by Mark Pitstick MA, DC
My e-books, audio books, audio programs, documentary film, radio shows, articles, and ‘Greater Reality Healing, Living & Helping Program’ are all FREE at SoulProof.com. In lieu of payment, I ask that you fully use the products, share them, and help others as you feel called.
This evidence-based information and holistic resources will help you . . .
- Adopt a more accurate worldview based on contemporary understandings about ‘the big picture of life’ and live accordingly – whatever that means for you. (see article #19 ‘The Great News’ about the Nature of Reality at SoulProof.com)
- Experience shorter and lightened grieving after loved ones change worlds and other big changes that seem like losses.
- Fine-tune yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually so you have the vitality to handle life’s demands AND share your greatest gifts / soul’s missions.
- Become more aware of, benefit from, and share life’s silver linings that always accompany opportunities masquerading as adversity.
- Create the greatest life YOU have envisioned. (The term ‘YOU’ refers to your higher self / eternal consciousness / soul)
- Fulfill your highest purposes for being on earth and help make our world a better place. This is now practically possible as discussed in article #125 Eight Developments for Widespread Conscious Living Now. As enough people do this, widespread personal and planetary change will naturally unfold.
To learn more about how you achieve these lofty goals, read the following articles at SoulProof.com/ArticlesAND watch videos at SoulProof.com/Greater Reality Program.
- #131 Greater Reality Healing, Living & Helping Program; videos Greater Reality Program
- #82 Greater Reality HEALING; videos at Greater Reality Healing
- #72 Greater Reality LIVING; videos at Greater Reality Living
- #119 Greater Reality HELPING; videos at Greater Reality Helping
Might Children Who Pass On Be More Evolved Souls?
This article addresses a very common and important question. The bodily death of children makes some people lose hope and question the existence of a loving Creator. It also can magnify appearances that the cosmos is a cruel place full of random tragedies. The following question is an example of ones I’ve received on this topic . . .
Q: I have heard you say the souls of children who pass on are advanced souls who didn’t need to be on earth for a long time. I want to believe that is true, but what are you basing that statement on?
A: Kudos for wanting evidence-based answers to life’s biggest questions. I hope I said that children ‘might be’ or ‘are likely’ more advanced souls. Those who are deeply grieving the ‘loss’ of a child may not understand this big picture of life perspective. That’s why knowing the collective evidence that children may be more advanced souls is so important. That evidence includes . . .
1. Life Between Lives Data
This category of clinical evidence provides the strongest indications that when and how a person passes on may involve ‘soul planning’. Michael Newton PhD, author of Journey of Souls and other excellent books, pioneered research in this field. During long and deep hypnosis sessions, he and his team of therapists have interviewed over 60,000 people about how things work in realms before and after earthly visits. These reports clearly show that souls often choose major details – such as parents, home town, and age of bodily death – for good reasons that support learning, growth, and service to others.
In short, one reason for transitioning from earth at a young age is that ‘old souls’ don’t need a long earthly experience. Seemingly senseless deaths of children can have much greater positive impacts than fairly uneventful lives of nonagenarians. It’s a good deal for souls who want to make a big difference but don’t need to repeat earth school. (From this long view of life, loved ones of the child aren’t unfortunate victims since they agreed to take part in that scenario. Why? To learn, grow, lovingly serve, and have adventures.)
To learn more, see articles #98 Life Between Lives, #60 Clinical Evidence That Life Continues After Death, and #80 S.A.G.E. Training at SoulProof.com/Articles.
2. Evidential Medium Input
Evidential mediums have enhanced abilities of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing more than the average human. Those gifts may include sensing input from postmaterial persons (the so-called ‘departed’) and sharing that information with loved ones on earth. These mediums sometimes relay messages from ‘deceased’ children who say they are more advanced souls who didn’t have to go through the entire earth-school curriculum.
Edgar Cayce, ‘The Sleeping Prophet’, was a psychic who accessed otherworldly knowledge while in a trance. He taught that souls are born with multiple ‘exit points’ for earthly lifetimes. Depending on different factors, the person / soul may opt to leave earth earlier or later. Some near-death experiencers report a similar design and, before returning to earth, were told ‘it’s not your time’. This information supports the view that there is indeed a rhyme and reason, a meaning, to the time and method of passing on.
To learn more, see articles #6 Evidential Mediums, #31 What Is a Postmaterial Person?, and #94 Near Death Experiences.
3. Attributes of Children Who Change Worlds
While working with Helping Parents Heal (HPH) for over 11 years, I’ve interviewed many parents who described their postmaterial children very similarly. The eyes of their children who later passed were different – like those of an old soul who could see through you. They had an urgency to pack in experiences as if they knew, on some level, that they wouldn’t be on earth for long. These children often had unusually high levels of compassion and love for people, pets and nature. Very popular kids – handsome captains of the football team and beautiful cheerleaders – were also friends with slow learners, ‘geeks’, and unpopular students. Often, parents weren’t aware of all this until the memorial service when they heard from people whose lives were touched by their child.
Here’s one example among many that I know. Mara and her husband John told me about their daughter Sabrina who loved watersports, people, pets, and helping clean up beaches and waterways. Sabrina passed on while a passenger in an auto accident soon after starting college. When her parents went to her dorm to get Sabrina’s belongings, they saw a phenomenal collection of photos and sayings that she had posted on her wall. The sayings included ‘fall in love with being alive’, ‘angel energy’, and ‘make your heart the prettiest thing about you.’ This is a great example of a highly evolved soul who temporarily took on the guise of a young girl. See article #28 Afterlife Contacts to read about a contact by Sabrina from the next stage of life.
David Hawkins MD, PhD, designed the Map of Consciousness (see at end of article) after decades of quantifying the energy of different emotions and ways of being. The attributes of children who passed on – more peace, joy, love, and enlightenment than usual – provides additional evidence that these children were indeed more highly conscious beings.
To learn more, read Shining Light Parents Speak and watch interviews of 130 ‘Shining Light Parents’ at HelpingParentsHeal.org/YouTubeVideosAffiliateLeaderCaringListenerInterviews
4. Auras of Children Whose Bodies Were Dying
Some people have highly sensitive abilities that allow them to see or otherwise sense energies / auras of people, animals, and plants. Andy Lee, my partner of 19 years who was a pediatric RN for 30 years and is now a doctor of acupuncture, has been able to see these since she was a little girl. She also has received telepathic messages from dying children who appeared to be more advanced souls. Andy said ‘it is usually the case’ that severely ill and dying children embody more evolved energies. She has also perceived messages from angels such as ‘This child’s soul is more advanced than almost anyone on earth.’ These messages ‘popped in’ when she felt despair about the child’s prognosis of dying soon.
5. Precognition by Children Before Passing On
The term ‘precognition’ describes foreknowledge of an event before its occurrence. The extrasensory perception involved is one sign of a more evolved person / soul. The book and interviews mentioned in #3 include numerous reports about children who sensed an early exit from earth. Louise, whose daughter Jilly crossed over in an auto accident, stated: “My daughter correctly predicted her bodily death and the manner. About a month before she passed, I was driving with her sitting next to me and I did a U-turn. She grabbed my arm and said, ‘This is how it’s going to happen, Mom – the car accident I’m going to die in. It’s going to happen on a turn and I’m going to get hit in the side.’”
Louise continued: “Jilly wrote us letters two days before she transitioned thanking us for being good parents. When the accident happened, she was a passenger, and her best friend was driving. Jilly was killed instantly at the age of 19. She also drew the scene of the accident in art class when she was a junior in high school –two years before it happened. She showed a car being hit in the side, exactly as it really happened.”
Lisa W stated “When Anthony was four, he said ‘When I’m 18, I’m going to leave you and I’m so sad.’ I said, ‘Baby, when you’re 18 you’re a big boy and you go to college. It’ll be okay.’ When he crossed over, he was 18. I reflected back that no four-year-old would think that. Where did he get that? Six months before Anthony passed on, he was getting ready to go to college and said, ‘Mom, I need to talk to you. I keep feeling like I’m going to die.’
6. Precognition by Parents Before Their Child Changed Worlds
Some parents that I interviewed felt that their child ‘wasn’t long for this world’. They hoped that was just a silly fear of a loving mom but, on some level, knew it wasn’t. Says Irene: ‘My daughter Carly Elizabeth was full of life, vibrant, a great kid. She went to Boston College, was brilliant, loved school, and wanted to be a teacher. But I had a gnawing feeling and worried that Carly was not going to be here for a long time. Soon after, she was diagnosed with gastric cancer and passed on in 2013 – only four months after the diagnosis.’
Elizabeth, whose son Morgan passed on, stated: “From the time I held him in my arms when I first had him, I knew I wasn’t going to have him long. I was ‘a helicopter mom’ to Morgan – always hovering over him! I wanted to know where he was going, and wanted to make sure he was safe. With my two daughters, I never felt that way. I didn’t understand why back then, but now I know.”
7. Experiences of Parents After Their Child Passed On
Many parents have reported hearing, feeling, and knowing that their children were more advanced soul. These insights sometimes address areas of concern, for example, if they could have done something to prevent the bodily death of their kids. Guilt and self-blame about this is one of the most common struggles parents feel.
Linda Jones wrote me about her son Nathan: ‘From the time Nathan transitioned over 11 years ago, I knew I needed to still communicate with him. I believed deep in my heart and soul that he would figure out a way to make that happen. I started getting signs right away, but hearing him telepathically didn’t happen until several years later.’
She continued ‘Nathan assured me that there was nothing I could do to save him. He told me that each person makes their own plans as to how they might leave this earthly realm. It was his choice and his alone. Hearing that really helped with all the guilt I felt for many years. As parents, we don’t get to write our children’s whole story.’
Another lesson that parents report from their postmaterial children is about soul planning. The validity of this concept is supported by clinical evidence from Life Between Lives sessions, near-death experiences, and evidential mediums. In chapter 5 of the Shining Light Parents Speak book, Bill Van Oije explains ‘After my son Greg passed on, he has talked to me a lot in dreams and telepathically. He said, ‘It was your time to wake up, Dad’. Greg has confirmed to me in our conversations that it was part of our soul contract.’
Bill explains ‘We have traveled together over many lifetimes: he’d been my father, I’d been his father. This time it was his turn to be my son. We’ve learned over time to communicate with each other. That’s why it comes so easily for me now because we’ve been practicing this for many, many incarnations.’
The wisdom and transformative power of messages from these children indicates that that they may be more highly advanced energies / souls.
8. Wisdom Behind Old Sayings
There are often reasons why old sayings persist over centuries and even millennia. For example, I heard the statement ‘only the good die young’ as a youth and wondered if that were really true. That saying, later popularized in a song by Billy Joel, apparently originated in Histories by Greek historian Herodotus (c. 445 B.C.) who said: ‘Those the gods love die young. The best go first.’ In one story, two youths – replacing missing oxen – hitched themselves to a cart and carried their mother to a festival for the goddess Hera. At the temple, the grateful mother asked Hera to reward her sons with the greatest gift anyone might receive. At that moment, her sons lay down to sleep and passed on.
In the 19th century AD, William Wordsworth, in his poem The Excursion, wrote: ‘The good die first.’ Perhaps these statements by two exemplary authors shared a time-tested observation that more evolved people / souls are more likely to pass on at younger ages.
9. More Evolved Souls May Require a More Balanced Body / Brain
Self-destructive behaviors that sometimes cause childhood deaths include drug / alcohol abuse, extreme risk taking, and suicide attempts. After working with many people for over 50 years in different settings, it’s clear that people who embody more advanced energies do better with optimal self-care and natural health care. Beginner souls don’t seem to require this as much; they can handle excess sugar, chemicals, heavy metals, and EMR better because they aren’t as sensitive. Put another way, they are more immune to these factors that can ‘short circuit’ normal functioning of the brain in more evolved people / souls.
Children who are ‘old souls’ are often empathic and sensitive; as such, they can feel the lower energies – fear, anger, and shame – of people on earth. Higher functioning youth may use drugs and alcohol in an attempt to numb the pain that they see and feel around them. Children with more evolved energies may also be more affected by the toxins listed above. This combination can directly contribute to poor coping strategies that lead to early death. This is a pattern I’ve observed firsthand and from parental reports.
As always, there’s an upside to this. The perils drug and alcohol abuse can teach everyone involved – whether on earth or beyond – that this isn’t a good strategy. Needless deaths can mobilize enough people to improve our world so gifted souls will have what they need to thrive. To learn more, see articles #23 Are You More Evolved and Sensitive? and #64 Drugs, Alcohol, and Greater Reality Living.
10. Philosophical Views
It makes sense that an intelligent and efficiently-designed cosmos would have an ‘early exit option’ in place for souls who don’t need the long version of life on earth. Regarding reincarnation, esteemed polymath Benjamin Franklin stated: “When I see nothing annihilated (in the works of God) and not a drop of water wasted, I cannot suspect the annihilation of souls, or believe that He will suffer the daily waste of millions of minds ready-made that now exist, and put Himself to the continual trouble of making new ones.”
I agree and think a similar logic applies to old souls in the disguise of children who pass on in some manner. From a myopic human perspective, the bodily death of a child is a hopeless tragedy. However, a more expansive view of life considers that bodily death at any age is simply a ticket back Home.
Conclusion
Based on the above evidence and my 50 year search for meaning after working with dying children, my answer to the opening question is ‘Yes, I think it’s quite likely that children who pass on are more advanced souls. Rather than a hopeless sign of an uncaring cosmos, I see this as another expression of a deeply wise, complex, and loving Creative Intelligence.’
Thank you for telling others about this article! Your life, and that of others around you, will be more enriched when you:
- read the article again so you really know it.
- discuss with close family and friends to more deeply internalize it.
- take action steps that seem right for you.
- share it with others via social media, discussion groups, and other ways.
Hugs, love, blessings, and let it shine!
Mark
Mark Pitstick MA, DC
– author, lecturer, counselor, and holistic chiropractic physician
– spokesperson, researcher, and strategic planner for SoulPhone Project
– founder of ‘Greater Reality Healing, Living & Helping Program’
SoulProof.com SoulPhone.org GreaterRealityProgram.com
University-based research has now scientifically proven that life continues after bodily death. The SoulPhone Project will enable communication with postmaterial (so-called “deceased”) loved ones and luminaries who want to help us heal our world. How does this project, The Great News, and The 8 Developments affect the way you live and treat others and our planet? (To learn more, see articles #35, 19, and 125 at SoulProof.com/Articles)
Dr. Pitstick is a master’s clinical psychologist, holistic chiropractic physician, and clinical nutritionist. He has also helped others in pastoral counseling and suicide prevention / education settings. His goal is to help you know and show that this earthly experience is a totally safe, meaningful, and magnificent adventure amidst eternity.
To learn more about the Greater Reality Healing, Living, and Helping Program, visit the ‘Greater Reality Programs’ top tab at SoulProof.com and SoulPhone.org. Also see articles #19, 72, 82, 119, and 125 at SoulProof.com/Articles.
SoulProof.com provides many FREE resources:
- 8 e-books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
- 10 audio programs Holistic Breathing; Afterlife Contact; Ask Your Soul, Angels, and The Light; Pre-Birth Planning; Identify and Fulfill Your Purposes AND Enjoy Your Greatest Life; Your Life Review; Past Life Regression and more
- 4 audio books (Greater Reality Living, Soul Proof, Radiant Wellness, and Shining Light Parents Speak; we don’t have control over the others)
- Soul Proof documentary film
- 132 Articles (as of 8/1/25) answering the most commonly asked questions and providing holistic solutions for your toughest challenges
- 25 Radio Shows: interviews with experts on consciousness, afterlife, and creating an optimal earthly experience. These include Wayne Dyer, Brian Weiss, Anita Moorjani, Raymond Moody, Michael Newton, Caroline Myss, and others.
- 27 Videos on different pages
- monthly newsletters (sign-up at bottom of com and SoulPhone.org)
In lieu of payment, he asks that you: (1) fully use and appreciate the products, (2) share them with others, and (3) help others in ways you feel called.
The following are also available for a fee:
- 8 printed books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
- Coaching / Counseling Sessions with Dr. Pitstick by Zoom to gain answers to your biggest questions and holistic solutions to your toughest challenges.
Note: This article is intended as a reference source, not to replace professional treatment for physical, emotional, or mental problems. The author disclaims any liability arising directly or indirectly from the voluntary use of action steps discussed in article.
Dr. Pitstick created this article while ‘wearing the hat’ of a clinician, counselor, and educator. His statements are based upon some scientific research; much clinical and experiential evidence; his personal experiences; and best current understandings. This article does not reflect his role in the SoulPhone Project since that requires scientific data for all statements.