Fierce with Age Archives, Vol. 1

Special Message to Tail End Boomers

“Plummet into aging, stare mortality in the eye, surrender everything and what else is there left to fear? The way is perilous, danger on all sides. But we are no longer a generation afraid of age.  We are becoming, instead, a generation fierce with age.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   –Carol Orsborn

Welcome to this special edition of the Fierce with Age Archives, a collection of writings about spiritual aging curated especially for Substack.

When I was transiting my 50’s an d 60’s, I led a team of archivists and contributors who gathered nearly 1000 digest entries and links ranging from the classics to cutting-edge thought leaders, including Joan Chittister, Ram Dass, Parker J. Palmer, James Hollis and many more. It’’s been humbling to learn that we were not the first generation to face the spiritual challenges of aging, and at the same time comforting to realize are we are not alone. 

I originally shared these with my peers, leading edge Baby Boomers. But there’s been a whole new segment of our generational cohort who have come into age since then: the tail end Boomers who are now in their 50’s and 60’s. Let us continue to learn from  each other, and from the visionaries from the generations who came before, that aging is a life stage with purpose and meaning of its own: not a problem to be solved, but a culmination of life to be embraced.

So welcome. What follows is the first of a series of monthly editions, joining with my blog series and study guides. Enjoy the wisdom of those who came before illuminating the path to what matters most.

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FIERCE WITH AGE ARCHIVES: VOLUME 1

THE MYSTICAL NATURE OF AGING

In The Three Secrets of Aging: Seeking Enlightenment in the New Aging, author John C. Robinson, Ph.D. asks the profound question:  “What if people began to experience age-related changes in consciousness as essentially mystical in nature?”

Some signs, described by John:  “A gradual fading away of identity, as if who you were or think you are is no longer very important or even that real…a loss of ‘high gear,’ that hard-driving, goal-oriented focus on getting things done, and a concomitant shift in values from pressured doing to naturally flowing being…Memory failures (for names, details, intentions, ideas, and habits) and so on.

In other words, and this is just one of John’s breakthrough insights, these are the flip side of the very things that until we recognize the real truth, purpose and meaning of aging, we take to be problems:  loss-of identity, marginalization, erosion of physical and mental capabilities. These may be re-visioned, instead, as the path to enlightenment.

For more:  

http://www.johnrobinson.org

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CONTENT IN MY OWN COMPANY

“Childhood is finished, adolescence long gone, early adulthood and middle age, vanished. Yet even into my late forties, I held onto the hope that by some special magic provided to myself alone I would escape aging, not to mention dying, that somehow, I would be borne along on the beneficent stream of time, nicely preserved at a pleasant age, say 30 or so, hair all shiny black, body slender, with the smooth skin of relative youth. What a struggle it was, surrendering that fantasy. It took years of releasing, mourning and grieving. I ‘m not saying it’s completely done yet.  But much of it has lifted off.

I find that I am content in my own company. This must be what I need at this time in my life. My daughters are grown. I’ve been single for over a decade, and I’m sailing toward 70. I don’t know if I will live till the morning or until I’m 80. But I do know I am in the winter of my life. And that gives everything I experience and want an edge.”

From Gaea Yudron.  Excerpt from Songs of the Inner Life. For more on Gaea, click HERE.

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DO NOT GO QUIETLY

“In the world we were born into we were taught to focus on the past and project ahead into the future. Carrots and sticks, goals, objectives, fears, threats of punishment, promises of approval and of rewards, acceptance, and acknowledgment, these are the tools that have been employed to induct us into a way of living that is, we are discovering, as unhealthy as it is unnatural.

Is it any wonder then that our experience in the present moment is often uncomfortable? We fidget. We experience anxiety. We wonder what we are supposed to do because we have been taught that ‘being’ is not enough. That ‘doing’ and ‘becoming’ rather than ‘surrendering’ and ‘allowing’ are the reasons for living. As a result, ‘being’ is unknown territory. And when faced with the suggestion that we just ‘be,’ discomfort shows up….

Yes, with a slight shift of awareness away from what you have done (past) or might do (future), away from doubt and worry and to a focus on what is currently going on, you will step through a doorway into the realm of new opportunities, new experiences, and new levels of interaction with yourself and others. Through this doorway, everything is possible! Through this doorway, you will be able to sense and even merge with the presence of God, Oneness, Source, Divinity, or whatever you call the organizing force of the Universe.”

–George and Sedena Cappannelli, Do Not Go Quietly: A Guide to Living Consciously and Aging Wisely for People Who Weren’t Born Yesterday.

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FORGIVING ONESELF IS DAUNTING

“Forgiving yourself for who you are instead of what you’ve done requires vast reserves of honesty and fortitude.

This year I forgave myself for not …making it to Broadway, and even more for not having the nerve to try or the perseverance to keep on trying. I forgave myself for not writing a bestseller and for not being someone who rushes to the scene of a natural disaster to help with muscle instead of money… Forgiving oneself is a daunting proposition, but it is a cleansing exercise.

All of us with a half a lifetime behind us should grant ourselves a day of reckoning before moving on to greet a new dawn, rife with possibilities for enlightenment and also for screwing up anew.”

–By Blogger Karin Kasdin, “Forgiving Yourself is Oh So Hard to Do” in Huffpo 50.

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