Rethinking Soul Age Matters

I’ve been reading several Seth books, lately and I’ve come to some new conclusions regarding the Soul Age matters that Michael has outlined.

First of all, as I read the material in the books and as I wrote it up here, I both received and conveyed the impression that the Soul Ages are cut-and-dried. That the Infant cycle ends and the Baby lives begin followed by the Young lives, then the Mature and Old lives. That each sequence of lives is delineated by a boundary of sorts and that the matters being dealt with during each level don’t bleed one into the other. Now, I’m beginning to think, I may have taken the information too literally or not made enough allowance for the individuality of the soul.

Rereading the Seth material [after a hiatus of some years, aamof] I’m starting to rethink that premise.
Although Seth doesn’t speak of Soul Ages per se, it does seem to describe a similar phenomenon but this progression seems to be more flexible than I had interpreted Michael’s delineation as being.
It seems to me, after looking at the idea through the Seth Material lens, that the evolution might occur with more fluidity. The soul might even arrive at the Mature Soul consciousness, say, in the matter of emotions earlier in its evolution while remaining in the Young Soul awareness level when it comes to the matter of the relationships, for instance. Or that it might arrest at the Young Soul level in regards to dealing with money while moving forward with relationship issues [this might be especially true if a soul were to return to the United States or to a third-world country as an overlord-type figure for lifetime after lifetime during the transition period between the Young and Mature phases (or, more accurately perhaps, the soul might choose to return as an overlord or CEO because it isn’t prepared to make the leap in regards to the issue of acquiring money and power-over-others’-lives.)]

I’m not saying that this is necessarily so – but that my interpretation of how souls mature is changing as I merge the two teachings.

So, as you read the following posts, you might keep in mind the idea that things are more flexible than the wording of the posts may suggest.

Just wondering along.

The Soul Ages: The Pre-Infant Stage of Development.

According to the primary source I’m studying at the moment [The Michael Teachings], among others, there are seven soul ages—five of which we complete on the physical plane. These make up the levels of development we move through as we make our ways back toward the All that Is.
First, a little background:
When each of us splinters off from the All that Is we begin what I call the Walkabout. First, we decide whether we will include the physical dimension in our itinerary. The downside to that route is the fact that it’s lots harder to traverse the physical than it is to steer clear of that course. The upside is that it’s ‘faster’ than taking the more leisurely route that doesn’t include the run through the physical realm. So, those of us who are impatient tend to choose this track—even though it’s harder work.
Once that decision is made, we tour several planets. We can hang around on each one for as long as we wish just checking it out.

For what it’s worth, the planet Earth doesn’t have many of these new ‘fragments’ checking it out these days.
Once the general population reaches a certain average age [about the age we, collectively, are now] most fragments lose interest in joining the game-in-progress.
The planet is looking tired—there’s a massive clean-up that needs to happen—and folks who didn’t have a part in making the mess generally aren’t interested in cleaning up after the rest of us.
Also, it’s not much fun playing catch-up when almost the entire planet’s-worth of souls are so far ahead of you. So, the odds of a new infant coming here are pretty remote at the moment.

Anyhow, once the fragment has made the decision to go physical and chosen a planet, it needs to slow w-a-y down — lowering its vibration to a level that can be contained in a body. If it didn't do this it would tend to burn the body out within a very few years—maybe sooner.
Then, it hunts around for a body that isn’t spoken for already. It spots a pregnant female and begins hanging around her. At this point, there’s no accumulated karma, so any pregnant mother will do. Depending on how impatient the fragment is, it may jump right into the body and remain with it throughout the pregnancy. A far more common option, though, is to touch base with the growing fetus occasionally—just to check on its progress. Otherwise, the fragment goes on about its business of checking out the planet, hanging out with friends, giving its personality its final tweaks [more about how we build our personalities and so on in later posts].

Actually, any fragment can opt out at any time during a pregnancy and, in fact, has about two years after birth to make its final decision about whether to remain in the chosen body. So, even after birth, if the fragment finds that the situation it has been born into isn’t what it had in mind after all, it can bail out. A number of re-absorptions, miscarriages, stillbirths and crib-deaths can be accounted for by fragments deciding that they had made a mistake and starting over with a new body [often even with a different family]. This is true at any soul age—not just during the first incarnation on a planet.
Once the fragment has committed itself to its first body, it is on its way and, most likely, will complete the physical incarnation cycle and will do it on whatever planet it started out on.

Next post: The Infant Soul.

The Infant Soul

By the time the infant appears on a planet for the first time, it has been on its own in the universe for a while. It has spent ‘time’ considering several planets before settling on the chosen one. Then, it has examined the planet of choice and may have investigated several different animal or even plant species [by cohabiting within several varieties, for instance] in it’s analysis before settling on the planet it will inhabit for the next few thousand years.
By the way, this 'cohabiting' is not the same as transmigration—though it may seem to be so. However, karma cannot be collected at this point and such cohabitation is purely research-oriented in nature—it has nothing to do with the development of the soul. That is what differentiates it from transmigration as such.

The soul is, after all, making a big investment here— committing itself to numerous lifetimes over several hundreds of years as a sentient being on the planet and, unless it is a very rash soul, indeed, it wants to be certain this is a good fit. As a result, when it finally takes it’s first human body, it has probably moved into a fairly instinctive mode of existence. This comes about as a result of the choice of forgetting where we came from.
This choosing to forget comes in handy as remembering previous lifetimes would be cumbersome at best. I'll go into that more in later posts. For now, suffice to say, would you really want to know about crimes you committed in medieval times [and the resulting karma you have or have not paid]? My answer to that question is a resounding, 'NO!'

The Soul has also chosen its ROLE [more on roles in later posts] and spent 'time' creating its first body and its first personality. If it is wise it will take counsel with other, more experienced souls as these are all daunting tasks—particularly for an inexperienced, relatively new soul still learning the ropes.
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The early Infant Soul is somewhat raw and non-defined when it arrives on the planet as a fully sentient being for the first time. It can look fairly primitive and not-quite-pulled-together. The individual often looks furtive or frightened.

The lessons for the Infant are primarily those of physical survival and, as a result, Infants tend to cluster near the equator where the weather, at any rate, will not increase the difficulties involved in survival.
However, because infants tend to cluster there, they are easy prey for unscrupulous older Souls and dictators—not to mention wild animals and diseases. Lives can be brutish and short with Infants experiencing every type of survival test imaginable.
Infants learn how to find food and water, build shelters, and the very earliest lessons in collaboration with other people. They haven’t yet learned how to work cooperatively with others and any favors they do for others are strictly of the tit-for-tat variety. They may be loners as this method of meeting the new environment tends to feel safer than spending a lot of time with other people.
Eating is a matter of survival and has nothing to do with pleasure beyond the sensation of a full belly—something which is, in fact, not often achieved.
Similarly, sex is practiced as a survival mechanism. Sexual pleasure is not yet attainable—only the assuaging of lust.

On the positive side, infant souls can be very attuned to nature. They resonate closely within their own small group—family or small tribe—and experience the group consciousness more clearly than they will again until they have graduated from the planet. They have the ability, all too soon forgotten, of living in the moment.

Old souls sometimes will opt to go to these equatorial zones to help the infants there learn the basics. They may take on the roles of shamans and healers and will be venerated by the trusting Infant Souls in residence.
Unfortunately, sometimes Young Souls [see later post] will incarnate there and take advantage of the population. That is often the case when dictators take over and terrorize the general populace. [Think Saddam Hussein—a young soul in the currently transitioning (infant-to-baby) country of Iraq. Or, for that matter, GW Bush (a mid-to-late Baby Soul, I'm almost certain,) in Iraq.]

The conscience is not yet fully integrated in Infant Souls and, in the rare instance when an Infant takes on a life in a sophisticated country like the US, for instance, it is likely to run afoul of the law due to this lack. Although these souls may inflict great pain on others [usually on a one-to-one level—not one of brutalizing large groups of people—they’re generally not sophisticated enough to pull off a major crime spree, yet], their actions are often brought about by fear rather than true malice. Even so, this is a time of opening and creating karmic ties of the violent variety whether as victim or perpetrator.

Next post: The Baby Soul

The Baby Soul

Within each soul age there are seven levels [more about those in a later post] so, by the time the soul reaches the Baby Soul Age, it has lived at least 7 lifetimes and probably more like 20 to 40. The Infant stage is, often, fairly long because so many of its lives are short. Therefore, it takes more lives to learn the Infant lessons than it takes to learn later ones as the soul matures.

When the soul moves from the Infant level of consciousness to the Baby level, it has its survival skills down pat. Now, it’s ready to get civilized. It wants to know the rules of society and will move into more and more sophisticated communities around the planet in order to learn how different cultures organize themselves.

Baby souls go through a lot of changes in their growing-up process. This is an energetic and exploratory period. Baby souls are like adolescents: eager to get out into the world and demonstrate that they know how to ‘do it right’. There is still a basic lack of understanding and they have an immature perspective. They are almost, but not quite, ready to make the big leap to independence and self-regulated behavior.

The Baby soul age is like the stereotypical pre-teen/early teenage know-it-all stage. Babies, having less understanding and insight than older souls, tend not to see the bigger picture. They are likely to dismiss the ideas or suggestions of those older ones and cling fiercely to their views of us-vs.-them, for instance, or the zero-sum-game.

The Baby soul often thinks and acts in ways dictated by his or her peers. S/he is putting limited experience to work and, therefore, is pretty narrowly focused—especially if s/he is surrounded by Baby Soul peers.

Babies tend to live in small towns where there are, typically, lots of other Babies to pal around with. This way, they can live fairly comfortably without feeling too threatened by all those older souls in the big cities who WANT to deal with the bigger picture. Babies are usually perfectly content with the smaller picture, thankyouverymuch.
The cop walking his or her beat is often a Baby learning about law-and-order. The same is true of the prostitute turning a trick. Or the mayor of a small town [Babies like to be big fish in small ponds].

Another way to learn about the legal system is to commit crimes—sometimes violent ones. When they DO land in a large city, getting involved with a gang works well for getting this perspective. Commit a crime, get caught, go through the legal system including the prison hierarchy. Get out of prison and go through the parole system/halfway-house. Repeat.

It’s all good [although from the earth-bound perspective it doesn’t always look that way.] The perspective from the Causal Plane is different from that of earth, however [Michael exists on the Causal Plane.] From there, every earthly experience is perceived as valid—as in: an opportunity for learning.

Many, many Babies live in small-town-America. Many [though by no means all] are upstanding members of their communities. One motto often adhered to is, ‘Do it right or not at all.’ Their lawns are weeded and watered; their homes are clean; they don’t want your car parked in front of their homes and they certainly won’t park in no-parking zones, themselves. They are proper and mannerly, following the rules of etiquette.

The "do it right" attitude extends to the area of sexuality, as well. More often than not, Baby souls approach sex prudishly both in public expression and private practice. Moralistic in their value system, Baby souls regard the missionary position as, of course, the right way to do it, and only within marriage.
The current focus on condemning such practices as condom distribution—even in an effort to control the spread of deadly disease—is distinctly a Baby point of view being manifest. This can extend to the vengeful viewpoint: ‘those people [people with AIDS, for instance] deserve what they get anyway. I’M not going to give out condoms to keep “them” from getting sick.’ [The US VS THEM dynamic is a very Baby perception.]

They see moral issues as black/white—either/or, with no shades of gray, and of course they identify themselves with the white—good. Anything they do not understand they identify with the black—evil.
Even the idea of other people having a different opinion from their own will puzzle the Baby Soul and, if they perceive the issue as important enough, may bring out a tendency toward violence. Think about abortion-clinic bombings, for instance.

They borrow simple concepts of right and wrong from the rules of society, or better still, from what they perceive to be the laws of God, and then stick doggedly to them all their lives. They tend to blame the world when things go wrong: attributing such occurrences to "evil forces" at work. They find it difficult to accept the error of their own ways, since they believe they are doing what is right. Self-righteousness is a common personal viewpoint.

As to religion, Baby souls tend toward fundamentalism or an evangelical point of view. The personification of the deity is more natural to this Age than any other. To them God seems anthropomorphic —like one of them: more knowledgeable and powerful to be sure, but still merely a glorified human being— and a male human because males are perceived in the majority of earthly institutions [and certainly by the Babies within them] as the primary authority figures.
Babies believe in the forces of evil, and these forces are also typically personified as an anthropomorphic "Satan" figure.
The "Word of God"—whatever sacred text the individual’s religion follows—is interpreted literally.

When their children get into trouble at school, no matter the circumstances, the typical Baby Soul parent will side with the authority rather than their child and will work to make their child acceptable to the authority figures of the school.

But, Babies are more complex than the simple statement, ‘What are the rules? Ok, that’s what we’ll do.’ Hitler, for instance, was a 5th level Baby soul. Richard Nixon, too, was a Baby [7th level, I think though I’m not absolutely sure of that.] And, though I’ve never found any reference to him, I’m almost certain G. W. Bush is a Baby.
On the rare occasions when Babies get into lofty authority levels they tend to 1] go overboard and 2] believe that they are free to create the rules they would be slavishly following if they weren’t in positions of great power.

From their limited perspectives, they don’t perceive the principles more mature souls are following when they create social rules. They simply see the end results. So, while an older soul may create workplace safety rules that actually help the people they are regulating, Babies are more likely to make rules they, themselves, don’t have to follow. Or create rules designed to give themselves the edge over other people within the society they are regulating. Or create rules that oppress others rather than help them live more fruitful lives. When they do this Babies are, generally speaking, creating lots and lots of karma they’ll need to balance at some later date.

The political perceptions of the Baby soul are quite conservative, if not downright reactionary. An excellent example from current history is "The Moral Majority" in the U.S. which was led by Jerry Falwell. I think you could tell simply by looking at the man’s physical characteristics that he was a baby soul. He looked every inch the self-contented toddler, didn’t he?
And the members of the church in Topeka who have been issued a court order to stay away from military funerals because they were haranguing mourners with their condemnations of gay people personify the Baby perception.
They want to impose their strict and narrow standards on everyone else because they regard the perfect society as an obedient society—faithful to a righteous law. There is little room for individual liberties and free expression.

As Michael says, the Baby soul sees itself as "me" and other people as "many other mes". The meaning of this is that Babies expect others to be like themselves, and are surprised and bewildered when this proves to be incorrect. They don’t know how to deal with the differences they see in other people. They avoid people not of their own race, nation, tribe, culture, religion, socioeconomic status, political party, special interest group, etc. Baby souls, of all the soul ages, feel most comfortable with their own kind, whatever they perceive that to be. Their sense of identity is reinforced by the groups they belong to. They perceive the differences in others as evil and distance themselves from any perceived ‘otherness’.

Baby souls are "uptight" about life in general. Who wouldn't be under the stress of always having to be right? They live by popular stereotypes and standard clichés. Baby souls have very little sense of humor.

When they seek employment it will be as followers. You won’t find Baby Souls setting up their own businesses. They much prefer to be told what to do—and then they will do it without questioning the rightness or wrongness of most business decisions unless those decisions go against some moral conviction taught them by some ‘higher authority’ such as the minister in their fundamentalist church. Even then, they will likely seek counsel from their minister rather than make a decision, on their own, to ‘blow the whistle’. Almost always, Baby souls will leave all decisions to Young Souls who will be more than happy to make those decisions as we shall see.

Next Post: The Young Soul.

Preface to the Young Soul post

If what follows looks and sounds depressingly familiar, there’s a reason for that:
The planet as a whole and the US have, very recently, moved from a position of being populated by a majority of Young Souls toward a majority of Matures. And Youngs have held the planetary majority for the last 2,000 years.
Of course, all the physical Soul Ages are represented both in the US and on the planet as a whole— but any nation or planet will be more heavily influenced by the age-level of the majority of its residents than it will by other Age groups.

The Young Soul

I’ve got news for everyone here. If you’ve completed your Young Soul incarnations, you’ve spent at least one lifetime filthily, obscenely RICH, RICH, RICH.
We all have to learn the lessons that go with money and the way we do that is by 1] being born into families that have enormous amounts of it when we arrive, 2] starting poor and making mammoth amounts of it while here, 3] starting out poor and struggling to make money and failing or making some and losing it in catastrophic ways, 4] starting out rich and losing everything —and any and all variations of these scenarios on the theme of money, money, money.

Likewise, and probably during the same set of lifetimes— since the two so often go hand-in-hand —you’ve also all held huge amounts of power over other people’s fates.
Again, most likely, we do that during our Young Soul lifetimes though a few people will jump ahead in the game and start this process late in the Baby Soul period [Hitler did it, Nixon did it and, my guess is, Bush II is doing it, too— though Hitler and Bush allowed puppet-masters (almost certainly Young Souls) massive amounts of the power they ostensibly were wielding (Hitler’s physician, who fed him all those drugs, was one— Dick Cheney, obviously, is another. Karl Rove may well be a Baby— content to be Kingmaker this time around though he's just as likely to be a Young Soul exercising his Power-over- Others muscles.]

So, Young Souls seek and manage to acquire, by hook or crook, power over others. That is the name of their game.
Sometimes they’ll use their power for good [most likely, they’ll do that during the late phases of their Young Soul cycle— when all other ways of demonstrating how much power they’ve got have been exhausted. Mostly, they’ll use the power they garner to further their own ends.
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After going through the teenage years and then leaving parents and striking out on one’s own, the young adult is in the process of building up the foundations of career, home, and family. Young people are finding their places in life, establishing successes, and making their marks on the world. This is a very challenging phase. The same can be said of the Young Soul.

As you can see, the Young Soul period is an energetic, lively time to be on the planet. Of all the soul ages, Youngs are the most comfortable here. They will find their own place in society and can’t understand those others who question such things as the meaning of life. To them it’s obvious: the meaning of life is to aquire things and power for their own sakes. The bumper sticker that was so popular during the 1980’s tells it all: ‘He Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins.’
For the Young Soul, winning isn’t the Big Thing. It’s the Only Thing.

Youngs seek to tame the world at large. Young Souls are the architects of civilizations, the builders of empires, the leaders of businesses and economies. Their basic motivation is materialism, and they will work unstintingly for their material achievements. They are the most likely of the ages to be "workaholics", constantly in a state of unrest, seeking their materialistic goals. More than any other soul age, Young Souls feel at home in the physical body. They really like it here on the planet and they chafe at inaction.
Popular interests are mundane things such as government, business, lawyering, sports, and policing at the higher levels. No walking the beat for the Young Soul—except when just getting started—and then only if they were born into a family that doesn’t have the connections to jump them ahead in the system. Being the Police Chief in a large city is more to the Young Soul’s taste— and then, most likely, as a stepping stone to higher political office.

This is also a time of conformity. In this way Youngs are similar to Babies. My Way or the Highway is still a credo during this period of soul evolution. People who don’t toe the line deserve no sympathy and will receive none. The 3-strikes-and-you’re-out prison system stems from a Young Soul philosophical viewpoint. If you’re not just like me, there’s obviously something wrong with YOU.

Youngs may love being on the planet, but they’re not content with their bodies as they are. This is particularly true of women but more and more men are becoming obsessed in this way, as well. [Probably because the Young Soul plastic surgeons and hair restorers have noticed there's another whole, new untapped market out there— and are working to exploit it.]
Ken and Barbie bodies are seen as the norm and no expense will be spared to acquire them. Physical health, in order to create an attractive body, isn’t seen as necessary at this stage. A good plastic surgeon is sufficient. Keeping up a young appearance is where it’s at— not good health. [Dodie Fields, a comedienne during the 1960’s who, despite her diabetes, had one plastic surgery after another and finally died as a result of them, demonstrates the Young Soul’s body-style viewpoint.]

Sporting an eye-candy spouse is important now. The husband is worn like another diamond bracelet on his wife's arm and the wife is expected to throw those lavish parties Youngs are so well known for where contacts are made or paid off for previous support of business ventures.
The children of Young Souls are status symbols, too.
Small children are wheeled about in Aprica strollers by their nannies—often ‘undocumented aliens’ who are being paid under the table and are off the radar.
Older children are rushed from T-ball game to soccer to ballet class to gymnastics class and are expected to make top grades so they’ll qualify for top-notch middle- and high schools. They’re expected to enroll in Ivy League colleges and become movers and shakers, just like their parents, when they graduate.
Woe betide the Baby, Mature or Old Souls born into a household headed by Young Souls. They’ll be labeled ‘lazy’ and become the black sheep of the family because they don’t fit the mold and aren’t comfortable in the tightly scheduled, whiz-bang family lifestyle dictated by their Young parents.

Youngs join lots of organizations — again in order to get a leg-up on the competition. Middle-of-the-road churches [Episcopal, Methodist, etc.] are comfortable places for Youngs. You’ll find the Babies sitting quietly in their pews as they wait for the service to begin. Not so the Youngs. They’re out in the lobbies and the cloak rooms, making contacts, button-holing parishioners, signing others on to finance or otherwise back up their current schemes.
They’ll also join lodges, unions, Elk’s Clubs, Chambers of Commerce— not, as Babies do, in order to feel the security of safety-in-numbers —but in order to be seen in the ‘right’ circles. Doing the right thing is not the issue for the Young Soul. Being seen to do the right thing is the point.
So, when the Shriners distribute circus tickets to organizations that help needy children or when the Lion’s Club gives out free glasses, Babies will be going door-to-door to solicit glasses or donations, Matures will be working behind the scenes to coordinate the efforts and Young Souls will be front-and-center heading up the operations, arranging the publicity, making sure the media are in attendance when the donations are parceled out, etc.
Young Souls aren’t innovators. They’re the vendors of the tried-and-true products that have already been shown to have a market. They’ll let the older souls create the products and do the test marketing and they’ll hire the Babies, the Youngs who are less financially well off [after all, there’s not room for everyone at the top during every lifetime] the Matures and Olds to manufacture them.
Youngs at the top will swoop in with the cheaper knock-offs and hammer them into the ground until the market dies out—then they’ll move on to their next project.
It doesn’t matter to the Young Soul what impact the product will have on the consumer, either. Bank on it, all those execs who swore before Congress that cigarettes weren’t addictive—all evidence to the contrary—were Young Souls.
Scratch any large business scandal and you’ll find a Young Soul behind it. The CEO who walks away from a failed business with millions after the pension is gone and the employees have all been fired is a Young Soul.
Find a person dumping toxic waste into the nearest lake—it’s most likely a Baby acting on the orders of a Young or a Young Soul just getting started in the business world doing whatever it takes to get ahead. Getting caught is part of the game—and it won’t keep a Young Soul down for long. Their good contacts are likely to help them find good lawyers and they’ll manage to slip away with minimal or no prison time while the rest of us gripe about their ‘luck’ or their corruption and greed.
But, if we’ve completed the Young Soul cycle, we’ve all been there/done that.

In the world of entertainment, soap operas, comedies that use humiliation of the ‘other’ as humor, the competition ‘reality shows’ like ‘Survivor’, all have the Young Soul flavor about them. Competition and conformity will be the norm here, as well as other areas of life. And voting others off the Island is absolutely the Young Soul’s mindset.
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The Young soul wants to organize people into a society, a civilization, or a company. They believe in what they’re doing so much that they are willing to fight to convince others to do it their way.
Wars are mostly Young Soul phenomena. Nationalism and imperialism are rampant in this stage of maturation. If they don't conquer you in the business or economic world, Young Souls will conquer you using the military. Young Soul American leadership wants to make the world safe for Democracy. They call it the struggle to maintain freedom and liberty, but what Young Souls really mean by this is that they don't want others telling them what to do— you do it my way instead. Since they want this liberty for themselves, they'll champion it for others so long as it doesn't interfere with their acquisition of power and wealth.
On the other hand, Young Soul Russian leadership wants to bring the whole world around to its Socialistic point of view, professedly for its own good.
Both of these supposedly noble ideologies are just excuses for "Do it my way," taken to the extreme.
The popular statement among Conservatives about ‘getting government off our backs’ has nothing to do with individual liberties. It’s about allowing corporations the freedom to do whatever their executives want to do— and the heck with the rest of the population. That’s why the same Conservative who champions ‘getting government off our backs’ will be just fine with taking away reproductive freedom from female individuals, refusing the right to marry to Gay individuals, curbing the right to a good education to poor individuals and making it more and more difficult to qualify for Food Stamps. So long as the Young Souls can afford to go to another state or country for their abortions, marry whom they please, send their children to private schools, and eat well, who cares what those other people need? Obviously, THEY’RE less deserving or THEY would be filthy rich just like ME.
Obviously, this can be a time of great learning as well as a time of creating lots and lots of karma.

As this exciting and materialistic set of lifetimes starts to wind down, the Young Soul begins to look around and, for the first time, ask the questions that would have seemed heretical a very few lifetimes ago: Is this all there is to life?
The soul is now getting ready to enter the Mature Soul phase. And that’s where we’ll be going next.

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.