They say life is a “journey”, a “school” and is here to teach us “important lessons”. But why?
Have you ever considered the possibility that the lessons we learn and wisdom we accumulate in this life, extends into other lives? Is it perhaps possible that our life is not the only journey of experience, advancement and maturing – but the whole of conscious existence is?
Is it possible that reincarnation, also known as metempsychosis, is responsible for the tremendous range of world views, instinctual drives and essential life decisions we make?
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What makes us so different from one another? What makes one person wise beyond their years, another driven by power, and another childlike, despite their age?
Regardless of whether you believe in, or entertain the possibility of reincarnation or not, you will find that the following Soul Ages theory applies to the vast variety of people in your life.
Table of contents
What Exactly is a “Soul Age”?
According to the Soul Age theory, man doesn’t have simply one shot at living and learning. He has multiple lifetimes in which to grow, learn and mature.
Soul Ages are based on the different levels of advancement a soul obtains throughout its reincarnational journey (inspired by the Michael’s teachings framework). As a person progresses through the hierarchy, paying off karma as he or she advances, it is said that he or she is free to return to universal and infinite consciousness at the end, achieving final liberation.
Some call this the state of “nirvana”, others “heaven” and others “paradise”.
The 5 Soul Ages
Understanding the different levels people exist on is a useful way of developing empathy, understanding and insight. Also, these are all essential keys to enhancing the connection we have with our souls through inner work.
Below are the 5 Soul Ages in order from ‘beginner’, to ‘intermediate’, and then to ‘advanced’. You’ll also discover the sixth Soul Age which transcends all others: the Elder Soul.
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1. Infant Souls
Primary Focus: Being alive.
Lessons To Learn: Basic life skills, survival, mortality, physicality.
Age Comparison: 0 – 4
Key Characteristics: Raw, untamed, playful, excitable, unsophisticated, tribal, cautious, childlike, group-reliant, hunter-gatherers.
Also known as Newborn Souls, these people are often perceived by others as being ignorant, childish and innocent to the complexities of life. Possessing a very simplistic understanding of life, and a genuinely guileless approach to the world, Newborn Souls find it hard to adapt to ‘civilized society’. Instead, they prefer familiar clans, tribes and groups of people in wild, untamed environments. If this sounds like you, take the Infant Soul Test.
2. Baby Souls
Primary Focus: Belonging.
Lessons To Learn: Social structure, rules, roles, human relations.
Age Comparison: 4 – 13
Key Characteristics: Compliant, regimented, dutiful, role-defined, absolutist, disciplined, traditional, strong values.
Also known as Child Souls, these people seek to make meaning, order and stability out of the chaotic and uncertain nature of life. Perceived by other people as being clean, modest and rigid, Child Souls tend to be very conservative, religious and rule-bound. The Child Soul’s beliefs and senses of self are defined by their culture and traditional moral or religious system. If this sounds like you, take the Baby Soul Test.
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3. Young Souls
Primary Focus: Independence.
Lessons To Learn: Personal-advancement, free will, personal-achievement.
Age Comparison: 13 – 29
Key Characteristics: Ambitious, competitive, innovative, material gain, enterprise, freedom, individualism, self-centered, self-expression.
Also called Teenage Souls, these people often live by the maxim “my way or the highway”. The Teenage Soul, similar to an adolescent, seeks independence, social status and material gain. Essentially, these people are agents of change and are responsible for many of the greatest advancements in the world. Driven and externally focused, Teenage Souls tend to be “workaholics”. If this sounds like you, take the Young Soul Test.
4. Mature Souls
Primary Focus: Interpersonal harmony.
Lessons To Learn: Empathy, psychological stability, interdependence, self-awareness, relationships.
Age Comparison: 29 – 55
Key Characteristics: Sensitive, inquisitive, neurotic, diplomatic, introspective, egalitarian, cooperative.
Also known as Adult Souls, these people enter life seeking interpersonal and psychological harmony. Adult Souls are often perceived as being neurotic but caring. Focusing on the inner world, these people often struggle with the complexities and subtleties of life. The mature soul is liberal, relationship-orientated and visionary. Life is no longer about survival, role-filling or material gain for the Adult Soul, but about understanding, empathy and camaraderie. If this sounds like you, take the Mature Soul Test.
5. Old Souls
Primary Focus: Spiritual fulfillment.
Lessons To Learn: Non-attachment, autonomy, wise counsel, spiritual awareness.
Age Comparison: 56+
Key Characteristics: Solitary, spiritual, detached, philosophical, humanitarian, tired, unmotivated, empathetic.
Right at the end of the reincarnational cycle comes the Old Soul. Having already experienced the previous 4 stages of existence, the Old Soul has a well-rounded knowledge of society, relationships and the world at large. At this point, the Old Soul finds day to day life very uninteresting, and little can surprise or compromise their self-assurance. Relaxed and philosophical about life, Old Souls radiate depth, calmness and wisdom. The Old Souls focus is on self-actualization and self-fulfillment. To the Old Soul, life is an interconnected tapestry – one of which they strive to become One with. If this sounds like you, take the Old Soul Test.
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6. Elder Souls
Elder Souls are the completion of the Soul Age cycle. An Elder Soul is an Awakened Being who has gone through a spiritual awakening and reunited with and embodied his or her True Divine Nature. In our society, we often refer to Elder Souls as “enlightened” or “spiritual Masters.” Read more about Elder Souls.
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Although most people don’t fit strictly within each category, often overlapping others, many people tend to inhabit one Soul Age more than the other.
Which Soul Age are you? I’d love to know below!
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I am 23. I am 85% an old soul, with a mix of mature. Ever since I was a child I was told by adults that I was an old soul. I always talked to adults more than kids my age. Even now, my best friend is almost twice my age! I found this really interesting and it makes me feel better about being alone so much.
The only real difference that I find is that in my quest for knowledge, I ended up studying chemistry in university. And I love it, but sometimes I feel so “lazy” because I don’t work as much as I know I should. I find that studying science opens up the world like I could never have imagined. It’s an incredible experience.
I guess now I have a better understanding of why I get bouts of not wanting to do anything. :)
Thanks a lot!
You’re most welcome Emily. :) Part of my reason for leaving University was just that: constant bouts of not wanting to do anything. University is not always necessary to get a job you enjoy anyway.
Thank you for sharing!
old soul, no surprise there
:)
This was a really interesting article and series of quizzes. I scored very high (98 and 88 respectively) for mature and old soul. I don’t feel that I’m an old soul in that I feel very childlike, as though there is so much undiscovered wonder, and so much more to learn, but perhaps I am ageing more rapidly than I think! In this lifetime I have lived 27 years but that number feels quite arbitrary to me, to be honest. Who can truly define or compare how much someone has lived in the time afforded to them?
I’m very interested in learning more from your site about what it means to be a mature and/or old soul. I am definitely on a different wavelength to many people I know, but I often attribute that to being a sensitive INFP :-p
I agree entirely Indie … how can a simple number encapsulate the amount of experience you have developed and knowledge you have accumulated through life? I have developed deep connections with people who due to their age, many would assume hadn’t learnt or experienced very much – and those who you WOULD assume had learnt a lot, but their age really revealed nothing. So age really means nothing.
Thank you for taking the tests. It’s common for an Old or Mature soul to feel young or childlike, because in the face of life’s infinite complexity and beauty, we realize how little we truly know or understand. The downfall of man is to assume that he knows a lot about life, but in reality, he is ignorant.
You said that you’re interested in learning more about what it means to be a mature/old soul. Sol and I created this page full of resources to do exactly with this: https://lonerwolf.com/old-souls/
I hope they help to expand your understanding!
Thank you for reading and taking interest in our work. It means a lot to the two of us!
Thank you for creating this amazing page and quiz, I am not surprised I scored 98/100 points. Have always felt on my own growing up, highly spiritual and tapped into my senses I found myself always guiding those around me and could not relate to the interests of those who are the same age. I am 26, and following my life’s calling, embracing how different I am and here to make a change in the world. I am tired of how much is wrong, and I am here to set things straight. It’s hard growing up this way and introverted, art kept me at bay and my own peace of mind. The biggest relief was discovering this, even though people had always told me that I was an old soul from a very young age, I knew I was on a different path to most but I had never embraced it. Embracing it is relief at it’s utmost, and so is hearing that other people are too. I always felt that there were others like me but felt that they were scarce. It’s a joy finding your page and people who can relate. Thank you.
And it’s a joy to read such a comment, thank you Angelique!
I suddenly remembered the term “old soul” and had to google for it. Reading other people experiences (but must of all the little variations in their personall experiences) a lot of things suddenly fall into place.
The difference with me is that I tend to have a science “warped” mind, seeking the logic in it all. That is what made me different from kids as long as I remember. It took me 18 years of waiting to find others with whom I could connect at least on a creative, cognitive and emotional level.
Too bad my father took a long to see the alternative side of things (he was even more science and technology warped than I am). I believe that he is also had an old soul and it would have been nice to learn from him when I was young (and found others childish and superficial). The event that changed his mind is a story on itself and actually quite funny.
Saying that, I’ll take care to watch my daughter for signs, since my wife definitely does not have an old soul. Actually she wonders most of the time how I come up with all the things I think about. And so did I, untill this morning, reading all these stories.
So, my thanks to you all for sharing
Henk, how exciting to watch your children grow up … so much mystery, so much potential.
I’ve always thought that there were two types of Old Souls: the Sages (or more thinking/logical inclined) and the Mystics (the more feeling/inclined), and of course those that fall in-between. You very much sound like a Sage Old Soul. :)
It’s a wonderful feeling to discover that there are like-minded people in the world like you, and I’m happy that this article could further help cement that.
Thank you for sharing here. :)
Don’t know how I arrived here but so glad I did. Scored 97 on Old Soul Test. The description you provided of old souls and their characteristics and problems, well it’s the first time I ever felt like I belonged somewhere and I’m 71 years old.
The world seems so fractured now. I don’t think we are evolving as a species but finding you gives me hope for the future. I have three grown children and worry about the coming changes, how it will affect them. I would join your FB old souls group, but as an introverted, old soul, old body type, FB overwhelms me.. Thank you for explaining why.
Have signed up for your newsletter. Living on SS, probably won’t spend much or make a donation but will try and buy a book on amazon. Books are my weakness.
You look very young and it’s comforting to know that you exist and will be around to mentor others who may have lost their way.
Blessings,
Pat Bernardini
It fills me with joy Pat, to hear that in 71 years of life you have managed to find some kind of explanation for the way you are, and a sense of acceptance knowing that you aren’t alone. This is wonderful to hear!
It’s difficult to definitively say whether our species is evolving. Superficially it appears that there are less serious wars, and barbaric forms of behavior as before. There is also much less personal and social repression (e.g. sexuality, beliefs, values, etc.) However, there is still a lot of prejudice, hatred, fear, blame, shame, lies and turmoil. In the midst of all this, it is comforting to know that other people do share our perspectives and our concerns. There are other people like us.
Don’t worry either: simply commenting here is showing an immense level of support knowing that this article is making a difference somehow!
Warmly,
Luna
I had to smile here, because, Old Soul that I am, I won’t join Face World either, lol. Im chronologically 45.
And frankly, I expect I agree with most all that other OS people say/write. Although I find one trait of being an OS, talking to non-OS people about meaningful things feels usually quite useless. We’re just that different. Some look at us like…its looks of incomprehension. And I often feel I stand out in a crowd, although Im very ordinary in every physical way. Sometimes I think that very “ordinariness” offends the sensibilities of others. Like being ordinary, and perfectly fine with that, without aspiration to be physically otherwise (or materialistically), is an affront to the system, lol.
But being an OS, we’re observers anyway, and to US, OTHERS seem fascinating, in their pursuits of material and trivial matters.
Anyway. Loved all I’ve read. Wish you had a room for discussion/discussion boards that WASN’T corporate :-)
Btw, to my brothers chronologocally challenged, I’ve found a home at the American Legion. The ages vary from 45-90 and everything inbetween.
I FINALLY feel seriously at home somewhere. And am loving all of my new friendships with folks who match my spirit.
Loves-
Bret
BTW, I took the Mature Soul test(88%) and the Old Soul test (87%). I think that’s why I still have an interest in wanting to teach, and help. Sometimes I feel like my Guides are putting ideas and thoughts in my mind. I often speak what some people describe as “pretty deep” thoughts. Most people just turn off. My sense is that humanity is awakening exponentially as the energies from the galactic centre continue to increase. With the current conflict and environmental destruction I am ambivalent about being here in this incarnation. I stay because of Love, and a deep sense that I have something to contribute to the Ascension of Gaia and humanity. Bill***+
Most likely William, although no matter what Soul Age, some people by nature enjoy teaching and passing on their knowledge. You seem to be doing a lot with the life you have, and I hope you continue to make positive ripples in your community, and many others.
Thank you for sharing here :)
Luna
I seem to have characteristics of the Young, a Mature, and Old Soul. In human years I am 73.
But I have “Re-purposed” my life. I started a discussion group called “Talking With God,” I started a blog last February, 2014, I started preaching again, doing Sunday Supply. But I also read articles on a wide range of subjects, including: human/ET origins, ancient aliens/civilizations, New Spirituality, meditation/visualization, re-interpretation of the Bible, current UFO phenomena, current world events and the end of the cabal, ETs as angels in higher dimensions, being a spiritual being having a human experience, and longing for Home. Namaste! Bill***+
I got 91% old soul and I’m not surprised. :) I’m amazed by how many of the characteristics and behavior of an old soul resonate with me. I’m really enjoying reading these articles… So interesting!
I’m happy to hear this Marina! Thank you for taking the time to read, and share here!
-Luna
87% old soul. The material things killed a higher score :o)
But I’m not surprised at all. I would have been surprised if s.th. else came out
Thanks for the test.
And thank you for taking it Zora!
-Luna