The soul age is part of your overleaf chart in the Michael Teachings framework.

Introduction

The idea of soul age in the Michael Teachings is, of course, a metaphor.  Souls are eternal .  We all have existed at all points in time, including the future.  However, in order to experience all aspects of the Tao (or God, or All That Is), the soul at some point decides to let go of its awareness of All That Is and fragments into many pieces.  Each of these fragment is a soul in itself.  This is the process of eternal growth.

Time is a function of the physical plane, and so some built in experiences of time, past life experiences, and lessons, are part of the experience of the soul while connected to the physical plane.  This is part of what soul age is.   In a lifetime, the soul incarnates as a personality in order to focus on certain experiences, sometimes called lessons, and in order to focus on these experience a perceptual lens is chosen. You view the world from a gestalt of your energy, past life experiences, and connection to the grander sense of Self that you are, and of course from your childhood upbringings.  The perceptual lens that is what you entered your body with is what we refer to as "the soul's age".  

Because it is a perceptual lens, this does not mean necessarily that what we call the "older" soul age is more experienced or even wiser.  It is simply a framework of perception and interaction.

Generally speaking, the older the soul age you inhabit, the wider your perception of the universe and others will be, and the more possibilities arise for seeing the universe's interconnection and love. An infant soul can only see others like itself.  The universe to the infant soul is itself.   An older soul has more possibility to see the universe in its unlimited beauty - though of course rarely does. All is chosen, including soul age.

Soul Age is a concept that it is possible to use to separate yourself from others with. "She's an old soul", you might have heard as a child when you were talked about. This meant, supposedly, that you were wiser, smarter, more evolved, and closer to enlightenment than others.  Many people can wear such language like a ribbon, sometimes to protect themselves from their own insecurities.  Again, soul age is simply a perceptual lens.

The concept of soul age has no "better" or even "closer to enlightenment". You are, at this moment, incarnating in other soul age perceptions in other timeframes and other parallels.  You can even be incarnating in a "lower" soul age in a probable future.  But your experience, Now, is within the framework of a soul age.

We repeat: soul age has nothing to do with being more 'evolved'. All time is Now, therefore thinking of linear evolution is a misnomer. There is no 'better', since you are All That Is.

However, this doesn't mean the concept of the progression through the soul ages is invalid, any more than saying that psychological progression through developmental stages is invalid because no human being is worth more than another. The soul chooses to incarnate with perceptual lenses and there is truth to this. 

Let us now go through the various soul ages.  Keep in mind that these are stereotypes only and that often we manifest different areas of our lives in different perceptions.  There are many people who, for instance, view career as a young soul but personal relationships as a mature soul.

Infant Soul

The main lesson of the infant soul is survival. In this cycle, or sequence of lives, the soul becomes habituated to life in a human body. It is a big shift for a soul used to not being incarnate! It is vastly different than being an animal without a wide range of choices.

The infant soul will tend to live an intense life based mostly in instinct. Sex is mostly about surrendering to unknown urges, whether it be animal urges or society's instruction. An infant soul can life in society, in the wild, or in urban jungles on the street - but will tend to live instinctively.

The life lived here can be described as Simplicity. This simplicity extends outwards in all directions, including inwardly. The infant soul looks at others as "other Me's". There is puzzlement or hostility when differences occur; it is not easily fit into this perceptual framework.

While it seems that an Infant Soul's life is mostly that of fear, there is still trendous joy in simple pleasures simply from the intense presence of simplicity. Because they are survival focused, the joy that comes from simply being present in the body is not lost. They tend to be more present-moment focused than any other age except the manifested old soul.

An example of the evolution of the infant soul might be of the harnessing of individual energies into a collective whole, for survival focus, in a group. This brings lessons on interconnection to the infant soul perspective. A focus is found, energy moves through that channel. The dispersion of this energy creates a union of the individuals so participating that creates in turn chemical reactions within the body that produce hormones that free the self from the confines of the body itself. This freedom transfers again into movement that needs to find an outlet, the closest outlet being the other members of the group. Therefore energies move a second time among the members of this group and produces what results as “the group high” that is experienced by those participating in what is a mob experience.

Other soul ages participating in a mob are often reverting to the infant soul's perspective.

In terms of modern psychology, the infant soul can be linked to Maslow's survival perspective.

Baby Soul

The perception of the baby soul framework has evolved to the point that they can allow awareness of differences of others. There is "me" and "not me", and there is a lack of feeling of safety from this. Expanded awareness is not always joyful; it must be balanced, used, and incorporated, and to do this at this level requires the exploration of safety. In Maslow's hierarchy, that is where this perception resides. In other frameworks, it can be termed "rule-making", for that is a regular expression of this desire for safety.

Other soul ages can perceive this perception as "rigid", but that is because of its focus: the structure of society and the structure of relationships.  In the book "Messages from Michael" the motto for the baby soul is "Do it right or not at all" and this is an expression of this.  A village of baby souls will have everyone playing a well defined role in the network, with defined status levels and well defined laws.  Those enforcing the law for its own sake, no matter what, tend to have this perspective, or at least be manifesting it.

Like the toddler, there is a newfound desire to have an impact on the world, within a small radius.  In larger spheres such as the public eye baby souls can easily get overwhelmed as they are not equipped to handle the influx of energy and attention.  They readily seek "authority", which is someone or something that will tell them the rules to play by.  The concept of "evil" makes sense to this perception.   It is hard for this perception to truly see differences in others; they see the world as filled with "me" and "other me"s.  Thus there is much confusion when there is an opposing force that has a very different view.

Because structure and stability is such a focus of the baby soul, societies composed of many baby souls tend to be very highly structured.  If it is a stable country, all is well, but such societies can implode if change is created from without such as via war.  The baby soul would tend to be overwhelmed.  Baby souls offer stability to the society even if they are not the majority: with no baby souls present, change can occur too quickly and cause chaos, such as as when mature souls experiment with utopian societies without a good cross-section of soul ages.

Young Soul

The young soul's lessons are the epitome of directing outward energy. The lessons involve status, competition, and making an impact on the world. Power, including personal power, becomes a focus. The lessons involve forces exerted from and to you, and finding a balance, often with success as a barometer. This is the height of what is called the " ego", or rather the perception of isolation from All That Is.

While this may sound negative, it is part of the perfection that is soul evolution.  Being a young soul is not a bad thing at all; it is testing the limit of what you can do yourself without awareness of just how connected you are to the universe.  Young souls, often believing that this is their "all or nothing" lifetime, will tend to throw themselves into their lives and truly enjoy the physicality. They can often get more things done than other soul ages, for the external world is paramount in their perception. There are many tasks which are more suited to young souls than others.  Older souls often are too sensitive to rule with the requisite iron hand when dealing with younger souls in some situations.

For young souls, life is the school of "hard knocks".  Status is a major focus, but not in the unchanging manor that it is for the baby soul.  Rather, it is the exploration of the dynamic of status, how it changes, and how it impacts your own personal power.  This provides the foundation for exploration of the depths of relationships in further soul ages.

For the last few thousand years, the planet has been in a young soul period. We are now beginning the transition into the mature soul age, in which the average soul age of those on the Earth will become mature.

Mature Soul

Moving away from the experience of separation and competition that is the stereotypical expression of the young soul we move into the Mature Soul. In this framework, a deeper level of exchange is possible between people.   Instead of a focus on how to make an impact on others or create a safe environment, there is a renewed focus on relationships itself.  This relationship focus includes everything, including people, animals, the environment, or even with ideas.  Because relationships are a two-way flow of energy, there is more capability to receive the totality of others than in earlier perceptions, and this can open up a whole new can of worms - that of esteem.

Because of the opening up of the world, there is more openness to energetic sensitivities and psychic awareness, even if it is not fully conscious. The mature soul can experience others as they experience themselves. These inputs can be overwhelming at times and can take many lifetimes to balance.

The mature soul opens itself up gradually to philosophy, psychology, and the arts.  There is a renewed search for community with individuality as the basis instead of conformity.  They search for meaning and profundity, even in simplicity.    This is not always through passionate endeavors

The mature soul age, being the 4th in the sequence, is on the neutral, assimilation axis.  It is the bridge between being focused on the physical and exploring the vaster universe that is the focus of the old soul.

Old Soul

The old soul's lesson have to do with being. This is the last cycle normally experienced on Earth. (The next two can show up here from time to time, but never on demand.)

The perception of the old soul is about expansion beyond immediate family into the universe as a whole. It is the first cardinal soul age, which is why the shift turns to being. There is an awareness that the old soul is All That Is. There is an awareness that separation does not truly exist. There is an awareness, even in conflict, that you are the other person who riled you up so much, which can bring out laughter.

This, of course, is only possibility. Old souls can also be stuck, holding on to the perceptions of earlier soul ages, or simply exploring the immediate surroundings from an old soul perspective. The more expanded perception means a wider range of choices, and these are seen in the old soul. Some live as simply as infant souls, some may be on the board of a corporation, and some may choose lives that complement learning about being and interconnection, such as certain arts, gardening, or cultivating wine.

The expanded perception also mean that the veil between lives is lessoned. While memories of past lives are not always conscious, there is a greater sense of knowingness that can create competence in many areas, even in those not aligned with the role.

The stereotype of the old soul in the western culture is arrogant and intellectual. Intellectual centering can help with investigating believe structures about the universe and All That Is, but old souls have all centerings, as they have all overleaves. There is nothing "younger" about being emotionally centered and passionately going to extremes of excstacy and despair. This is part of the physical plane, and one of the major lessons of the physical plane is to love it as it is. The old soul will simply have more resources at its disposal in the surrender that is this love.

The old soul level brings a more reserved yet gentle love of others. Expectations are greatly diminished, and what is left is a more pure sense of playful interaction between people on many levels, not the least of which is cellular. Some of the urgency regarding receipt is gone, and with that is left more wonder and more awe at the hugeness and complexity of the entire universal concept that is Love.

Through this soul age, much of the entire “heaviness" of the physical plane can be transcended, at least for moments, as the people so involved become aware of Self in all its greatness and connectedness. Experiencing this, even for momentary periods, leads often to rapid growth due to the perceptual changes that occur during the interaction.

Transcendental Soul

The transcendental soul appears on Earth when a reunited Entity from the Astral Plane or the Causal Plane brings its energy to the physical plane through another soul. An immense amount of energy is brought to bear. These souls are rarely seen and usually provoke great societal changes through their energy, awareness, and perspective. They can be known in history, such as Gandhi or Mohammed, or not.

Infinite Soul

The infinite soul is a manifestation of the Tao brought to the physical plane. They do not perceive separation, and bring the full teachings of the Tao through their being and energy. The amount of energy involved in the manifestation can be compared to an impending supernova. Jesus, Buddha, and Lao Tsu were manifestations of the infinite soul.