If a five year old can play Bach piano concertos we call them a prodigy. But if that same five year old can weave out velvety heart aching blues as though Ella were singing Summertime through their fingers we call them an old soul. The moniker isn’t reserved for startlingly gifted child musicians but they are one of the most obvious and illustrative examples.
We’ve all met or encountered those rare individuals who just seem attuned to a grander font of perception and wisdom than regular people. The one friend who always seems able to calmly see directly to the heart of a matter, the artist able to create works which evoke universal and timeless truths, the performer who is able to convey depth and nuance of emotion far beyond what one might expect of them.
We associate wisdom, stability, and clarity of perception with age and accumulated experience which is why we are somewhat shocked and unsettled when such traits appear in those seemingly too young. We reconcile this by calling them an ‘old soul’ implying the soul inside is much older than the body containing it, either as a sideways nod to the concept of reincarnation or an assumption the person has been through a great deal very early in life.