Passive Organic Portals? & leg/knee Shaking
Ruth, OP's just represent a different "sort" of person, and I think they are as fascinating to study as psychopaths, souled people, and every other "kind" of person. All having different internal configurations (with some similarities), and the more we understand every "kind" of person, the better off we'll be, osit.
Having said that, the idea of OP, although supported by various evidence, is still theoretical. We don't even know what a soul is and what it isn't - we have some hypotheses but until we have working knowledge that CAN be verified and reliably applied, there is no sense in "OP spotting", osit. There certainly are people that simply are unable to grok certain sorts of concepts, often being "stuck" on certain level and unable to understand above that level, and they do this consistently regardless of subject matter, which, if observed over a period of time, creates the impression that there's some deficiency in them, something preventing them from understanding things at a certain level. But this can also happen to people that simply are heavily programmed to such a degree that their minds have an artificial box, full of blocks and buffers.
However, there is a subtle difference there that I noticed, which might present a clue. I noticed that some people who seem to be very heavily programmed and unable to escape certain thinking CAN think on a higher abstract level when the subject matter has to do with something outside of their programming - assuming you can find that hole that their programming hasn't yet "covered". But once you find that subject that does not trigger sacred cows and forces them into pre-programmed thought loops, it's like a totally different person. Conversely, I also noticed that other people seem to be simply limited in all subject matter, that they simply are stuck in a "box" that does not seem to be sacred-cow based, as it persists with every topic/subject and seems to do more with their mind and thinking process in general.
The C's did talk about intellectual capacity being different in people, so this could of course be an explanation which might have nothing to do with a soul. But there's a subtle difference there too, it's not even so much critical thinking - they might be capable of critical thinking, but even that critical thinking is stuck in a box, and although within that box they might have amazing mental flexibility, that box still exists, and it's very hard for me to define the nature of the box exactly - it's hard to put my finger on exactly what this difference is. Some subjects just happen to perfectly fit within that box, and never require you to think on a higher level - and in those subjects they can easily excel and think critically and logically and be correct. Other subjects rely on more abstract and "esoteric" thinking due to their inherent nature, and that's where it becomes more obvious that those people have some sort of limitation that they cannot seem to go around. But it's still not clear to me just "what" those people are and what they aren't. And it's definitely not easy to instantly know when you're dealing with such an individual, at least for me, because of how many different reasons there are for people to be "out of the loop" with certain subjects or thinking approaches. And when factoring intellectual capacity into the picture, the waters are muddied even more. So while there may be subtle differences, usually it takes a long time before you can begin to rule out things like "intellectual capacity" - you can't just tell right away, osit.
Anyway that's just been my experience, and it's all just a hypothesis. And I should add, I'm a leg shaker, in fact I was shaking my legs as I noticed/read this thread. I usually do it when I'm not in contact with other people, but doing something like reading things online etc. I also tap and make all sorts of "beats" with my fingers/hands if my hands have nothing to do. I think probably those 2 things are related, although I do the "finger-beat" thing now also cuz it's fun to do, to see what sorts of new beats/combinations I can come up with - sometimes I impress myself with how complicated I can make them, it's like having your own portable drumset! :D
I think it's burning of excess energy, but I don't think it's because I got that energy from "feeding" on other people necessarily. Probably due to my lack of natural exercise and movement - I spend a lot of time just sitting on the computer - at work, and then at home. So I guess my body finds its own ways to "move" or something. It does help to relax and focus, probably what Laura mentioned, that repetitive rhythmic aspect of it. I know some people are more "antsy" than others, some can sit perfectly still, others have difficulty with that. I think I'm the latter.
I should mention that today I did a lot of exercise (pushups, situps, etc), so my muscles are pretty tired - and yet I shake anyway. So I don't think it's lack of exercise, at least not today - so either it wasn't enough exercise, or there's a supplementary reason for the shaking? Dunno..