Thom Hartmann, the "Edison Gene," and "old souls"

[trotsky]

Thom Hartmann, for those who don't know, is a liberal radio host and author who has written extensively on ADHD and other childhood issues. Check out his website sometime: http://www.thomhartmann.com/

His latest book, "The Edison Gene," is a fascinating read. I've only scanned a few parts of it, but there's a ton of useful info if you want to check it out sometime. Very briefly, the "Edison Gene" is what Thom calls the genetic predisposition towards ADHD-like symptoms: short attention span but the ability to intensely focus on a task, etc.

Anyway, there is a segment of the book where he talks about how other cultures view ADHD individuals, in particular India. On a train ride with some Indian gentlemen, he discovered that the common view there is that these people are "old souls" - souls that are near the end of their karmic cycle. They've learned just about all the lessons they have needed to, and are now just tying up loose ends, and are extremely close to the goal of enlightenment.

Now, on to why I bring this up. This weekend we were driving and our almost-6-y.o. son nodded off. We looked back to see that not only were his eyes closed and face in a very relaxed state, but both his hands had the index fingers and thumbs touching, you know kind of how they look in the traditional "lotus pose" position.

We thought this was just incredibly cute. But when the car stopped, he woke up, and we asked him why he had held his hands that way. "Oh, I was just clearing my mind" he said.

"Old souls," indeed?

Probing further, I asked where he had learned to do that. "From Pee-Wee, Daddy. When he sits down and clears his mind." We have a few episodes of Pee-Wee's Playhouse on tape, and I remembered the one episode where Pee-Wee does indeed sit in a lotus pose and meditate while "clearing his mind." LOL, what a funny kid.

[FourStarDemocrat]

1. Nice post..I will have to read Tom Hartmann's articles

I have a son with ADHD (mostly ADD and complicated by Tourettes) who fits that mold. Whatever he is interested in he takes to the limits in reading about and researching, practicing.. And what he is not interested in it is always a struggle at school and at homework time to keep him on task. He's in 6th grade- fortunately he's extended the work they're doing in Humanities, which learning about ancient civilizations into a hobby of reseaching more and creating scrapbooks, etc because he loves the topic. He is also a whiz on the saxophone and loves math and science, but has no patience for taking tests that involve writing essays and any school topic that is remotely boring. He is very spiritual in many ways, and may very well be an 'old soul'. :)