A growing number of people are devoting themselves to this fascinating and creative work, which aims to reframe what it means to grow older in our society.  Contemporary Western culture provides little support or guidance for the journey some are calling Second Adulthood, The Third Chapter, Encore, or Prime Time. This stage of later adulthood allows us to appreciate more fully our lives as a gift of time, and to acknowledge this time as all the more precious because it is limited.

 

The ageism that pervades our society, and associates aging only with decline and disability (which we call the Declinist paradigm), works against many older people’s natural drive to continue growing and deepening in later life. In contrast to this view, we consider these years of active aging an opportunity for discovery and growth (the Opportunity paradigm). 

 

Swedish sociologist Dr. Lars Tornstam proposed a theory of positive aging that he called gerotranscendence: breaking through the limited perspectives and awareness that characterized our younger years. In earlier stages of life, we are by necessity focused on a largely individualistic agenda, achieving an education finding a job establishing ourselves in a career, raising a family. In later life, we begin to understand that our lives are deeply linked to our past and to history that goes back even before our birth. Likewise, we are connected to an unknown future that we are in the process of creating. During these years, we learn more about ourselves, appreciating our complexity, accepting our limitations, and developing a new kind of inner confidence and wisdom. We enjoy fewer, but deeper relationships and find pleasure in solitude. We are less interested in material possessions and freer to be ourselves, even in the face of social conventions.

 

Perhaps the most important opportunity at this stage of life is to engage in the inner, spiritual work that requires a passage from constant doing into the cultivation of being.  While the concept of spirituality can mean different things to different people, in general we may say that it is the search for something greater than the material world we can see with our eyes and understand with our rational minds.  Rabbi Arthur Green speaks of it as an inner life where a person reaches beyond their individual self to link with all other selves and to the single Spirit or Self of the universe which we might call ‘God’.

 

Why do we need spiritual practices? It would be nice to assume that a person becomes wise and compassionate just by gaining years, but that isn’t always so. For many people that growth must be fostered by spiritual practices adopted and followed in a disciplined way, practices which are intended to develop our awareness and mindfulness. To this end, Wise Aging encourages contemplative practices such as meditation, journaling, walking in nature, reading poetry, and listening deeply to a friend. Similarly, Wise Aging incorporates ideas that are present in all the great spiritual traditions, drawing on wisdom texts not only from Judaism, but also from Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.

 

So welcome to the club of thoughtful wise agers! We believe the experience will enrich your life and deepen your relationships with those around you. Our society aches from the lack of the voices of wisdom of its elders. Indeed, the nature and quality of our lives on this planet depends as much on the wisdom gleaned from our experiences as it does on the energy and discoveries of younger generations. Our voices, ripened with time and experience, must be heard. We may protest or lobby or speak out, or we may display our power through the way we are: loving, generous and wise. We are a blessing!