Intro to the Spiritual Aging Study Guide

Let's Walk this Stretch of our Journey through Life Together

How you age is not a problem to be solved but a spiritual choice.

I am seeking an advanced party of old souls to help me lay the groundwork for the Spiritual Aging Support and Study Group (SASS) now launching here at Substack. SASS (defined as “having an attitude”) has just posted a sample entry below. Subscribe now to begin receiving study guide posts to your inbox on a regular basis. We are currently working with my bestselling book Older, Wiser, Fiercer on a monthly basis through 2024 then in December, moving our focus to my forthcoming book Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections for Embracing Life (Inner Traditions, December, 2024) for weekly study guides and conversation, seeking and sharing wisdom.

The following is both a sneak preview of my forthcoming book Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections for Embracing Life as well as an example of a Spiritual Aging Study Guide entry.

____________________________________

Why Aren’t I Enlightened Yet?

After all these years of spiritual practice, how can I finally get what I came here for?

“You drive yourself through life, hoping to take full advantage of every opportunity to fulfill your potential: coming to understand everything that has eluded you, resolving all your life's issues, mending every relationship and maturing spiritually. You want nothing more than culmination. But your aspirations, even as lofty as these, deplete you and keep you busy striving at a time when what is truly called for is to make space for quiet and peace and let your life flow freely as it will.”

                         – Spiritual Aging: Weekly Reflections for Embracing Life.

Questions for Journaling or Discussion

·       What do you think you “came here for?” and how would you know when you’ve achieved it?

·       Can you be whole even if something in your life is incomplete or imperfect?

·       What would “making the space for life to flow freely” look like for you? What would you have to sacrifice?

·       What can come next, if you’re willing to take the radical leap of faith that you’re already good enough and there’s nothing more you have to do, be or prove?

Carol’s Back Story

I do not regret being a seeker, but I do admit that at times the search for meaning and purpose in my life has been exhausting. Then I read Carl Jung’s definition of life’s primary purpose as “expanding one’s consciousness.”  It was a relief when I finally understood that purpose begins with coming to know more about myself and life moment by moment, even or perhaps especially when an honest appraisal causes discomfort. I have learned over time not to automatically push against obstacles but to deepen and expand.

A Spiritual Aging Exercise

To find the cutting edge of your own growth, and to assist in your discernment, try this exercise.

1.       Make a list of all your “If only…then” pairs.  For instance:  “If only I lived closer to my children…then I would be less anxious about older age.”

2.       Now revisit this list, changing every “If only…then” to “Even though…I could be.” So in the example above, you’d rewrite it to read: “Even though I don’t live closer to my children, I could be less anxious about older age.”

You don’t have to know at this point how you are going to bring this about, for enlightenment is a process not a destination.  If you find that any one or more of your “Even though…I could be” rewrites are too far a stretch for you right now, you have found the cutting edge of your spiritual growth. Be gentle with yourself as you practice the spiritual principle “progress not perfection.”

Additional Resource

To see this principle in action, and have a fun read along the way, take a look at just about any of Anne Lamott’s books including her recently published Somehow:Thoughts on Love. Anne provides a great role model for accepting one’s imperfection seasoned with equal doses of self-deprecating humor and self-acceptance.  In other words, she shows us how to stop trying harder to achieve even our loftiest spiritual goals and give our hearts plenty of space to breathe.

I’ll give the last word to Anne Lamott on this one. “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” To which we respond: Amen, Anne, Amen.

___________

Dear Old Soul,

I hope you enjoy this preview. Please subscribe to join the Spiritual Aging Study and Support Group. (SASS) We are laying our foundation by working through the study guide for Older, Wiser, Fiercer together week by week for individual journaling and group conversation. Thanks for your interest and support. I relish walking this patch of our journey through life together.

With SASS,

Carol Orsborn