Personally, I don't' see that age counts for much at all, not in individual life or in the age of the soul's time spent in human life experiences.

Its not the amount of time spent studying something; its the way someone studies, their approach and method, their aim, and dare I say it, their intelligence and how they use it and work to develop it.

In any field of human endeavour we can see the older more experienced being outperformed by the younger less experienced, and visa versa too. There exist young and old fools, and young and elderly wisdom.   

Much the same with young and old souls. I don't think being an "old soul" indicates wisdom, any more than being old in physical life indicates wisdom.   

Some, who plan their lives and experiences well, order and systematise their knowledge, process it well during and between lives, will progress through the system swifter and more surely than those who are haphazard in their Earthly journeying, just as it is with any field of study. 

I am sure there are millions of ancient souls on this planet who are remaining stuck in much the same old ruts as they have been in for ages of time, and others who are relatively new arrivals yet have graduated from the system or are near to graduation, and visa versa and every condition in between of course.    

As for channelled information ... its no different than any other information. At best it may be a useful guide, at worst a detrimental influence.

We each have a conscience and reasoning faculties, what more do we need?   

If some channeller/guru/prophet type, spirit guide, or expert of any sort told you something was right but your conscience said that it was wrong, then who would you agree with, the other person or your conscience?

And if you would give your conscience the last say, then why not give it the first say, every time, and make it your guide in life.

A consensus, an opinion reached by most, is to me a strange concept yet politically correct. The age scale does seem to try do describe general levels of incarnations on earth, but seems very vague to me for coming from a supposed graduate. The old souls description (and encouragement?) in particular sounds passive compared to my observations of the refining fires of latter stages experiences. Old souls, to me, is more like a description of a step on the ladder where the above steps aren't visible. A picture of dalai lama is placed under the old souls category on michaelteachings.com - one thread (reincarnation), one love, one planet, one path, one this and that.

Hi Albert,

I'm all for learning from others.  As long as I can see the truths myself and make unknowns into my own verified "knowns."  For myself, that is the only way to learn (others may learn differently).  I was trying to point out that to take another school of thought as dogma, be it ACIM, the Seth material, etc. without experiencing the truth behind it yourself, is rarely satisfying, and merely a belief system. 
That is why I wasn't keen on the "soul stages" categories, or channeled material in general.  They seemed artificial, and did not resonate with what I have encountered (though in a general sense, we can make these categories). 

M

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What do you mean, Bob?

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I thought that was what you meant by "the refining fires". But it was your reference to "latter stages experiences" that I hoped you would clarify; but I think you are right that you don't need to.