Selling to the Soul

By Walt F.J. Goodridge

Special to the Saipan Tribune
Originally published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010


The only way to take control of your life, raise your standard of living and move beyond merely surviving is to create your own unique product or service that you offer to increasing numbers of people in exchange for the things of value that you desire. This simple formula applies to countries as well as people. A self-sufficient economy has its own products or services of value to export to the world. Similarly, a self-sufficient individual has something of value to exchange in the global marketplace. That thing of value is based on your natural talent, skill, or interest—in other words, your passion!

 

Have you, or anyone you know ever been referred to as an "old soul?" It's a common expression, used to identify individuals whose personality, perspective, attitudes, interests, demeanor, visage and/or aura seem to suggest that they've been here (on this planet) before. Young children with apparently maturely developed interests, abilities, personality traits and even knowledge have been referred to as having or being old souls.

       It would stand to reason, then, that if there are "old" souls, that there must also be “young” souls, and souls of every age in-between. In fact, there are, according to philosophers, mystics, seers and sages who, for centuries have observed, experienced or channeled information about such phenomena.

       The concept of old and young souls is based on the idea that our immortal spirits have had many different experiences on this plane of existence, and that some of us—in the ongoing adventure to experience all there is—have been here many times, in different identities, while other souls may be new to the earth school.

       Whatever your views on the idea of reincarnation—an intuitively obvious fact to some, and poppycock to others—the idea that people are born with varying levels of spiritual development and maturity doesn’t require any great leap in belief to appreciate. So, let’s take a look at what the concept of “soul age” is all about.

 

Five Soul Ages

According to one well-known source, there are five states—or ages—of soul development: Infant, Baby, Young, Mature and Old. Each age has its own set of challenges, motivations and aspirations. Here is just a brief overview of all of them:

 

Infant Souls are driven by fear, and challenged with basic survival. There isn't yet much feeling for ethics or personal morality. The Infant Soul has to be taught what is right and wrong. Love or sexuality will be experienced on the level of lust.

 

Baby Souls are a little more comfortable in the world, less fear-driven, but require structure in order to feel comfortable in the world. They want to be directed and therefore seek out higher authorities who are willing to lay out clear rules for them. Traditions, rituals, and law and order provide a welcome sense of security. "That's the rule and that's what we'll do," is typical thinking of a baby soul.

 

Young Souls, having mastered the Infant and Baby Soul issues of survival, discipline and order, are now looking to see how powerful they can become in the world. Ambition, status, independence and the ability to get what one wants out of life are the driving forces of the Young Soul stage. Seizing what the physical plane has to offer, vying to gain positions of prominence, power and great material wealth are important for young souls.

 

Mature Souls tend to focus less on the outer world and the material, and more on the inner world as well as relationship issues. The questions "Who am I?” and “Why am I here?" are asked with frequency in these lives.  Emotions open up, boundaries between people break down. Non-traditional religions, meditation, and metaphysics start to look interesting.

 

Old Souls have detached from the emotional intensities of the Mature Soul period and get more objective about the ups and downs of life.

By the time a soul has arrived at this stage, they’ve had dozens of lifetimes in varieties of cultures and classes thoroughly blended into their essences. It is much more difficult, therefore, for Old Souls to get embroiled in the right-and-wrong, us-and-them games people and countries both play. Seeing the whole picture in this way makes Old Souls calmer, more peaceful and centered. It can also make them appear passive or weak to the other soul ages.

 

       According to the soul age belief, a being will go through different levels in each age so that by the time a person has completed a stage, they’ve had anywhere from seven to twenty lifetimes in that stage.

It also should be obvious that certain cultures and countries exhibit behavior consistent with different stages of soul development. So, for instance, a country like the United States is evidently more driven by a young soul mentality than a country like Holland or Sweden.

 

 

       [For much more in-depth discussion of each soul age, visit www.michaelteachings.com]

 

Widgets for the American Soul

       So, what does this have to do with business and selling, you (and my editor) might ask?

Well, knowing that an individual’s and even an entire nation’s interests and attitudes can be defined and understood in terms of a soul age gives you a bit of an advantage over other marketers who believe that purchasing behavior is strictly a function of biological age, race or gender, (the concept of soul age cuts across all these lines), or that buying habits can be manipulated by advertising alone. (Yes, constant repetitive advertising can be effective, but no amount of fancy advertising will ever get an old soul to define herself by the kind of watch she wears.)

Although there are similarities and parallels in behavior and attitudes between biological age and soul age, there is no direct correlation. In other words, a ninety-year old could be a young soul, and a two-year old could be an old soul, and throughout his entire life exhibit the interests, attitudes and behavior unique to that soul age. 

Similarly, no society or group is made up entirely of people of a single soul age. You will find old souls and baby souls in every country.

However, what the concept of soul age can do is equip you to understand and market more effectively to the public. Politicians know, for example, that they can “sell” their ideas with different levels of success in different regions of the country based on the soul age of that region. Marketers know that certain movies, for instance, or products will sell better in certain countries because of the prevailing soul age of that country. It’s difficult to sell luxuries in a country whose population is at the infant stage preoccupied with survival. Similarly, it is easier to sell status symbols of wealth and achievement in a country operating at a young soul age.

 

The Soul of the Self

But an even deeper, more compelling, and ultimately more useful reason for becoming familiar with the soul age concept has to do with self-knowledge. Knowing your own soul age can make many things clearer for you. It can explain a lot about who you are and why you do what you do.  It can help you understand why certain things have always attracted or repelled you. It can help you see the patterns underlying the choices you’ve always felt compelled to make throughout your life. It can help you feel more comfortable with who you are, and who you have come to be. 

While not meant to be an excuse for not trying and growing, it can even help you understand why your best efforts to become someone different have always produced the same results. For example, you might finally recognize that you are an old soul, and like most old souls uninterested in social entanglements, restrictive corporate culture, political arguments and anything that drives the young soul. Or, you might recognize yourself as a young soul driven to succeed at all costs, and to make things happen, and that the old soul traits you wish you had, of being casual and easygoing and going with the flow, just aren’t part of your soul’s makeup. Yes, knowing your soul age might just bring some peace of mind and acceptance of who you are into your existence.

In essence, the more you know about who you are, and what purpose you came here to achieve, the easier it will be to craft a life and even a business that is in alignment with and that offers the greatest fulfillment for the deepest parts of your self. Stay true to your soul!

 

 

Note: Fans and followers of the books, Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skin: Diary of a Chinese Garment Factory Girl on Saipan (saipanfactorygirl.com) or Jamaican on Saipan (jamaicanonsaipan.com), or Doing Business on Saipan (saipanliving.com) may place orders on those sites, or…..yes, AMAZON.COM!

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