The New Agey "Michael" teachings seem like a new religion to me. A new way of looking at the big picture and the great beyond.

It starts with everything and everyone, which is called Tao. There's your God, right there. We are all a part of it.

Humans, other sentient beings, whales, dolphins, dogs and cats, stars, rocks, everything is part of Tao. Everything is part of God.

Since Tao wishes to have experiences, Tao breaks off parts of itself, called Sparks, and sends them on their way. Many of these sparks, thousands of them, millions of them, are broken off from Tao, to live lives, to learn and grow.

The spark has free will. It chooses what it will do. It chooses who it will be. I don't know if that comment applies to rocks and stars, but it applies to us.

The spark chooses various characteristics it wants to have. It chooses an identity. Perhaps it wants to be very assertive and Arnold Schwarzeneggery. Maybe it wants to be more Marilyn Monroey. Maybe as a spark it already has characteristics, but it gets to choose many characteristics.

It gets to choose among 7 broad personality or "role" types. It may choose to be a "server", feeling a drive to satisfy and help others. It may choose to be an "artisan", highly creative. It may choose to be a "warrior", taking on challenges. It may choose to be a "scholar", learning all it can about all and sundry. It may choose to be a "sage", communicating wit and wisdom. It may choose to be a "priest", spreading the truth as it sees it. It may choose to be a "king", becoming master over others, and yet also serving them.

After this irrevocable choice has been made, it is ready to begin its first cycle of experience, whether on earth or on some other planet, there being countless inhabited planets in our universe to choose from. Earth is considered the suburbs, not the most cosmopolitan and advanced planet, but not in the sticks either. Earth is a place where opposites collide, and is a hot spot.

"You" then begin to incarnate on earth. In your first life you are an infant soul, and your only concern is survival. There are seven levels of infant souls, and you advance through the levels, learning the things that are associated with each level. It is of absolutely no importance how quickly you advance through the levels. You can zoom through them, one to each incarnation, or you can spend lots of lives on any one of the levels, continuing to learn more and more of what that particular level has to teach. It's up to you. Do it your way. If a particular level intrigues you, you may choose to stay with it for a number of lives. This is not a race. It is a game, but the goal is not to finish first. The goal is to do it your way.

When you have finished all seven levels as an infant soul, you are ready to begin your seven levels as a baby soul. The baby soul curriculum is not about survival. It is about following rules and learning discipline. Level 6, whether as an infant, baby, or anything else, is generally the toughest, the one that will have you a bit shell shocked, the one where karma catches up to you. Level 7 is much more relaxed, your exit level, where you tie up loose ends and have the big picture.

When you have decided you are finished being a baby soul, you advance to being a youth, going through another 7 levels of that. A youthful soul is primarily concerned with achievement, winning the race, climbing the heights, going for the golden ring.

Outgrowing your youth, you enter the 7 levels of being a mature soul. In these incarnations you are primarily concerned with relationships and emotions.

Finally, you enter the 7 levels of being an old soul. You see the world from a wider perspective. You believe in the philosophy of live and let live, or to put it another way, I'll do whatever the hell I want to do with my life, and you do the same, and I'll support your right to do whatever the hell you want to do with your life.

Old souls get pissed off at intolerance. They tend to attack intolerance like pit bulls.

When your last life has been lived as an old soul, you have completed the "physical" part of the curriculum. There are other parts. But you are done with earth. You are done with the physical plane of existence. You will proceed to the astral plane, and the "higher" planes. When you have finished them all, you return to Tao and add your experience to God's knowledge. Your return to Tao marks the end of the "cycle".

There have been people on earth who have completed as many as 19 cycles. There are people on other planets who have completed more than that. There are also planets where earth experience is way over their heads.

If you re-up and sign for another cycle, you do it as a different entity, not the same one you did the first cycle with. Maybe you were a server in your first cycle. Maybe you would like to be an artisan in your second cycle.

The one person on earth who was mentioned as having completed 19 cycles was some guy named Jesus Christ.

Those who take pride in being old souls can keep in mind that it is the number of cycles more than the soul age that reflects one's level of attainment. A baby soul with 12 cycles completed has been around the block a lot more often than an old soul on its first cycle.

Also to keep in mind, it's not a competition to see who can go the longest. A very young soul who lives with love and compassion is "winning" a lot more than a 12 cycle vet who doesn't have a lot of love in his heart. It's about quality, not about how many mountains you've climbed.

I see elements of religion in all this.