According to many spiritual teachers, all human beings are, in reality, spiritual beings on a human journey. We reincarnate as human beings in order to evolve as souls.
Our ultimate aim is to become fully conscious and capable as unique individual expressions of All That Is. It is a long journey, but that’s okay because the soul is eternal.
Contents
Soul Evolution
The soul’s journey is really a process of evolving. This means growing in consciousness, steadily progressing through different levels or stages of consciousness. How do we grow in consciousness? Through taking on challenging experiences in physical form. These cause us to make important, “soul-searching” choices and call upon us to discover our inner resources. But why in physical form? Why would a perfectly happy spiritual being decide to inhabit the physical realm with all of its limitations and difficulties? It is precisely so that we can experience the state of what feels like total separation from others and from the rest of reality. Only by going into this physically separated human form can we know ourselves as beings in our own right, and not just as … well … undifferentiated blobs of energy. Being physical throws our experiences and choices into extremely sharp relief in a way that is not possible otherwise. This is how we learn who we are and how to become all that we are. In other words:
Choice and the ramifications of choice provide the essential lessons of life. In a very real sense, you choose to be here in order to make choices.
Messages from Michael
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
The 35 Steps
We are here to know ourselves and be all we can be, step by step. And according to the teachings of the entity known as Michael, there are 35 steps to the reincarnational process. The body and personality you have now are merely the vehicles you have chosen for this latest step in your journey.
But why 35 steps? Why not 36 steps? Or 10? Or 100?
It is simply because, according to Michael, we go through five major stages of evolution through reincarnation. And, within each stage there are seven increments or levels to be completed. (Yes, it is rather like a computer game.) 5 x 7 = 35. 
Each single step requires a whole lifetime to complete. In fact, each step usually requires more than one lifetime. Typically, the entire journey of 35 steps takes well over a hundred lifetimes. So let’s look at the journey in more detail. We’ll start with the five major stages of soul evolution through reincarnation.
The Five Stages
The Michael teachings describe a sequence of five “cycles” or stages of soul evolution. They are named after the stages of human development:
- Stage 1: The INFANT Soul
- Stage 2: The BABY Soul [also known as CHILD Soul]
- Stage 3: The YOUNG Soul
- Stage 4: The MATURE Soul
- Stage 5: The OLD Soul
Each of these five corresponds to a specific level of development in capability and self-awareness within the individual soul. As the soul goes through each stage, the focus changes, more experience is gained, and consciousness expands. 
Incidentally, the same pattern of soul evolution has been identified by the hypnotherapist Michael Newton (right). His groundbreaking research was published in the best-selling book Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives (Llewellyn, 1994). The books by Newton and his students draw upon thousands of transcripts of people who, under hypnotic regression, have re-experienced being between lives. From the higher perspective of their soul they are able to explain what happens after death and before birth. This includes information about the levels of consciousness through which reincarnating souls evolve. What Newton and others have discovered is that souls between lives exist in light-form, and that each soul emanates a particular colour of the spectrum which indicates its current level of consciousness. The spectrum begins at white (all colours) but then goes through red, yellow, green, blue, to deep purple and violet. From low frequency to high frequency. The least evolved souls — the “newbies” — have a pinkish hue. The oldest souls — those nearing the end of the whole reincarnational cycle — have a blueish hue. Although the spectrum is a continuum, Dr. Newton has found that it can be divided into five distinct stages or levels of evolvement, from Level I to Level V. These can be mapped onto the five stages given in the Michael teachings, from Infant soul to Old soul.
So, for example, souls in the middle (or third) stage of reincarnation are referred to as “Young souls” in the Michael teachings and they are at what Newton would call “Level III”. They will have a yellowish or golden hue. (As an aside, both Newton and the Michael entity also identify higher levels of soul evolution which do not involve reincarnation.) The stages of reincarnation (or soul age) can also be likened to the stages of metamorphosis we see in nature, such as egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly. In reincarnation, though, what changes is not the physical form but the mode of consciousness, especially the form of self-awareness and — as a result — the way of relating to others.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Soul age characteristics
Soul age affects how an individual lives, thinks, acts, and comes across to others. 
Stage 1 — Infant Souls
Infant souls focus on immediate survival needs. They flourish in simple environments close to nature, such as remote tribes or rural, pastoral settings.
In the context of modern society, however, they can come across as uncivilised simpletons or yokels, and may even be deemed to be psychopathic or have some sort of developmental disorder.
Psychologically, infant souls are naive, impulsive and “pre-conventional”, acting on impulse or habit with little or no thought for consequences.
Because they lack both social understanding and self-inhibition, they are capable of committing antisocial or immoral acts without any sense of wrongdoing. As such, they do not fit well within modern society and may end up in prison or in psychiatric units.
While they may lack the moral principles, social graces and cultural understanding of older souls, Infant souls are in a sense completely innocent, being without pretense or agenda.
Stage 2 — Baby Souls
In contrast to Infant souls, Baby souls think a great deal about the rights and wrongs of their actions. Their lives are about safety, security, structure and order — rigidly so. They like to live in communities that are highly principled and “civilized” (think of the Amish).
Baby souls come across to older souls as rather “square” – strictly conventional and conformist. Both their beliefs and their actions are largely rule-bound, so they are often ultra-conservative, traditionalist, orthodox, upright, moralistic, religiously devout, and mindful of law and order.
That said, they will occasionally give in to temptation, or temper tantrum, and break the rules themselves — but then might find themselves tortured with guilt and shame.
They are acutely aware of the rights and wrongs of people’s actions, including their own, though they have little insight into the motives behind them. Bad behaviour is sinful, and that’s that.
Stage 3 — Young Souls 
Young souls tend to be extravert, outward-bound, worldly, frenetically energetic, brash, competitive, political, ambitious and individualistic. Life at this stage is about thinking for oneself and asserting oneself as an individual.
Young souls are more ego-driven than others, keen to make their mark in the world. They are generally attracted to some form of worldly success — fame, fortune, power, glory. In fact, they are more fearful of death than souls at other stages, and those who aren’t sure about life after death may be anxious to make a big impact on the world stage, to create some kind of symbolic immortality for themselves.
Young souls cling to their own opinions, with a certainty that their own perspective is the right perspective, and their way ahead is by far the best way. They are very aware of their own agenda but do not really question it.
Stage 4 Mature souls 
Mature souls tend to be more reflective than younger souls, with a growing understanding of self, growing empathy for others, and a desire for authenticity in both. Life is less about proving oneself, and more about exploring “right relationship”.
Mature soul consciousness is no longer egocentric, in the sense of being limited to one’s own perspective and agenda, but is capable of accommodating multiple perspectives and different agendas. In fact, there is now a tension between “what I want” and “appreciating what you want,” or between the personal and the interpersonal.
This makes life much more complicated — sometimes overwhelmingly so. On the one hand, mature souls reject narrow-minded values. Yet on the other hand, they are able to empathise with whoever holds those same values. Fixed opinions are replaced by a sense of ever-shifting perspectives — “It all depends on how you look at it”.
This disappearance of solid ground can be hugely stressful, but it kicks off a search for deeper meaning and self-understanding, whether through art, psychology, philosophy or spirituality.
Mature souls tend to question everything, including their own motives, and are prone to do a lot of soul-searching (literally).
Stage 5 — Old Souls 
Old souls tend to exude some degree of depth, gravitas or wisdom that is quite obvious. In children, it can be most striking (think: old head on young shoulders) For having moved beyond the stresses and conflicts of the Mature soul, Old souls have a growing sense of inner peace and freedom — the freedom to enjoy being very much in the world, but not of it.
Compared to younger souls they are relatively calm, measured, untroubled and stable, unattached to social structures and cultural expectations, being sure of their own existence and inner strengths and their compassion for others.
On the other hand, finding themselves in a world that is so conflicted, chaotic, frantic, and superficial can be utterly depressing.
For Old souls, the aim of life is to find true self-expression and fulfillment. As such, they tend to go their own unique way in life, letting go and letting be, in a detached way that may seem very weird and eccentric to younger souls.
Late-stage old souls find themselves consciously participating in the evolution of all-that-is, and often focus on teaching spiritual wisdom with great compassion.
Note: These descriptions emphasise the differences between stages. In reality, though, there is a gradual blend from one stage to the next. A person at the start of the Mature stage, for example, will act mostly like a Young soul but with elements of Mature soul nature beginning to emerge.
The lessons of each stage
Here are the five stages of soul evolution through human reincarnation, together with the typical learning experiences associated with each stage:
So we begin reincarnating as Infant souls, complete novices at physical existence. At this first stage we are largely in a state of incompetence and terror, frankly. But through experiences and choices we learn and grow. We steadily progress from being Infant souls to Baby souls to Young souls to Mature souls. Finally, we enter the fifth stage as accomplished Old souls, the experts of human existence.
As infant souls we learned about choices having to do with survival, as baby souls choices having to do with moral codes and ethics, as young souls choices having to do with mastery of achievement, as mature souls choices having to do with relationships, and as old souls choices having to do with the nature of oneness with the Tao. An infant soul would therefore not understand the choices of an old soul although an older soul would likely have more understanding of the nature of younger soul choice having had them.
Michael, via Victoria Marina
To look at each stage in more detail see:
Stage 1. The Infant Soul
Stage 2. The Baby Soul
Stage 3. The Young Soul
Stage 4. The Mature Soul
Stage 5. The Old Soul
Soul levels in the human population
The six or seven billion people on the planet span the whole range of stages, but the average is said to be somewhere just past the mid-point of stage 3 (see chart below). In other words, this world is currently dominated by Young souls whose primary focus is competitive self-advancement.
The seven steps within each stage
Within each stage there are seven discrete steps to go through. In the Michael teachings, they are called “levels”, so in each stage we proceed from 1st level to 7th level. Calling these “levels” can be a bit confusing (since Newton refers to the five major stages as “levels”), so I sometimes prefer to call them “steps”. So each stage of reincarnation has seven distinct learning steps. For example, we begin the whole journey at step 1 as Infant souls, learn that lesson, then undertake step 2 as Infant souls, and so on. On completing the 7th step of the Infant stage, we then begin the 1st step of the Baby stage.
The early steps in any stage are about experiencing life at this new stage of evolution, learning the essential lessons through appropriate experiences. The later steps are about expressing those lessons, demonstrating this level of consciousness in action. For example, in the Young soul stage, the first three steps — from 1st level Young soul to 3rd level Young soul — are about discovering the meaning of free will and self-determination; the last three steps — 5th level Young soul to 7th level Young soul — are about demonstrating the meaning of free will and self-determination in action. (The middle step — 4th level Young soul — is about consolidating the lessons learned.) The first step or level of any stage is like putting a toe in the water; the final step is like teaching others how to swim:
| 1st Level | Initiation into the new stage. “Toe in the water.” First glimpses of the new consciousness. We come to recognise that there is a whole new way of being ahead of us, and we respond to the call, even though as yet it is beyond our comprehension. |
| 2nd Level | Building foundations. Wading in and out. Comparing and contrasting the old and new consciousness. We come to understand what is essential and different about this higher level, though it still remains ‘ahead’ of us, not quite within us. |
| 3rd Level | Rising to the challenge. Taking the plunge. We determinedly commit ourselves to actively embrace and explore the new consciousness. |
| 4th Level | Integration. Relaxing into it, “enjoying the water.” We now identify ourselves with this way of understanding self, life and others – this is our truth. We fully incorporate and consolidate the new consciousness into our own being. |
| 5th Level | Expression. Splashing about – “Look at me!” We openly share and communicate our new, true sense of self and of life’s meaning. We feel drawn to broadcast our truth, to “go public” with it. |
| 6th Level | Demonstration. Giving value and benefit to others. “Being a life guard.” Our new consciousness is put to the test. We also burn off any outstanding karma incurred in the earlier steps of this stage. |
| 7th Level | Mastery. Peak performance. We have complete understanding and control of our awareness at this level. We know exactly what we are doing. We may feel like a role model. Hmm… What’s next? |
This sequence of seven steps is repeated through each stage, making 35 steps in all from the beginning of reincarnation to the end. In case you’re wondering, I’m at the 5th level of the Mature soul stage. My current life’s lesson is about outwardly expressing my Mature soul consciousness.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Many lives
So, we start our evolutionary journey at level 1 of stage I (as “1st Level Infant souls”) and end it at level 7 of stage 5 (as “7th Level Old souls”). There are 35 steps in all. And each single step requires at least one lifetime to complete. A single step can be done in one lifetime but often that’s too big a stretch, so an initial life may undertaken as a taster, followed by one or two more which really go for it. Sometimes a life is interrupted, and the soul will just have to start over in the next life. Also, some lives are undertaken for reasons other than the specific intent to develop. For example, one lifetime might be undertaken primarily to assist another soul in their development. And some lives are taken on primarily for the death experience, for karmic reasons. These can be very short, of the order of days, weeks or months. Taking into account all the gaps spent in the non-physical state between lives, a single step is typically accomplished in about 100-300 years of Earth time. The whole journey of 35 steps usually takes well over 100 lifetimes. Hence, the whole journey is likely to take of the order of 7,000-8,000 years, but possibly a lot more if the population is low and opportunities to incarnate are few.
Questions and Answers
Coming back again and again sounds dreadful. Why don’t we just give up and be done with it? Can’t I just decide that this is my last time?
You cannot skip any of the steps, nor would you want to (from the soul’s perspective). You wouldn’t rent a movie but then skip to the final credits just to avoid the whole process of sitting through the movie. In fact, it’s more like a computer game. You are playing the game because you want to, and at some level you actually love it. And you know perfectly well that you need to master one level before you can move on to the next level. That’s what the game is all about.
Who says?
There’s no tyrannical deity controlling the game, forcing you to keep at it, deciding who gets to “graduate” and who doesn’t. It’s just the natural dynamic of life and the evolution of consciousness. A tadpole cannot suddenly transform into a full-grown frog. A baby human cannot suddenly take on a professional career or family responsibilities. There’s a natural, inevitable sequence to go through. And we’ve all signed up for it.
But why? What’s it all about?
Well, at the level of spirit or essence, all is one, all is love, all is joy. This is all very nice, but consciousness longs to experience more and more of what there is to experience, the utter richness and fullness of life.
How does it do that?
By fragmenting into zillions of conscious entities, each of whom has its own experiences and perspective, and each of whom can make its own choices about what to experience. Any soul can choose to continue being submerged in all-that-is, albeit with little sense of self. Alternatively, any soul can choose to undergo the experience of life in a separate physical form, interacting with other souls in their own physical forms. This is the ultimate way to experience oneself as a self.
And that’s why we are here?
We have all made this choice: to use the human form as a vehicle to help us become more conscious of ourselves as the amazing beings we are. The aim is to experience every possible experience that enables us to emerge more and more consciously and fearlessly as ourselves. We begin as helpless infants for whom the experience of separate existence is quite terrifying. But we end as autonomous, self-realised beings for whom human existence is the most amazing way of being, feeling joyful and free and sharing love with the whole of life.
More frequently asked questions
- What happens to our souls after our last reincarnation?
- How can I speed up / skip levels / stop reincarnating?
- How can I know my soul age level, etc?
More on Soul Evolution
Books
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The Michael Handbook by José Stevens and Simon Warwick-Smith [Amazon] |
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Sojourn: Karma, Reincarnation, and the Evolution of the Soul by Gina Lake [Amazon] |
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Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives by Michael Newton [Amazon] |
AGAIN BEAUTIFUL!! WELL DONE ! TYVM
NAMASTE’
Fascinating. I’m just starting to read the Michael teachings and find this to be a great resource. Thank you for putting this together.
How do we know for sure at what level we are?
Good question, Tobar. I don’t think we can know for sure while incarnate. It’s more a matter of observing or asking and then self-validating. It’s relatively easy to get the major stage (infant-baby-young-mature-old) but the specific level within that is pretty subtle.
I was initially told that I was an old soul, which flattered my ego but I had to be honest with myself – it didn’t fit. I have too much inner turmoil. I knew I couldn’t be infant, baby or young because I had too much self-awareness and empathy for others. I am not lost in a false persona, and I am very sensitive to how others feel and perceive. The issues I struggle with on a daily basis are classic mature soul issues – how to by myself while relating to others, knowing how others feel etc. I have old soul “peaks” every now and then, where I can be very calm, detached and wise, but my centre of gravity is very much mature soul.
Eventually I tracked down a reliable channel, Sarah Chambers (known in the books as “Jessica Lansing”). I was told that I was a 5th-level mature soul. This came as a surprise as 5th level is sort of expressive, whereas I’d always experienced myself as a typically introverted scholar. However, I was in my 30s at the time – only just approaching the mid-life transition at which the true personality seeks expression. Sure enough, over the last 10+ years I have been through a process of discovering my “true voice”. I have intuited my life’s purpose as “Finding something worth saying about life, and saying it to those who have ears to listen.” This fits very neatly as a typical 5th level focus.
Hi Barry. I feel like I’m very similar to you based upon what you typed. Thank you for offering your insight and knowledge.
Thanks, you’re welcome.
It is fascinating that my learning process has taken me to see this article this morning. I am finding myself after several years of soul searching, starting to share what I learnt with others. Thanks a lot again.
Tran
I feel the same as you do.
I think I am in the mature soul stage. I have been called an old soul at times, but it sounded false to me because I feel like I still have lessons to learn. I feel wise but still naive at times. I am trying to grow and learn more I am in my early 20’s , I am discovering more and exploring this new consciousness which I find absolutely fascinating.
Hello
Frankly speaking, this article`s intend may be genuine but the matter is not accurate as it seem to be or are completely misleading. Number of lifetimes one usually takes till enlightenment comes around thousands. In Newton`s book, there is an instance of a immature(infant as of here) soul becoming young soul over 4,000 years which Newton describes as unusual and as an unparalleled feast.
Level of spiritual attainment can`t be found out by any of these expressed behaviors of a person, as written in this article. A highly mature or elder can incarnate, say, as a Hitler or Mussolini type personality, if it meets that particular Soul’s life purpose/plan.
I was also confused by this dilemma at first. In “Miracle of Love” by Ram Das, explains many anecdotes from Neem Karoli baba’s life that gives insight into in fact. Only Saints who have divine transcendental knowledge can know the level because of their deep insight. Or else its almost impossible.
Another option is an astrology branch in South India called “Naadi Astrology”. But the point is, there are many fake centers that practice this branch. So one must be cautious to find a good one. Or you should seek help of a Saint or a good medium, if you are lucky to find genuine one.
Thanks.
I think you make valid points. However my position is any information source is to be used as a guide and not as a literal scripture that is infallible. My understanding is these are outlines or guidelines. Thus to take your points: The 35 steps are not lifetimes but stages kind of refining Newton’s “Young-Intermediate-Advanced” theory. So it could take in unusual circumstances 4000 years to advance to another stage. In Joel Witton’s “Life Between Life”, a person outperformed his contract and started rapidly drawing events and lessons from what was to be the future into the present. In another case study a young woman went completely off the rails and died when her plan was to be a famous musician and die of old age. The person who presented to Witton was an “emergency incarnation”.
Humanity has only evolved into Homo Sapiens on this planet for about 50,000 years and the modern cycle of civilization is only about 5000 years old (discounting Atlantis and Lemuria) so if thousands of incarnations (or years)are necessary, they must be off planet. Newton did not discuss this as a primary part of the process.
It is interesting to critique this conduit but to rely on Newton. Newton insists human souls do not cross over into animal forms. This contradicts Hindu philosophy and experiences I have had with psychic mediums. In Your Soul’s Gift by Robert Schwartz, the suggestion is crossover is rare but occurs. We are up in the air about this point.
I agree that we must not be too hasty to assign categories to individuals. I had some issues with some of the people pictured and I think you are correct that a more advanced soul can take a role we would normally assign to a younger one. But then Newton’s Assessment runs into the same issue, unless you have a direct contact.
For me the usefulness here is the refinement of categories and the general traits as well as the further explication of the process. Yes I wonder, is Dick Cheney truly a baby or young soul or is he more advanced playing an assigned part? Good questions.
But do you really think Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are mature souls? Do you really think Rush Limbaugh is anything but a young soul?
To me the traits in general, with your caveat, are quite instructive. For example, I go to a pretty advanced small “New Age” church. I doubt seriously any baby souls are there. They would have a very hard time with the frequency and philosophy.
Do more advanced souls take on roles we would assume are normally the arena of less advanced ones.? I’m certain of it. And I agree with you we should be careful, to a point, about any person’s “contract” and/or level of development. To a point.
P.S. One of the things I like about the explicitness of the teachings is it gives strong clarity to much of the current world political and cultural landscape. And for people we may be interacting with. For me, issues of how many incarnations it takes and how long, though interesting, are not that important. Since I don’t have memory now, how long it took me to get here is fairly irrelevant. However knowing more clearly the issues I came in to work on is highly relevant.
Both my parents exhibited traits of mature souls ( ability to appreciate perspectives of others) but were emotionally damaged and abusive. This could be interpreted as “young soul” activity.
However when I contact them in spirit (I am a medium), they not only are highly loving (almost all souls on the other side are), but they have healing ability. Since both were atheist and agnostic, this startled me at first because it was so incongruous with who they were on Earth.
But this lends credence to your pointing out how evolved souls can take on difficult roles. How or even if it fit into their karmic needs, or whether it was as sacrifice of love for me i don’t know.
Probably could find out.
Thanks for the explanations.
Well, According to Ramana Maharishi and research done by Benjamin Libet at University of California at SF, everything is pre-destined even me typing this message(youtube have some good explanations including a BBC video).(Though we like to believe in free will). At soul level, all details are not revealed to the “yet to be born” soul.
Illusion of Maya is to satisfy the desires of the souls and also complete their karmic obligations. So,say, if a souls desires to have a mango at the time or close to the time of of death, that desire should be fulfilled by taking birth of a mango feeding insect. So non-attachment to the world is invariably mandatory for release from the wheel of birth and death.
In Dr. Jim Tucker’s(MD) recent book (ISBN-10: 1250005841) explains a case where a person remembers a past life as a snake. In general past life regarding animals or non-humans are rare. May be a memory block. Newton’s books gives many cases having past lives in other planets or as other lifeforms. So Animal past life on Earth is not fully out of question.
That`s my take. I feel Advaita Vedanta explains correctly everything on spiritual matters. This book (ISBN-10: 0893860468) is advisable for having a good advanced knowledge.
Thanks.
I can’t speak definitively to free will. My Guru said the opposite and he was a realized Master. “God did not make the Universe to create puppets”. Yogananda says that only at the highest level is there no free will. I interpret this as in the end there are two great commands. “Go forth”. “Come back” In this, especially the return, it is God’s will.
I can only go by my personal experience which is extensive with Angels and Ascended Masters. Their insistence, often , always and quite strongly is that we have free will. At least at this level. Example- Recently a very powerful psychic channel told me a woman was coming into my life but it was not guaranteed. It was dependent on how much I got myself together to receive her. The guides said through her, “A train is coming but you have to be ready to catch it, otherwise you will miss it.”
My understanding of contracts has to include free will because one of the main component of life in terms of lessons and fulfillment is choice and timing. Newton and Witton speak of people who do not fulfill their contracts, such as the soul who got reamed out by his higher guides for repeated suicide. If there is no free will, why would they bother?
I will not say I know definitively on this. My experience of all this is as if free will is real. My Guru came to me in as dream and urgently told me (in the middle of a profound mental illness) that millions of years were at stake. The illness was ordained. How I dealt with it to a great degree was up to me. In another dream soon after he said “I can only come to you three more times. After that You’re on your own”. It was terribly frightening and I had gotten myself into a huge pickle. Fortunately I worked my way out of it. Some time later, at my mother’s he came in another dream, drew an incredibly complex equation on a wall sized blackboard and said “liberation is still a possibility”, indicating progress but that it would be extraordinarily complex, which it turned out to be.. The difficulty I had in pulling it together was excruciating. It is a miracle I did so.
So I can’t believe in the “robotic” version of predestination. It does not fit in any way with my experience or my intuitive understanding of the literature and the whole fluidity behind soul evolution. Think of Quantum Mechanics where everything is probabilities. To me its a giant oscilloscope constantly adjusting to itself.
As for animal-human forms I just don’t know the big picture. Hinduism teaches yes the last thought. I read the story of Neem Karoli Baba downing a big meal to help a disciple. My sense is huge swings (human to insect) are not the norm. The human arc seems pretty set once your in it. NDE’s don’t seem to support these swings. Do cross overs happen? I’m sure. I’ve heard many examples from intuitives. Is Hinduism right? Quite possibly. I can only speak to what I’ve experienced.
Hypnotherapy studies in the East yield animal life recollections. Newton got none. How much of this is culturally influenced? My inclination is to accept cross over. Even the “up the ladder idea (from simple to complex).
However, again, where are we? We are Here, Now. We can postulate all this stuff. Yet isn’t what’s most important to deal with what’s in front of us? This material (in the larger sense, not just this site) imo was given to help liberate, to escape the victim-perpetrator cycle and to get clear that we came here with specific things to work on. To see ourselves more in terms of our
multi-dimensionality and for who we really are.
At the highest and truest level we are God. Its pretty simple. Not easy, simple
Thanks for your input.
Very good answer!
Thanks for the inputs. In the lower levels of evolution of the spirit, they are made to believe that there is indeed great amount of free will. Secret is not revealed. That’s how the souls are made accountable to and made to learn from the (so called) mistakes/experiences. If they(Masters) let the cat out of the box early, there is no meaning to life. The Game is over.
In autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 36, Babaji asks Yukteswar, who is the Doer of all Actions? while Yukteswar expresses skepticism.
And in Bhagavat Gita chapter 18, verse 17. Krishna tells Arjuna that who considers themselves to be the doer of actions are subject to the Law of Karma. And those who realizes the true Doer, then he is not subject to Karmic debts even if he annihilates whole Worlds! Free will is an illusion (Maya).
There is an experiment done by BBC in you-tube about the extend of freewill.
Thanks.
Hm… I don’t know myself well enough to figure it out to the specific level. But I definitely know I’m a mature one. Level 6 sounds like where I am now, but I don’t feel the previous levels have been developed given my family history.
Hopefully this will become clearer in another 10 or so years (ugh!) or sooner. I’m still young (22).
Yeah, things gradually become clearer as you get past 35 or so. Before that, we are steeped in an artificial identity, which is partly what we’ve been conditioned into by society/culture/peers and partly what we’ve constructed in the process of becoming an adult. But then along comes the 4th Internal Monad – the crisis point where you strive to out-grow your artificial identity and realise your true identity, which can be quite a hideous time. But the outcome is a much clearer sense of who you are and what you are about.
– barry
“the crisis point where you strive to out-grow your artificial identity and realise your true identity, which can be quite a hideous time.” So, what you’re basically saying is, it’s like being a human teenager all over again! LOL REALLY great article!! I identify very well! I feel I’m somewhere in the mature-old range but not sure where exactly…I was actually thinking maybe Level 2 of Old, but that may be my ego, because for some reason we all want to be so darn old! ; ) But, I’d like to know for sure. I may use that contact above you mentioned if possible. Any other ideas on that? I may just be mature and resonating with old because I’m getting there, or I’m in the beginning of old and resonating with the others because I’ve been there???
The teenage transition involves exchanging your family-given identity (eg, “the best little boy in the world”) for a self-defined identity (eg, “the baddest guy in the world”). The mid-life transition involves exchanging your self-defined identity (“the baddest guy in the world”) for your truest sense of self and purpose (eg, “one who finds joy and fulfilment in uplifting others through music”).
See the bottom of this page for some Michael channels:
https://personalityspirituality.net/articles/the-michael-teachings/
You know what -barry- i do agree with you, people you will know when your at the level of accomplishment you will feel it in your heart. The truth is found within your mind and spirit. If you can understand what the heart is telling you, your mind is there to help you remember right from wrong. The mind and spirit are a team once you got them workin together, you have reached greatness. Remember brothers and sisters dont let yourselves down its part of the test, dont let anything or anyone throw you off course, its part of your test also. Being open minded and not letting the things that dont make sense get to you is where your test gets difficult. Like i said stay on course and beaware of your surroundings at all time they are there for a reason and share your knowledge its healthy for your mind. Dont deprive your mind from its needs its crucial for the soul. The brain is your friend dont be afraid of it, Socializing and sharing your knowledge with all who is around you, i guarantee you they will share theres back with you even if they have a different opinion about it, debating is useless if it causes negativity. If you understand your heart you will learn how to balance yourself with using a right amount of positive energy. Remember everybody we are all here for a reason, learn from what your taught, and teach what you know. Dont overwhelm yourself, take your time thats why it takes a lifetime.
And then there was me… misunderstood, called crazy, and lacking understanding and compassion due to disbelief across the board, even here. I chose this life, and its a fast-tracked, multiple-life experience life. I know that there was a lack of interest at some point, interest in mainly love at another, death: and respecting all it encompases, power and powerlessness, rich and poor, responsibility for another soul… the list goes on and on.. most of these have come to fruition in this life, mainly because I so strongly dislike the vibrational flop occuring, and the way others are letting it go on because “they’re dues are paid”, “time to enjoy it” mentality of the mature souls. Where’s the maturity? Balance? I’m sounding very arrogant, but this is not the case truly. I’m challenging those with knowledge to be ……. (whatever you can be that will encourage personal development in a manner condusive to the greater good – at worst “advancement” generally speaking). I’m 32 yrs old, and have wanted out as soon as I got here. It’s disappointing, because balance once understood is so easy, and I think to keep the balance, those enjoying their “mature” ages need to remember the meaning of balance and look around. There’s balance to a degree, but it’s on war like terms. I personally think it’s a reflection on those who can make a change and choose not to. (i.e.- my husband- the actual reason I’m here) Walk-ins, mid-life punishments, re-claiming one’s body, and how to more easily cross the fortress I’ve located him to be in as the topic? I’ve found myself making my own journey for self and others a lot, respectful of the lesson and obviously with permission. (I’ve exhausted my means of expressing a request for insight on this situation – and also, his walk-ins: (how to describe…???) Legion of childish, moronic, “demons” ??? So many questions, and very little people willing to express opinions or ideas on the delicate nature of the subject. My best back and forth person is very set in her beliefs and I’ve exhausted those avenues, as well as any and all of my own. I’m in a corner almost with “loving too much” as the option, but I refuse to give fancy to that! Especially with the minions I’m living with. I’m reflecting heavily on myself hoping it’s me, and I’ll be able to break the stronghold on his location. Time or lifetimes is not something I like to do, not an answer I need, I’m already aware of that outcome. Please keep it from love and constructive to my requests, I would do the same for you. Also, respect that I have to still make the choice to use it.
(Sorry if you sensed the grouchy, I’m still human…LOL!)
It is so wonedful to find this on .because spirtual i am very much since i was around five and it feels like when i put myself at a positive energy level i get the feelings back on being focused and and find i get so much in these feelings i call gifts . The colors seem to shock me because i swear they came to me in the water and aint sure if it was given to me or was someones maybe i dont make sence but i ask for guidance through water . And this bluish green color i felt when my eyes were closed in the water was right in front of me and the feelings were so beautiful and relaxing feeling .what does that all mean
Dear Debbie, I also see a fabulous sapphire blue color when I’m in water…but only in the last few years!! Mainly when I’m aligned. I’ve mentioned it to some but they don’t see colors and just look at me bewildered ?!
So today is my first day being fully made aware of what’s really going on around here I’m hoping I can get a little more insight from someone about what I’ve just been shown and perhaps I have an old friend on here maybe a pretty lady? I feel like you got a lot to offer me in the way of knowledge text me 203-427-5473
Some of the more skeptical readers will be tempted to ask questions like “How did all of this begin?”, “How will it end and what will happen to my soul?”, “How does this relate to our universe?”, “Is there a God?”, “Why is there so much suffering on earth?”, “How do I leave earth?”, “Why aren’t all highly-experienced hypnotherapists (not just a select group which includes ‘the entity known as Michael’) privy to this knowledge?”, “What about physical evolution?”, “What about science vs religion?”, “Is there a heaven?”, “How does my soul contribute to my human consciousness?”, “What exactly is human consciousness?”, “Why did I make such a bad choice when I chose this ‘vehicle’ and/or this planet?”, “How exactly does reincarnation work?”… etc, etc. I might seem like a skeptic but I prefer to think of myself as a realist… and to convince realists, a lot of information has to be produced. Specifically, the kind of information that a worthy soul should be aware of.
There is a body of evidence from many vectors that answer these questions. However if you are addicted to materialist -rationalism, none will satisfy. Conversations with Gd by Neale Donald Walsch answers many of these questions. So does the works of Michael Newton (Journey and Destiny of Souls) and Robert Schwartz (Your Soul’s Plan, Your Soul’s Gift”.)
There is a lot of info out there, you just have to research. Also, just “ask” the Universe to be guided. You may just be surprised.
About ““Why aren’t all highly-experienced hypnotherapists (not just a select group which includes ‘the entity known as Michael’) privy to this knowledge?” Part of the answer is why aren’t all writers Shakespeare? But the true answer lies in the concept of Soul Contracts (You design the intention of your lessons and experiences in agreement with others before you were born-you have free will once you get here.)
Therefore, for cutting edge material, certain people are ordained to be the breakthrough messengers.
Not everyone can be a Newton (its a pun).
interesting article!
i know that “worldy” logic is not a basis for questions on spiritual topics, but: what is the explanation for 1 infant soul turning into 20 young souls, in terms of quantity??
Er, I don’t get the question. Where have you got the idea that 1 soul turns into many?
maybe i used the wrong words…i meant: how can 1 soul GROW UP to be ~20 or 30 souls…it’s actually not about a precise number. just take a ‘real’ diagram of age structure (as in the link below). i am referring to the diagram in the middle of the page. how can the ‘infant’ souls (which actually have the amount=0) in the beginning, grow up to be the big amount of ‘young souls’?
or, in other words: where do all these dominating ‘young’ souls come from, if they were’nt infant souls beforehand?
i have to admit, i dont know too much about this topic yet. but could you point out something in your explanation that i possibly got wrong?
age structure: http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfruf/images/bio3002/popage4.gif
Ah, perhaps you haven’t got the meaning of infant, young etc in this context. An infant soul isn’t a person in infancy; it’s a soul in the earliest stage of its own evolution in consciousness – a process that takes thousands of years of reincarnation.
Each young soul was indeed an infant soul at one point, and will eventually become an old soul.
The “age” of a soul has nothing to do with the physical age of the person. A 40 year old person could be an infant soul while a newborn baby could be an old soul. Does this make sense?
the graph is just a bell curve that illustrates, approximately, the distribution of where all souls fall in the range, at any given time. So; the ‘young souls’ you refer to may be the ‘infant souls’ lagging in development, from those; just a few at a time progress onwards, the others remain trapped in do-overs, repeating the same level(s) until they learn the lessons they failed previously. That interpretation works for me, anyway… hope it helps!
A hundred thousand years ago, when all those incarnating here were new souls, the peak of the curve would have been way over to the left. A few thousand years from now, assuming no fresh influx of new souls, the peak will be over to the right.
Where did those infant souls come from? From animals? Reason why they are beastlike in character?
Yes, although strictly speaking, it’s not that they (we) *come from* animals – we all come from spirit/essence/the light. It’s more like, we are evolving in consciousness by experiencing existence in increasingly complex forms with increasingly complex relationships and increasingly subtle emotions.
From past evolution in animal form, infant souls have a level of consciousness that knows about physical existence and the basic emotions and impulses that go with it, but they are not so aware of concepts like “free will” or “fair play”. That’s the kind of stuff they (we) are here to learn. Human emotions such as shame, pity, and vengefulness, and our ability to express (or hide) these, allows consciousness to experience a whole new world – a multitude of different ways of being and relating.
I think here is where we have uncertainty. Different traditions/modalities have different answers and I don’t have one. Eastern traditions postulate as Barry has commented, new human souls come up from animal form, which is considered less developed. I have encountered a problem with this because it feels very ‘human centric” and uncomfortably dovetails with the view that humans are at the “top of the pyramid”. From recent experience, I don’t see this as necessarily true and that many animals and plants can be as evolved as we are, just different.
In Journey of Souls, infant souls emerge from the infinitude of source energy, which is limitless. None of Michael Newton’s subjects experienced animal remembrance, however in Eastern regression subjects, animal lives were remembered.
In Your Soul’s Gift, the guides were adamant that the human experience and other living forms, especially that of animals were on separate tracks, and crossover was rare. The soul intelligence of higher animals is very akin to humans. Recently I have been thinking that because we view life from the human vantage point, we assume it is superior. That may not be the case. Why is a horse’s view or an Elephant’s less important or real? My animal communicator friend says to Elephants, God looks like an Elephant.
As I said, I don’t know the answer to this one. Maybe down the line it will become clearer. What is clear is to respect all life. )So much for lunch meat,etc.)
My only point is we need to be careful about our assumptions and especially the mature of animal consciousness.
Obviously infant souls emerge from somewhere. It could be the raw material of source energy individualized as much as “coming up” from animal form.
P.S. Animals may have as much capacity for awakening as humans do. A friend of mine was leading a channeled meditation and the guiding energy said the most evolved being in the room was the dog.
I’m 20 years old going on twenty and reading about soul ages has really helped me understands the way i live my life. I know i am young and dont have mush experience yet but reading this article i think i may be an Old Soul around stage 4. Everything this article has said about Old Souls has reflected me nearly %100. I would one day like to go to a spiritualist and see what the truth is
So after reading all of this, and the comments, I have to ask a simple question, or what I find to be a simple question. After completing all stages from infant to Old soul,what happens? Do we reset and revert back to an infant soul, but with better and/or odds and/or chances to more quickly evolve,or do we become another type of Light or soul, mabye even on another “dimension” of being, or start to inhabit a higher level of physical and intellectual beings? So much questions, so much to learn. Thats some Artisan stimulation seeking right there.
Hi Anthony
My understanding from the Michael teachings is that we keep going through another two stages beyond that of the old soul (which is the fifth stage).
The sixth stage would be as guides on the astral, working together with our closer soul-mates.
The seventh and final stage would be as a re-integrated collective consciousness, a ‘causal body’, comprising all souls from our larger grouping of origin, or what Michael calls ‘entity’. Michael is one example of this stage, being in fact an integrated entity consisting of 1,050 Warriors and Kings.
By the end of that stage, we are effectively at one with the creative power of the universe (God if you like), and individuality – while it remains in some sense – is no longer a concern. But from what I can gather, we are free to choose to undergo the whole cycle again – as we did this time – for the sheer thrill of it! That would be in a whole new species, however. Or, as you say, maybe on another (less demanding) dimension.
The idea of having “better odds to evolve more quickly” gives the impression that evolving quickly has some sort of merit, but this is not the case. The eternal universe doesn’t really care how quickly or slowly any soul gets from stage A to stage B – life is all about the process, not the end goal.
This is where I really think the Integral / Evolutionary Enlightenment camp (Andrew Cohen etc) are barking up the wrong tree. The idea that there is some urgent need to evolve now springs entirely from human fears and misconceptions, and has no meaning from the point of view of spirit.
– barry
IN Your Soul’s Plan by Robert Schwartz, one of the guides agrees with you. From the point of the Soul, time does not matter. But if we wreak humanity here, I wonder how it would work. Would evolution and karma have to be redistributed on other planets?
Apparently it does occasionally happen that a population of souls will destroy their own world during the young-soul phase (eg, through nuclear war or mass polution). In that case, it’s simply time to find a new species on another planet and carry on from where you left off. But best avooded if possible!
This was excellent and definitely resonated strongly with me as coming from Michael. Great insight here that I’ll be sharing with my listeners this weekend. I’ve been focusing on a series of shows under an umbrella I called “Signs of the End Times” and this weekend, I have been “urged” to do 3 shows centering on the journey of the soul… so this is excellent info for my listeners and for me. I found this quite fascinating. Thank you for taking the time to write and post.
Blessings, Nick
Many thanks, Nick.
– barry
Can you locate the words to describe how souls can incarnate into any period or “time”. I’ve been told that our concept of time is linear, due to our minds and how they function, but for the soul it functions differently. That there is no past and future, and that all is happening simultaneously…
Confusing, and I am wondering if someone can put it into some sort of mind-friendly wording.
thanks
Matt
If I understand correctly, you are asking about the possibility of incarnating “out of sequence” into any time period, say from 20th century Europe in one life to 1st century China in the next. I have seen this alluded to a couple of time, but I suspect — I cannot claim to know for sure — that this is a misinterpretation of something else. Either that, or I just cannot get my head around the idea of infinite parallel universes. The very idea of non-linear incarnation is so counter-intuitive it makes my (linear) brain hurt, so maybe I’m biased, but here is my take on things.
As far as I understand it, while souls (between lives) do not experience time as we do in physical life — they just exist in the eternal “now” — they do nevertheless experience a flow from “before” to “after” – from where their consciousness has been to where their consciousness is going. In other words, they experience the path of their own evolution.
In addition, souls can also perceive and scrutinise the entire “tapestry” of history on the physical plane. (I have read about souls going to special “temples” or “libraries” to do so.) The tapestry is a visual metaphor. It consists of interweaving “threads” which represent our individual paths of evolution through incarnation, showing both our collective past and our collective (but potential) future.
The past is that which has actually been experienced, both individually and collectively. The tapestry of the past has been woven already, determined by the choices we made while incarnate. This part of the tapestry is crystallised, set in stone.
The future is that which may yet be experienced; it is fluid, expanding. The threads have many offshoots going in different directions. Different weaves are possible. The future is all the many diverging paths we can choose from here on given what we have already chosen.
Souls can see the fixed path of the past plus all the side-paths, what could have been had different choices been made. They can also “tune in” and experience any part of the past – one’s own path, another’s path, or even a “lost” path that wasn’t chosen – without actually being incarnate, just as we can play a video game and experience flying an aeroplane without actually flying an aeroplane. For example, you could tune in to a certain life in 1st century China and “relive” any part of it, or experience what it would have been like if different choices had been made – not to have committed that murder or whatever. But this is not the same as actually incarnating, which is a whole different project.
The tapestry of the future is not the same as the past – visually, it looks more like fractals fanning out infinitely as the threads separate into alternative paths which have yet to be chosen. Possibilities leading to possibilities leading to possibilities… Again, the soul could “inhabit” any path to experience it first hand, but again this is like flying a simulator as opposed to flying an actual aeroplane.
Incarnation itself is bound by the limitations of the physical plane — and by the fact that every choice is interwoven with every other choice in the universe. We cannot die in the 20th century and then reincarnate in the 1st century because it could mess up every choice made by every other being between those time periods. Imagine the chaos – what if I die today but decide I want to reincarnate 100 years ago so that when I’m in my twenties I can go and kill young Adolf Hitler? Now imagine all of us being free to affect history in that way, even in very small ways. I think we would spend our whole time going back to rerun past events in different ways!
Of course it’s possible that this is exactly what happens – if there are infinite parallel universes.
Ow, that hurts!
– barry
Barry-
thanks, that was actually helpful. I feel that a part of working with our own minds is accepting a perspective that works for us at the moment, even if there is a subtle suspicion there is more to the story. For me, the pure logic of the world as is, the physical one we inhabit here, is akin to the impossibility of a seed falling from a tree and recreating the orchard from which sprang the tree he fell from.
The earth is doing its lower frequency thing, and before and after in reference to personal evolution makes a lot more sense than, well, time. Anyway.
Imagining, inhabiting in the sense of a thought form or dream, sensing with complete clarity another ‘before’ or previous time period, is, in my current thinking, akin to me personally revisiting a memory in my own life from a new perspective, fed by experience and growth.
I can accept the notion that it is not possible to reincarnate in the past, and allow this to be my perspective at the moment. Subject to change and re-examination, after experience. It simply does not hurt my head so much.
ow is right. soon.
Matt
I think your soul can live in “pieces” and in parallel universes and join with itself again “later”, ie; soul mates, etc. I also think there can probably be “time” travel at a level we cannot comprehend, similar to what a human mind may experience as multiple personalities perhaps. And lastly, when we are in meditation or asleep, in a coma, or anything similar, maybe we are in a parallel universe?
Or maybe it’s better described as a “memory”?? It is definitely hard to grasp on this human level! But, I feel what our eyes do not see and our mind does not comprehend is the workings of life next to and a part of us at all times….not just in the sense of ghosts or spirits, but in a fully working order which is possibly just as unconscious of us as we are them, or maybe not…and maybe they can manifest to our viewing as they please (aliens??). Just thoughts.
Thank you for covering this topic. I was in a sort of conflict because I often ‘visit’ a group of ‘people’ existing around 50,000-100,000 bc. I can’t explain it very well, but I do know that I am not incarnating into their time, and that our interactions with each other do not have any ‘real’ consequences. For me, it is almost like remembering, only slightly more vivid. I don’t care to explain it to myself, really I just enjoy these ‘meetings’.
Fascinating! Thanks Jayemai
B
Hello Barry,
This is very interesting information here on your site..
But there are still so many questions I deal with and I still have a lot to learn.
During my spiritual development I’ve met some special people. A guru once said me that I’m a very old soul and that this is my last life as an old soul. I’ve studied this subject and have a lot of knowledge about it now. My big question is; what’s next?
I’ve heard about transcedent souls but I can’t find much about this subject. What do you know about transcedent souls?
Koen
Hi Koen
Thanks for getting in touch.
Have you read my article on the Old Soul? It gives a bit of information about what happens during and after the last life there.
After our last incarnation we move into the sixth stage of our evolvement, located (I believe) in the upper Astral plane. The sixth stage, as I currently understand it, is mostly about the emotional side of our being – emotional challenges, growth and integration, the expansion of love both within and between souls. We get together with our intimate soul groups, share experiences, merge in consciousness, blend with love.
There is also much opportunity to teach and guide those still incarnating. Most of the individual “spirit guides” or “ascended masters” who are channelled by mediums are souls at this stage, lovingly expressing wisdom.
(There are also higher sources, such as Michael and Seth, which are integrated large group formations going through the seventh stage on the Casual plane. These have a different approach to teaching – very dry and intellectual broadcasts, compared to the more intimate and “mushy” approach of the Astral souls!)
During the sixth stage, there is no need or desire to be physical again, unless we choose to for some special purpose – i.e. to help others who may be getting a bit stuck to move along. Moses, Confucius, Mohammed, Gandhi are said to be examples. Their mission in each case was to inspire unruly groups of mostly baby souls to find a way to live together peacefully – by providing laws, establishing virtuous principles to live by, and setting a good example.
barry
I had a ‘psychic’ tell me the same thing in the mid-90s, that I was on my last lifetime. Messed me up for many years. It’s strange to read that someone told you the same thing. Perhaps it is a man or woman too consumed by the idea of being a guru, and confusing their idea of who they are with who the person is they are talking to. Perhaps it is a thing to say. Perhaps it is true for you. I suspect you’d be completely clear if this were the case, that this is the case. I never was clear, but felt a lot of fear that it meant I had to do or be something. Had the affect of putting a tremendous amount of pressure on my – by me. How much better to believe we are just like everyone else. Sometimes.
Yes, it strikes me that an easy way for a teacher/guru to attract followers is to flatter people’s ‘spiritual egos’. Most seekers would love to consider themselves more advanced or enlightened than the common herd. I know I did, for a while. My first reading from a (dubious) Michael channel described me as an Old Priest – at first I was flattered, but I knew it didn’t really chime. My next reading, from a very reliable channel, got me as a Mature Scholar, and I have no doubts whatsoever about that. It’s really important to try and self-validate anything we’re told by outsiders, especially something so profound as the evolutionary state of your soul.
You go to swallow worlds until you consume them all.
One astrologer told me that i am an old soul.
I was not familiar with this stages.
After going through your article i could know about it.
It will be very helpful if you clear my doubts that does this one step/level out of seven steps of each stage takes one life each, i.e., 7 lives for 7 steps and to achieve the ultimate stage we have to pass through 35 lives?
And after completeing this 35 steps,i.e.,five stages one will achieve Moksha?
Would the person have not need to take birth further?
Hi gargi
It takes at least one lifetime to complete a single step – usually 3 or 4 or more. So the overall process of 35 steps takes over 100 lives, typically.
On completion of the fifth stage, as a 7th-level Old soul, you have indeed reached the end of rebirth. But that does not mean that you have achieved “freedom” or “liberation” from the wheel, exactly, because you were always free and you have re-experienced that freedom between all of your lives. Rather, it is simply that physical separation no longer has anything to give you in terms of evolving, just as there is no reason to go back to school once you’ve graduated.
See my page on the Old soul stage for further information.
I hope this helps!
barry
Wow must say that this post is very insightful and in fact has a very practical approach! I have a few questions that have been bothering my mind for quite sometime now. I will start of with a few:
As you mentioned somewhere in there that ….the super consciousness fragments into zillions of conscious entities, each of which have its own experiences and perspective, and each of which can make its own choices about what to experience.
1) Are these fragments only of infant soul form or is there something else.
2) Do infant souls kick start with a human body by default or can an infant soul start of with a non human body may be of an animal or plant or a virus maybe? In fact there are people who believe that the soul starts its journey from the simplest of life forms and then gradually moves up the evolution ladder where it finds a human body at top and keeps evolving thus forward.
3) to the best I can analyze even animals do seem to have a soul and consciousness but prolly their consciousness is underdeveloped as compared to humans and they behave mostly on instincts. Humans on the other hand behave as per instincts as well as their conscious judgment that eventually develops their karmic cycle and reincarnation options.
But common sense would say that in animal kingdom its luckier to be born as a lion in the jungle, or as an eagle in the skies, or a shark in the ocean for that matter. Even within animal species there is variance, like a dog is born on the street and another in a rich mans house. So if animals are driven by instincts how can they have a karmic cycle, and if they don’t have one then why a more fitting animal body for some?
Hi Amit
To address your questions:
1) All souls begin at the beginning, as 1st-level Infant souls, just as all newly-born creatures begin as infants. If a soul group elects to embark on the journey of evolving through reincarnation, all souls within that group will start incarnating as 1st-level Infant souls.
2) Consciousness as a whole does evolve through the pre-human levels (matter > plant > animal), but at those levels there are not ‘souls’ as such, i.e. not individualised spirits with self-awareness able to make choices. Rather, there are masses of low-level consciousness.
Evolving souls like you and me need bodies of a certain type (independently mobile) and with a complex brain able to support rational choices. It would not serve a soul, even an Infant soul, to incarnate into a blade of grass or in the body of a snake, because the vehicle is far too limited for what the soul is trying to achieve (evolving through choices).
On this planet, there are two options for individualised souls to evolve through reincarnation: humans and cetaceans (i.e. whales and dolphins, of which there are many species).
3) Yes. Each species of non-ensouled animal is said to have a collective consciousness known as a “hive soul”. Such consciousness has yet to evolve into the individualised soul form which we have.
Karma does not apply to animal spirits because they are incapable of making rational choices – karma is a factor for individualised souls only.
Referring to one kind of physical life or body as “lucky” compared to another is meaningless from a spiritual perspective. A human mind imagines that being the predator at the top of the food chain is better than being its lowly prey, or that living in a luxury house is better than living on the streets, but that’s just how human minds think. Animals don’t think like that of course, and spirit or consciousness sees as much goodness and value and love in being a vulnerable gazelle as in being a hungry lion. It isn’t “better” to be predator rather than prey, or to be sheltered rather than unsheltered. Comfort in an animal’s life is not a karmic reward, and lack of it is not a karmic punishment. It’s all just part of the mix that consciousness longs to experience.
I hope this answers your questions, but feel free to ask more!
– barry
I am undecided about the chain of life but there is material and experiences that do disagree with the issue that animals do not have their own soul evolution. In Your Soul’s Gift by Robert Schwartz, there is a chapter on pets and the guides make it clear that higher animals (at least) have very clear soul evolution. I personally have connected with pets from the other side and was clear about the contract between me and my cat. The book claims animals do not like particularly to cross over to human form, too intense and too much extremes of duality. Yet in hypnotherapy in the East, remembrance of animal lives is common.
I think once you reach the human cycle, however it occurs, its your cycle. Some disagree with that.
For lower species I do agree with the “group soul” idea.
The basic idea of karma in this last comment is interesting, though I would suggest – or what struck me as odd – was the last paragraph where you wrote “…or because the perpetrator just decided to do it, creating fresh karma for himself”.
It just doesn’t sit with me this idea that something can happen out of the blue for a soul. The idea of a class being the equivalent of a life time, and that each soul signs up for a class, seems an important perspective to use in this context. The soul might embody a position of ‘victim’ or ‘abused’ or ‘murdered’, and therefore has an opening for this energy, or a weak spot so to speak. This makes more sense to me. A soul is embroiled in a physical experience where what it does not know is what it is learning, including being attacked or murdered even (the body, not the soul), in order to become experienced in this.
I usually believe that all that happens in physical life, and that appears random, is actually only perceived this way on the personality level (the body). On the soul level, if there is a murderer and a murdered, it was agreed upon previously on the soul level that this would take place. Perhaps to put more spontaneity into life, by tweaking this perspective a bit – the soul enters a life to experience violence to the physical body. The soul is open to this experience. Another soul enters to experience being the perpetrator of violence. There is therefore a charge between the two, a balancing that occurs perhaps randomly, but is also a perfect marriage of the two class lessons.
There are a series of lectures at this site:
http://www.pathwork.org/lecturesObtainingUnedited.html
#18, #21 deal with Free Will and the dark and light spiritual existence. The constant reference in these channeled lectures to the names used in one religion for forces in the world has always been off-putting for me, though it does nothing to diminish the material.
#21, while dealing with ‘Lucifer’ and ‘God’, in those terms, to me is not about this at all. There is a basic point made that if a sort of divine “Free Will” exists, it would need to allow the free choice to live without any divine connection, without hope or love, etc. If whatever divinity there is in the world imposed itself over what is considered negative or evil – then (the article points out) it would not in fact be Free Will at all. It would be the allowance of Free Will to those considered good, and the denial of free will to those considered bad (by whom?). It’s an interesting perspective.
I’m writing about it here because of the clarity and simplicity (in a profound way) of Michael’s teachings. The universality of these teachings. However, nothing is off limits to consider, I suppose.
Thanks mg. I’m a big ‘fan’ of the Pathwork teachings (as well as Michael teachings). The Michael teachings do say quite often that the physical plane is the only one in which ‘accidents’ are possible – i.e., unplanned events. I don’t disagree that souls will arrange amongst themselves to do the murderer-victim experience, but I think the field is also open for spontaneous acts of free will, including those which harm others. It’s possible the would-be’victim’ soul sees an unplanned act coming (e.g., in the dream state), and decides whether or not to go with it. But that’s just my impression – I can’t claim to know either way.
The Conversations With God books are also quite good on the relationship between human free will and Divine Love (i.e. – why would a loving God let us come to harm? Because we specifically choose to live in a state in which apparent harm is possible – and all choices are automatically respected.)
Barry-
my only thought reading the 2nd to last paragraph is that the karmic situations forced upon the soul (rather than chosen) – like we fall into a darkness because we do not yet bounce back from it, due to our not knowing it completely yet… We are consumed by the karmic experience of the lifetime, and for me (this is the notion I had) the aspect of ‘free will’ is nothing more than the actual LEARNING how to navigate the unlearned things. The free will comes into play by the ability to choose the path that frees the mess. The mess however is not a choice, or a game, it must be something so completely unknown and unexperienced, that the only way to move Free from it is to discover the way out of it. This quite possibly is nothing more Than the lifetime of each of us. The entrance and release from the karma. When there are no more dark places to fall into, we enter them from another level – just to see. Perhaps. It is what I thought of while reading.
About “accidents”. I think the language is not clear. My understanding is everything is cause and effect, there is no random. Using a quantum physics metaphor, the incoming souls, or souls, are a wave of probabilities under the uncertainty principle. whether, however the probabilities get worked out is fluid and interacts with free will. Usually the strongest probabilities are the hardest to move and don’t. This is termed karmic destiny.
But souls do veer off from contracts. In Life Between Life by Joel Whitton, a woman contracted to have a magnificent life as a concert musician. She got involved with a fast crowd with drugs and alcohol and went off a cliff in a car at age 34. Totally blew the contract. The woman who came to him for help I think in the 70’s or 80’s was an emergency incarnation assembled by her guides start to to get her back on track.
Similarly, in Robert Schwartz’s second book, Your Soul’s’ Gift, a woman contracted for incest with the father but also contracted with the mother for support. Once here, the mother abdicated the promise of support and abandoned the daughter emotionally around the issue. There was a plan B in operation inherently
I suppose we could call these “accidents”, but I think rather they are soul free will choices. Cause and effect is still at play, but apparently there is more room to move. Thus I do agree that there is room here for “spontaneity”, but it is not random, which accident implies, it comes still from causation of choice. I think this removes the sense of Calvinistic rigid destiny from the process.
Souls from what I have seen have a great deal of fluidity as they work with” intentions” ( a less “fixed” word than contract). There are choice points built in all along the way. And many back off the core of what they came here to achieve and have to do it again later.
I think it is rather rare that someone could be caught in a situation they had not contracted for and lose their life that had no bearing on how their energy put them in that position. But I suppose it is possible. I am not at the point where I fully understand fully the free will-Soul intention piece.
There is still much we have to learn about this “technology”. It seems we are only at the beginning.
http://www.pathwork.org/lecturesObtainingUnedited.html
In this series of lectures there is one lecture that discusses why all humans must be born into their worst karmic darkness. It is essential for any soul incarnating to lose ALL connection with previous life spiritual work and all connection with higher self awareness. This is so that the greatest aspects of the karmic issues must be confronted and overcome.
It also might suggest a key concept – that when a karmic issue, or basic life experience – is actually LEARNED by the soul, it does not need to be re-learned. It is learned. The same might go for a human in this lifetime who has learned in a previous life (on a soul level) how to deal with lower energy manifesting in a violent manner (rape or murder, as you discussed). If it has been learned, the individual most-likely will not re-experience this because the lesson has already been learned. Another level of clarity might be reached by the soul via that particular life, though it will not necessarily require the physical aspect of trauma and violation.
Barry- I really appreciate what you are doing here, and the conversations that are appearing. I have no intention of over-stepping any bounds here… just are things I think about, and have thought about quite a bit – and I somehow found this string of a conversation. I am not operating from any unclear sense of anything – just adding what I have found as related to these topics.
I think someone else commenting here has also pointed out that a clear act of forgiveness, from ‘victim” to ‘perpetrator’, can untie the karmic knot between them – lesson learned consciously rather than “the hard way”.
I love that I found this on the web, Journey of Souls was a wonderful learning tool for me at the beginning of my journey… Though Ive got to say I believe the author may have a slight bias, and I think the article would have been better off had they not attempted to categorize famous people. I can definately understand their method, but my issue with it is that with a famous person, we could still be very much in the dark concerning what lies in their heart and what truely motivates them. Some of the most profound effects on others are often known only to the person who gives and the one receiving. But all in all, great to find this on the net
I’m curious – what sort of bias are you referring to?
B
I agree Graham. Some of the people on that list did not fit at all. Joseph Lieberman???? Is that the Senator from Connecticut? Lot of movie stars and artists too…some of them with big egos and pursuit of stardom. It did not make sense at all. I did find that strange. Glad you brought it up. What about scientists and social researchers…many of them are more evolved than the movie industry.
Be well…I am naïve about many things.
Innocence and naivete makes us trusting open loving souls I guess…That is a good thing…but not always when in the wrong community.
I guess the reason why there are so many celebrities from the arts and entertainment is that they are asked about the most by people wanting to know. Bear in mind that I didn’t make this list up but compiled it from various readings given by different Michael channels. And, not being am American, even I don’t even know who some of those are! (I had to google Joseph Lieberman.)
In general I find the list informative and fun but I agree we can have opinions as to who makes what. Lieberman, for example, is a mixed bag. He has had a lot of empathy for others in the realm of social politics (liberal) but a huge amount of “me first” from around 2007 on. Possibly could be a young mature soul. I’m not fond of the guy so “mature soul” would not come initially to mind.
But the general tenor of the list makes a lot of sense. I think Reagan had a lot of baby soul in him but could have been more foundationally young. Clinton is young sou lall the way.
I’ve come into these Michael teachings recently and…OMG it has seriously BLOWN MY MIND!! My entire perception and engagement of the world has changed.
Upon trying to determine my soul age I have become aware that I seem to hover in the middle of mature while exhibiting traits from stage 2 all the way to 6. Do you know if it is possible for humans to concurrently live out different stages? And, if so, would that put our true soul age as the “average” between the extremes?
BTW, I’m only 31 so I probably haven’t come fully into my age yet…
Thank you sooo much for putting this very valuable information on the web. It’s going to help many people from losing their sanity!
Thanks 😀
Hi Aaron
I’m glad you are finding stuff of value here.
Yes, you can appear to manifest different soul ages. I say appear because your soul (i.e. you in essence) is definitely at a particular step in its evolving consciousness. But in each human life we take on a body with consciousness at square one. As we go through the normal stages of human life, we gradually reawaken to ourselves in and through this new body, and in doing so more of our true consciousness is able to manifest. So early in life you act like an infant soul, as a kid more like a baby soul, and so on. And, as an adult, these early ways of being are still there inside you, like the rings inside a tree. If you get very drunk, for example, you could regress to an earlier level – not in your soul level per se, but in how you are manifesting through your behaviour.
At the same time, higher levels of consciousness are also accessible. That is, we can experience moments of transcendent or even infinite joy, wisdom, love, truth, bliss, energy, unity, divinity, and so on in what are called peak experiences and spiritual awakenings. It’s just that we cannot stabilise in those higher states until we have done the work of evolving to that level, changing ourselves step by step.
So, we can manifest beneath our level and we can experience above our level. But otherwise we will operate at our own level – it’s like our centre of gravity.
Barry, thanks for taking time to answer my question 😀
I was just wondering what is after 7th level old soul?
Hi Stuart
My understanding is that we keep going through another two stages beyond that of the old soul (which is the fifth stage).
The sixth stage would be as guides on the astral, working together with our closer soul-mates. The focus here is emotional and inspirational. Many channelled teachings are from souls undergoing this stage – they all have a warm and comforting quality. (e.g., Emmanuel)
The seventh and final stage would be as a re-integrated collective consciousness, a ‘causal body’, comprising all souls from our larger grouping of origin, or what Michael calls an ‘entity’. Michael is one example of this stage, being in fact an integrated entity consisting of 1,050 Warrior and King souls. Channelled teachings from beings at this level tend to have a dry, factual quality. (e.g., Seth)
By the end of that stage, we are effectively at one with the creative power of the universe (God if you like), and individuality – while it remains in some sense – is no longer a concern. But from what I can gather, we are free to choose to undergo the whole cycle again – as we did this time – for the sheer thrill of it! That would be in a whole new physical species..
Hi, has anyone heard about Reincarnation mathematics? Is reincarnation supported by mathematics? It would be really interesting to analyse this issue.
Is it something you’ve heard of, Juan?
No, I have heard a few people saying reencarnation is mathematically imposible because souls would rarely have the chance to enter a human body. It does not seem impossible to me, but it would actually be good to test it.
Ah, I have been researching about this to post something on it here in the blog soon. In a nutshell: back in the1970s someone created an urban myth, which was that by 2000 there would be more people alive (6 billion world population) than had ever lived and died in the whole history of humanity. This idea has really stuck and is often used as a “scientific fact” to discredit reincarnation. But actually it is nonsense. Population research shows that the number of people to have lived before is at least a hundred billion, probably far more if you include those who died in early childhood.
Lets say there have been 150 billion people. Lets say, every one has lived an average of … 40 lifes? That would mean that there have been 3.750.000.000 souls on the planet (150 billion/40). If so, all souls that have ever existed are now living, and half of them are baby almost psycopathic souls (we are currently close to 7 billion, an populations is expected to reach a peak in 2050 at nine billion). That does not make sense, does it? it has been disturbing me for a while, for I really believe in reencarnation. But if this estimate is right (I hope it isn’t, it can’t be true that a whole journey lasts more than a hundred lifes. Do you have any thoughts on this Barry?
I have now written up my thoughts about this here:
https://personalityspirituality.net/2012/02/29/reincarnation-and-world-population-do-the-numbers-add-up/
Michael Newton said from his research 75% of souls on Earth were “Young Souls”. To me this would incorporate infant and baby Souls as he said only about 15% were intermediate and 5% or less advanced.
Thus the curve is heavily weighted toward the beginning. But the power of the more advanced souls and intermediates was not in numbers but in energy. Thus you didn’t need as many of the more advanced tom offset the energy of the younger.
Barry, I have come to great understandings recently about the “soul” and have encountered many great people along my 23 year long journey so far.
I feel I have come to an understanding of finding true love, or this consistant urge of finding a “soul-mate”. I know that my understanding of this knowledge is still very fresh but I feel very strong connections with everyone and everything, even psychic like. My goal in life is to share my message with earth of love and truth. I strive to be an “MC” aka a hip-hop rapper. I have already been pursuing this passion as well as dance. I feel as if im being called to the forefront of what I’ve come to know, as well as what I will learn, to share the message of unification. To become one with People, Society, and Nature.
I have knowledge of Birth Cards and Planetary Ruling Cards. I am a King of Clubs (BC) and a 6 of Spades (PRC)
I guess what im trying to ask is… I feel that im a “Mature-Soul” ready to share the message of truth and love (splash about if you will) to the world, through music and dance.
Would you agree? Disagree? Thoughts?
Thank you for your time, it will not go unforgotten.
-Joshua 🙂
Hi Joshua.
I’m not sure what you’re asking if I agree or disagree with, but I can say that you simply cannot go wrong if you follow your passion. If your best, truest sense of meaning and purpose – whatever turns your heart on – is right now pointing you in a particular direction, then go with it. An inevitable result will be that others benefit from your actions as well as you.
I would only add that our passion in life can evolve or shift as we age and develop, so just be open to the possibility of your heart’s direction slowly altering over the years.
Good luck!!
Understood!
Thank you again!
I really enjoyed reading your post & find it incredibly interesting. i’m not sure if you’re familiar with the card system Josh mentioned, but it seems to resonate with your (as well as “journey of the soul”) interpretation.
http://aspaceoflove.com/PRC.html
http://thecardsoflife.com/your-birthday/
http://russellrowe.com/the_playing_card_system.htm
Please tell me what you think:) can’t wait to hear from you. Also if you tell me ur birthday I may be able to send u a more detailed description of you cards.
Alyssa
Hi,
I’m a big fan of this website and thanks so much Barry for a great job..I have few questions that arise due to contradictions between different sources for reading material..
1-In the “Conversation with God” book series “God” says Karma does not exist. Although I find that hard to swallow, but I’m curious what would your take be on this (I know u believe in Karma because it’s all over your website 🙂 )
2-in the “near-death.com” website, many of the psychic mediums believe that “Evil” souls will settle in a low vibration plane, grey and cold and filled with souls of similar low vibration; They live there with the same attitude they carried from Earth until they’ve had enough and then they can get counsels to help them move up their vibration either through re-incarnation or other forms of soul evolution. According to your website and the “Conversation with God” books, we all move up our vibration through experiencing the negativity on Earth. And if someone had a mission of being “Evil” it would have been a choice done with agreement with other souls prior to incarnating; either to help out other souls or to experience the “Evil”. Once the soul leaves Earth, it will pick another mission to experience. My question I guess is that i find the website: “near-death.com” a bit contradicting and slightly skewed towards religious beliefs, but that’s only my view. What u have on your website does settle with me more.. I just wondered if you’ve ever seen that website before and what do u think of it..
Your response is appreciated..
Rose
Hi Rose
Great to hear from you. My thoughts…….
1. The CWG books say surprisingly little about karma. Book 1 says “there is no such thing as karmic debt – not in the sense that you mean… You are not obligated to do anything.” and book 3 says “there is nothing [in the Cosmic Wheel] of unworthiness, debt-repayment, punishment or purification.”
My take on what CWG says is that there is nothing outside us forcing us to have experiences without our choice. The traditional interpretation of karma is a baby or young soul idea that you get what’s coming to you because you have been bad. A more appropriate interpretation, I think, would be that as part of our evolution, we deliberately choose to undergo certain dramatic and intense experiences in partnership with other souls, such as murderer and victim, first experiencing one side of the experience and then the other.
Also, if we do happen to inflict harm on another during life (out of ignorance), we will want to experience what that was like and can arrange to do so with the same soul. This would be a karmic “compulsion”, but it’s internal, not externally imposed – a loving impulse rather than a dreadful imposition.
So I agree with CWG that nothing is imposed, but I still see meaning in the word karma – not as the imposition of cosmic punishment but the interplay of voluntary dramatic experiences. Karma = evolutionary drama.
2. Yes, i am familiar with near-death.com. I wasn’t aware of a specific religious angle, but i havent studied it that closely. But there are so many articles by different authors there, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some contradictions – Buddhists vs Christians, for example.
Similarly with karma, I think evil is real enough to the human personality experiencing it, but just part of the game from the soul’s perspective between lives. So as human beings we experience others committing abhorrent and unnatural acts, and making sense of those as “evil” (or as our “karma”) is a valid choice to make. It’s those choices that are the very reason why we are here experiencing all this stuff.
Evil is a concept popular with baby and young souls, to whom it makes perfect sense. And to the extent that it makes sense, then it isn’t “wrong” – we are all at diffent stages of making sense of existence, and none of us has the totality of truth (not consciously, anyway). A baby soul is “right” to identify something or someone as evil if doing so contributes to their own evolution. But of course, one person’s evil can be another person’s nature (homosexuality, for example). I would imagine that only mature and old souls are able to appreciate the relativity of such concepts.
As for psychic mediums, they can be at any stage of soul evolution, and those who are baby or young will ordinarily frame life in terms of good and evil – and the afterlife in terms of heaven and hell.
Well, that was a ramble… Food for thought though.
Cheers 🙂
My understanding is that soul’s can get stuck and not cross over. Rosemary Altea had a good discussion of this in her book Eagle and the Rose. I think Soul’s can do evil by agreement and others because they have not outgrown the attachment or proclivity for harm and the thrill of it.
Generally, my understanding is nearly all go to the other side and that as you say, “good” and “bad”are relative. Usually karma balances out tendencies toward harm. So I don’t agree with this “grey area” as what is is beyond duality.
AS John Davies put it, the difference between a serial killer and Christ is the former is at the beginning of the journey and Jesus graduated.
Thanks for your reply Barry! One more question please:
Not sure if you’re familiar with David Wilcock the incarnate of Edgar Cayce and the Law of One. According to him (and many others) by the end of this year some of us will ascend to 4th density which is a higher vibration than what we are living in now. those who will ascend are the ones who hold a high vibration and will be able to match the new 4D state and those who hold a lower vibe won’t be able to match the new 4D state and will experience the physical death.
My question is how does that tie in with the 35 steps of evolution? I think I am a mature soul and therefore I believe I still have a long way before I am ready to live in higher realms (4D) and so are a lot of people. Yet, this 2012 event sounds like heaven on Earth if one can match the right vibe. And, according to David, all one has to do is be at least 51% positive during the day and they will make it.. Everyone will end up at different levels of 4D (depending on how high their vibes are), but if they can be just a little over 50% chances are they will ascend.. What do u think about that?
(Where I live I have limited access to share these thoughts with anyone, I’m really grateful that I found your website!! God Bless)
I may live to eat my words, but I do not get what 2012 is all about. I cannot imagine that anything will be dramatically and mysteriously different by the end of this year. How could it? Well, I can imagine a lot of people *saying* that they have moved up to some higher frequency… but I doubt that there will be any noticeable difference.
In terms of soul evolution, no-one is going to jump from young soul to old soul in the space of a year. It cannot happen, anymore than an acorn can become an oak tree overnight. We cannot become highly evolved beings just by standing in the right place at the right time, thinking positive thoughts.
As far as I can see, all that can happen that might make a noticeable difference is if a lot of people start operating in the positive poles of their soul and personality traits – being more conscious and loving. But that has to be their own choice. For example, someone with a goal of dominance who has normally been acting in the negative pole (dictatorship) could be inspired by a wave of love to choose to act more in the positive pole (leadership). Or they could choose not to.
I can also imagine that if enough people – millions of them – believe that something special is happening and use the idea of 2012 as an opportunity, or excuse, to deliberately change their ways or adopt a more positive, idealistic or spiritual outlook, as happened in the 1960s, then things might well look different by the end of the year. Which would make 2012 a self-fulfilling prophecy …
If the source is ‘fragmented’ into many entities then is this just all an illusion-not just the physical plane?? Is a soul an illusion too? Because it sounds like, from what your saying, underneath all existence is a conscious knowing and understanding sort of like our own individual subconscious. Is this all like one big puppet show?
Hi Alex
As I understand it, it’s like a particle/wave thing. We are both fragments and one at the same time.
Ultimately, there is the one Spirit or Being or Consciousness or whatever – just as the entire physical universe is, in quantum physics, just one great field, yet it appears in the form of multiple particles, atoms, objects, stars, galaxies, etc. So there is one Spirit, yet that same Spirit has infinite potential to experience its own being in different ways. After all, in a state of oneness there is only one thing lacking – variety. So Spirit transforms itself such that some parts of itself (consciousness) can experience and interact with other parts (forms, objects) and create whole new experiences (events, feelings, ideas). It’s a bit like when your arm goes to sleep and you touch it with your other hand. It feels like you are touching an arm that doesn’t belong to you, yet you know it does.
This division into subjects, objects and experiences goes on at multiple levels. Spirit takes on the form of multiple souls, and each soul adopts the form of multipe personalities. This downward “fragmentation” is what some teachings call involution, the descent of consciousness and energy into deeper and deeper layers of apparent separation, the bottom layer of which is the physical level. The involution is a necessary precursor to evolution – the ascent of consciousness through physical form.
So the subject-object “split” is artificial and illusory, since the underlying oneness remains, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing or a terrible mistake. Calling the world an illusion can be helpful for those who are unaware of the underlying oneness, but it can be confusing because there are multiple levels of illusion. For example, to the human personality the world itself is no illusion – to think that it is would be a sign of madness.
The real illusion is that we ourselves are nothing but physical beings in this physical world, completely separate.
But even this illusion is part of the game we are here to play. At some point in our reincarnational journey, it becomes of value to start seeing through this illusion while incarnate. But before then, we have to buy into it. And of course, we do see through it between lives – as souls we are not confused about the physical plane and our true nature.
So… Is the soul an illusion? Yes and no. Yes, because there is only one Being, not many. But no because the essence of any soul is the one Spirit. The illusion of many souls isn’t a bad illusion – it’s just the game that Spirit loves playing. Calling it a puppet show makes it sound like rather negative – it is more like a dance of ecstatic joy.
Yes, I understand the complexity of this concept is hard for my small human mind to understand though I really like how you explain it-makes a lot of sense, thank you… 🙂
Hello Barry,
How great to read so much information and thoughts. I have a question as well, regarding meeting your twin flame/ twin soul.Does this always happen in the last incarnation, so basically stage 5, as an old soul? As a reward? A completion of your wisdom on the earthplane? It is the most spiritual pure form of love apparently, when the two separated souls from “the beginning” are finally reunited. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you.
Hi Pippa.
Well, as far as I know it is a myth that twin souls are literally like twins tragically separated at birth, who only get to meet up eons later in some grand romantic reunion. Twin souls know each other very well between lives, and evolve more or less in parallel, sharing life’s lessons with one another. Occasionally they also share actual lives together in different roles – yes, sometimes as lovers/spouses, but also as siblings or as parent-child or as working colleagues. There is nothing to stop them being together in human life, whenever they so choose.
However, while it may sound wonderful to be in life with this other soul with whom you have such a profound connection, at a personality level it can be unbearably intense. Especially if you are young souls who have not (in life) ever before felt this instant inner bond with another individual. Here is someone who seems to know you inside out, and vice versa – whenever you look at them it’s a bit like looking in a mirror, and you also see a lot of them inside yourself. In our society that’s just not normal – in fact it’s a bit creepy. And far from the two of you spending the whole time walking arm in arm into the sunset, you have to relate to this person in very mundane ways, day in, day out. It can be difficult to pull off. And just to make things more awkward, it’s very possible that the two of you have adopted opposing/complementary personality traits (“overleaves”) in this life (e.g., one with passion, the other with repression).
Think of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton – clearly made for each other on the inside, but barely able to contain all that intensity between them in a workable relationship. That said, if you can make it work, it makes for a profound and beautiful relationship. I speak from experience as I suspect my own son is mine.
Hello Barry,
It was nice to go through your blog. I have a quick question:
Considering that being a king of a country or president/PM of a state appears to be one pole of a King/Servant scenario, every soul would want to experience being a king at least once in order to gain experience on how it is being a king! (I cant think of anything similar to being an actual king or a president of a country that would give a similar experience). Something similar would be with the experience of being extremely rich (a billionaire) that is an opposite pole to being extremely poor. Even if I am a soul and for me being a king or extremely rich is just another experience as being a slave or a servant or a poor man; I would definitely feel incomplete without gaining that experience at least once.
Now, considering that we already have 6 billion souls entrapped in human bodies over here and growing strong, and there could be perhaps at least a few millions if not billions wanting to take birth; how will the equation work. I mean considering that we have just 200 countries in the world, we are looking at accommodating some several billion souls as kings or heads of the sate within the limit of 200 max in one go over an earth era. And there are just around 1200 Billionaires at this moment perhaps highest ever.
Going by the predicted age of our planet earth (scientific one and not the astrological one) we would require at least some several hundred thousands of king like or billionaires voids at the same time in every era even in order for even a fraction of the souls the gain what I feel an indispensable experience. And we know that’s practically impossible. So are we looking at a possibility of a huge chunk of existing souls not being able to get completely evolved as the availability of a very important experience is too limited on earth?
Hi Andre
Good question. The experiences of being a king, president or a billionaire are certainly rare and extreme — that is part of the attraction, to human beings at least. And yes, the simple fact is there will never be enough thrones in human history for each of us to have a go at sitting on one.
But our souls are fully aware of that and don’t really care. Our evolution is not limited by not running a country. Our evolution occurs in the context of relationships and the choices we make in those contexts, and one-to-one relationships are usually enough.
The particular relationship experience you refer to is actually master/servant rather than king/servant. You team up with a soul mate and you agree to incarnate together twice, one of you being the “master” in one life with the other being the “servant”, and then vice-versa in a subsequent life. You don’t have to run a country or a business empire to experience being the “master” — being the master of that other person is enough. Put it this way: You could do the master side of the relationship as a homeless beggar.
Similarly, you don’t have to be Donald Trump to experience the pleasures (and pains) of being better off than another person.
While we (in human personality form) might think it great to be a world ruler or a billionaire, there is no competition or envy between souls for such roles. Being a president isn’t just an experience for one soul, but one that involves and affects millions of others, and all souls so affected will be co-participants in the planned experience.
And even as a personality, I’m not sure that I would really want such an experience. Well, it might be cool to live in a palace for a day or so, but for year after year? I really wouldn’t want all that responsibility, and fuss, and envy. Besides, I would make a pretty crap leader. I don’t have a kingly bone in my body and I hate making decisions, especially ones that affect other people.
On the other hand, I must confess that I really fancy being a rich playboy in my next life. But that’s just my personality-focussed consciousness talking, not my wiser, higher being.
Oops, I though that last time when I tried posting my question it didnt get posted as there was some error, so I re-posted. Yea I see it now, thanks, it makes sense.
One left over…. So when is the point of …moment of truth for the soul? When is the moment of self realization? I am how exactly does a soul gets to realize that it has attained all the experiences possible? Is the total number of possible experiences fixed? Is it like the soul realizes that okay here goes the 9976…th experience of the bi-polar that could ever be…? Whats the symptom of the last incarnation of the last stage of an old soul?
The soul’s journey can be likened to a gay person coming out. At first, the person is gay but isn’t yet aware of it. Then they start to become aware of it but maybe take a while to confirm it for sure. There might be a period of experimentation, perhaps in secret, before they finally feel the confidence and self-assuredness that publicly coming out is not only right but also necessary – the truth deserves to be known.
In the same way, we begin reincarnating as divine beings in our own right, but we don’t yet get it. We are captivated by the world we see before us, and oblivious to our own nature.
In fact, there are five “coming outs” – as infant souls, then as baby souls, and so. In each stage there is a process of becoming more aware of our true nature and then publicly owning it.
We start off immersed in all-that-is, not yet aware of ourselves as individuals. Through life experiences we gradually become more aware of ourselves and others, more confident in who we are, until finally there is nothing to hide.
It’s not just about becoming aware of who and what we are, but also who and what others are too. A young soul is very aware of their own independent existence, but not so much of the equal validity of others. They see life as a contest and others as either collaborators or competitors. A mature soul gets the equality of our beings, but doesn’t yet fully appreciate the bigger picture of which it is a part, the perfection and purpose in every moment. The old soul gets the bigger picture and the perfect place of self and other within it, and thus is able to finally “come out” as a divine being amongst other divine beings, all parts of the same whole.
The last life is, in effect, one in which we confidently go around expressing the truth that “I am God and so are you.” The world is simply the arena that has enabled us to get to this point, and after this we no longer need it.
As with the coming-out analogy, we were always perfect divine beings of love and joy and creative power in our own right, but at first we were unconscious of the fact. Now we are finally shouting it from the rooftops!
Hm. I’ve been feeling for quite some time that it would just be better to go “back” to the Tao early rather than through all this development. Simple white light surrounded by peaceful void is looking more appealing than any of those colors.
Q) There have been several religions through ages, specially the oriental ones who have firmly and explicitly believed in the concept of gradual soul evolution and eventual self realization through reincarnations. However how does all this fall with a few of the more or less occidental religions who rather believe in one life one birth theory and perhaps a Resurrection day, Judgment day at the end of creation. Assuming that all the religions are mere reflection of the same super-consciousness lets say TAO, Krishna, Allah or GOD for that matter, why this discrepancy?
I would say that all religions begin with and contain a kernel of truth but then develop layer upon layer of culture-specific nonsense.
The kernel of truth comes from the teachings of an individual who has had at least some direct contact with Truth (Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, etc). These individuals are beyond old soul – they have already completed the reincarnational journey but have returned to human form one more time to relieve some portion of humanity of its cultural illusions.
A lot of early societies fall into self-defeating beliefs and values, such as the “need” for human sacrifice to appease the gods. Advanced, wise and charismatic souls occasionally come among them to show that there is a more enlightened alternative, and their teachings are designed to kick-start a cultural swing that is more in alignment with Truth. Not fully evolved and enlightened, but just less mired in illusion than what went before.
The aspect of Truth they have each taught was, I imagine, tailored to correct the worst illusions that were prevalent at their time and place. There is no point trying to convey the truth of nondualism, say, to Baby and Young souls. So Moses, Confucius and Mohammed gave moral laws that taught unruly populations to refrain from selfish, exploitative actions. Eventually – inevitably – those laws became instruments of corrupt power, ironically in the hands of religious leaders such as the Sanhedrin. In that case, Jesus then came and taught the people to love one another over and above blind obedience to law.
So the teachings that are taught are coming from revelations of universal Truth but are given in such a way that is relevant to the specific culture at the time. The followers assimilate the teachings to whatever extent they are able (some of them will be old souls, others will be mature, young and even baby souls). The teacher dies and the followers pass on the teachings as *they* have understood them, and eventually some will set the teachings down in writing as sacred scriptures. At that point, the level of understanding may be far from the essence of Truth that was originally taught, and will probably contain some wrong ideas.
The belief in reincarnation took hold in East Asia thanks to the teachings of Krishna – in those cultures it has become an accepted fact of life, taught to children. All religions are taught in simplified form to children as a way to lay down absolute ground rules and pass on cultural beliefs, but when those children grow up they do not necessarily deepen their understanding, and so pass on their simplistic understanding. This takes the cultural understanding even further from the original teaching.
Also, some “teachings” are made up by authorities just to keep the population in line. Concepts such as hell, damnation, judgement day and so on are just nonsense, no doubt intended to scare and coerce people into “correct” behaviour, yet they too become deeply embedded in their respective cultures as “truths”.
Cosmic myths such as judgement day and the war between God and Satan are particularly attractive to Baby souls – it enables them to make better sense of an abstract spiritual teaching. (For example, for a Baby soul the idea of loving everyone is a bit of a stretch, but the idea of bad people going to Hell is simple and easy to communicate.)
The Eastern religions, while conveying the truth of reincarnation, also have their nonsense aspects. The notion that human beings reincarnate as animals for doing bad deeds is one example, as is the notion that reincarnation is something we must try to escape from by renouncing all Earthly desire.
So, short answer, all religions come from the same place – an enlightened individual’s dissemination of selected teachings, which are necessarily tailored to the local population. And once the teacher has gone, the teachings become simply words to simplify, complexify, argue about, distort, misinterpret, reinterpret, delete, forget, etc. That’s not to say that the teaching has had no effect – the kernel of truth is still there, and it is that which inspires people’s hearts. All religions have had, I would say, an amazingly positive effect within their original populations. But at the same time, they are just as open to corruption and abuse as any other closed institution.
Tx Barry, well said! 🙂
I just had a thought. Are most of us on earth on the “last leg” of the journey? Is that why there’s a sudden boom in the population? Is this why everyone seems so into their own thing and solitary (for the most part). Are the old souls coming back for their last time? The new ones will continue elsewhere other than earth? I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone.
It’s just something I thought of and wanted to write before the thought left my head. I’m the type of person that thinks things and just ….meh…. who cares and then drop it. This way, my thought will be recorded and others can weigh in on it.
Hi B – Are you suggesting that humanity may be about to become extinct?
Dear Barry, I am in a kind of debate with a few people on soul evolution et al. Could u post the list of some of the bi polar experiences that the soul would want to experience? Also I might just copy paste some info from this web site but would paste on the link side by side. I hope u dont mind?
You mean what the Michael teachings refer to as the “external monads”?
The classic list is:
Teacher/Student; Parent/Child; Imprinter/Imprinted; Siblings (brother/brother, brother/sister, sister/sister); Husband/Wife; Leader/Follower; Attacker/Victim; Healer/Healed; Rescuer/Rescued; Integrator/Eccentric; Hopelessly Loving/Hopelessly Loved; Passionate/Repressed; Dependent/Independent; Pivotal Facilitator/Facilitated; Slovenly/Meticulous; Passive/Aggressive; Adept/Apprentice; Artist/Patron; Deserter/Abandoned; Profligate/Tempered; Innocent/Sophisticate; Promiscuous/Impotent; Master/Slave; Player/Pawn; Defender/Defended; Hidden/Disclosed; Slander/Slandered; Jailer/Prisoner; Tandem Monad; Love Monad (unconditional love, that is)
See here for a bit of explanation:
http://www.michaelteachings.com/agreements.html
http://truthloveenergy.com/forum/topics/external-monads
Yes, feel free to link 🙂
Cool tx thats what I wanted….:)
This is what I posted on my face book where in I keep having verbal battles with a few more intellectually evolved people. Plz let me know If I need to correct something:
ALL ABOUT REINCARNATIONS, SOUL EVOLUTION AND LIFE IN ITSELF AND WHY WE ARE HERE (BROKEN DOWN TO NUTS AND BOLTS): So far so good! Two stages of life over for me… awesome experiences I gained…looking forward on gaining some more equally awesome experiences in the coming years. By the way, by “awesome” I don’t really mean “good” experiences as per worldly standards but “extreme” experiences. Any experience that is extreme is an awesome experience from the perspective of soul evolution. Its the extreme ends that a reincarnating soul looks for in order to get a grasp on the entirety of it.
Reincarnation? I know there would be many people raising their eyebrows on this but after doing immense research on these topics right from my very early childhood I have turned into a firm believer in this theory, just like several others who initially were taught about “one birth one life theory”. I have nothing against the people who believe that way and thats their faith, and in a way its good to believe that its only this life to make it or break it, to end up being in hell or heaven, and u don’t tend to get laid back as in case if u know you can always make up for it in a later life…..but there it ends for me…There are too many questions that are left unanswered by one birth one life theory which are appropriately answered by the reincarnation theory. And after doing critical analysis of both the views Reincarnation theory scores over in big way atleast for me. If you dont believe I respect your non belief and plz carry on with your belief but I would not want to get into an argument on this at this moment as I have been there seen it all!
The grass is always greener on the other side (either ways), what really sucks is being in the middle in no mans land. I ll talk about it later on but just wanted to say that I have enjoyed all the extreme experiencess that I lived through till now and now its time to switch over to the other extreme from here on. So what I am looking at is leading a life of non smoker, non doper, teetotaler, vegetarian (possibly vegan) , monogamous, loyal, carrier oriented, materialistic yet detached (till now I was non materialistic but attached) , humble, polite, patient, non arrogant, non critical, non emotional etc etc!
There are 35 stages that a soul (fragment of super-conscious) evolves through by gathering experiences on earth (or similar planets all across the universe) eventually to evolve enough to realize that its a part of super consciousness. Thats the only aim of life as we see through the creation: To realize it self! Just in-case you are wondering how did I or someone else came up with this number of 35, well the answer is very practical and simple. The answer is through channeling. Channeling is a phenomena by which we can interact with departed souls, in this case a group of already evolved souls called entity (a group of 12 souls to be precise). And well all this research happened over a period of several decades in geographic regions that firmly believed in one birth one life theory. Anyway its a wast wast topic…..more wast than one could imagine.
However, In gist, we are fragments detached from the eternal TAO (GOD) and we are on our journey of evolution through incarnation to evolve to the point where we realize we are a part of TAO. The soul before each incarnation along with the soul guides decided upon which experiences to gather in the coming incarnation,and chalks down a plan in colaboration with other to be incarnating, or already incarnated souls, to gather it once on earth. We forget about the entire plan till we don’t die again as else if we are aware of the souls plan we would not feel the pinch of our experiences. Lets say that if we were to be aware that my soul wants to expirence how it is losing a grown up son (lets say my only son dies due to an accident at the age of 20) then we would not be able to feel the pinch, the trauma, the pain of it as we would know that its all pre planned. The expirence would be useless for the soul then. By default the souls are interested in the extreme ends of a given trait as they can make up for everythign in between. Some common extreme ends that the soul would want to experience through the human body would be:
Parent/Child; Imprinter/Imprinted; Siblings (brother/brother, brother/sister, sister/sister); Husband/Wife; Leader/Follower; Teacher/Student; Attacker/Victim; Healer/Healed; Rescuer/Rescued; Integrator/Eccentric; Hopelessly Loving/Hopelessly Loved; Passionate/Repressed; Dependent/Independent; Pivotal Facilitator/Facilitated; Slovenly/Meticulous; Passive/Aggressive; Adept/Apprentice; Artist/Patron; Deserter/Abandoned; Profligate/Tempered; Innocent/Sophisticate; Promiscuous/Impotent; Master/Slave; Player/Pawn; Defender/Defended; Hidden/Disclosed; Slander/Slandered; Jailer/Prisoner; Tandem Monad; Love Monad (unconditional love, that is)
To make it clearer a soul would be more interested in being born as an etremely poor person rather than a moderately rich person, and being born as an extremely rich person is just as equal to soul as an extremely poor one is. Poor or rich are just human perceptions, for soul its just another important extreme experiences. A soul would prefer to live fast and die young as an extremist ( extrimest is not equal to a terrorist though a terrorist is equal to an extrimist ) instead of living a moderate life and dying old. Moderation is of interest to a soul as long as it comes as an outcome of an extreme attempt to disipline oneself by earthly terms, but means nothing as long as you are being moderate because you are moderate by nature! Similarly a soul would prefer being born in a body that’s too tall or too short rather than of being ideal height as those expereinces will leave more scope for evolution. Once these extremes are experienced the soul might not even bother how tall or short the body is or how rich or poor the incarnation is, as it would be focusing on gathering other experiences. Here is some inof on what the soul looks for depending on the stage of its evolution.
1st Level Initiation into the new stage. Toe in the water. First glimpses of the new consciousness.
2nd Level Building foundations. Wading in and out. Compare and contrast the old and new consciousness.
3rd Level Taking the plunge. Letting go of the prior stage. Actively exploring the new consciousness.
4th Level Relaxing into it, enjoying the water. Identification with this stage. Internal integration of the new consciousness.
5th Level Splashing about. “Look at me!” Going public with it. Expressing this level of consciousness.
6th Level Responsible swimming. Burning off any karma incurred. Harmonization one’s consciousness with others.
7th Level Mastery of consciousness at this level. Role model. Peak performance. What’s next?
This is just the tip of the tip of the iceburg……there is too much of info available on net or othervise on the entire topic but heres a link that kind of put things in gist and answers the most basic questions that can come to your mind about the entire phenomenon. The creator of the site is a middle aged Psychologist from US for whom this entire phenomenon is more a matter of passion rather than a religious indulgence!
Here is the link: https://personalityspirituality.net/articles/the-michael-teachings/reincarnation-the-35-steps/#comment-13797
Answers to some questions he has already answered:
Coming back again and again sounds dreadful. Why don’t we just give up and be done with it? Can’t I just decide that this is my last time?
You cannot skip any of the steps, nor would you want to (from the soul’s perspective). You wouldn’t rent a movie but then skip to the final credits just to avoid the whole process of sitting through the movie. In fact, it’s more like a computer game. You are playing the game because you want to, and at some level you actually love it. And you know perfectly that you need to master one level before you can move on to the next level. That’s what the game is all about.
Who says?
There’s no tyrannical deity controlling the game, forcing you to keep at it, deciding who gets to “graduate” and who doesn’t. It’s just the natural dynamic of life and the evolution of consciousness. A tadpole cannot suddenly transform into a full-grown frog. A baby human cannot suddenly take on a professional career or family responsibilities. There’s a natural, inevitable sequence to go through. And we’ve all signed up for it.
But why? What’s it all about?
Well, at the level of spirit or essence, all is one, all is love, all is joy. This is all very nice, but consciousness longs to experience more and more of what there is to experience, the utter richness and fullness of life.
How does it do that?
By fragmenting into zillions of conscious entities, each of whom has its own experiences and perspective, and each of whom can make its own choices about what to experience. Any soul can choose to continue being submerged in all-that-is, albeit with little sense of self. Alternatively, any soul can choose to undergo the experience of life in a separate physical form, interacting with other souls in their own physical forms. This is the ultimate way to experience oneself as a self.
And that’s why we are here?
We have all made this choice: to use the human form as a vehicle to help us become more conscious of ourselves as the amazing beings we are. The aim is to experience every possible experience that enables us to emerge more and more consciously and fearlessly as ourselves. We begin as helpless infants for whom the experience of separate existence is quite terrifying. But we end as autonomous, self-realized beings for whom human existence is the most amazing way of being, feeling joyful and free and sharing love with the whole of life.
Nice. Just a few points:
1. This bit — “A soul would prefer to live fast and die young … Similarly a soul would prefer being born in a body that’s too tall or too short rather than of being ideal height as those expereinces will leave more scope for evolution.” — Well, that could be read as meaning that anyone of average height or living to old age must be doing life wrong from their soul’s perspective. I know that’s not what you mean, but it’s open to that interpretation. There are times when being extremely this or that serves the soul, but while it’s focused on one extreme thing it probably helps if the rest of life is in the “normal” range. I would say that life from the human personality perspective is not how the soul sees it. We value things like material success, power, self-esteem and being popular, but a soul who already knows all about fame and fortune might live a hugely “successful” life as an alcoholic tramp who is rejected by society – both experiences would be of immense intrinsic value to an evolving consciousness. So too is the experience of being mediocre, mellow, average… It depends on where the individual soul is in the whole spectrum of self-realisation. A Baby Scholar, for example, is likely to be pedantic and not very sociable – to expand from that space it might design a life where it is thrown in at the deep end of mucking in with extraverts, like e.g. being born into a huge family and then joining the army….
2. I note that you describe the seven levels within a stage but not the five stages themselves… any reason for that?
3. I’m not from the US!!! I’m a Brit. 🙂
good luck,
B
1) Got it….Yeah that’s not what I had meant but now when I read it, my framing could be misinterpreted. I understood the 1st point and not to side line the experiences which might not be labeled as extremes. 🙂
2) Haha u will laugh on the reason behind this one. I had intended to put in the five stages first along with the interpretation, followed by the seven levels. However, I realized that the five stage explanation was a picture file, and being a Facebook post I didn’t want to put it as a picture and then the rite up, and rather than converting it into text I though anyway people will get to go through the complete thing on your web site. 🙂 Anyway, today I ll put is as an add on 🙂
I feel even though at times some people might ignore it, ridicule it, debate it or pretend being not interested in it but a majority of people are inherently inquisitive about these topics and would want to explore it.
3) You got me there! 🙂 I kind of assumed it in the flow of things 🙂 and to be honest it was pricking my subconscious and I was kind of hoping it to turn into a fluke… :). Though, I guess it still solves my purpose of trying to make the point that the site is not developed by a person who is kind of brought upon the notion of reincarnations and does not have any religious prejudice in its favor and thus can analyse it from the point of neutrality.
TX TC 🙂
And just now I realized that inadvertently I ended up putting some 7 irresistible smilies, in there, looking
like twinkling stars….. 🙂 Oops…
One quick question dear……now that some of the enlightened souls have revealed to us some of the best kept secrets about evolution and reincarnation; and now that there are people who firmly believe in it (including me), how do we tackle life? For me the entire perception of life has changed. The realization that perhaps the worst we are encountering is just pre-planed by our souls might make me not to feel the pinch of it. how do I deal with this crisis?
I know what you mean, having gone through similar questions myself. Like, isn’t it “cheating” to know why you are here in this life? But.. There is very little chance that your recent grasp of reincarnation and the whole game of life has taken your soul by surprise. More likely, you are where you planned to be right now, coming to a stage at which you are ready to take responsibility for your own growth, rather than have stuff “just happen” to you and then reflect upon it in your after-life review.
So how to live your life now? As ever, by your own choice, but with the understanding that (a) it IS by your own choice, (b) you cannot make a wrong choice, except by your own evaluation, and (c) the major things that happen to you – and to others around you – are unlikely to be random happenstance but growth points.
That said, don’t expect to understand exactly why any of it happens at the time. I.e., don’t give yourself a hard time if tough things keep happening and you can’t figure out what they mean. You’re still in the game, just wising up to how it works.
Humm I am kind of getting it. Perhaps, it could be a part of my soul plan for my mind/brain to get this knowledge about soul evolution in order to add another dimension to my life.
1) Its a kind of freaky feeling to realize that my soul is right now inside this body witnessing everything through the senses and writing this up, and my brain and mind knows it theoretically why its here. But cant I feel my soul as a soul inside my body? I mean I can feel that my physical brain is thinking and then there is something even deeper that is making it to think the way it is. I know its there but I still cant get to it. I mean I get the feeling as if its so close yet so far. Is “my soul” a right phrase in itself or am “I” and the soul the same?
2) I wonder what would be the difference in the levels of consciousnesses once the soul is out of this body, whenever. lets say I was a scientist, and then a painter in two of my previous lives, and in this life I am a dancer. I am intelligent and artistic dancer but dont remember anything directly related to science or paintings in this life. Now when this dancer dies and the soul is out of the body will it all of a sudden be conscious of all the scientific and artistic knowledge of the previous lives? Also, once the soul is out of the body is it able to see, smell, hear, talk, “think” “remember”etc like we can at this moment? Does a soul “thinks over” the next life? does a soul have something like a brain of its own? Is the way our brains think different from the way our souls think? How does it retain the experiences earned over different lives? Is there a memory system. Why does its color change as it evolves, is there a “matter” aspect as well of the soul?
1) Well, when you speak of “my soul” that’s a bit of a contradiction because your soul isn’t something you HAVE, like a laptop or a bank account. You ARE your soul. And as a soul, you HAVE a body, a brain, a mind, a personality, a social identity, a job, a history…etc. None of those is you. Indeed, all the things which people normally think of as “me” are just temporary add-ons. This is what is meant by identification – incarnate consciousness becomes identified with their physical, psychological and social structures, thinking that those are “who I am” rather than the consciousness at the centre of all that.
Again, when you ask if you can FEEL your soul, the question itself is erroneous. You are the one who feels, not something that is felt. Asking if you can feel your soul implies that there is “you” over here and a thing called “soul” over there, and “you” want to be able to feel that thing called “soul”. But you ARE your soul; you are the consciousness that feels.
Likewise if you try to perceive your soul, it’s like an eyeball trying to see itself. You are the consciousness that perceives.
When you say that your soul seems so close, again you cannot get closer to your soul because you are your soul. Or to be more precise, you are a portion of eternal soul that has squeezed itself into this human form for the duration of a number of decades. Some people get confused by this because they imagine that if they were a soul then surely they would have knowledge about the afterlife and remember their past lives. But the soul does not bring those memories into human form with it. Those memories are accessible, but not easily while we have a human brain. You have to be in a more transcendent state of consciousness to get at them. The difficulty is that we are used to “knowing” stuff through our physical senses and mental constructs. So it seems logical to us that to know our own soul we have to somehow perceive it or intellectually analyse it. Those are dead-end roads, however. To know yourself as your soul is a matter of relaxing into yourself and recognising yourself BEING, just being conscious, being present in the present, always being present and always becoming conscious.
2) The memories and knowledge are accessible to the soul after death but I’m not sure about becoming conscious of them “all of a sudden” – that sounds like being flooded with zillions of memories. To be conscious of something you have to put your attention on it, so if the soul wants to remember its last few lives then it just has to direct its consciousness that way.
As for sensory experiences, my understanding is that one of the things that really souls look forward to when coming back to Earth is physical sensation. A soul, without a body, cannot feel tactile sensations the way we do. Of course, that includes pain as well as things like the softness of skin and the feeling of sand between your toes.
Yes, a soul thinks over its next life. It doesn’t have a brain. Rather, it is a manifestation of pure intelligence. Memories of past experiences are retained not inside the soul but within the universal intelligence, the “Akashic records” if you like. Though that’s a bit of a false dichotomy again – there is no absolute separation between souls and the universal intelligence.
I don’t know why colour changes, except that it reflects increasing frequency of consciousness.
The soul between lives is in a world of astral matter, which is not the same as our hard objective physical matter but, as far as I understand, cosmic “light” given subjective form. You can dream up a castle and there it is. (See the movie What Dreams May Come, which explores this aspect).
how do you feel about astrological signs in relevance to the michael teachings? …i believe im an old soul at stage 4… im also a quadruple scorpio (sun,moon,venus and pluto) … from my understanding it’s said that scorpio’s tend to be old soul’s, sparking the arousal of my question.
I know next to nothing about astrology, so I can’t really answer this. That said, I seriously doubt that sun signs correlate with soul age. My mother was a Scorpio and she was no old soul. It would be great if it were possible to work out someone’s soul and personality profile from their astrological chart. As far as I understand it, though, the chart has to more to do with karma and the life plan.
cheers
Hey Barry, i couldn’t find a reply tab next to the answer you had put for my query so I am replying here. Gr8 response! That pretty much makes it clear for me. I especially liked your example i.e. ” Likewise if you try to perceive your soul, it’s like an eyeball trying to see itself. ” Lol 🙂
Its a co incidence that Nick inquired about Astrological interaction with the re incarnation aspect, that was something I was about to ask next. Must say that my default state has always been of a critic and end up building upon in favor of something, slowly ,only after gradual critical analysis. To be honest I haven’t yet read Michaels words on astrological signs. But I guess I must tell you about my experience on astrology.
There are broadly two main categories of astrology 1) The western form where in the sun is the pivotal of the chart, and 2) The eastern form (Vedic astrology) where Moon is the pivotal of the chart. I haven’t had that much success with the western form of astrology based on the sun sign (not that it might not be working for some others but it didn’t for me. However, I have had scintillating if not shocking experiences with the moon based astrology, were in more importance is placed on the time of birth along with date of birth. My life was broken down to nuts and bolts in front of my eyes by one of my maternal uncles, who was a very renowned Vedic astrologer in India apart from being a well renowned painter, architect, interior designer and a wild life conversationalist. (gosh!)
He took my date, time and place of birth info, went inside his room came out with a hand drawn chart on a small piece of paper and started shooting the nukes abt my past, in so much details that I kind of became embarrassed. There were things that absolutely no one knew about me except for myself! Just as a small example he kind of told me the exact month when I was contemplating suicide as a youngster. Then he went on with the predictions that at that moment seemed impossible but just every word of his eventually turned out to be true! There is absolutely no question of co-incidence or fluke, and if not for astrology he should have had a time machine to be that accurate! He is no more now (I mean in earthly terms) but I wish he had been there! I still don’t go blind over astrology but have just developed more respect and take it as a word of caution at times, specially the moon based version of it.
Especially now that I know that the major things that happen in our life are kind of pre-decided by us before our birth in physical realm, I wont be surprised if the super consciousness has devised astrology as a part of creation for the soul to set up a blue print with a wisdom to decipher it by physical beings. Just to add the the fun of the game ;). And may be this blue print serves as another leaf for every birth in the overall book of souls journey; who knows probably in Akashic plain. Just a thought.
The interesting part about the lunar based astrology is that its building blocks are exceedingly complex mathematical calculations and exact positioning of heavenly bodies that are not random but cyclic in nature. And there are just in-numerous permutations and combinations when several more discrete aspects are added to it that can span the rich variance of experiences in any human life. And when we talk about the most important aspects in a persons life that are pre-planed by the soul, a vedic astrological chart has 12 houses and each house has a specific meaning, that I feel more or less covers most of the most important aspects of any birth. The 12 houses in a nut shell are….
1) The first house: House of SELF.
2) Second house: The house of WEALTH & POSSESSIONS.
3) The third house: The house of COURAGE and SIBLINGS and COMMUNICATION.
4) The fourth house: The house of FAMILY, HOME and MOTHER.
5) The fifth house:PROGENY, ROMAN CE, PLEASURE and COMPETITION.
6) The sixth house: The house of ENEMY, HEALTH and DISEASE.
7) The seventh house: MARRIAGE and PARTNERSHIP.
8) The eight house: The house of ACCIDENTS and DEATH and SEX.
9) The ninth house: The house of FATE and FORTUNE & PHILOSOPHY.
10) The Tenth house: The house of PROFESSION & SOCIAL STATUS.
11) The eleventh hose: CASUAL INCOMES and GAINS and
FRIENDSHIP.
12) The twelfth house: The house of EXPENSES and LOSSES and SUBCONSCIOUS.
I wonder if there is any correlation! 🙂
Dear Barry,
somewhere I stumbled across this piece of startling information that an incarnating soul can pretty much decide upon any time after conception of a baby to enter the womb and to integrate with the babies mind/brain. It could be right after the conception, few weeks to several months of the embryo, or right at the time of birth itself. But I know that the embryo starts showing signs of perceived life like heart beat etc somewhere along 4 months from conception. I always had this assumption that the moment signs of life appear in an embryo is the time when soul enters, and it dies when the soul leaves. Basically life = soul; But now after this revelation it appears that a living human body is not equal to a human body with soul, i.e. life is not equal to soul. What is life then? Can there be bodies in conception having to takers in spirit realm which are born without the integrated soul to their brains?
The growing embryo is – like all other bodies – made up of living cells. It is the low-level life force of the cells -plus that of the mother’s body – that gives the embryo life, albeit at a rudimentary, instinctive level. There is no consciousness to speak of until the soul who has selected that body enters into it and fuses with the brain. This happens at the time of birth. Prior to that, the awaiting soul might “visit” now and then to check how things are going and get psyched up for the return to Earth, but the foetus is not “ensouled” until the soul makes that final commitment, which is during the birth process. Hence, abortion is not murder as the foetus is not ensouled and in any case the souls involved (mother plus any prospective soul entrant) would know full well that an abortion is on the cards.
In theory, a baby could be born without a soul having entered into it. It would have a very short lived “vegetable” kind of existence.
Likewise, a soul can partially depart an adult body, for whatever reason, leaving the body deprived of consciousness – this applies to those in a coma or a persistent vegetative state.
Let me put this simply, since life is really very simple.
Let’s say you order a vehicle (a car). This vehicle is being put together on an assembly line (like a body in the womb).
You can start the car in the factory, the engine start (like a heartbeat) …but will have no existence, sense of purpose or sense of direction until YOU actually get in and drive it. Just like a body !!!
i have been very interested in the michael teachings for some time now and just finished reading messages from michael. im 18 years old and at the moment i would say im a late level mature soul because i go through a lot of the struggles and difficulties that the mature soul goes through, and “the search” is always on my mind…but i also feel i might be an old soul because of how young i am and how young i was when i began to soul search and find my true purpose.
Great to hear from you. Thanks!
Its funny that I was reading the book by Michael Newton “Journey of souls ” side by side your website. I was so impressed if not shaken up by his book that I have become a big fan of his. I know he has written 3 more books since then but I am still in the process of assimilating the first one right now…..Too much of download of this kind of information can very well burn your brain circuits, so I am being cautious. I had a few questions that kind of slightly asks for a bit of debate/analysis perhaps by someone of your grip on the subject, and I was wondering all this while if you have read this book of his, so that I could ask you the doubts. However off late I was inquisitive to now how Mr Newton looked like and I did a google search a few days back. I knew how he looked like but several days later it struck me out of no where that I have seen him on your website. And I went back on to your blog today with confidence that I ll find him there. And, BINGO there I found him lol! 🙂 I ll keep my questions for later as I think I still need to assimilate all the downpour of info that I managed in last few months. So I ll bother you some other time!
By the way one funny little observation I could make….Most people would want to remain young for ever when it comes to their physical lives and physical bodies….but when it comes to Souls, most would want to assume and belive that they are the old ones….lol 🙂
One more funny little observation I felt I ought to mention: I remember asking u once, that gaining all this knowledge about life, life after death, life between lives, this entire game, our plans and the possibility that most important things that are happening to us are probably pre-planned, of all, but by us…..isnt it cheating? wont our entire approach change towards life? we might not be able to take the pinch of any tragedies etc that happen to us as we know its all a part of plan? our plan?
Today something unexpected happened with me and I would have expected that gaining all this wisdom would have prepared me to face anything in life with a pinch of salt and not get affected by it. However, it doesn’t work that way….The complexity, intensity, propensity and efficacy of this physical world is such that during crisis all your attained wisdom, all your mantras, all your understanding of creation and all, gets blocked, overpowered!….even if you would want to be calm sober non reactive owing to the theoretical understanding you have gained about existence and it all, its still too difficult to detach yourself and not to react to situations put in front of you in this physical realm, anyway different than just any other being would! Detachment requires a lot more practical practice than having the understanding of the theoretical part of it! 🙂
Couldn’t agree more. I went through a process of thinking that I had finally understood everything, I was even manifesting what i wanted through the law of attraction, and believing that all this made me somehow “untouchable” by life. Then I became seriously ill with a “mystery illness” which almost killed me, and then developed chronic fatigue … All of which at the time seemed like… WTF? And yet with hindsight, it actually makes sense in terms of my growth. So I guess the upshot is, no matter how wise you think you are, expect the unexpected!
Hi there. My question: Can a soul long to go back to where it came from. I have felt trapped in this body from my teenage years. I understand the life times ect, but cannot agree with the fact that this is the body or the life time my soul has chosen. Am I crazy, and am I the only one feeling this way. Your insight please.
Suzette
Hi Suzette
Certainly not crazy! I suspect that the majority of us have a similar heartfelt longing, a feeling of spiritual “homesickness”, at some time or other, without of course recognising it for what it is. Some cases of depression seem to me to be based on a fundamental dissatisfaction with being here, in a body, limited and transient. It is also common for teenagers to feel out of place once they realise that there is a life waiting for them beyond the family home, and this may have subconscious resonance with the “life beyond” in a spiritual sense.
The fact is, you have chosen to be here in this body, this life. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have any issue with it. Perhaps this very issue is something you are attempting to deal with in this life – the conflict between being a specific physical entity while intuitively feeling yourself to be something else. But certainly, this life will go more smoothly if you can get to the point of accepting the wisdom in your soul’s choice – accept that your body exists to serve you, not to entrap you.
For the people getting too bothered about how old is their soul: One tiny little gem from the Upanishads (Holy Hindu books summarizing the essence of Vedas (The compilation of the most sacred and ancient of Hindu literature’s:These contained thousand of divine Sanskrit verses that were memorized down to the T, by Hindu monks for a few thousand years and passed on verbally through generations, till the art of writing was developed several thousand years before Christ, and were jotted down on palm leaves)).
There were 4 vedas in total and Brahmins(Ancient Aryan most intellectual class) were classified on the basis of how many Vedas they could learn by heart. Vedis brahmin could remember one ved out of four, dwvedis could remember two, followed by trivedis (3) and chaturvedis (All 4) ….. Even till date you will get astonished by the memory power of the chaturvedis….
Anyway….108 upanishads were developed to get the essence out of Vedas and KAthaupanishad was the one that dealt completely with life after death in form of enchanting stories that a commoner would be able to understand. The most famous being of nachiketa who was renounced by his father to yamm (presumed god of death) who under some circumstances had to give three boons to NAchiketa…..and the third boon he asked form yamma was to give the details about what happens after death……He did not budge to ask for something else even after the temptations of being the kind of all worlds.
One small tale out of upanishads ( not kathaupanishad) : there were two sages (highly evolved men on the way of realization) doing severe penance in order to attain brahma (the ultimate realization) under a Pepul tree ( a huge tree with zillions of leaves. the one under which lord Budha attained nirvana). One day one enlightened master sage passed by them. Both the sages were impressed by the charisma of that sage and tried their best to serve him. When he was ready to go he asked them….you each can ask me one one question and I will answer it. On hearing this the Sage A asked, dear master sage I have been working so hard to attain nirvana for so many lives now please let me know if I ll get it in this life? The master sage smiled and said I really appreciate your hard work and I assure you that if u continue this way you will attain nirvana in another 6 Lives!
Sage A was distorted hearing this and started sulking and cribbing, I have been trying so hard and still i will have to wait for another 6 lives? Damn!. Now came sage B who asked the same question to the master sage. The master sage said that if you continue in the same way you surely will attain nirvana in as many number of lives, as there are number of leaves on this Pepul tree. On hearing this Sage b became ecstatic and started jumping with joy to madness.
Once the master sage was gone the sageA asked to sageB, have you gone crazy? He told you that its going to take you zillion of years to attain nirvana and you are so happy?
Sage B replied Time doesn’t matter for me as long as the divine sage told me that eventually I will surely attain nirvana…that confirms I am on the right path….. and I am so eternally joyful about it.. 😀
Dear Barry,
I have started going through the M teachings step by step. However, I have got stuck somewhere. I have taken a hard copy of the entire site for personal reference (don’t know if its legal but I feel more comfortable reading through physical pages rather than online stuff). Anyway, I have got stuck at the place where it talks about “personality chart” and then about 2D-, 3D- and et all. I just couldn’t grasp it. I feel as if I have landed on step 3 directly without getting the knowledge of step one or two. I am not confused but bewildered. I am just not able to make sense of 2D+ 1D+ stuff. I tried looking for a personality chart specimen thinking that that would be a help but couldn’t. Please share your thought on the same so that I am in a better position to make sense of all this, if you know what I mean.
Also whats the best way to get to know more about your soul plan, and the details about your life’s aim, perhaps the age, the motive, the soul mates, essence twin…want to interact with my spirit guide etc. I am in a very crutial moment of my life and really need help. Plz help and guide me about the right path.
In fact there were some aspects about my life that I wanted to discuss with someone, perhaps my spirit guide but if he does not want to come then with someone of your grip on the subject. something that can not be discussed in public. Will it be okay if I send u a personal mail about it all. I am in a personal turmoil.
Plz let me know,
Thanks and regards,
All best wishes,
Andre
Sorry Andre, but I have no idea what you are referring to with that 1D 2D stuff. Which website are you getting this from?
Soul plan etc – either go for a past life + inter-life regression with a hypnotherapist using Michael Newton’s approach (see http://www.spiritualregression.org/search.php), or find a medium who specialises in getting this information from your guides. Robert Schwarz, in writing Your Soul’s Plan, used the mediums listed here: http://www.yoursoulsplan.com/links.html
Feel free to contact me privately and I will do my best and in confidence. I am, however, going through a low energy phase at the moment (I have chronic fatigue) so my response time is a bit slower than usual.
B
Heres the link: http://www.michaelteachings.com/overview_michael_wittmeyer.html
excerpts: “The personality chart is a grid of seven columns and fourteen rows. I call the columns “Processes” in personality. They are titled: Termination, Involution, Analysis, Assimilation, Synthesis, Evolution, and Origination. I call the rows “Aspects” of personality. They are titled: Mode, Role, Center, Level, Attitude, Feature, Goal, Age, Entity, Cadence, Position, Bodytype, Milestone, Service, and Intimacy. Notice that the Processes and Aspects are grouped into “Dimensions”, which are numbered and named: 2-D INSPIRATION and 3-D FORMATION, for instance. Each of the 105 boxes on the chart is called a personality “Trait”.
A special part of False Personality is called “Maya”. This is Michael’s name for illusions, distorted perceptions, erroneous beliefs and faulty thought patterns. Maya produces unhappiness and fear generally, and sometimes neurotic or inappropriate behavior.”
My comments here……that word “Maya” is taken right out of the Upanishads….Just Like Akashic planes, and Karma…
Though I feel Michaels theachings are just a step forward on Upanishads as these are even more detalied…
Anyway, another excerpt from the same article:
“THE SEVEN LEVELS
In the fourth row on the chart is the Aspect called “Level”. Level and Age together make up the Maturation Dimension of the personality. The Maturation Dimension is a sequence, with each Age containing the seven Levels, making forty nine stages of psychological maturity. Every person is at one of these stages. The Level gives an overall theme or emphasis or undercurrent to the lives and perceptions of the people in them.
FIRST: RESOLUTION (1D-):
SECOND: FOUNDATION (2D-):
THIRD: PRODUCTION (3D-):
FOURTH: COMPOSITION (PD=):
FIFTH: EXPLORATION (3D+):
SIXTH: EXALTATION (2D+):
SEVENTH: ACTIVATION (1D+):
I am talking about all these 1D +- PD= that I am not being able to make sense of…”
My Comments here: There were the references for your Eval.
I understand your situation and pls take your own time, as your health is of prime importance and then as always time is immaterial for me 😉 :).
Yea, I have been through the overview Michael PLRs and also I have been through info about a few PLR therapists in India for a face to face interaction. I dont mind paying the price as long as I get the stuff I am looking for. However, somewhere I feel I am still a bit under-prepared to go for it. Still need to sort myself out a bit before taking the plunge. I will share a few stuff with you about my life by sending you a mail, in due course…if you could share some light on my dilemmas with your experience.
Take care,
Wish you a prompt recovery on your energy levels,
Andre
Ah, this is a personal interpretation by one student of the teachings. Philip has been working on this for some time. It’s his own way of explaining how the system is organised in sevens. The terms and concepts are all his.
Thanks, BTW 🙂
Oh, so now I know…I ll put it aside for the time being and go through the rest….Though,
I ll surely come back to his interpretation at a l8r time as I might be in a better position to understand it then….And, I am always fascinated by quantification of any concept…like + -, numbers, formulas, dimensions … etc…. TC 🙂
I’ve recently become curious about reincarnation, I started reading this and thought the site was a nice way to quench my curious mind. I really got offended at the infant stage picture though. Placing a ape like black man as the picture as the infant stage. Wow!!! that was pretty sick!!! Hah, and this is about spirituality?
Seriously? The picture shows a reconstruction of Homo erectus, a species of early hominid that probably originated in Asia about 1.8 million years ago, and died out half a million years later. Many of us began reincarnating as infant souls in prehistoric and palaeolithic times. I am sorry but also very surprised if you think my choice of image has racial connotations.
@ Diane: Even Darwin said that we all “homo sapiens” originated form “Homo Erectus”, I don’t understand where is the problem? The root of your argument is evident in the phrase your constructed ie “ape like black man”! Very prejudiced and judgmental! These ape like black men were the ancestors of the “entire man kind” irrespective of the skin colors, the skin colors generated much later based on the geographic circumstances, and biological adaptations….you like it or not!…
The homo erectus, were pretty elementary in their ways and means, just like a body an infant soul would acquire….Dont make me think that it would have been okay for you, if Barry had put a very sophisticated looking white skinned man as an example of infant to please your prejudiced mind? Just know that no soul is barred from taking birth as any skin color, ethnicity, religion or whatever as per their evolutionary requirements…..He was just trying to be statically correct!
Homo erectus “Upright Man”) was the first hominid to leave Africa. His existence dates from 1.6 million years ago to perhaps 200,000 years ago. However, recent discovers have suggested that isolated populations may have existed even later.
Brain size is put at 850cc, height up to 6 feet and weight was comparable to modern humans.
Early discoveries of Homo Eretus remains were variously named Peking Man, Java Man and Heidelberg Man. His range was all of Africa, most of Europe and as far east as China.
Homo sapiens “Man who thinks” The archaic form is dated between 500,000 and 150,000 years ago. Brain size is about 1200cc. for the archaic and 1350 for the modern. Homo sapiens are of lighter build, the forehead shows a sharp rise, the back oc the skull is rounded, eyebrow ridges are very small or more usually absent, teeth are smaller and the chin is prominent.
Time range:
erectus : 2 million to 30,000 years BP
saoiens : 250,000 years BP to the present
Geography
erectus : Old World only
sapiens : Old World and New World
Physique
erectus : 1.8 m
sapiens : 1.4 – 1.9 m
Body mass
erectus : 60 kg
sapiens : 55 – 80 kg
Brain volume
erectus : 850 – 1,100 cc
sapeins : 1,000 – 1.850 cc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolu…
Brain to body mass ratio
erectus : 0.015
sapiens : 0.022
Time range:erectus : 2 million to 30,000 years BPsaoiens : 250,000 years BP to the presentGeographyerectus : Old World onlysapiens : Old World and New WorldPhysiqueerectus : 1.8 msapiens : 1.4 – 1.9 mBody masserectus : 60 kgsapiens : 55 – 80 kgBrain volumeerectus : 850 – 1,100 ccsapeins : 1,000 – 1.850 cchttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolu…Brain to body mass ratioerectus : 0.015sapiens : 0.022
Be rest assured that its just a matter of choice for your soul to be born as an African, American, European, as a Jew, or supposedly the most intellectual race in the world ie as the Aryans…… the option is left open completely to your soul as per the requirements…..
I have had memories of being a Chinese concubine. I felt that I was pretty good at it, too…
Hi Barry, I noticed Osho above listed as a late-stage old soul. Considering the serious accusations against him at that time, do you believe they are true and if so can someone still be an old soul albeit a late-stage old soul if they have taken part in such acts of evil?
Interesting question Andres. I had to go on Wikipedia and check out what the charges were exactly.
My suspicions are:
1. When he created his movement, and the US community, he created a monster that slipped out of his control. I believe he initially set out to run a small group modelled on Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way, but his teachings became much more popular (after all, Osho was a crowd-pleasing Sage, not a drill sergeant Warrior!).
2. A late-stage old soul doesn’t really have the worldly focus and energy to run a multinational organisation like a well-oiled machine. They are too laissez-faire to pay much attention to correct management, administration, financials, legalities, etc. (This is not to say that breaking the law is therefore a sign of high evolvement!) So I guess he would have devolved day-to-day power and responsibility to those around him (younger souls) who seemed to know what they were doing. However, those same people would have lacked his joyful overview of life, and ego/fear often got the better of them.
3. As a late stage Old Sage, Osho probably saw the unfolding dramas differently from how younger souls would interpret them. For example, the Baby souls in the local area would see him as an alien threat – probably one of Satan’s minions. Both Baby and Young souls would immediately pick up on anything that contravened the law as a sign that the man was up to no good. Mature souls would be (and still are !) troubled by any sign of unethical behaviour or lack of integrity. Osho himself, perhaps, might have been aware off all these perceptions and just seen it all as part of the fun of life. I don’t know, of course, I’m just speculating.
Cheers
You might want to read “The Promise of Paradise: A Woman’s Intimate Story of the Perils of Life With Rajneesh” by Satya Bharti Franklin. She translated most of his early books. Your insights may be correct but the corruption around him was pretty intense. (Lots of Rolls Royces and guns).
I was the disciple of a Sat Guru similar to Neem Karoli Baba (also on your list) and I do think some Gurus come in with unfinished business. They may be powerful Siddahs but have ego in toxic ways. Ram Das once commented the truly great Gurus had no interest in the West, its materialism, power, or sexual allure. My Guru ran a large organization but never fell prey to these things.
Osho to me is like Trungpa RImpoche. Brilliant, charismatic, powerful, but flawed. So I”m not so sure they’re truly in the old soul category, or if they are, they fell prey to some of the temptations of the West.
According to Franklin, Osho was antisemitic and expressed it on several occasions.
Yet he had a great deal to do with healing the rift between sexuality and spirituality.
Just found your site and would like to thank you for it. Great insights and good luck on your soul path. I’m pretty sure I’m an old soul not sure which level but I think 6th.
Thanks Tom
Hello..!
I just read the 35 steps and I found it very interesting but at the same time, not surprised! Because I have gone through those early stages and levels of development and I can easily identify and recall when those experiences started to blend then emerge onto a different. It’s funny because I have always wondered why I felt differently about certain things in my life, past and present. And because of that I have become so aware of my feelings and thoughts and how it affects my everday life especially when it comes to other peoples opinions and political issues. I have learned to have a lot of patience and compassion with strangers, it’s become 2nd nature to me 🙂
I am 28 yrs old, and just by reading through the steps and the experiences surrounding each stage I would be sitting at a Matured Soul – Stage 5…. That is me in a nut shell! But I do feel every now and then, a bit older, as if I am in later stages of my soul development… it comes in waves.. 🙂
I would like to thank you for sharing this very insightful information with us!
Lots of <3 and Blessings to you..
Nora
Thanks Nora. I’m impressed you can identify yourself so precisely!
B
Barry,
I am deeply grateful for your insights, the Michael teachings and assembling this site. What an amazing resource! I was guided here by angel Daniel of the IET angels (angel of forgiveness) after flipping out over a political issue. The perspectives and information here have helped enormously.
I personally feel I am a mature soul at a pretty mid level or as Michael Newton would put it an advanced intermediate moving toward advanced.
I like your take that by 40 or more we evolve (hopefully) into our true level. That feels very right to me.
My question is, it seems we can embody more than one level at one time so we can be a little bit of an amalgam although the core piece may be constant. I have great empathy at times, strong spiritual development, intelligence but also can be very self righteous (My way-I’m right), judgmental, and non forgiving. Some of these may be by products of karmic and family of origin wounds.
So it feels like I have some “young soul” energy still in me, even a teeny bit of baby soul while being foundationally more mature.
What is your take on this possibility that several stages in various forms can coexist?
Thanks,
Ken Kaplan
Based on your chart I would be mature at level 5 moving to 6. I teach this stuff (going public).
Ken
Hi Ken
Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, you can appear to embody different soul ages. I say “appear to” because your soul (i.e. you in essence) is definitely at a particular step in its evolving consciousness. But in each human life we take on a body with consciousness at square one. As we go through the normal stages of human life, we gradually reawaken to ourselves in and through this new body, and in doing so more of our true consciousness is able to manifest.
So early in life you act like an infant soul, as a kid more like a baby soul, and so on. And, as an adult, these early ways of being are still there inside you, like the rings inside a tree. If you get very drunk, for example, you could regress to an earlier level – not in your soul level per se, but in how you are manifesting through your behaviour.
At the same time, higher levels of consciousness are also accessible. That is, we can experience moments of transcendent joy, wisdom, love, truth, bliss, energy, unity, divinity, and so on in what are called peak experiences and spiritual awakenings. Such experiences reveal to us things that are “ahead of our time”. A baby soul, for example, could have a peak experience and realise the equal value of all human beings, which is somethig that mature souls tend to take for granted. A mature soul could have a peak experience and realise the underlying unity of existence. It’s just that we cannot stabilise in those higher states until we have done the work of evolving to that level, changing ourselves step by step.
So, we can act and feel beneath our true level and we can experience above our level. But otherwise we will operate at our own level – it’s like our centre of gravity.
So… what happens when the Sun expands and the Earth is no more? Who first thought up of the entire idea of reincarnation? Is this part of the Christian religion, and if so, where in the bible does it say that we, as God’s sons and daughters, reincarnate 100 times?
– What happens when the Sun expands and the Earth is no more?
That will be a about 5 billion years from now, so I doubt it’s an issue in terms of reincarnation. Besides, we are not exactly limited in our choice of available planets and species.
– Who first thought up of the entire idea of reincarnation?
We did. Or if you prefer, God did.
– Is this part of the Christian religion?
Not any more.
– Where in the bible does it say that we, as God’s sons and daughters, reincarnate 100 times?
It doesn’t as far as I know.
also, what about the people who go to Hell? what happens to them?
Some people find themselves in “hell” after death. But it is a hell of their own making, and it vanishes as soon as they find self-forgiveness.
From all my research there is no hell, but I agree that the remorse or guilt a soul initially can feel after crossing over can feel like hell. Many are confronted with the enormity of their cruelty to others. MY father came to me after he died , “put his head in my lap” and cried uncontrollably asking my forgiveness. A clairvoyant friend saw this. She described my father perfectly down to his voice, but knew nothing about him.
This phase passed for him rather quickly and he united with his essence of love.
So whatever “hell’ there was resembled the type of range of reactions we might go through here, except they are more intense.
7th level old soul. Be careful There is a huge difference between a John Muir, a highly developed human, and Nem Karoli Baba, an Avatar. John Muir doesn’t appear in dreams to guide you. Neem Karoli Baba did for me, in iridescent fashion.True Gurus are pure expressions of source energy. There’s no ego present at all.
Don Juan was made up. Its been documented.
If Lieberman is a mature soul, he is an extremely beginning one because he is so self serving.
Be careful.
Well, I do try to be! I borrow these from channelled sources (i.e., I don’t make them up) – you should see the less credible ones I left out! But I think some corrections are in order, so thanks.
7th level Old – AFAIK you don’t *have* to spend your life as a guru; but communing with nature/spirit is more a 7th level Mature thing, so perhaps that one is off.
Don Juan Matus – agreed. Mind you, it is perfectly possible to characterise fictional characters by their soul age & type and other overleaves. I would see Homer Simpson, for example, as an early-stage Young Artisan with Aggression mode. 🙂
Lieberman – I know very little about US politicians, so thanks, point taken.
Cheers Ken.
Don Juan, I agree. As a fictional character was a portrayal of an old soul.
Dear Barry,
I love your insight and your site…Great work! Cheers! …But I am not being able to get over one Idea…that all souls are put all of a sudden in human bodies as soon as humans develop on a planet…I still am getting inclined to an Idea that the creation would not waste time waiting for the plants and the animals to evolve to an extent where there all of a sudden a human brain that can (supposedly the only one, or dolphins etc) make choices…..Looking into the social structure’s of various upper level Animals I somehow feel that the souls exist even in animal kingdom and even they evolve depending on there genetic make up by making choices driven by instincts and their level of evolution (even animals think at there own evolutionary level and slowly deepen there thought process to ultimately get into a human body) …..and eventually end up in the most complicated and resourceful of the genetic patter with the highest level of thinking…..that is the humans who then further evolve….Some how I am not being able to get accustomed to the Idea of animals belonging to some hive consciousness separate from the human consciousness… Plz help…
Souls do indeed exist and evolve in animals. It’s just that there is a vast sliding scale of evolutionary capabilities in both souls and organisms.
The simplest “soul” is little more than pure life force with no self to speak of – no specific identity – as it has not evolved in consciousness. The life force gradually develops in consciousness, first through the most simple life forms and eventually through the most complex. An amoeba is a very simple organism, suitable for a very simple level of soul evolution, while an octopus is extremely complex in comparison, and a human even more so. An amoeba cannot serve as a vehicle for a complex consciousness exploring such choices as… say… whether or not to re-marry an ex-criminal. Even elephants and gorillas, intelligent and socially sensitive as they are, are relatively limited in self-awareness and their ability to consider what is in their own (or others’) best interests.
(There is a tendency for some people to see animals like elephants and gorillas as “better” than humans precisely because of their natural simplicity and lack of ego. Strange as it my seem, our worst human qualities such as jealousy and hatred and warfare are signs of a more complex level of evolution.)
Eventually, the point is reached at which physical embodiment is no longer of evolutionary value. The individuated soul consciousness out-grows its physical nursery.
At no point is there ever any “separation” between human and non-human souls or between levels of consciousness, except for the apparent separation we experience in physical embodiment. Between lives, our oneness with all of life/consciousness at every level is completely self-evident.
As an analogy – the life force at Source is like the ocean, some of which evaporates to become clouds (“hive” consciousness), and some of that rises further to become crystallised into myriad individual unique snow-flakes (individuated consciousness). But all is the same substance, originating from the same body of water, and all is part of one grand cycle.
The creative Source does not have to “wait” for plants and animals to evolve, any more than the ocean has to wait for snow to fall. Time is not a factor – paradoxically, creation is always evolving yet always complete right now.