The story of the very, very old soul

 

The very, very old soul had already lived many human lives on earth and was now waiting in the void between its last human life and its future merging with eternity.

 

She felt lonely because all of her friends were down on earth to fill a person with zeal, curiosity and wonder and all kinds of thoughts.

Therefore the very, very old soul said to the guardian: I still have a good portion of joy left, let me go down again and give this joy to the people. But the time is so short, said the guard. Of course, you can give them joy, but if you stay with them for such a short time, you will also give them a great sadness when you leave them. I know, said the old soul. But I want to give them so much joy that afterwards it will help them through the grief.

 

And so it happened. Down on earth a man and a woman had children. It was the very dearest child who gave them boundless joy, that unclouded joy that people feel when their souls meet each other and recognize each other full of delight from eternity.

 

But don't you have very little time, the soul of the mother whispered to the old soul in the little boy. The time is short, but the joy is great, answered the very old soul. And although the mother did not hear this conversation, the whisper aroused a foreboding restlessness in her, a touch of the knowledge that we have nothing on earth, one neither of the other nor even ourselves. Everything will eventually be taken from us, everything that we carry with us, all the loved ones around us, ultimately also our lives and our bodies.

 

But the boy grew up, and the joy he spread was so great that the mother forgot these thoughts. And the father was happy too. Yes, the very old soul was allowed to spend her last time exactly as she had wished.

 

The time was short, it was far too short even by human standards, and the time came when the merger would take place. The very, very old soul had to show up for the ceremony. To humans, it looked like a sudden death had overtaken the boy. Her grief was immeasurable, as the Guardian had predicted. But since all memories of their child were joy and nothing but joy, they could endure the grief, just as the very old soul had predicted.

 

And where in the past the very, very old souls were simply left to sit their last bit of time in the void, from now on the old souls were sent to the people who needed them to give them their last great joy. Joy gives people the strength to endure the grief that follows and gradually, very gradually, to transform it into something good.

 

Author unknown

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