That's a Lot of Souls

9/13/2023

People assume that the earth's current population exceeds the number of people who have ever lived in the past, but this may be far from accurate.

According to a group called the Population Reference Bureau, "about 117 billion births have taken place since 190,000 BCE, far outnumbering the 8 billion people who are alive today."

117 billion. That is a lot of people and a lot of incarnated souls.

So how did PRB arrive at this conclusion?

Well, it "used population estimates from various points in history and prehistory and applied an assumed birth rate (which got lower over time, to reflect the declining birth rate). The method gave a rough estimate of the number of births . . ."

Moreover, PRB claims that 117 billion may be a gross underestimation, and if they were to revisit and revise their figures, they would likely increase the 117 billion to, well, who knows?

PRB’s methods sound like they come straight from “the science,” and the organization is all about helping to "build climate resilience", so color me skeptical when it comes to the 117+ billion figure.

Still, the notion that the people who have ever lived on earth since 190,000 B.C. outnumbers our current population of eight billion makes sense to me.

Granted, the vast majority of those people did not make it past the age of five, but they were born, and they did live, so they do count.

I don’t think we can ever truly know how many people lived and died in the world in the past 200,000 years, but I think we can safely say that number easily surpasses eight billion, which means this world of ours has hosted a lot of souls through the ages.

And if you believe in God and Creation, as I do, then each one of those souls came into the world for a specific spiritual purpose. Anyway you estimate it, that’s a lot of souls and a lot of specific spiritual purposes.

13 Comments

Evan Pangburn

9/13/2023 21:18:51

The number of souls to births would not be 1 to 1 if one believes in reincarnation.

I myself am undecided on the issue but several men who I consider wise believe that reincarnation happens, at least sometimes.

This includes the belief that reincarnation was common before the coming of Christ, and is now rare or no longer occurring at all.

Francis Berger

9/14/2023 10:00:08

@ Evan - Good point. See Wm's comment below for more on the subject of reincarnation.

NLR

9/14/2023 02:56:56

Definitely thought provoking.

I would be curious to know how many have lived during the different eras. From their calculations, it would look like most people who have lived were during prehistoric times and that itself says something.

9/14/2023 18:14:23

@ NLR - If I read the info correctly, the majority is in prehistoric times. As to the specific calculations used, who knows? Regardless, I think it's the conclusion that counts, and that conclusion can be imagined even without knowing the calculations.

9/15/2023 03:00:43

I looked at their chart (https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/) and their breakdown of the estimates is interesting.

From 190,000 years ago up until the start of agriculture is about 9 billion people born.

And then 55 billion before the time of the birth of Jesus. About half of all human beings who have lived.

And then from the start of the modern world (whether one thinks 1650 or 1750 is a better estimate), that's about 20 - 23 billion. So, we have one sixth of all people living in the modern era.

And that leaves us with around 40 billion or a third of the total who lived between the birth of Jesus and the beginning of the modern era.

William James Tychonievich link

9/14/2023 08:10:38

If you believe in reincarnation, the number of distinct souls could be considerably lower than that -- but still enormous, of course. Even the current population of the world is an unimaginably large number.

bruce g charlton

9/14/2023 17:56:20

Another aspect is the probably very high proportion of fetuses that used to die in the womb, maybe tens of percent of all fertilized eggs. If these were incarnate souls, as seems likely, this factor may almost double the numbers.

I have always regarded it as vital that a valid explanation of salvation should be able to clarify the potentially positive life purposes of such very numerous people - i.e. those who experience intrauterine life only.

9/14/2023 18:16:45

@ Bruce - Yes, that is vital, and it is good that you have explored that theme on your blog.

9/15/2023 08:39:05

@ NLR - Thanks for details. Fascinating stuff. When I ponder things like this, I experience the same feeling I get when I stare up at the stars in the night sky.

Lady Mermaid

9/17/2023 22:30:39

That is a beautiful way of looking at the birth of children. Even a baby who dies in the womb will be resurrected into eternal life. This explains why pronatalist programs such as those in Hungary haven't been too successful. Having children is simply a way to create more taxpayers to fund retirement systems rather than adding to God's creation. Imagine if we viewed each baby being born as having a God given destiny rather than just a future worker bee.

9/18/2023 07:37:37

@ LM - Spot on. Good comment.

lea

9/23/2023 08:44:51

Two notions that need to be looked at regarding this:
-Are souls only for human beings?
-Are souls only for earthly beings?

To dip further into that, no a fruitfly does not have a soul in the sense we may usually define it, but there very well might be a species or locality bound 'group-soul' phenomenon going on with creatures like that. Supposing a lion or elephant might carry an individual soul of sorts, it's guesswork as to how they experience reality and what level of contemplation about it they reach at all. It's a topic that interests me deeply lacking answers completely. Apparently dolphins are not that far removed from our theoretical average intellectual capacity yet it's very unlikely they have notions of cosmogony, theurgy, God in any kind of framework.

Secondly, the idea that migration and movement of souls, if you do believe reincarnation can and does happen i suppose, is limited to our planet only seems absurd to me. Earth is probably a special place, but there is basically no chance it exists, or ever has existed, in some kind of vacuum not influenced by the rest of the universe.

As a sideline, this is just one of the many reasons why i feel disconnected from modern philosophy and most of its assumptions since it is all seated in a set of ideas about our intellect and senses being the penultimate tools to describe and 'predict' reality.
And then we slowly but surely moved into a world where everything that falls outside of the pre-determined perceptual boxes is rendered impossible, non-existent, a figment of the imagination.

As such, by turning the imagination and the 'fringes' of perception into a laughing stock, we have disconnected ourselves from really seeing the world. The dominant world view deeply affects perception, just like language itself and culture does. Whatever way we shape that cuts off or opens up possibilities instead.

9/23/2023 18:59:04

@ lea -

Are souls only for human beings?

Probably not. Some, as you say, believe in the idea of a group soul for animals. But why group instead of individual? Have to think about that a bit.

Are souls only for earthly beings?

I believe the universe to be filled with eternal, pre-existing Beings -- so, no, probably not only earthly beings.

With that in mind, I think it imperative to keep the focus on souls and other matters as near and personal as possible, at least during our mortal lives.

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That's a Lot of Souls

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