How much does “soul age” factor into intellectual outcomes? In an increasingly secular world that dismisses the whole idea of the “soul,” such a discussion would sound silly. Yet, in trying to parse out the most important factors behind intellectual outcomes, raw experience would seem to place high on the list. What is the divine perspective?

Experience is indeed quite important and this factors in hugely in what we have been describing, that your life is but a continuum of a string of lifetimes, all of which contribute to growth and learning. It is not all available to your awareness and at your fingertips, but you can in fact request your higher self to reawaken talents from other lifetimes that would be of use in the current life, and this can be worked on by the divine realm, rather than simply passively accepting what is currently apparent as representing the sum total of your talents and capabilities so that you, by default, live within those limitations. There is always more you can do, particularly with divine help and its encouragement. The old souls do have a clear advantage in this regard by virtue of the vast depth of experience and knowledge and prior skill development that can be reworked and repurposed in the current lifetime as part of the life plan, as well as summoned along the way—as we have pointed out is quite possible to do. There are some young souls and these beings, although they have the blessing of the advanced human design, have the disadvantage in the meager prior experience at life in the physical plane, and this is a significant handicap because they have less from other lives to draw on and will be less well-equipped to make their way effectively in life and attain greater levels of achievement in whatever they might endeavor to accomplish. They essentially are simply still at a learning stage.