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Old Souls?

S

shavila

Senior Registered
Where is it written that an 'old soul' is a soul that has reincarnated 'X' amount of times?

I seriously don't understand this type of 'label'. I believe that we have all lived previously, but can't grasp what seems to make one soul 'older' than another.

I also feel strongly (and not sure why I feel so strongly about this) there are reincarnated spirts who have no past life recall during their current life because it is not necessary for them or the 'plan' they are following. As if the recall of previous lives are part of the 'plan' to teach that spirit what it has not learned or should have learned in the previous life. And those that have learned their lessons go into the next 'lesson' without the need for recall since it is now a 'new lesson'. (any of this making sense?)

I have had no past life recall, have so far had a non-eventful, non-traumatic life and have only, within the last 6 months, come to realize that past lives and reincarnation fill most of the 'holes' and contradictions that most formal religions create or turn away from. (I was raised Catholic)

I just don't agree with the label 'old soul', because to me, we all are.

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We will all be judged, but we will not be judged the same.
 
Hi Shavila

Unfortunately as a species we seem to enjoy labelling and categorizing everything in order for us to understand and explain it. As much as I understand the need for some of the "clarification", a lot of the terms and labels that are being put forward in the metaphyscial area (and in life in general) don't lie well with me...I prefer to stay open to all the possibilities and not label anything I have gained by experience
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Lots of Love
Kelly

[This message has been edited by Kelly (edited 08-14-2002).]
 
Thanks Kelly.

I agree about the use of labels. We humans are so programmed to categorize and label things.

I still wonder were the term came from. For some reason when I hear the term, 'She's an old soul' it makes my neck bristle and I feel like asking 'how do you know?'

Very strange behavior for me.

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We will all be judged, but we will not be judged the same.
 
By describing someone as an "old Soul" people try to describe someone who has notable wisdom. Why we can't just say, "She's so wise", I don't know. I do believe some souls choose to return more frequently that others, but that should be counted as Life experience.

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"It is our dream world which offers a key to the possibilities in store for us" - Henry Miller
 
Human nature seems to dictate that we are not happy unless we "know the score".

"Who's winning?"
"Who's in charge?"
"Who has more points than me and where do I stand in the rankings?"

We can't play a game without a scoring system and that includes the scoring systems based on money, academic creditials, social standing, and a host of other "game of life" scoring systems.

There's no reason to expect humans to discard that when playing the "spiritual growth" game. They still need points and scores. In fact some systems of metaphysics are very precise about awarding points and scores in the form of "levels of advancement" or "degrees of attainment". Thus we have such nonsense as talk about "23rd degree ascended master" and "angels of the third tier" and so on.

All that is strictly a human-created scoring system for a game. Those who don't treat it like a competitive game, of course, can do quite comfortably without all those artificial score-keeping labels like "old soul".
 
Hi Shavila

I'm sure it's been about a lot longer than I'm imagining in it's more "rigid" terminology (much like the term "karma"), but I had a thought of a book that held the term "old souls" in it's title...and it was quite a big seller on the market I believe: Old Souls: The Scientific Search for Proof of Past Lives - by Tom Shroder.

Maybe sometimes these terms become more concrete purely by accident in examples such as above when the author terms an explanation or title to his work and it just "sticks"???
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Lots of Love
Kelly
 
Thanks to all of you!

Funny enough, most of the readings/websites offered, not only here by Kelly, but on different threads throughout, I had already read or visited BEFORE finding this one. University of Virginia's webpage lead me here and I am so glad I found it!

Peace!



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We will all be judged, but we will not be judged the same.
 
First of all, I believe the soul per se is ageless, and none are younger or older. But the mind is a different matter. I think we're talking hundreds of thousands of lives, or millions of lives, for most people. But there are some people who are toward the end of the course, as it were, and these people are designated by some by the label "old soul".

I don't think it's all that uncommon, and I think there are both benefits and potential drawbacks. It's a condition like any other. At risk or bristling any neck hairs, honestly I think I probably am an old soul, and it hasn't been easy. You don't really have a childhood as much as you have an adulthood that starts out right away in a child's body, for one thing. You don't fit in, and you have too many fragments of past-lives pressing in on you as a child, so that you can't easily integrate them (especially in this society where they aren't accepted).

You may have a tendency to go off on a tangent, because you've got too many skills and talents and latent desires pressing on you from previous life experiences, and it can get complicated. It's not just something one brags about as a superior condition--and while we're at it, falling through egoism is another pitfall of old souls, because they can get the idea that they're hot stuff, when really we're all in the same boat.

So, just my two cents. I agree that the term can be misused (often by old souls on one of their characteristic ego-trips), but I don't agree with throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I think it's a real phenomenon.
Steve S.
 
bill hicks who im only vaguely familar with through a quote he said on reincarnation basically had the sentiments youve stated rastislav.
the quote was :

"The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride..."
 
My thoughts on "old soul" is that when you first see a brand new baby often one looks in their eyes and the onlooker often says "now that is an old soul". There is something in the eyes, I have seen babies with that look and without it. May be there could be some sort of connection there.

I agree with all of the replies to above, but just to add a further thought pattern, we always refer to the young children and the elderly. As you say it is just a way of describing the current state of a person - so why not the soul. Anyway who cares about labels. They have been with us for thousands of years, and I admit it is sometimes hard to let it go and not play the game, but I guess that is what we are all here for.

Cheers

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Mel
 
This is an old thread but I wanted to say I used these categories myself and see what you are saying. For me, my line of thinking is that the purpose of living is to learn and grow. The more you learn, the more you accept and change and grow, the 'older' you are. Some people do this after two visits, some need 50 to 'grow' - does that make sense? Old is the wrong word but in my mind it sort of fits the theory that the more times you go around, the wiser you are - but I don't think that is true. So I use old for wise and new for unwise :) I consider my stepdad and sister to be newer souls - in that, they just arent learning the great lessons. They are resistent and angry and bitter people. My mom and I consider older - we understand, we accept, we are at peace. I don't know if we have been around less or more times than anyone else, but in my head that is how I have to think about it.

I can understand being frustrated with a person's need to label though. For me, creating my own labels sort of categorizes all this information and helps my mind wrap around the concept. :)
 
From what I've seen of the discussions where old and new souls are discussed, there is a strong undercurrent of "I'm an old soul, therefore I'm better than new souls". That inherent human need to feel good about themselves manifesting itself by finding some point of superiority over others.

Either all souls came into being at the same time, and therefore there is no distinction in the age of the soul, or they came into being at different times and are of different ages.

Judging a person based on the presumed age of their soul, is no more accurate than judging a person based on their calendar age-some are more mature than others, regardless of age.

Just as some events age us beyond our years during a lifetime, some lifetimes age our souls more than others.
 
pisqualie said:
This is an old thread but I wanted to say I used these categories myself and see what you are saying. For me, my line of thinking is that the purpose of living is to learn and grow. The more you learn, the more you accept and change and grow, the 'older' you are. Some people do this after two visits, some need 50 to 'grow' - does that make sense? Old is the wrong word but in my mind it sort of fits the theory that the more times you go around, the wiser you are - but I don't think that is true. So I use old for wise and new for unwise :) I consider my stepdad and sister to be newer souls - in that, they just arent learning the great lessons. They are resistent and angry and bitter people. My mom and I consider older - we understand, we accept, we are at peace. I don't know if we have been around less or more times than anyone else, but in my head that is how I have to think about it.

I can understand being frustrated with a person's need to label though. For me, creating my own labels sort of categorizes all this information and helps my mind wrap around the concept. :)
Click to expand...

I understand and agree with all that. it makes the whole soul age thing clear to me now. Much more clear that it was before.

Justin
 
About old souls...

I don't think that being different means the same as being old.
People most of all use this expression because it sounds interesting
or because they don't understand a thing of us.
Being different means being different.
It means you come from another soulgroup or from other past life experiences than the rest of your family.
I'm also different, but old, no way.
When it's about soul age I'm just in my twenties, I'm busy discovering my own identity and my goals in life.

It's actually not important how old you are,
it's important where you're heading to in this life.

Perhaps my message is a bit off topic, but I was distracted by the title ;)

Curious Girl.
 
I was always told when growing up in some ways that I seemed much older than my age (hope that makes sense), and it is my feeling that I am what could be considered an old soul. I have memories going back to the Paleolithic--a good 10,000-12,000 years ago. If that doesn't make me old, I don't know what would! But seriously, at times, I feel "old" as well....
 
In my experience, old souls often know each other on sight. I get the feeling someone is an old soul or not generally within the first few minutes of speaking to him/her. Anyone else do this?

I'm willing to bet probably all of us here are old souls. My father told me during our conversations about such things when I was a child that old souls are more reflective, often looking inward more than outward, frequently observing and always keen on learning. Sounds like us, no? :)

(BTW, I've gotten the old soul comment too, occasionally from complete strangers.)
 
Athlynne said:
In my experience, old souls often know each other on sight. I get the feeling someone is an old soul or not generally within the first few minutes of speaking to him/her. Anyone else do this?

I'm willing to bet probably all of us here are old souls. My father told me during our conversations about such things when I was a child that old souls are more reflective, often looking inward more than outward, frequently observing and always keen on learning. Sounds like us, no? :)

(BTW, I've gotten the old soul comment too, occasionally from complete strangers.)
Click to expand...

Same here on both counts Athlynne. I can usually tell, what's interesting is when a small child or even a baby looks at you with an old soul look int it's eyes.

I have also been told I'm an old soul by people who don't know me, so it appears that it is visible.

Phoenix
 
Maturity beyond your years

I was just thinking the other day how I seem to have had very mature thinking patterns from an early age. When I was about three we visited my mom's sister and family who lived out of state. My cousin was about eight. For some reason they had us take a bath together, and I remember distinctly thinking "Who is this person???? And why am I naked and taking a bath with them???"

Also, I was about eight the day President Kennedy was killed. I was in the third grade and the principal announced it on the loudspeaker. A classmate of mine said "Oh good! Now Goldwater can be President!" I remember getting very mad and telling him "It doesn't work that way, anyway! What's wrong with you?? A man has been killed! He's dead!" You have to know that up to that point I had never had any family members or pets that had died, so had no first had knowledge of death.
 
Missy,

You are an Old Soul, all right. I remember being told that I never was a child, that I was born an adult.
 
I know exactly what you mean Missy. I remember being on holiday in Spain when I was six and my mum suggested my brother and I just strip off to our underwear on the beach as we'd been out that day and weren't dressed appropriately. I was horrified at what she proposed and very conscious of people seeing my 'chest' (though I was 6 and certainly had nothing to show!). There's still a photograph of that day with my arms firmly crossed across my chest and a look of defiance in the face of what I considered to be indecency.

I also remember being at brownies when I was about 6-7yrs old and sitting in the corner watching all the other little girls play a game, thinking "this is all so childish - what a stupid game". I knew I'd much rather be at home choosing a novel from my parent's bookshelves and couldn't understand why I was forced to be involved with such 'childish' pursuits.
 
Heh, I know what you guys mean. As far back as I remember, I've preferred the company of either adults or kids who were at least five or so years older than me. On the internet, when I'd tell people how old I really was, I'd always get told I "seemed a lot older." I've never had a lot of friends my own age either. I was branded (and rightfully so, probably :p) as a bit of a snob when I was little due to my almost constant policy of sitting alone in corners rather than join in the general games at recess. Of course, this led to people refusing to ask me by about fourth grade, which secretly rather hurt, just the principle of the thing, you know...but looking back, I guess I can't say I didn't bring it upon myself.

I heard a quote once about there being 'people who should've sprung forth, fully grown, like Athena from Zeus' or something akin to that, and that's always how I've felt. Ah...but I'm almost to adulthood now; I've only got three more years left, technically. :D
 
I played o.k. as a young child (although I was very comfortable in the presence of adults). When I really noticed a difference in me was coming into my teenage years. I never really developed 'crushes' on boys. If I liked a guy and even if he liked me, I would always think 'how long is this going to last- three weeks?' I'd watch my friends get all excited about 'going out' with someone and then be all torn up days later when it ended. I always thought that this would not be the person I was going to marry because I had to go to college, join the Peace Corps, get a real job etc. so why waste time now.
I also knew i would change a lot and my taste in men would change. I look back now and wonder how I knew that. Most girls/women don't seem to at 13 or 14 years old.
Vicky
 
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