugs [both legal and illegal] making heaps of money [and karma] in the process. Not exclusively, but to a great degree, Mature Souls consume them.

More than any other Age, Mature Souls care — care about the problems of the planet and want to correct them, care about other people and want to help them, care about their own well-being and want to improve it. Mature Souls are open to all experiences, and are prone to try pragmatic solutions to their difficulties, rather than using canned Establishment (Young soul) methods. So, while the few Young Souls who recognize an emotional problem may ask a psychiatrist for a pill, the Mature Soul will, more likely, seek out a ‘talking cure’—most likely one of a psychodynamic nature. Gestalt Therapy or Psychodrama are more likely choices than Behavioral Therapy would be.

Though relationships, cooperation, knowledge and emotions are their primary concerns, Mature souls do work for a living. However, they don’t approach their careers with the gusto of a Young soul. There is not the willingness to put everything on the line and rise to the top. When Mature Souls do become employers, they tend to regard the well-being of the individual as more important than the well-being of the company.
Not for them the dodge Young Souls use of 'protecting the share holder' at the expense of the workers. Matures attempt to find creative solutions that can protect both groups and will, if they find it necessary to choose, most likely side with the workers.

Think about the CEO of the fleece company who, when the corporation faced financial difficulties, vowed not to lay off any employees and to forgo his own salary in order to pull the company through its slump. Though I don’t know his soul age, I doubt you would find a Young Soul taking that approach.
Another Mature approach is that of some of the software companies that have made the news by offering on-site child care, gymnasia, flex-time and zone-out time for creative thinking and accepting t-shirts and jeans as daily office attire.

Mature Souls care deeply about the state of the planet. The current jump in awareness concerning global warming, air and water pollution, nuclear waste, the need for alternative energy sources and the willingness to fund efforts to solve the problems related to them are all Mature Soul matters.

Mature souls dislike disruption and disturbance of the natural rhythm of things.
Mature souls are psychologically attuned to other people enough that they empathically experience other people as they experience themselves. As a result of this intuitive perception, Mature souls are choosy about whom they deal with. They are easily upset by the "vibrations" of people that they are not in harmony with. If there are uncomfortable feelings with another, they will likely leave if they do not feel some obligation to stay.
Mature souls need a sanctuary wherein to shield themselves in times of psychological stress. It might be a calming place that they withdraw to, or to the companionship and comfort of an intimate friend.

There is often involvement in metaphysical endeavor, practice, or knowledge. 'Metaphysical,' in this case, means anything from psychology to religion to the psychic.

In contrast to Young souls who tend to regard their career as paramount, Mature souls often value their relationships as the most important thing in their lives. They may find innovative ways to combine the two as they build their lives around social contacts and friends who have similar interests.
Family members, in the sense of blood relatives, which are very important to the three younger soul Ages, are not as important to Mature souls as good companions are.
Mature souls seek mates not for status as Young souls often do, but for love. Mature souls want someone to whom they can relate meaningfully, rather than just someone to fulfill the stereotypical role of a mate ordained by Young-Soul society. A good place for Mature Souls to meet others for companionship or mating is in school or at the library. Second choice would be informal and loosely organized singles groups where they can get to know others as friends before they become lovers. The bar scene does not appeal to them.

Mature Souls have a highly developed sense of humor and they laugh easily. The type of humor they prefer is "situation comedy" involving social relationships. They like to tease and joke with their friends and their teasing is rarely hostile or denigrating like it can be with Young Souls.

The acting profession is full of both Young and Mature Souls [Pat Boone is the only Baby Soul in show business I’ve ever heard of.] Mature Souls [and the few Olds you’ll find there] are noted for their long marriages and their generally positive relationships with their kids. Both will likely own ‘get-away’ ranches in Idaho or cabins in the Adirondacks while the Youngs are making the rounds in Hollywood and New York to stay near the glitz and the cameras.
Both actors and directors of the Mature Soul age will hold out for the movies and plays that deliver a message rather than the action or adventure types more likely to be produced by Young Souls. Likewise, the audiences for these shows will be, primarily, Mature and Old Souls.

In terms of religion, if the Mature Souls are so inclined, they prefer a liberal church rather than the mainstream churches. If they go for organized religion at all, it is in the undogmatic and quiet faiths such as Unitarianism, Unity and Quaker.
At the extreme, they may explore a Wicca viewpoint or develop a private seaside or forest ritual rather than follow any professed religion, per se.
Mature souls have a strong sense of morality and ethics, but it is of the situational ethics and moral relativism variety. This approach disgusts younger souls, particularly Baby Souls who don’t perceive it as morality at all.
The Mature soul is the most likely to profess Atheism as a viewpoint. Younger souls are likely to recoil in horror because they can't understand how a person can be moral without having a deity to enforce that morality.

In political philosophy, the Mature soul is liberal — "left-wing" — perhaps even to the point of being socialistic. The idealistic hippie era of the 1960's had a Mature Soul flavor about it. Often they lived in communes or even further off the radar in a migratory lifestyle in brightly painted buses or on fairly primitive farms. They withdrew from the mainstream.
The souls who went into the Hippie movement for the short term then returned to the mainstream with a vengeance becoming Yuppies were, most likely, Young Souls going through a temporary rebellious phase. They were the ones that earned the Baby Boomers such labels as the ‘Me Generation’ and were labeled as selfish by the MSM.
The Souls who remained within the original Hippie mindset were, almost without exception, Mature and Old Souls. Babies were never drawn to it as it departed too far from the Established Rules for them to handle. And the extremely rare infant who became involved were thrown off the deep end by the absence of overt rules [think Charles Manson.]

Mature souls are reluctant to fight in wars because they regard all of humankind as their brethren. For this reason they also tend to be pacifistic — though not in a militant way like a Young soul might be. During the Vietnam war, as a general rule, Matures held candle-light vigils while the Youngs joined organizations like the SDS or the Minutemen.

Mature souls are the avant-garde of society. It is they who make the genuinely novel contributions to the advancement of the culture they are living in. They are the inspired visionaries. Whatever field of endeavor you might name — whether scientific, religious, political, technological, artistic, philosophical, humanitarian, or economic — it is the Mature souls who are in the forefront, at the leading edge, on the frontiers.

Mature souls often campaign for reforms in society. They form the core of the environmental movement, the peace movement, the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-nuclear energy movement, the ban-the- bomb movement, and other such improve-the-world endeavors. They are beyond the Young soul in perception of the value of the spiritual aspects of life, but they are nevertheless entangled with the affairs of the world to such an extent that they think the planet is worth the trouble of saving.

Even though they love freedom, Matures usually prefer to submit to domination rather than fight for that freedom. A clear example of this can be seen in Russia today. The Mature souls who form the majority of the populace submit to the domineering Young souls who control the government.
Likewise, the Mature Black population of South Africa submitted for years to the Young Whites who led the government and kept the majority Black population down until the world-at-large stepped in and put an end to Apartheid.
In the US, think of Ben Franklin who, until he was forced by Parliament to change his allegiance, was a Loyalist. After he reluctantly switched sides, he became such a fervent Rebel he lost his son as a result. That loss haunted him for the rest of his life.

In fact, I’ve read some interesting statistics:
In the US, most Blacks were Mature Souls before the Major Tip-Over noted below.*
Likewise, in South Africa, most of the Black population was Mature before the majority of the planet made the move while most of the White population has, traditionally, been Young. At least this was so during the ending of the Apartheid Era [which was the time I read that statistic]. That was why that horrible experience ended as well as it did. The Mature Black population was, generally, willing to listen when the Old-Souled Tutu counseled against revenge. That willingness kept the situation from turning into a bloodbath.
xxx
*Very recently [about 1986, I think it was] the planet as a whole tipped over from a majority of souls living in the Young Soul Awareness Level to the Mature Soul Awareness Level. On the positive side, more people are becoming aware of the sad state of the planet and are willing to do something about it. On the negative side, more people are becoming [per my perception, anyway] busy bodies who believe they know what is best for everyone else. This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon—Babies and Youngs engage in it too, though for different reasons.
Babies crave safety-in-numbers—the more people there are who agree with me, the more likely it is that I’m RIGHT.
Youngs [at least among humans and in a Capitalistic society] want to create lots of consumers—and the way to do that is by telling people what they SHOULD want—then supplying them with it.
On what I consider to be a more negative side of the Mature mindset, some Matures want to tell people what they should do ‘for their own good.’ So, not only are recycling, littering, second-hand smoke, stopping the pollution of the planet, saving the rain forest, etc. important for the planet’s sake—but people should be involved in these endeavors because it’s the moral thing to do. Of such perceptions are Crusades created—and the results may not be what we had hoped for. [Tree-spiking is an extreme example of this mind-set. That group may be Young Souls—though I would expect Youngs to be more interested in clear-cutting the forest—not saving it. Which is why I suspect Earth-Firster’s to be, primarily, Matures hell-bent on saving the planet no matter the cost.]

Next up: The Old Soul

The Old Soul

Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt Therapy, coined a statement that was later named “The Gestalt Prayer” and was widely quoted during the 1960’s and 1970’s:
"I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
and you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you and I am I
and if, by chance, we find each other
it's beautiful.”
The conclusion of the original statement: “If not, it can’t be helped,” was quoted less often—no doubt because it didn’t have the same flavor of idealism and poetry as the first part.

This viewpoint— including its less popular conclusion —is, by its nature, that of an Old Soul. Old Souls will welcome those they feel an affinity with. If the connection is not perceived to be present they will simply go their own way.
Olds don’t try to convince others to live as they do. Likewise, if other people attempt to force their values or ways of living on the Old Soul, they’re likely to find themselves talking to a closed door.
xxx
Much that can be said about an Old Soul is what would be said about an old person.
They are storehouses of knowledge and understanding but, in spite of that, they do not usually accomplish very much. To the other soul ages they probably appear lazy.
In fact, they’re just tired. World-weary. Tired of having bodies to care for. Tired of fighting against the odds and losing.
You'll find Old Souls quietly recycling or giving food or money to organizations that fight hunger. You’re unlikely to find them marching for either cause. It’s not that they don’t care. They do. They’re just tired and, possibly, a bit cynical. They’ve seen it all before —the marches and the demonstrations — after which everyone went home and nothing changed.

At the moment, as the world emerges from the Young Soul cycle, the Old Souls on the planet have much to feel tired and cynical about. As the Mature Soul era gears up, Olds might become invigorated as they begin seeing accomplishments in caring for the planet, for instance, or more personal [as opposed to corporate] matters beginning to be addressed. Check back in a few decades or centuries as the Mature mindsets take hold of the planet as a whole.

Old Souls often have difficulty with self-esteem because their perceptions and values are not shared by the rest of society. They are out-of-step with the majority and they feel it. They are likely to sense how different they are from the norm and may even think that perhaps they don’t belong on this planet.
At the moment, they are fairly rare, comprising about eleven percent of the population. On the fringes of society, they obey the rules of their cultures only as required to get by without causing trouble.

It is rare for an Old Soul to make a great contribution to society. They have largely given up on the world and it just doesn't seem worth the effort to put a lot of energy into things that won’t last anyway. Material things just decay, so why invest in that?
Obviously, Young Souls and Old Souls are direct opposites. In fact, Olds are far more similar to Infants than they are to Young Souls.
If they do make themselves noticed, Old Souls are perceived by most of the 3 younger soul ages to be ‘far out’ or eccentric. So, generally speaking, the Old folks do not even try to communicate with them though they may spend time with Infants teaching them the rudiments of planetary life.

Often, Old Souls can feel so tired that they're ready to just lie down and die. Like a person in the last decade of life, the Old Soul is "winding down", preparing for death, settling the estate, and tying up loose ends. The Old Soul is clearing the way for its final break with the physical plane.

In their social lives, Old Souls are often loners. They go their own way, caring little for societal norms. They have very little interest in casual relationships, such as coworkers and neighbors. Even their sense of connection to blood relatives is not very strong.
When they do get involved, it is often because there is a strong spiritual bond. Either there is a karmic attachment (past-life association), or an agreement — a contract made between lifetimes — to conduct a relationship.

When Old Souls do seek companionship, they often do so in metaphysical groups — astrology and tarot classes, psychic endeavors, and so on. Here they will be most likely to meet those with whom they have spiritual connections. They seek out the few others who are like themselves and share similar interests. This is not usually for the purpose of business advancements like Young Souls, or for psychological comfort like Mature Souls, but just to share being with other Old Souls.

If the basis for psychological intimacy is not quickly apparent to Old Souls, they will not put themselves through much trouble to develop it. It is difficult for Old Souls to create unions with people that they have not known in numerous past lifetimes.

Old Souls are individualistic — they believe that people can do whatever they want to do, so long as they don't hurt anyone else. Olds do not want to change the world — they want to just let it be. You might say they have the ultimate "laissez faire" (leave it alone) attitude — let nature take its course and don't interfere with the system.
One reason for their loner behavior is the fact that Old Souls are careful about creating new karma of any sort. Anything that will encourage a continuation of involvement with the physical plane is to be avoided. Old Souls are in the process of removing themselves from entanglement with the usual affairs of life.
As a rule, Olds just want outta here. They want to move off the planet completely and ties to other people can slow that process down.
As occurs with all soul ages, the personality can have its own ideas on this and other matters. So, an individual can seek relationships with others, even now. But, the personality will be on its own and won't receive any help from the Soul in forging such ties. It can be done but it will be much more difficult than it would have been at any earlier age except the Infant level.

Like Infant Souls, it is unusual for Old Souls to pursue a career as such. Of course, they take on occupations in order to make ends meet, but these are not the main interest in life. Most often a job will be sought which does not overly challenge the Old Soul. This leaves the soul with enough spare energy to pursue its real purposes: resolving karmic entanglements and pursuing truth.
Check out the gardener puttering on the Young Soul’s gated estate. You might find an Old Soul quietly contemplating the meaning of life while pruning the roses.

Old Souls have very few psychological problems to deal with. Presumably, they’ve mostly been worked through in previous lifetimes. But Old Souls do have one significant problem: they are subject to depression. All the Soul Ages can experience depression— but especially the Old Soul. To them, life seems contrived. They sense that it is all a game and they no longer want to play.
The material pursuits of Young Souls seem quite futile to them. Even the Mature Soul's excitement about newfound truth seems passé. In short, Old Souls may suffer from boredom. This ennui can severely limit an Old Soul's happiness, and be a source of misunderstanding for younger Souls who are enjoying life. Whether he understands it consciously or not, the Old Soul simply wants to graduate from the physical plane.

Old Souls are typically easy for other people to get along with. They are usually agreeable. The worst that can be said about Old Souls is that they are often detached. Younger Souls do not understand this, although they may admire the fact that an Old Soul can remain cool in situations that younger Souls might find upsetting.
There is not much in an Old Soul that can offend a younger Soul, though there is much that can be misunderstood. To some it may seem that Old Souls do not care. It is more accurate to say that they are aloof. They do not make much input into what is going on around them, and do not have a strong investment in any particular outcome.

At the instinctive level, Old Souls understand the big lesson of the whole maturation cycle: ‘Be nonjudgmental’. What they cannot abide, Old Souls simply avoid. Rarely do they seek to change things.

Old Souls tend to follow the path of least resistance. Younger Souls regard this as sheer laziness — a lack of drive and willpower. This trait has its advantages and disadvantages. The positive side is that Olds are gracious when it comes to dealing with other people. The disadvantage is that they may lack the initiative to accomplish things that could be done. They often come up with innovative ideas because of their previous experiences, but they lack the energy to bring them to fruition.

All this is not to give Olds an excuse for laziness. Once an Old Soul realizes the cause of this condition, it can take steps to mitigate it or direct it wisely. In fact, this can help the Soul move toward its goal of moving off the planet as it begins to accomplish some of the tasks it may need to complete prior to leaving.

Old Souls are, generally, ethical. They do not have to be taught right and wrong by parents or society. There is some socializing to be done when they are children of course, but the programming for integrity is inborn. It is as if they are grown-up even when they are children.
They feel, to themselves and to others, as if they are older than their chronological age. They are conscientious. They are not usually jealous, envious or possessive — any one of which would involve attachment to other people. They are usually gentle toward the faults of others. The harsh perceptions often present in younger souls are absent. They rarely perceive actions as being truly evil. Rather, they regard things that cause suffering as foolish and immature and they seek to cure the cause of the problem by educating and gentle persuasion.

The nations primarily populated by Old souls—Switzerland, Holland, and Iceland, for instance—value their independence and neutrality on political issues. Switzerland plays host to the Young Soul nations at Geneva peace talks, but does not get involved in their Young Soul do-it-my-way games.
If Old Souls care anything for politics, they will be pacifists. Most often they are simply apolitical — they do not get involved at all.

Old Souls are casual and easygoing about almost everything. Not much is a big deal to them. Almost never are they outrageous or outlandish. They are rarely concerned with outward appearances. They’re unlikely to follow [or even know] the latest fashion. In extreme cases they can even appear sloppy. They rarely care if they’re perceived by others as strange in dress or mannerism.

Old Souls pursue education with the same casual attitude as they do everything else in life. Grades are of very little value to them. Even the learning itself isn't all that important unless it furthers a specific life task. They concentrate what little energy they have on understanding the reasons for things being the way they are.

Old Souls rarely participate in organized religion. They are often drawn, instead, to metaphysics, mysticism, philosophy, and the occult in their quest for understanding.

At the moment, it can be said that Old Souls are at the most difficult Age. The difficulty isn’t caused, as it is for Mature Souls, by angst and psychological turmoil. Rather it occurs because they don’t seem to fit in with the rest of the world:
In the first place, they are definitely out of step with society and don't really care about formal institutions. Often the Olds, themselves, do not understand why this is happening and it can take a toll on them.
In the second place, they are often too world-weary to do what needs to be done to solve their own problems. Since they tend to follow the path of least resistance, unless they feel internal and external forces pushing them, they don't go anywhere or do anything. They may be able to help others solve their problems but be unable to have much effect on their own. This can lead to loneliness.
In the third place, there is a certain arrogance in Old Souls who may feel they cannot learn from younger souls. They are aware of their maturity, even if only subliminally, and regard younger souls as foolish. This isn't all that wise, really. There is always much to learn, including from one's juniors.
In the fourth place, there is very little left that Old souls want to experience in life. They feel like they have done it all — so why bother to do more? This contributes to the boredom and even the depression mentioned earlier.

Even sex is not highly prized by Old Souls. They are usually competent, but a lack of interest in it, and the lack of passion for it can be disconcerting to younger Souls who still pursue sexual experience avidly.
Old Souls are often hedonistic and sensual, however, and can have a bawdy sense of humor.
Olds are often androgynous (having balanced masculine and feminine characteristics), and bisexuality may be a part of their lifestyle. Gender identification is often weak at this age because of subconscious contact with the whole psyche, which includes both masculine and feminine characteristics.
What Old Souls seek in romantic relationships is a "soul mate" — someone to whom they can relate on a soul level.

Most of the tasks that are left for the Old Soul to complete have to do with being, rather than doing (like the Young Soul) or feeling (like the Mature Soul). The Old Soul just is. Olds simply experience life as it passes through their consciousness. Not unlike the Infant Soul, this can lead to a simple life lived simply.

Given our planet's perception level at the moment, it is easy to conclude that, 'Older is Better.'
That's not how the game works, though — and we perceive it that way only out of some sense of competition [a Young Soul way of looking at things.]
Picture a circle outlined by dots rather than an unbroken line. No one of those dots is any better or worse than any other dot. Each is necessary in order to complete the circle.
Each Soul is exactly where it needs to be along the path leading back to the All that Is.
jfwiw.

The Progression of the Personality

There are two more Soul Ages —called Transcendental and Infinite— They are experienced after we leave the Physical Plane. But, before getting into those, I’d like to address a couple of other topics.

The first is that of the progress of the personality through its lifetime:

Each personality has a single lifetime. After the body dies, the personality is absorbed into the Soul and its experiences become part of the Soul’s structure.

What follows is a general guideline of the progress of the personality through the Soul Ages up to a particular Soul’s current development level.

Just as individual children progress along somewhat different timelines, each personality develops at its own speed [as does each Soul, for that matter]. Still, these age-levels act as a broad baseline for the development of the personality within its individual lifetime.

*_*_*

When any personality is born on the planet, it begins at the level of the Infant Soul. Survival is the basic issue.

The instinct to suck is, almost certainly, accessible to the infant personality unless the body is born so prematurely that even that resource is not available. In that case, if major medical intervention is not on hand, the body will die and absorption of the personality happens immediately.

Likewise, the aborted fetus’ personality is immediately absorbed as was the personality of an infant who was exposed in ancient times or any child who dies prior to or during birth. [This is assuming that a Soul had spoken for the body in the first place. In the case of abortion or exposure, no Soul may have taken on that particular body if it was understood that the body was not going to be used, anyhow.]

Furthermore, if the Soul decides to opt out of a given situation [which can happen till about 2 years of age via crib death, most likely] absorption occurs and the Soul simply tries again.

Recent research has shown that even the youngest infant [24 hours old] is able to mimic faces — in slow motion — it takes a while to process the incoming information and respond.

Furthermore, the ability to take in nurturing from the primary caregiver is crucial. Autism MAY be more common among Infants than other soul ages — I don’t know.

Sucking is certainly a basic skill necessary for survival. The ability to mimic is, apparently, helpful in this endeavor, as well—or why did it evolve? Whether autistics have this mimicking skill is anyone’s guess. _I_ certainly don’t know whether it is present or not.

In any case, let’s assume the child survives the birth process, is healthy and the Soul decides to go through with the lifetime it has just embarked on.

If the Soul is experiencing the Infant Awareness Level, development stops here and the personality remains at the Infant Level throughout its lifetime as the Infant Soul continues learning survival skills.

The exception to this rule is the fact that the Soul can reach the end of a specific level or even Soul Age during a particular personality’s tenure and graduation to the next level of awareness can occur at that point during any personality’s lifetime.

xxx

If the Soul is older than the Infant Soul Age, the toddler moves into the Baby Awareness level when it is about 2 years old.

At this stage the child is learning to get civilized. It’s a sponge, absorbing everything it can about ‘getting it right’. The personality is learning everything its caregivers are teaching it [and the Soul already knows unless it’s learning the Baby lessons, too] about germs, right and wrong, how best to be accepted by others, and the basics about living in a civilized society.

At this stage you can see the developmental level clearly. Watch any young child whose sense of justice has been crossed. You’re likely to witness a full-blown tantrum as the child voices its displeasure.

If the Soul is experiencing the Baby Soul Awareness Level, this is where the personality arrests and the process of the development of the Baby Soul takes over.

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If the Soul has reached the Young Soul phase, the personality moves into this developmental stage at about 6-8 years of age. Stop by any playground and you’ll see this level of development being played out: “Watch me!” “Look! No hands!” “Tick, tock, game’s locked, nobody else can play.” “My daddy can beat up your daddy!”

Ridicule of the ‘other’ because of perceived differences is an important distinction of children at this stage of development.

Again, if the Soul is currently at the Young Soul Level, personality development stops here and the Young Soul starts its work of developing further.

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If the Soul has progressed to the Mature Soul phase, the personality will enter that level of awareness between the ages of 18-25.

The personality that is coupled with a Mature Soul begins asking the hard questions at about the time the individual completes high school and either heads off to college or begins moving out on its own, getting a job and building its own life: “What’s it all about?” “Why are we here?” “What’s the Big Picture?” “How come?” Lots of angst. Lots of emotion.

While personalities that have rested at the Infant, Baby and Young levels don’t become so embroiled, personalities whose Souls have reached the Mature Soul and Old Soul ages are the most likely to grapple with identity crises as young adults because they have the most access to the emotions that accompany such soul searching.

The personality’s relationships take on new and deeper meaning.

And the Mature Soul begins its work here to develop further.

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And, if the Soul has progressed to the Old Soul level of development, the personality will enter that level between the ages of 32-40. Now, the Personality begins to slow down, to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.

Spiritual matters push to the front of the personality’s consciousness and other needs recede. Ennui increases. The personality may begin to ask, “What was I so excited about before?” “What was the big deal back when I was [pushing to get ahead?] [agonizing over that relationship?] [worried about my health or my retirement finances holding out?] Everything is fleeting anyway — so why was I so apprehensive? It’ll all work out in the long run.”

At this point, the Old Soul takes over and continues development toward closure and graduation from the physical plane.

*_*_*

As I said at the beginning of this post—these age milestones are general guidelines and there are plenty of reasons why any given Soul will arrest at an earlier stage and not manifest its full developmental level:

For one thing, souls can get lazy and procrastinate. Even the most advanced soul can pull a “Scarlett O’Hara” during a lifetime or series of lifetimes, for that matter.

In fact, living as we are at the tail-end of the Young Soul era of the planet, we could all do with a refresher course along the line of, ‘Speed isn’t everything’. It’s not about how fast we get through the journey, anyhow. So, it’s perfectly all right to take it easy for one [or several] lifetime[s].

In fact, given how often the Soul DOESN’T manifest at its latest developmental level, it’s a good thing that it’s an OK thing to do. From what I’ve read, we generally manifest our full Soul Ages during about 1/2 to 2/3 of our lifetimes.

Alternatively, we may manifest our Soul Age in one area of development [relationships at the Mature Soul level, say] and not reach our full potential in another [emotions, for instance] during the same lifetime. This may occur out of procrastination [the soul finds relationships easier to handle than emotions] or because the Soul has decided to concentrate on relationships during the lifetime in question.

Another reason for stopping off at an earlier level is as a result of an agreement with another Soul.

One instance I’ve read about is the case of a Young Soul who was anxious about entering the Mature Soul level and had been hung up for several lifetimes at the end of the Young phase afraid to take the plunge. So, a friend who had developed to the Old Soul Age agreed to hang back at an early Mature Soul level. They returned together as father and daughter, Dad showing his daughter the ropes and teaching her that “Mature Can Be Fun.”

Still another reason could be related to karma. If an old karmic experience between two or more Souls needs to be played out at a previous level [suppose the original debt occurred at the Baby Soul level, for instance], anywhere from one to all of the souls involved may need to return to the Baby Soul level in order to complete the karma and close that chapter among themselves.

I'm not certain but it seems to me as if it would be possible to split the awarenesses in this situation: the souls may interact with the world-at-large at their respective Soul Ages while interacting with one another at the Baby Soul level at least until the karma is completed.

And then there's imprinting. If a Soul is born to someone who is younger than it is, it can take on the energy of the younger parent's Soul. Sometimes [though not always] the child's development may be arrested at the younger Soul Age.

I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons I’m not thinking of at the moment, but you get the idea—

Still, by and large, the Soul tends to advance based on the number of lifetimes lived and the intensity with which it approaches each lifetime. Intensity is the more important factor and, generally, progress toward closure and graduation from the physical plane moves inexorably forward as the necessary lessons become incorporated into the individual Soul.

Soul Age Levels

OK, just one more post on the earthbound Soul Ages and we’ll move on to the Soul Ages that happen after we’ve completed the Physical Plane.

Within each Soul Age there are 7 levels.
So a person can be said to be living at 5th level Baby, for instance—or 1st level Mature—or 3rd level Old, etc.

First Level
At this level of development within any given Soul Age, you’ll feel timid. You’re just dabbling your toes in the water’s edge of your new awareness. You will, on average, spend about 2/3 of your time at the previous Soul Age awareness.
So at 1st level, Young, you’ll spend a great deal of time back in the comfort-zone of 7th level Baby perception.
You’re likely to still seek out Babies to pal around with, attend churches, temples or mosques that teach a more fundamentalist, judgmental, us-vs.-them viewpoint than you would ordinarily seek out at later levels.
Other organizations you’ll join will tend toward the suspicious, xenophobic variety, as well. You may join the KKK and rise through the ranks to the level of the Grand Poohbah or whatever the top official's title is.
You’re still seeking approval from higher authorities as you begin to experiment with the idea of heading out into the world on your own ticket. This is the time when you’re most likely to become Mayor of anything from a large town to a fair-sized city.

As a First Level Mature you’ll spend a lot of time at 7th level Young. You’ll probably find yourself in highly visible professions like show-business, politics, etc.
These MAY be the politicians who bring a slightly more liberal viewpoint to their politics while, at the same time, trying to keep the status quo going when it comes to funding their campaigns — thereby giving their constituents whiplash.

One exception to this rule MAY occur for some people at the bridge between the Mature and Old Soul awarenesses. The Mature experience is so uncomfortable that some Souls may catapult themselves into the Old Soul awareness [spending more than 1/3 of their time there] just to get away from all the angst of the Mature awareness. One way to do this may be by seeking out Old Souls to spend time with. This would certainly have a calming affect on the newly minted Old Soul and, since many Olds are agreeable to teaching a few willing students, this sort of arrangement may be fairly common.
I don’t know this for sure, it’s just a scenario that makes sense to me.

Even 1st level Infants will spend much time at the instinctive level they experienced before they took on their first sentient lifetimes.

Second Level
A bit more confidence is beginning to be experienced now. You’re becoming more accomplished with what you can expect to encounter at the new awareness level. Now, the percentages of experience begin reversing and, by the time your Soul has moved a fair way into its 2nd level lifetimes, you’re spending about 2/3 of your time in the new awarenesses and 1/3 back in the old comfort zone.

Third Level
At the 3rd level, you’ve got the basics down as far as living this new level of awareness. So, most likely, you’re experiencing your current level all or almost all the time. But, you’re pretty much keeping this new knowledge to yourself.
You’ll spend a lot of time alone—contemplating your navel, so to speak. You’re still not entirely comfortable or confident in your new development stage. So you're taking the Soul Age apart and putting it back together in as many ways as you can think of as you puzzle out all the new concepts.

Fourth Level
BINGO! You’ve got it now. You know what you’re doing and you’re ready to show the world what you can do with your newfound knowledge and skills.

At the Infant 4th level, you’ve got the hang of survival and your lifetimes are probably getting longer. You may even move to a harsher climate and a more complicated society. And now you’ll really get down to creating some heavy karma.
Since your conscience isn’t yet developed, as an Infant you'll be among the majority when it comes to joining gangs and becoming serial rapists and/or killers, doing drive-by shootings and the like. You may grab a rifle, climb a tower and kill people you've never met because of some imagined slight.

As a Baby, you’ll be out there making sure everyone else follows the rules [YOUR rules, of course]. You’ll push your Fundamentalist religious viewpoint. You might bomb an abortion clinic or two. And you’ll make damned sure everyone knows Gay Marriage Will Destroy Society As We Know It.

As a Young, the world is your oyster. You’ll push for clear-cutting old-growth forests; you’ll be indignant at the idea of saving endangered species; you’ll be all for burning out the rain forest if you can supply one more cow to Burger King, etc. etc. Whatever your hobby-horses are, you’ll ride em hard and put em away wet.
You’ll have the bestest eye-candy spouse money can buy and your kids will be the talk of the PTA with the best grades and the most after-school activities in the district.

As a Mature, you’ll likely march against all the things those pesky Young Souls are doing [and that YOU were doing not all that many lifetimes ago.] Save the forest, save the owls, save the whales and do it all without smoking.
If the government of your country does something of which you disapprove you'll be out there protesting it. You'll make sure everyone else knows about it, too. You'll chain yourself to a fence and you'll go to jail to make a point.

As an Old, well, what can I say? You’ll be watching all those youngsters from your easy chair with a quizzical look on your face. Then you’ll pull out your philosophical tome and try to forget all about them.

Fifth Level
Now, things may start to get uneasy again.
On the one hand, you can pull out all the stops and become eccentric. Other people might look at you scratching their heads in wonder at how way-out you are. Your friends might tell you to your face that you’re weird — and you’ll take it as a compliment.

On the other hand, you’ll begin to catch a glimpse of your next level of development. So, Babies start to get a sense of the Young Soul Age and Matures start to look ahead to the Old Soul viewpoint. It’s kind of like getting to the top of Mt. Everest only to discover that there’s a whole mountain range ahead of you still to climb.

The later levels can be downright dangerous — to everyone else.
On very rare occasions a Baby may reach for extreme power and the world will find itself faced with someone like Hitler, Stalin or Nixon. Or G W Bush.
I’ve read that Hitler was exceptionally precocious in that he pulled off his rise to power at 5th level Baby. I believe Nixon was 7th level Baby and G.W. Bush is, I’ll bet, a late Baby — though I don’t know that for sure.
Such inexperienced Souls will hand much of their power over to someone who is already firmly entrenched in the Young Soul awareness — that’s when we see the puppet-masters like Cheney, maybe Rove and, possibly, Kissinger.

Sixth Level
If you’re one of those Roles that enjoyed the eccentricity of the fifth level, you aint seen nuthin yet. Now, you’re going to get REALLY busy.

Remember all that karma you’ve created along the way? Now’s the time to clean it up. Even Souls that prefer to sit by the fireside will find themselves driven to be out and about in order to find those folks they owe restitution to.
Particularly if you’re one of the mid-level Soul Ages, you’ll have a hard time settling down — but everyone will get a case of the jitters at this stage. Youngs and Matures find it difficult to slow down and care for themselves anyhow and Sixth Level makes it even harder than usual to find time to do that.

And Olds have to clean up ALL the karma they accumulated and didn’t mop up at the ends of all those Soul Ages that lie behind them. After all, even souls can procrastinate, and most of us pulled a Scarlett O’Hara every so often along the way. So Olds will probably have a fairly hard time at 6th level, too.

Toward the end of Sixth Level you’ll begin hunting around for someone to teach as you prepare for what’s coming down the pike.

Seventh Level
First of all, 7th level is the time to rest on your laurels. You've completed an enormous task and you're feeling pretty proud of yourself. You can recognize the folks who are traversing the 7th level by their smugness.

Infant's have survival all figured out and might start to swagger — maybe taking more risks than they used to.
Babies have the rules down pat now and very well may spend a lot of time trying to convince everyone else that THEY'VE cornered the market on how to live, how to get to heaven, how to raise the best children, that they have the best morals, etc. etc. etc.
Youngs probably have more money and more power than anyone else in their spheres. They're convinced that THEY'RE at the top of the heap and nobody's going to top them. Ever.
Matures are similar to babies in a lot of ways and they, too, are likely to see their morals as the ones everyone should share — or, at least, aspire to. They're likely to look at the Youngs of their acquaintance and marvel at their shallow lives [little guessing that they shared those exact values not all that long ago.] Emotions and relationships are what it's all about. Period.
Olds will be pretty worn out by now but even so, they are likely to compare themselves to people of other soul ages and perceive themselves as above all that 'pettiness', 'anger', 'angst' or what have you.

Secondly, now is time to settle down again and teach someone what you’ve learned as you’ve traversed your latest Soul Age. This is one of the more enjoyable levels [or so I’ve read—though having spent my life teaching and feeling a bit burned out on it at the moment, I’m not so sure about that—but that’s for another post].

Anyway, at the end of each Soul Age, you seek out at least one student and teach them about the Age you’re wrapping up. So, a Young might do a series of seminars on how to make bundles of money; a Mature might do couples’ counseling; and an Old feels compelled to teach at least one person everything it has learned throughout its tenure on the planet.
The Old Soul can take its time about it, though. It gets to keep coming back at 7th Level Old till it feels ready to cycle off the planet. There’s that, at least.

Off-world Soul Ages

Between lifetimes we hang out on the lower Astral Plane where we spend time with friends and mentors; look back at our most recent incarnation focusing on lessons learned during it; go to school in preparation for our next lessons; and, as we get older, begin working at various jobs [mostly focusing on helping others in some way], etc.

At some point, when we feel ready, we begin preparing for our next incarnation: We create a new personality, plan any special lessons regarding the next body we’ll be inhabiting [we may choose to create a body with some birth defect or infirmity for karmic reasons or if we have lessons we need to learn about being different from others, for instance].
We may discuss karmic lessons with our chosen future parents or other relatives, people who we’ll be involved with as spouses, bosses or subordinates, friends or even ‘enemies’ [Souls we have negative karmic bonds with], etc.

After we cycle off the Physical Plane of existence for good, we’ll congregate at the second-level Astral plane while we wait for the rest of a loose group we started our physical incarnations with and, after this group has gotten together, we move ‘up’ to the third-level Astral Plane where we assemble and meld with a very close friend [our Essence Twin].

We rise further to the higher Astral levels and merge with more and more Souls from our own Entity. Finally, we have immersed ourselves within our own Entity and we're ready to graduate to the Causal Plane where further mergings [with other Entities] will continue. By this point we are fully committed to the Transcendental Soul Age.
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The Transcendental Soul Entity may decide, for teaching purposes, to send a representative to the planet. In fact, every Entity does this at least once. Because of the consciousness levels obtained by the Entity the Transcendental Soul shows up on the planet as a balanced being with easy access to higher centers and states of consciousness.
The teaching of the Transcendental Soul, whether verbal, by example, or by action is centered on the greater connectivity of the universe. Note Gandhi's message of the unity of all religious teachings.

There are always some Transcendental Souls on the planet. At a time of major change like the present there are many. Some, like Sai Baba, Meher Baba, Yogananda, Babaji, Rumi, St. Francis, Pope John XXIII, or Mohandas Gandhi obtain wide recognition for their teachings while others are monumental influences in their individual communities but do not receive global recognition.
These Souls are not totally self-aware. As a result, although they are likely to make huge differences in their societies or in the world, they do not consciously realize that they are outside the norm on the planet.

On rare occasions, Transcendental Souls lose track and become enamored of the adulation of the masses but most stay amazingly clear, centered and conscious.
Through their teachings, particularly during a time of great change on the planet [as is happening now], they act as precursors of what is to come———
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Infinite Soul is the manifestation of All-That-Is.
During any Planetary Shift—the process of moving from one level of awareness to the next— and, particularly as is happening now, from the Young (outward-looking, materialistic consciousness) toward the Mature (inward looking, emotional/interpersonal level) [the biggest leap any individual Soul or any species makes during its development] the Infinite Soul appears to help the planetary evolution occur.

The 1st Awakening of the Human species on the planet Earth [the move from the Infant to the Baby Awareness] is lost in the mists of time. So far as I can make out, it began about 6,000 to 8,000 years ago and was presaged by numerous teachers [mostly women because they were more revered than men during that period and were more likely to be listened to].

The 2nd Awakening [from the Baby to the Young Soul Consciousness] was ushered in by Lao Tsu [b. 604 BCE], Siddhārtha Gautama [the Buddha—b. 563 BCE], Confucius [b. 551 BCE], John the Baptist [b. about 6 BCE], the Christ Soul [b. about 4 BCE] and, finally, Mohammed [b. 570 CE].

Though I don't remember reading that he was included among them, I've wondered if Pythagoras [b. about 530 BCE] belongs on this list. Miracles have been attributed to him [having a golden thigh and being seen in more than one geographical place at once, for instance.] His followers certainly revered him deeply and his teachings covered much more than mathematics. To my mind, the fact that he had to flee persecution on at least 2 occasions lends credence to this idea.

Male bodies were utilized almost exclusively by both Transcendentals and the Infinite because the people of the time were far more likely to listen to men than women.
Look at what happened to Mary Magdalene, for instance. Only today are we beginning to recognize the distortions of her role made over the course of the development of the Christian discipline either consciously or unconsciously. Whether she was a Transcendental Soul or an Old Soul, I don’t know.
In any case, she was certainly not a prostitute. Even now there is a tendency to cast her as a wife/mother figure by those who try to place her as the wife of 'Jesus' following her husband rather than a woman making her own choices. More and more scholars, though, are recognizing her for what she almost certainly was: a strong-willed woman—a disciple in her own right. It has taken us 2000 years to come to this realization.

My understanding is that most of the folks listed above were Transcendental Souls though Krishna, Lao Tsu, the Buddha and the Christ were of the Infinite Soul. Others on this list may have been Infinite Soul, as well—I can’t say for sure without delving into my stack of books [and delaying this post.]
And there were probably other teachers, beyond those listed here—though I don’t know that for sure.

This 3rd time around, men such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others who haven’t yet become well known [or even been born yet—after all, it took about 1000 years for the last batch all to get to the planet] and including women [it’s supposed to be about 50/50 this time] are due to be bringing in the next phase of enlightenment. Gandhi and, possibly, King were Transcendentals. So far as I know, no manifestations of the Infinite have yet arrived. I expect if any had, we’d all know it.

The Transcendentals help us get ready for the arrival of the Infinite which then helps the entire species keep our footing as we traverse the changes and bring new awarenesses to the forefront [as the last group introduced the idea of a loving, caring Deity and more effective ways for humans to interact than the old eye-for-an-eye method, for instance.]

The Infinite Soul is, in fact, the entire universe consciously encompassed in one body. The Infinite soul is completely self-aware and has the superhuman abilities noted in the Christ Soul of the New Testament.
This Soul usually enters, by prior agreement, into the body of a person who is seventh level Old or Transcendental who then may cycle off the planet [as occurred with the Christ and the Buddha or alternately cycle in and out as happened with Krishna and Lao Tsu.
The energy of the Infinite Soul is so intense that, were it to be born into a human body and dwell consistently in it, the body would quickly burn out. This Soul is always noticed, and always teaches oneness and love.

Today, Earth is set to be visited by four or five manifestations of this incredible Soul over the next few generations. They will have the same message: love one another and the Earth. Because at least parts of the planet's population are ready to heed both men and women, they will manifest as both sexes this time around and they will appear as different races in several geographical areas.