| Soul
Age
BY
JOYA POPE
Excerpt
from The World According to Michael by
Joya Pope
Copyright of Emerald Wave Publishing
THE SOUL AGES
Michael
affirms what we've suspected; life is indeed a
learning game. He then describes the structure and
rules of this game, making note of patterns which
are much too large to be perceived easily while in
a human body, living in their midst.
To
begin the game, sparks of light and consciousness
(that's us) who are attracted to experience on the
earth plane cast themselves out from the Tao or
God--the birthplace of all souls--and merge into a
family of consciousness that includes about 1000
individual fragments or essences. This is the
group Michael calls an entity. Seven entities are
loosely bound together in a larger group called a
cadre.
Each
spark of consciousness first checks out a
prospective planet in what Michael calls devic
form. A deva is an intelligent energy being,
without a body, who tends, and blends in with,
nature. If, after gaining experience of the planet
in a devic state, the entire cadre is in agreement
to begin physical life, each fragment must slow
its energy down to become solid and start the
process of incarnating on the Physical Plane.
All
the individual essences will have dozens upon
dozens of lifetimes and gather up incredible
amounts of experience which will be shared, to the
core, with the entire entity. When all members
have completed the whole growth and experience
cycle on earth, each entity again merges back into
one very intimate consciousness. Each fragment
will then share in the experience, feelings and
knowledge of all the others.
Thus,
the individual essences in the entity gradually
start incarnating, over many hundreds of years,
onto the earth as individual human beings. The
first essences to jump into earth lifetimes tend
to be the most brash and brave of individuals in
their following lives too; and the last ones, some
of the most thoughtful.
Before
taking a body each lifetime, every essence
determines for itself, perhaps carefully, perhaps
not, which culture, which parents, what the body
type and sex will be and what the personality will
be like. Individuals generally choose to put
themselves in the vicinity of their entity mates
in order to have these familiar and comfortable
other parts of themselves available for
relationships.
Each
physical plane existence changes and deepens the
essence's point of view. The structure is to go
through the developmental levels Michael calls
Infant, Baby, Young, Mature, and Old Soul levels.
Each will take a minimum of seven lifetimes, more
likely around twenty. After that there are six
other planes of existence to grow through, and
then it's back to the oneness of the Tao. This is
an extraordinarily long "game" we are
talking about, at least from our earthly
perspective.
Soul
age refers to how a person has grown from
experience on the planet, not just to how many
lifetimes he or she has lived.
No
person, essence or entity is "ahead" or
"behind" any other, but is simply
occupying another place in the continuous circle
leading to and from the Tao.
Ways
of being are supposed to be different in different
developmental stages; at some point we experience
it all, moving continually along to different
levels of understanding and responsibility.
Michael always emphasizes that while each stage is
unique and manifestly distinct from the others, no
one place is better or worse than any other; they
all belong in this game we have chosen to play.
INFANT
SOULS
The
fragment, or essence, just cast out from the Tao,
is raw, without experience, and usually enmeshed
in a struggle over physical survival on the
unfamiliar earth plane. Thus the Infant Soul stage
is one characterized by many fears. Often, there
is a frightened, furtive, animal-like look in
their eyes. In this stage people are often born
into primitive, sometimes tribal, conditions.
Learning how to survive is the primary concern.
So, Infant Souls learn to identify and find roots,
berries and other edibles: they fish, they hunt
and grow food; they build shelter to keep dry and
warm or cool; and they learn to avoid predators.
To
our eyes, Infant Soul lifetimes look pretty rough.
They are often short. Famine, plagues, drought,
flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, tigers, bears,
poisonous snakes and combat are experienced along
with every other survival threat imaginable.
On
the positive side, being so fresh from the Tao can
give a mystical flavor to Infant Souls. They
resonate closely with nature and many times feel
not individuation but great oneness with everyone
in their family or tribe. They can be intuitive
and earthy in a simple, unquestioning way. They
have the knack, all too soon forgotten, for living
in the moment.
The
intellectual center does not become fully opened
in this phase, so there isn't yet much feeling for
ethics or personal morality. The Infant Soul has
to be taught what is right and wrong. Even a
highly intelligent person may seem dull or not
quite pulled together with his or her thinking.
Cooking
and eating are strictly exercises in survival, not
even close to being opportunities for optimizing
pleasure. Love or sexuality will be experienced on
the level of lust. Questions like, "How can I
get him (or her) to like me?" basically do
not arise unless it becomes a survival issue.
Survival is what is important, and whatever needs
to be done for survival is done. The Infant Soul
can sometimes be driven to violence or extreme
self-protective behavior by a merely unfamiliar
happening.
Infant
Souls tend to cluster around the equator because
the constant climate makes some aspects of
survival more simple. Rural Guatamala, El
Salvador, Honduras, Sri Lanka, Borneo, New Guinea,
the Amazon basin and much of Ethiopia and Sudan
are areas with predominantly Infant Souls; Iraq
and Iran have them in increasing numbers.
Our
society is ordinarily too perplexing and complex
in its demands to be a place Infant Souls feel
comfortable choosing. When found in the United
States, which is rare, they will generally
gravitate towards less populated,
"backwoods" areas. Infant Souls will not
tend to seek regular employment because it is too
complicated and involving to handle. Living on the
fringes of society, they are often viewed by the
rest of the population as inept or slightly out of
tune.
Infant
Souls rarely come into the spotlight except
through notoriety brought about by heavy
karma-creating lifetimes. Richard Ramirez, the
California serial murderer who became known as the
Nightstalker, exemplifies that type of celebrity.
He is a late Infant Soul enmeshed in a lifetime of
intense experience and intense karma formation.
Willie Horton, the Massachusetts prisoner who
escaped while on a weekend furlough and went on to
rape a woman and stab her then-fiance, is another
karmic Infant Soul who, with his actions, called
into question the wisdom of Governor Dukakis'
liberal prison reforms. With his Stockton,
California, schoolyard massacre, Patrick Purdy,
another Infant Soul, gave new fervor to the gun
control debate.
Joel
Steinberg, who was sentenced for up to 25 years in
the killing of his young adopted daughter, was
unusually sophisticated for an Infant Soul in that
he chose to and was able to become an attorney.
Steinberg had the awareness that he needed to be
exceedingly heedful with his image, that it was
important to watch carefully how he appeared to
others. The sentencing judge, in fact, accused him
of extraordinary narcissism and self-involvement.
Commenting
further, the judge said, "I have come to
believe he is incapable of accepting
responsibility." Typical Infant Souls don't
yet feel regret; and when they get into court,
their lack of conscience stands out.
Planet
Earth is close to the time when the last Infant
Soul will incarnate.
Many
fewer are beginning cycles here now than even one
hundred years ago. Though there are still many
entities checking the planet out, most will decide
to look elsewhere. Earth is a little worn, there
is much hard work ahead and most entities prefer
to start a "round" with the score card a
little fresher.
Because
the median soul age on the planet is currently
edging into Mature, any soul incarnating for the
first time will be pushed into a continual
catch-up game. While being so far behind
mainstream consciousness is an interesting
experiment, it is, Michael says, not much fun when
the gap is so large.
BABY
SOULS
There
are seven discrete parts within each of the soul
ages, each taking somewhere between one to ten
lifetimes for completion. Thus when individuals
are complete with all seven levels of Infant, they
have probably averaged twenty or thirty lifetimes.
At this point their consciousness will start to
explore the early Baby Soul process.
Since
there is now a little experience on the earth,
more sophistication and less fear are found in the
individual, though the world is still experienced
as a scary place. Survival has been worked out;
this is a time to get civilized and be proud of
it, a time of demonstrating you can do it right.
Structure
helps Baby Souls to feel comfortable in the world.
They want to be directed and therefore seek out
higher authorities who are willing to lay out
clear rules for them. As a small example of this,
they would rarely defend their child to the school
principal, but push to make the child act
acceptably to the teachers and administration.
Sometimes a Baby Soul will seek out - even again
and again - discipline from the prison system as a
way to civilize himself. This soul age will hold
traditional religious leaders in esteem, turn
doctors into gods, and likely feel their country,
their army, and certain politicians, can do no
wrong.
Traditions,
rituals, and law and order provide a welcome sense
of security. "That's the rule and that's what
we'll do," is typical thinking . They make
sure your car is not parked in front of their
house and that their lawn is mowed and sprinkled.
In a dogmatic, black-and-white way, they know
right from wrong. Usually conscientiously good
citizens, they can be counted on to do the
"right" thing. This is also the soul age
with the greatest propensity to long-term grudge
holding.
The
Ku Klux Klan would be a Baby Soul organization in
a negative pole, while many service organizations
like the Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club
would be in a more positive pole of expression.
Anti-abortion right-to-life organizations, school
prayer promoters, and fire-and-brimstone preachers
all tend to emerge out of Baby Soul consciousness
and concerns.
Preferring
to be big fish in small ponds, Baby Souls are
often found in small communities. Though the
United States is primarily a late-Young
early-Mature Soul country, middle America between
the two coasts is packed with Baby Souls who
prefer life when it is a little simpler. They
often emerge as pillars of the community, staunch,
upright and unshakable in their beliefs. They
become mayor or sheriff, president of the town
council or PTA. Because they are interested in
organizing and developing the fabric of society
with laws, regulations and lines of authority,
they are often found in governmental bureaucracies
such as schools, hospitals, regulating agencies
and so on. When their beliefs are opposed, Baby
Souls may become inwardly bewildered. Baby Souls
are so sure they are right that they have
difficulty comprehending opposition. This is not a
self-reflective phase.
Many
patriotic Baby Soul soldiers coming back from
Vietnam were perplexed and confounded. Their
country had changed; there were no heroes'
welcomes. Usually a Baby Soul won't show inner
quandary; when perplexed or thwarted there is more
likely to be an outward display of belligerence.
Baby Souls feel justified in fighting for their
beliefs and may demonstrate not just dogmatism but
a fairly brutal mentality.
They
are very interested, if not obsessive, about
cleanliness, neatness, and keeping germs at bay.
Not yet able to perceive that chronic feelings or
attitudes may cause physical and psychological
problems, their emotional difficulties are, in
fact, often somaticized so that angry feelings
become gallstones, or fear turns into kidney,
bladder or back trouble.
When
dealing with physical problems like these, Baby
Souls ordinarily prefer conventional medicine,
medications and surgery. Considering alternative
therapies or looking for the root of the problem
doesn't make sense to their way of approaching the
body. With the exception of the new popularity of
healing within charismatic churches, this soul age
is sold on orthodox medicine.
Around
sexual matters, there is uneasiness and some
degree of shame or guilt. This is not a time for
hot tub entertaining, but hiding bodies, making
love in the dark - probably with pajamas and
without great sensuality.
Families,
however, feel very good during this period.
Raising children (maybe lots), seeing relatives,
celebrating holidays, going on family outings and
participating in church rituals all make a person
feel a solid upstanding part of the community.
Many
of the people who create what we call folk art or
naive art are Baby Souls expressing their values
and concerns. You see paintings of the
countryside, church picnics, Bible stories, family
weddings, the 4th of July, and ships with flags
waving proudly in the breeze. The art can be quite
lovely, though neither perspective nor method of
presentation is sophisticated.
Baby
Souls sometimes come into prominence. They don't
often look for a big stage, not having the
resourcefulness or experience to handle it well,
but they may gather fame for their unyielding
political or religious beliefs. Jerry Falwell is a
prominent religious leader with Baby Soul beliefs;
Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart, two others. Idi
Amin, Hitler, Khomeini, and, in the United States,
Richard Nixon, Evan Mecham, Jesse Helms and some
of our more rigidly conservative Governors,
Congressmen and Senators are examples of Baby
Souls putting out their world views on a larger
scale. Pat Boone is one of the few Baby Souls
peopling the entertainment business.
South
Africa's President Botha and Libya's Colonel
Khadafy are both seventh level Baby Souls. The
seventh level of any soul age can be a time of
smug complacency, because everything at that soul
age has been handled. (The next lifetime or so, of
course, finds a person uneasily in the first level
of a totally new consciousness phase.)
Matthew
Strode, the schoolyard preacher whose shouted fire
and damnation sermons have resulted in him being
repeatedly suspended from elementary school in
North Carolina, is a vociferous example of the
consciousness of seventh Baby.
Baby
Soul countries often have a puritanical tinge and
may be divided against themselves or a close
neighbor. Countries expressing a primarily Baby
Soul perceptivity are Iran and Iraq as well as
most of the newly strict Muslim countries, though
not Saudi Arabia or Syria; also included are
China, Ireland, and much of both Central and South
America. India, which historically was an Old Soul
country, is now mostly late Baby, poised to enter
its Young Soul phase. Japan has recently completed
its Baby phase, where individuality was
suppressed, and is swinging into high Young Soul
gear. Interestingly enough, the whites who ruled
South Africa were mainly Baby Souls while the
blacks are primarily Mature Souls.
YOUNG
SOULS
Having
mastered the Infant and Baby Soul issues of
survival, discipline and order, the essence is now
looking to see how powerful it can become in the
world.
Independence
and the ability to get what one wants out of life
are the driving force of the Young Soul stage.
Seizing what the physical plane has to offer,
vying to gain positions of prominence, power and
great wealth, causes this to become the most
competitive period in the whole cycle of
lifetimes. Those who are expressing themselves
from a Young Soul perceptivity will tend towards a
sort of tape measure mentality that makes them
monitor who among them has the hottest
investments, the most lavish parties, the most
important friends, the greatest weekly aerobic
output, the tallest building, fastest motorcycle,
broadest shoulders, thinnest hips or heaviest
diamonds. The most powerful places in the
world--Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, Israel, Syria,
Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada and the United
States--all express a strong Young Soul
perceptivity. Everybody growing up in these
places, regardless of soul age, will receive Young
Soul imprinting or conditioning about how to act,
think, look, and feel in order to be a success.
Japan is now the example par excellence of this:
an extremely competitive, focused society where
even having fun looks competitive. Often, there's
no time off on the way up!
Ambition
is important with the attitude being, "There
is you and there is me, and I am going to
win." There is a great drive to get ahead. In
the process of getting to the top, it doesn't
matter too much what needs to be done or who's
stepped on or over. Think of the CIA, John Sununu
or Saddam Hussein. A Young Soul typically has
little respect for anyone whose ideas are not
their own. That's where the difficulty between
Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev began. Reagan is
a Young Soul, and though socially polite, offended
the quite perceptive Gorbachev who could sense
judgments being made against her. Gorbachev would
have liked to set politics and opinions aside in
order to make a warm, human connection but was not
willing to ignore the harsh feeling quality
underneath Reagan's polished behavior.
At
this consciousness level, if one can make money or
gain influence, the long term consequences of any
act aren't terribly important. The problem with
toxic wastes being dumped all over is one result
of being in a Young Soul culture in a hurry to
make a buck. While Young Souls are productive,
industrious and goal oriented, their vision
extends only so far, and they are not likely to
question their motives or ethics.
Because
they are desirous of making something of
themselves and leaving their mark on the world,
Young Souls can be tireless workers. We owe them
our efficiency, much of our high technology, our
military might, and our continual push to make
things happen and change. They are the architects
of civilization and its builders. However, with a
focus on quantity and not necessarily on quality,
something like "scientific agriculture"
will be valued.
Bumper
crops being bumper crops, the fact that this
method has destroyed 95% of the huge variety of
seed types available just 125 years ago, and that
it poisons the earth with nitrates, selenium,
pesticides and dastardly ecological problems would
likely be little noticed.
Young
Souls don't always pursue what they like, which
they may see as an indulgence, but what they
believe will create success. It is natural for
them to learn how the system works early on and
use it to their advantage. Driven towards
achievement, they flock to large well-known
universities to obtain degrees of prominence. Some
of these people seem born with the ability to make
the economic system jump through hoops of their
own design and to turn their hundreds into
thousands and their millions into billions with
apparent ease.
The
essence of a person at the Young Soul stage will
actually be pushing him to acquire as much as he
can in order to soak in how it feels. He will
covet prestigious cars and itch to live in a
"better" area inside the most impressive
house he can afford. Great silent estates somewhat
smaller than Buckingham Palace with twelve foot
walls, ornamental hedges or fountains,
radio-operated wrought-iron gates, and serious art
collections may be obtainable during some
lifetimes in the Young Soul phase. If your Young
Soul glory days were spent in ancient Egypt, your
riches took a slightly different form and no doubt
included slaves and plenty of wealth for the
afterlife. There is not much laziness to observe
in this period. Though you can find Young Souls
shoving things in closets or drawers just before
people come over, that has to do with priorities
being more out in the world, not laziness. Baby
Souls tend toward compulsive neatness, while the
Young period is concerned with success and
appearances.
Because
Young Souls are not emotionally open, they tend to
make poor parents who don't make strong feeling
connections with their children. However they will
buy their children everything they can afford.
Like the prototype Yuppie baby in an Aprica
stroller and exquisite French togs, children
become status objects for their parents. These
children with expensive toys, haircuts, cars and
educations, will be pushed to excel in all they do
from nursery school through college, to marriage
and career. Those successes will reflect favorably
back on the status-seeking parent. Children are
not pushed to express their feelings.
Young
Souls tend to be conventional, but less adamant
than Baby Souls in their religious beliefs. At
church, you'll more likely find them networking
and promoting their businesses than pushing dogma
or being critical about some other member's
behavior or lack of attendance.
Because
Young Souls are heavily identified with their
bodies and really not sure that consciousness
survives it, we have cryogenic suspension; plastic
surgery for noses and elbows, thighs and chins,
breasts and waists; a booming multi-billion dollar
industry devoted to beauty products for men and
women; and an incredibly huge and costly (Young
Soul, high-tech) medical system which intends on
keeping everyone alive as long as possible
regardless of desires, costs, pain, or quality of
life.
As
superb manipulators of the environment, humans are
unequivocally good at the Young Soul phase.
Winning out over rivals, gaining acclaim, power
and money make them feel on top of the world. In
spite of incredible stress--and fears about
losing--this is an essentially exciting,
fulfilling time. Because the earth just now
completing its Young Soul phase, acknowledgement
for Young Souls, who are already outgoing
go-getters, comes along quite easily. Towards the
end of the Young set of lifetimes, people will
start to experiment more with food and sex.
They'll likely become adventurous with extensive
travel, both to experience the world, their
oyster, and to gain status among peers.
Creativity
begins opening up during this phase, although it
comes to a fuller fruition in the Mature phase.
Many, many people rise to fame and prominence
during this period; we find movie stars, TV
anchors, singers, comedians, politicians,
executives, religious leaders, Nobel
prize-winners, Hollywood producers, authors, and
people like Donald Trump and J. Paul Getty, who
get so rich they get famous.
Clarence
Thomas, Ed Meese, Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker
are examples of men at the very beginning of their
Young Soul adventures and growth. They've pulled
in power but are not great judges of people,
events or ethical strictures.
Two
famously avaricious couples exemplify in extreme
what can be the Young Soul grasp for wealth and
power at any price. They are Ferdinand and Imelda
Marcos, formerly of the Philippines, and
Jean-Claude and Michele Duvalier, formerly of
Haiti. Neither pair experienced regret for their
actions nor have the slightest suspicion of the
extensive karmas they've created. Like George Bush
and Ronald Reagan, most recent U.S. Presidents are
Mature Souls. John Kennedy, a Young Soul, nearly
had to be that in order to have the ambition and
energy required to break down significant barriers
against Catholics. Similarly, Geraldine Ferraro
used her energy and drive as a Young Soul to
loosen the obstructions against women entering the
White House. Being mid-Young helped Margaret
Thatcher have the spine and ambition to hold on
her position for so long. Professors at
prestigious universities come primarily from this
soul age, as do corporate executives.
When
Mikhail Gorbachev first gained international
attention, he was acting primarily from Young Soul
consciousness, no doubt an important factor in his
coming into power in the first place. When
Gorbachev consolidated his position and felt
confident, he began acting out of his true soul
perceptivity, mid-Mature. He started shaking his
country out of stagnation almost single-handedly.
Note the difference between Gorbachev's
sharp-witted Mature Soul statesmanship and the
Young Soul diplomacy of Henry Kissinger which
tended to interpret Soviet-American relations in
terms of confrontation where one side's gain is
automatically the other side's loss.
Rose
Kennedy, the decades-long driving force behind the
Kennedy clan, is a Young Soul with a will of iron.
Mohammed Ali, who viewed life as a contest, is a
grand Young Soul sports personality, as is Leon
Spinks. Mick Jagger is the quintessential Young
Soul rock personality, and Billy Graham, a quite
powerful Young Soul religious leader. Young Soul
Ralph Lauren pulled himself into a high income
range by designing clothes he thought looked like
what "old money" would wear. Joan and
Jackie Collins have both made themselves famous as
Young Soul characters, to the bone.
Johnny
Carson, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Dean Martin, Bob
Hope and, yes, Joan Rivers and Vanna White, are
perfect embodiments of Young Soul show biz
personalities. Whitney Houston, Diahann Carroll,
Sean Young, Don Johnson, Bruce Willis, Robin
Givens, John Wayne, Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris
are Hollywood stars who typify Young Soul
consciousness. And then there are the visionary
reformist crusaders, Richard Simmons, Ayn Rand and
William F. Buckley.
MATURE
SOULS
By
the end of the Young Soul phase, an uneasiness
arises that something is amiss. All the wealth,
power and acclaim aren't quite enough; profits and
winning no longer have transcendental value.
Thus
begins the search of the Mature Soul period. The
questions "Who am I? Why am I here?" are
asked with frequency in these lives. These are
trying, intense times; emotions open up,
boundaries between people break down. Seeing
another person's point of view becomes possible as
people become deeply immersed in relationship
issues. Suddenly it's clear everybody has
feelings, and these feelings are usually either
interesting or unavoidable. One of the reasons
Young Souls are able to direct so much energy
towards success is that their inner lives aren't
calling for attention. This allows their energy to
flow easily after externals. Not so in the Mature
period. It is a stirred-up, introspective time.
There is more emotional centering here, more
intensity, more schizophrenia, more pain, more
suicide, more love, more sensuality, and probably
more drugs to intensify it all than in any other
period. Boy George, Sean Penn, Richard Burton and
Marlon Brando have (or had) lives that illustrate
this tendency toward immoderation, Sally Field,
while pregnant with her third child, was quoted as
saying, "It's scary to think that there will
be another human being in the world that I will
love that much." Her lament embodies the
typical Mature Soul intensification of feeling.
Creativity
flows. Philosophy and art come into prominence.
Illusion and distortion of reality are inevitable
as a person opens up because there is not a clear
path nor an easy way to sort through all the
feelings. Nothing is so solid as in the Baby and
Young phases. Being flexible is not easy. Until
the last couple of decades our culture provided
few guideposts for this vexing set of lives. The
hippies with all their "flow" and "beingness"
facilitated everyone's understanding of the Mature
Soul phase and helped disassemble some of this
society's blinder adulation of Young Soul
consciousness.
Because
they are often misunderstood and perceived as
disturbed, when actually just perceiving more than
the Baby or Young Soul, Mature Souls often
gravitate towards a community of other Mature
Souls where they can be understood. Berkeley and
Cambridge are two notoriously Mature Soul cities
in the United States, as is Amsterdam in Holland.
Both the creative and the gay men's communities in
Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York are a
mixture, but tend to be Mature in flavor. Mature
Souls enjoy the company of other Mature Souls for
their emotional potency as well as for the
"being on the same path" kind of
feeling. They appreciate Old Souls for their
information and perhaps an occasional rest, while
Young Souls are enjoyed for their reminders of how
to push forward in the world.
This,
like the Young Soul phase, is a time when many
people rise into prominence, though less now
through ambition and power, and more from vim,
verve and dash. Notice that the individual's
character tends to be full, usually quite
interesting and creative in the Mature period.
Painter Vincent Van Gogh suffered continually from
the intensity of his feelings, while Paul Gauguin
hoped to find solace from them in the peaceful
South Seas. Jean Genet, Truman Capote and J.D.
Salinger each gave an intense, Mature Soul flavor
to their writing. And, don't forget Barbara
Walters, the TV interviewer who is always
interested in helping people reveal their most
intimate feelings, and Morton Downey, Jr. who
rather cynically aggravates people's feelings.
Notice
the pep, excitement, enthusiasm and intensity with
which these stars live: Michael Jackson, Bruce
Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Frank Zappa, Randy
Newman, Holly Near, Janis Joplin, Cyndi Lauper,
Madonna and Barbra Streisand. Like Marilyn Monroe,
Judy Garland, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor,
Vanessa Redgrave, Molly Ringwald, Jack Nicholson,
Dennis Hopper, Charlie Sheen, Warren Beatty, Lily
Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland and a host
of others, most of our actors are Mature.
Crusaders Ralph Nader, Gloria Steinem, Oliver
North, Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden are all Mature
and occasionally inflamed. Carlos Castaneda, Lynn
Andrews, Terry Cole-Whittaker, Brugh Joy, Shakti
Gawain, Dan Millman and Elizabeth Clair Prophet
are Mature spiritual seekers, teachers and
authors. Mature Souls will seek higher education
but often gravitate towards smaller
non-traditional schools. This period has its own
priorities and inner sense of direction. For
example, Mature Souls will sometimes, much to the
bewilderment of their Young Soul relatives,
purposefully turn away from a well-paying, high
status position to choose something more in line
with their developing priorities, whether more
casual, more risky and creative, or more
save-the-world.
This
whole period is marked by exploration, much of it
inner, but plenty of it outer. Madonna's mother
probably didn't picture her innocently named
daughter wearing a crucifix and odd underwear
while prancing on stage one day.
A
person may fall in love with opera, jazz,
Pavarotti, Mozart, chamber music, tango, polka or
playing a Pan flute while he gathers mushrooms
from the woods. Non-traditional religions,
meditation, and metaphysics start to look
interesting, while outer horizons broaden with
unfastened lifestyles, sex of all sorts, art of
every type, gourmet and foreign cuisines. Out of
the high sensuality of this period there may come
a passion for sushi or fine wines and the ability
to distinguish and appreciate exquisite nuances in
flavor.
In
fact, most of the first-rate, four-star chefs
around the world are Mature.
Countries
with Mature Soul attributes may tend to put more
attention on social relationships than on material
goods or efficiency. Examples are Italy, Greece,
Egypt and Mexico. Italy has had about 50 postwar
cabinet crises. In Mature nations the question
comes up, does a country really need a smoothly
functioning government, or is it more interesting
to keep juggling? Sometimes "little"
things like a crumbling infrastructure won't
receive attention until disaster is clearly
imminent.
England,
even with its stolid roots, is a little off
balance due to its entry into the Mature phase.
With the advent of a socialism which aims for a
more equal distribution of wealth, the average
Briton is suddenly more focused on internals than
on the never-ending struggle to maintain a power
position in the world. People are less interested
in nose-to-the-grindstone hard work, but not just
because their basic survival is supported by the
socialistic system. They have changed on an inner
level and now finally have a leader, John Major,
who reflects their Mature Soul consciousness.
Around
mid-1987, many Young Soul countries, like Israel
and the U.S., started nosing into a Mature
consciousness. This happened because suddenly
their populations had more Mature Souls than
Young, and the old balance started changing. Those
countries will still feel primarily Young Soul in
ambiance and action for some time to come, but
you'll notice within them, though, that the desire
to make sure everyone is taken care of crops up to
a greater and greater extent. Since Mature
consciousness realizes we are all in this
together, importance may get attached to the
rights of animals, whether dolphins, farm animals,
near-extinct species, rabbits, monkeys or rats
used for medical research or fur bearing animals
used for warm clothing. On a slightly different
tack, Mature Souls are also likely to be the ones
patronizing pet cemeteries.
Poland
and Russia are countries brimming with Mature
Souls where strong agreements exist for assets to
be divided fairly, for everyone to have equal
shares of the wealth. Marxist theory is very much
Mature Soul in flavor, if not in actuality. The
ruling groups in both those countries have been
heavy, hardy Young Soul types who have managed
through thick and thin, by hook and crook, to hang
on to the power. And then you have Mature Souls
like Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev who are
aiming to wrest it from them.
OLD
SOULS
On
deep inner levels, Old Souls perceive the
interrelatedness existing among all people.
Intuitively they sense they are part of an
integral whole.
Grasping
this big picture, Old Souls then do their best to
live by it and to not harm or judge others. There
is a strong urge to be impeccable and to maintain
personal integrity in all transactions. They
detach from the emotional intensities of the
Mature Soul period and get more objective about
the ups and downs of life.
Having
dozens of lifetimes in varieties of cultures and
classes thoroughly blended into their essences, it
is much more difficult for Old Souls to get
embroiled in the right-and-wrong, us-and-them
games people and countries both play. Seeing the
whole picture in this way makes Old Souls calmer,
more peaceful and centered. It can also make them
appear passive or weak to the other soul ages.
While
Old Souls do not tend to grow into their full soul
perceptivity until about age thirty-five or so,
they will, even before then, be accused of
stepping to the beat of a different drummer. They
are unusual--two steps away from the norm--in this
Young Soul culture. Because they are inclined to
individualistically follow their inner perceptions
and desires, they may be seen as eccentric, though
usually harmlessly so.
While
there is great motivation for spiritual growth,
motivation tends to be lacking when it comes to
developing political or material punch. Seldom
doing anything they don't want to and preferring
their own unconventional pursuits, they often seek
the path of least resistance as far as work, so
that all energy can be poured into spiritual
development. Because of the essence's richness
gathered over many lifetimes, Old Souls tend to be
extremely competent in a wide range of
things--which often aren't pursued. They will try
to find work that supports their personal growth:
counseling, teaching, bodywork, gardening and
carpentry being some favorites.
Many
are magnetized by philosophy and art. If higher
education proves necessary in order to teach, less
orthodox schools allowing more opportunities for
inner exploration will be favored.
A
fancy house or car, or impressive clothes and
jewelry aren't often too high on an Old Soul's
real priority list. Neither is a nine-to-five job.
Plain laziness on the physical plane sometimes
creates difficulty paying the bills, but the
material game just isn't what it used to be.
However, Old Souls do have one advantage with the
material world: as they begin to seek, understand
and use the laws of the physical universe, goals
can be attained with less effort. Thus, there is
an outer, as well as an inner draw to understand
the universal laws distilled in astrology,
metaphysics, tarot and other ancient teachings.
Old
Souls may explore many religions and teachings,
being most drawn to those emphasizing love and to
those they've resonated with closely in past
lives.
But
being rule-bound or as orthodox as some
disciplines require does not usually last long.
Unique, personal spiritual practices, like an
oceanside ritual to mark a birthday, are often
developed and used.
Old
Souls are very capable of agape or unconditional
love, and many consciously work on not ever
judging other people. For this very reason, some
Old Souls appear to be annoyingly remote. This is
usually an essence who has previously handled many
emotional issues and comes to the planet intent on
examining intellectual, philosophical and
spiritual issues, period.
In
the television rendition of Shirley MacLaine's Out
on a Limb, the character, David, who took her to
Peru and never stopped playing pedant, was
noticeably lacking in warmth. David appeared to
function well with minimal feeling; he didn't seem
to mind instructing and mentoring all the time.
However, some people get uncomfortable once they
are here with their aridity and lack of emotional
warmth and set out to make up for what their
personality seems to lack. But, the force of
essence--which, in this case, is committed only to
comprehending spiritual lessons--will not be
behind creating the change. This does not mean the
change can't be made, just that it is trickier to
pull off because you and your essence agreed to
work on spiritual lessons.
A
similar situation arises after a person has had
materially successful lifetimes. The essence has
completed the lessons to be gained from having
riches and does not have much impetus to recreate
those situations except as it might peripherally
help with other lessons. Your essence may be
willing to let you be dirt poor for the duration
of your lifetimes as long as it is gaining the
desired spiritual and philosophic lessons.
Sometimes an essence actually interferes with a
person gaining money when it's clear that riches
would distract attention from the real inner work.
Remember,
you are your essence while you are astral; it is
you who decides not to give yourself the wealthy
Young Soul parents or the drive and ambition to go
out and get powerfully rich. The problem is, of
course, that when you arrive on the physical
plane, the personality goes a little crazy without
material goodies in a material world. The
personality may push to make a comfortable living,
and pull it off, but again without the added
impetus of your essence insisting, "Make a
bundle! You have got to be successful." As
long as the essence is being fed what it really
wants--philosophical and spiritual food--it won't
hamper your goals of making money or creating warm
emotional connections with people. But your
essence still won't be giving you its added push
toward prosperity or emotionally nourishing
relationships.
A
major challenge of the Old Soul period is
mastering self-esteem. No one is complete until
there is self-forgiveness and self-love.
Self-esteem can be elusive when living in a Young
Soul society which doesn't acknowledge the work or
innate value of most older souls. And on top of
that, Old Souls truly see what a small part they
play in this grand, infinite universe. For this
reason, working this issue through is often a very
big deal, with lots of self-deprecation being used
along the way.
Another
major item on the Old Soul school-days agenda is
loving being in a body, manifesting sufficient
mastery that you have enough of what you want to
make it pleasurably exciting to be on the planet.
It is never your last life until you like it here;
essence would never let you off the hook before
then.
In
order to even out your past life choices, as an
Old Soul you are often in the body of the sex you
least prefer. But having had both male and female
bodies so many times before, you do begin to blend
the different energies and may not be greatly
identified with being either male or female. It
becomes hard to work up a lather about someone's
homosexuality or "lack of masculinity"
or "femininity". Bisexual feelings are
not uncommon; whether acted upon or not, they are
allowed to rise to the surface, sometimes. Sex
which takes on a cosmic feeling by blending all
chakras becomes possible--and sought after.
Seeing
an Old Soul as a baby is telling, for while the
child is still acting the demanding infant or
growing baby, another quality may be sensed.
Because the soul has done all of this so many
times, the child has a peace, ease, and wisdom
about it--at least in its quieter moments--that
can be sensed by the adults around it.
Many
fewer Old Souls than Mature or Young ones become
famous, and when they do it is usually to teach,
for the Old Soul level is the teaching level.
None
of us allow ourselves to complete the physical
plane experience until everything we've learned is
shared with at least one other person. Some
musicians typifying this Old Soul need to teach
are Joan Baez, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Sting,
Judy Collins, Jerry Garcia, Bob Marley and
children's hero and folksinger, Raffi. Paul
Winter, George Winston, Kitaro and a burgeoning
band of Old Soul, New Age musicians are intent on
moving us into gorgeous inner spaces with their
music.
Mark
Twain, John Muir, and Albert Einstein were all Old
Souls with a mission, as was Dr. Edward Bach. John
Robbins is busy changing the way America looks at
food and food production. Film director John
Boorman (Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory), author
Alice Walker (The Color Purple), goddess
researcher Jean Shinoda Bolen, Shirley MacLaine,
Robert Redford and Phil Donahue are some pretty
active Old Souls currently doing work on our
culture. Directly on the spiritual front we find
Don Juan Matus, Nostradamus, Gurdjieff, Guru Mayi,
Carl Jung, Werner Erhard, Rajneesh, Ram Dass,
Matthew Fox, the Dalai Lama, Sun Bear, Swamis
Satchidananda and Muktananda and transpersonal
psychologists, Christina and Stanislav Grof. Jesse
Jackson, Jerry Brown, Abraham Lincoln, Anwar Sadat,
Iceland's president, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, and
Brazil's Chico Mendes are six very affecting Old
Souls who put their energy into the political
arena. You'll notice these individuals teach from
their being or essence in a unique fashion.
Countries currently containing predominantly Old
Souls (but not always Old Soul leadership) are
Iceland, Holland, and Czechoslovakia. Old Soul
nations prefer neutrality in international
conflicts, and when that's impossible, they prefer
subjugation to violence and bloodshed. Being aware
that freedom is first an inner experience, they
teach their captors a great deal about harmony and
humanity. Historically we see this in Alexander
the Great's conquest of (then Old Soul) Persia and
parts of what is now modern India. Old Souls are
everywhere, at least sprinkled thinly. Burma has
many Old Souls, as do New Zealand, Finland and
Norway. Most U.S. cities have Old Soul groupings
in them whether coastal like Vancouver, Miami,
Laguna and Boston or inland like Minneapolis,
Chicago and Atlanta. However, the deepest United
States pockets of Old Souls are so far primarily
in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.
The Keys of Florida and Orcas Island, Washington
are both magnets for Old Souls. Certain other
cities, like Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, and
Boulder, Colorado have taken on a comfortable Old
Soul flavor. Russia also has large scale Old Soul
pockets, the major one was, for a time, Siberia.
Michael said that these Old Souls incarnated in
the U.S.S.R. to help push that country forward.
They did not expect to end up in gulags, nor would
they have chosen that way to work. Soviet Armenia
was bulging with both Old and Mature Souls: even
the best laid astral plans don't always pan out
perfectly.
Many
individual Old Souls are scattered about, resting
in comfortable island places like Tahiti, or
conversely, working spiritedly in places like
Africa to help bring a country or continent
forward. Old Souls incarnate in Infant Soul areas
like the Amazon in order to protect, assist,
foster, nourish and guide those that need it.
There
is a tendency for older souls to have a greater
understanding of what the younger soul
perceptivities are like than vice-versa. Knowing
about soul age perceptivity is exceedingly helpful
in understanding the way other people think, the
way they look at life and in understanding
something about their life tasks.
Each
soul age is trying to experience as much as
possible within that particular level of
perceptivity. It's absolutely to the point for an
Infant Soul to be fearfully concerned about basic
survival and for a Baby Soul to be requesting law
and order. A Young Soul is appropriate when
striving for great material wealth, power and
acclaim, and a Mature Soul when beginning to feel
intensely emotional and ask those deeper
questions. It's appropriate for an Old Soul to not
meet societal norms, to look and act mildly
eccentric and to be teaching others, even when his
own personal or material life isn't together.
To
expect your Old Soul child to make a successful
climb up a corporate ladder is unrealistic.
Likewise, it's in error to count upon an
aggressive Young Soul attorney turning her
attention towards saving the environment, or to
believe a Mature Soul embroiled in a major
emotional drama would be able to calm down because
you showed him the "big picture".
An
Old Soul starts each lifetime being born as an
infant who experiences Infant Soul consciousness
and gradually grows into prior levels of
consciousness. A baby is often perceiving through
Baby Soul consciousness; think about a two year
old shrieking because a parent offended her sense
of right and wrong. People vary, but generally
reach their competitive Young Soul consciousness
sometime in grade school years. Mature Soul
consciousness arrives for many during junior high
school and is what your up-and-down,
full-of-drama, teenager is experiencing.
Individuals
don't come close to obtaining their true soul
perceptivity roughly one-third of the time. They
get stuck. They get lazy. Or the essence finds it
easier to complete certain karmas at earlier more
ambitious or more emotional soul levels. While
most Old Souls (Mature Souls too) will be doing
the intense Mature phase in their teens and early
twenties, an Old Soul is often not consistently
acting out of Old Soul awareness until about age
thirty-five, and even then it may be only in some
areas of life and not in others. When security
buttons get pushed, for instance, it is often
difficult to remain completely centered in your
Old Soul consciousness. Old Souls will be able to
successfully drop out some of the Baby Soul
discipline, Young Soul ambition, and Mature Soul
emotionality only if those qualities are
integrated sufficiently into their personality so
that they have access to them when necessary. It
does not work to stick your nose in the air (or
your head in the sand) in an attempt to avoid
lessons and gifts from the other soul ages.
People
who come into the Michael teaching are usually
relieved to find out why they are different from
mainstream society; they knew they marched to a
different drummer anyway. Michael's explanation is
useful, making it easier to understand why humans
come in such varieties and why it is that some
share global perspectives and others, no matter
how intelligent and cultured, just aren't
interested.
The
purpose of the teaching is agape, not creating
yourself to be one up.
Younger
souls are not less intelligent, less appropriate
or wrong. Their lessons are about survival,
structure, ambition and success, while your
lessons are about emotional and universal
connections. Younger souls are a natural part of
that whole you know is all connected, right? So,
if you're indulging yourself by feeling superior,
aim for mild tolerance as a way to begin clearing
up that attitude, which ultimately is a painful,
separatist one to carry around.
SEVEN
LEVELS WITHIN EACH SOUL AGE
As
mentioned, each soul age has seven distinct
stages, so that an individual can be referred to
as a fourth level Old Soul or a seventh level
Young Soul. Every level gives a distinct flavor to
the lifetimes spent within its arena. Except for
the sixth, which takes more, each level takes
about three lifetimes to complete, though some
essences speed through faster, while the solid
types enjoy a more thorough, leisurely pace.
A
description of each level is given below along
with examples of people in that level. You can see
how each level influences a lifetime's behavior.
The reason there are so many more people listed in
some of the levels is because those are the places
that lend themselves more easily to comfort with a
fair amount of public attention.
The
first level is a tentative exploration of the new
soul age, kind of a feeler or probe. There is a
sense of uneasiness, and people at this level will
usually spend about 70% of their time back in the
comfortably familiar level just completed. The
first level is ordinarily enough of a trial
balloon that it does not give itself to center
stage behaviors. Mike Tyson, catapulted into the
media spotlight by his divorce, is, at first level
Baby, a bit awkward with so much attention. While
both Jim and Tammy Bakker are first level Young,
emotionally they still relate primarily to Baby
Souls. They opted for the spotlight in order to
enhance their wealth and power. Sylvester Stallone
has apparently moved away from the complacent
qualities of seventh Young. That he's become more
interested in relationships and more
self-reflective indicates he's now exploring first
level Mature. And for idealizing Warrior-ness as
much as he has, he seems quite graceful with this
change
The
second level, though cozier, still has much
push-pull. People begin to realize they can
function best by forging ahead into the new
consciousness, that the former perceptivity keeps
them frustrated; yet they aren't sure of their
footing within the new level at all. Nobel peace
prize winner, Oscar Arias, is, at second Mature,
an example of this. His strong outer task of
bringing peace to Central America helps him pull
his own consciousness to that (Mature) place
within himself where relationships and unity are
more important than ambition, power or material
advantage. Jesse Jackson is an example of this
phenomenon too, but at the Old Soul level.
Prince
Charles is second level Mature, though held back
by much Baby Soul imprinting which his (Mature)
wife is pushing to eliminate so that their lives
can be more fun. Ronald Reagan is another example
of second Mature, but with a wife who would prefer
to keep him functioning at her soul age, Young.
Salman Rushdie is second Mature and in a push/pull
battle within himself. He vacillates from an
elbowing, ridiculing power stance to seeing that
people, foibles and all, are very connected.
Alice
Walker, who wrote The Color Purple, is second
level Old as is Actor Dustin Hoffman. California's
former governor, Jerry Brown, a Roman Catholic,
who's both spent time with Mother Teresa in India
and time studying Zen in Japan, seems determined
to grow himself into his full soul perceptivity,
second Old. He's really wrestling with his Mature
Soul behaviors to do this. These people display
strong desires to push forward in their
understanding of life.
The
third level person begins to gain the full
perceptivity of the new soul age internally, but
has difficulty manifesting it in the world. This
person becomes extremely introverted and
intellectually introspective while trying to
integrate the new awareness into day-to-day life.
A
person at this level, like Michael Jackson, who's
allowed himself to bring in some fame is going to
feel stress about it. Public television's
financial show host, Louis Rukeyser, is another
person functioning at third level Mature. With his
Wall Street Week television show he is more
"out there" than most at this level.
Both his goal of growth and chief feature of
arrogance [see chapter on "Overleaves"]
give him a push that is clearly somewhat
uncomfortable to his essentially introspective,
third level nature.
Ralph
Nader is another third level Mature person who
allows his goals and principles to push him into
the limelight despite his personal desire for
quiet introversion. J.D. Salinger, who's spent
most of his 69 years ducking the sort of publicity
some authors pay to create, is a reclusive third
level Mature Artisan. Jeremy Irons, an actor,
again third Mature, is cautious about interviews.
He does not like to reveal information about
himself and admitted to feeling an interview was
akin to rape. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko got
nearly a year to himself with his record-breaking
326 day mission aboard an orbiting space station.
He had plenty of private time to look both back
and forward at his life and did a superb job with
the isolation.
Third
level people do best when they give themselves the
space and time to stay home and be alone as much
as they want. Respecting their own proclivities
and loving themselves just the way they are always
smooths the way for more enjoyment of self and
life.
Fourth
level, bingo. Integrated and consolidated, the
perceptivity is now both inner and outer.
Comfortable and feeling assured while pushing out
into the world, fourth level lifetimes are spent
in full swing, doing and achieving any number of
things - perhaps forming bits of karma along the
way. Singer/Poet Bob Dylan moves between third and
fourth levels. Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro,
Corazon Aquino, Jane Fonda, and Terry
Cole-Whittaker are all fourth level Mature, while
Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos, Panama's General
Noriega and Syria's President Assad are fourth
Young. Queen Elizabeth is fourth Baby and doing
excellent job being in such a spotlight at a very
early soul age. Phil Donahue and Kevin Ryerson are
both busy, fourth level Old Souls.
Fifth
level people start pushing on the limits of their
reassuring fourth level existences. Believe it or
not, humans don't stick with comfort long,
especially when it starts impinging on growth.
Leaving the beaten path, like Old Soul Carl Jung,
for exploration, experimentation and the
unorthodox, this level stretches every point and
often shows up as pretty eccentric in the process.
Mikhail Gorbachev is now manifesting his full soul
age, fifth Mature, in precisely this way. The
unusual birthmark sitting on his forehead should
have been one clue to his ultimate destination.
How perfect for a fifth level person to be leading
Russia out of its tiresome stodginess. Another
fifth Mature person, Robert Bly, is leading
American men from their stuckness. Fifth Old
feminist witch and author, Zsuzanna Budapest, is
leading women towards the blessings of nature and
the goddess. Zsa Zsa Gabor cultivated her fifth
Young eccentricities and power needs with charm -
for the most part. Joan Quigley pushed her need
for eccentricity and power with astrology, quite
an unconventional Young Soul pursuit.
At
fifth level a person may feel out of his element,
odd and off-balance socially, and may be seen as
less mature than his more secure fourth level
friends. Divine, the fat, quite fabulous drag
queen star of Female Trouble and Hairspray,
obviously wrote his/her own rules but didn't find
much balance in life. The enigmatic Andy Warhol
didn't find much personal balance either. Neither
does PeeWee Herman, whose eccentricities give him
little rest. Gary Larson, the creator of the
extremely bizarre and wonderfulThe Far Side is
fifth Old and reclusive.
Madonna
maintains stability by by sheer force of
personality and by hopping from a very
unconventional fifth level to a solid,
businesslike fourth. Lyndon Johnson, also fifth
Mature, was full of personal eccentricities
(Remember him pulling those beagles up by their
ears or showing off the new scar on his abdomen to
photographers and news reporters?) but could
manage business and the presidency with ease.
Sixth
level lifetimes are about karma. In Infant, Baby
and Young lifetimes, you are usually busier
creating karmas than paying them back. Every
essence plunges in during these early phases and
forms the karmas which cause shudders when you
sense, from the perspective of later lifetimes,
what took place and what troubles you caused.
Usually, once these karmas have come back in your
face, you know you would never act like that
again, ever, because you understand all too well
what it felt like.
Richard
Ramirez and Charles Manson, both at sixth level
Infant, obviously created large amounts of karma
for themselves. So did Joel Steinberg, who was
responsible for severe wife abuse as well as the
death of his adopted daughter.
Jesse
Helms, fundamentalist Oral Roberts and Evan Mecham,
the impeached, ultra-conservative ex-governor of
Arizona, have all enjoyed stirring up controversy
and are sixth Baby. A Young Soul at sixth level
may do something as inspirational as John Kennedy
or quirky as Robert Bork's aborted run for the
Supreme Court - where he itched to form
interesting karmas with just about every minority
in this country.
In
Mature and Old sixth level lifetimes, you piece
together the experiences of the prior levels and
start handling obligations incurred along the way.
This means accumulated karmic debts get paid back
through numerous, intense, nearly overfilled sixth
level lives. A person will likely have trouble
after hard luck and be at wits end from all the
calamitous action coming her way. These sixth
level catch-up lives are a difficult and demanding
group, usually taking longer to complete than any
other level. As an Old Soul, these lives are truly
the last chance for all karmic completions, some
of which have been avoided for dozens upon dozens
of lifetimes.
Think
about what's been jammed into these sixth level
lives: Elizabeth Taylor, Timothy Leary, Norman
Mailer, Rajneesh, Jeremy Rifkin, Deng Xiaoping and
Patti Davis. Joe Kennedy II, who now holds an
elective office, is a Mature sixth level Sage
likely to have a lot of news-making incidents
occurring in his life. While Old Soul Chico Mendes
paid with his life this time, Ram Dass and Yogi
Bhajan appear to have completed the last of their
sixth level karmas, enabling them to move on to
the comfort of seventh level.
Whew,
seventh level! The karma's paid; it's time for
some well earned poise, rest and complacency. Not
too many obstructions or impeding subplots here;
seventh level lives usually unfold rather
gracefully. Having freshly understood the lessons
themselves, individuals are in a good position to
teach others - especially those of the soul age
just completed. For Mature and Old Souls
particularly, there is an urgency to share their
perceptivity and ways of being with others. Think
of how fired up Roseanne Arnold and Robin Williams
are, for example, to share their perceptions with
us, or George Lucas and Martin Luther King.
Moamar
Khadafy, at seventh level Baby, and Israel's Prime
Minister Shamir, seventh Young, don't have lives
that flow as easily as some but are tenacious
enough with their beliefs, even under fire, to
display that seventh level self-satisfaction which
can feel maddeningly smug to those who happen to
disagree. Ayn Rand is another seventh Young person
who was quite self-contained regarding her belief
structure.
Seventh-level
lives often have a comfort and flow to them. Pat
Sajak, for a time a late night-talk show host,
formerly a disk jockey, TV weatherman, and
sidekick to Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune, is
ambitious, at ease, and seventh Young. Actors Alec
Guinness and Danny DeVito, singer Bruce
Springsteen, author Frank Herbert and sexologist
Ruth Westheimer are all seventh Mature. Spiritual
teachers Swami Muktananda and Swami Satchidananda
both manifested at seventh level Old, as did the
politician who bridged more than a few gaps in the
Middle East, Anwar Sadat, and the one who insisted
on ending slavery in the U.S., Abraham Lincoln.
TRANSCENDENTAL
AND INFINITE SOULS
There
are two other levels of soul consciousness which
may take human bodies, but are vastly beyond the
sometimes all-too-human levels of Infant to Old
just described. They are the Transcendental Soul
and the Infinite Soul.
A
transcendental soul is a representative from an
entity that has completely recombined, meaning all
the fragments or souls in the entity have
completed all lifetimes on earth and have merged
into full consciousness of each other, into
oneness. The entity, which may be on the Astral,
Causal, Mental, Messianic or Buddhaic plane, may
decide for teaching purposes to send a
representative to the planet. Every entity does
this at least once. Because of the consciousness
levels obtained by the entity, the representative,
the transcendental soul, shows up on the planet as
a buoyant, balanced being with easy access to
higher centers and states of consciousness. The
teaching of the transcendental soul, whether
verbal, by example, or by leading action, is
centered on the greater connectivity of the
universe.
There
are always some transcendental souls on the
planet; in a time of change like the present there
are many. Some, like Sai Baba, Meher Baba,
Yogananda, Babaji, Rumi, St. Francis, Pope John
XXIII, or Ghandi, obtain wide recognition for
their teachings while others are monumental
influences on their communities, but do not
receive global recognition. These souls are not
totally self-aware. They may fall into maya, that
is illusion, believing perhaps that they are
"A Perfect Master" or an ultimate
authority of some sort. They may forget in their
teaching about "All That Is" that they
are teaching from one perspective only. They can
become attached to attention, love, adulation. But
mostly, transendental souls stay amazingly clear,
centered and conscious.
Infinite
souls are the manifestation of All-That-Is, of the
Tao. The entire universe is consciously
encompassed in the one body of the Infinite soul.
The Infinite soul is self-aware and does have
superhuman abilities. This soul usually enters, by
prior agreement, into a person who is seventh
level Old or Transcendental. The energy of the
Infinite soul is so great that were they to be
born into a human body and dwell consistently in
it, the body would not last long. The Infinite
soul may enter later in life as for Jesus and
Buddha or come in and out as it did for Krishna
and Lao Tsu. These souls are always noticed,
always teach oneness and love. Earth is set to be
visited by four or five of these incredible souls
over the next 20 years. They will have the same
message: love one another and the Earth, and will
represent different races and both sexes.
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