Thursday, April 14, 2011

Play it again, Sam



With thanks to my friend Jo, whose blog post helped me articulate the following.

What is an old soul? If you ask me, all of our souls are ancient. We come from the stars, from the Big Bang, maybe from before that. Young souls? I don't believe there's anything new under the sun.

Some of us can remember better than others. Maybe I should have put the word "remember" in quotes, because it isn't always a conscious memory. Sometimes there is simply a resonance of soul history that pervades the individual stories each person carries around. Some of the oldest souls around (I mean the folks whose spiritual lineage is palpable) are the ones who say Be here now. Live in the moment; this moment, right now. Even as they make these statements, there is the reverb of ancient wisdom coming through. It's kind of ironic, isn't it?

My spirit guides tell me I'm close to finishing a long set of lifetimes during which I've been learning about service. I've been a maid, cook, nurse, gardener, and servant so many times, you would not believe it. Apparently, service was a tough pill to swallow for my soul (if indeed souls can swallow, or, for that matter, be too proud to serve others). I'm learning this lesson however, and am perhaps not going to have to come back again in this capacity: we shall see. When my guides intimate that I might be able to complete this set of lifetimes at the end of my current life, it's almost as if they're winking and smiling at me. Almost.

I remember a long set of lifetimes before this set, one in which I was a warrior. I was never a stellar example in that set of lives - just a regular foot soldier, and not very good even at that. I remember the Ice Age, (or so I think I do), when everyone was a shaman, hunter, warrior and healer - everyone. There was no separating ourselves from mother earth and father sky back then. Modern human consciousness was still developing. All of those lives were nearly identical.

One of my great teachers used to say that if you want to remember past lives, then, at the moment of death, be sure to leave your body through the crown chakra. Clearly I have done this over and over again.

All this leads me to understand why I feel old, always have felt old. I started calling myself "old" at age thirty-five. Now that seems so funny, but in light of yesterday's reflections and thoughts, I realize I've been eager to grow old all my life. No wonder I was aloof in high school and such a wreck as a younger adult! I was SO uncomfortable in my youthful body.

Even now, at age 58, I am "young." I don't have a lot of wrinkles, gravity hasn't taken control of certain parts of my body yet, and I have lots of energy. One trophy of old age I can claim is my gray hair. I love it so much! I can relate to my gray hair.

Please understand, I am not complaining, no way! I'm VERY grateful to be so healthy and hearty, and too I know I'm silly to keep wishing for old age. It's ridiculous, but you see, I remember, I really do. Hence my infatuation with being old.

OK, 'nuff said about this one! The sun is FINALLY shining in DC this morning. I'm going to take a big walk this morning, oh yeah. I'm outta here. Shalom.

14 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

I've always maintained you can be as young as you think. Keep thinking those good thoughts.

Reya Mellicker said...

I think young is "bad" while old is "good."

It's a very different value than the prevailing cultural norm.

Yeah.

Barbara said...

It's funny that OLD has such a negative connotation in our society, whereas in many societies the OLD were revered. I think of it as an adjective I can choose to embrace or not. I sneakily practice old, like clinging to the grocery cart. But then I refuse to openly practice it by choosing not to use a walker. There will be a time when I feel old enough to fully accept my age and the state of my body, but not yet. Life is so good!

Reya Mellicker said...

When there are very few old people, they are revered, but when there are lots of old people, they are reviled.

Thanks, Barbara!

Elizabeth said...

Shalom! SAlaam aleikum!
Peace.
Yes, the sun is shining and I'm cleaning.....well, sort of.
This was all super, thoughtful stuff, Reya.
Yes, being ancient is wonderful.....

Jinksy said...

I've always thought I was born old, and nothing I've experienced has changed that feeling - rather underlined it! I'm quite happy with my ancient being in the here and now.

Unknown said...

Ancient is way better than old. I revere oldness. Age has a beautiful patina that never fades and cannot be recreated. It's like those rosy tulips at the beginning of your blog today, Reya. Their color is so heart warming.
Today dear lady, you are in the "pink". Enjoy your walk.
Sending love.

ellen abbott said...

I don't think of myself as 'old' though I will be 61 soon. Not that I mind being older. My g'kids tell me all the time I am an old lady. I think people in this society think of old people as incompetent but since our life spans have increased and we are so much healthier longer 50s and 60s is very nearly the prime of life.

when did this worship of youth in this country begin? yeah, we all look really good when we are young but we are all really dumb too.

Jo said...

Okay, Ellen's comment cracked me up.

Who of us would trade the truly alive yet more mature poeple we are today for the beautiful but hopelessly unaware people we were (or at least I was) two or three decades ago?

I'm sometimes sentimentally wistful about the beautiful young woman I was (though, paradoxically, most of us didn't see that at the time), but I was a mere embryo of myself back then. NO WAY would I trade places with her!

You are fabulous, Reya, AS IS...right at this moment in time. WOW.

Reya Mellicker said...

Thanks, Jo. We are very lucky in so many ways!

Jo said...

Oh my goodness, Reya. Where is my mind? Thank you so much for linking your post to my blog!

YES, so very lucky. ♥

Reya Mellicker said...

We helped each other yesterday so much, even though we are 1,000 miles apart. I love that!

steven said...

reya! my take is that 'soul' is a localized blossoming of the entirety of love that is at the essential centre of the all of everything. soul enters the existence of sentient beings and grounds their experiencing - regardless of their vocation, genetics, social circumstances, gender, etc. - in the love that connects all and everything. it's at the centre of each of us, beneath the layers of stuff that are necessary to provide context in this plane of existence. there's much more of course but that's about all i can put together in this moment. age is a measure of physical life. i'm alright with that. i'm coming up on fifty four. my personality is much younger. my soul doesn't know about time or space! steven

Reya Mellicker said...

Steven my dear, you are one of the old ones, oh my you are so wise and so old and so young.