In Praise of Oldness: Longevity, Vitality and the Fulfillment of Meaning

Since I returned to Oregon from Mexico in early March, I have plunged back into the creative development of Sage's Play, and in the process of that, I have naturally found myself immersed in contemplating and considering our culture's perspective on oldness, aging and elders.

Desmond Tutu dances at the Dalai Lama's birthday party

"Why does our society believe old people need help?" asks author James Hillman. "They are the ones who would be, in some other society, passing on help to others: teaching skills, telling stories, leading rituals, caring for children. They have a contribution to make, and instead they are segregated as sick people who need to be nursed. This is ridiculous."

With all this I wholeheartedly agree.

When I am sitting here with my Sage's Play hat on, and my Sage's Play glasses on, I am often inspired to sing praises to oldness, to its value, richness, depth, and the essential resonance of oldness, which we find so powerful and comforting. Oldness, staying power, lasting, the accumulated pile of life experience, of knowing, caring, leading, setting a good example, keeping the faith, passing on the old stories, showing how to plant the seeds and cultivate the garden of this life.

Maya Angelou

As I have said before, I believe it would do us all good to create an Elder Hall of Fame!  I have a list of many people I have been collecting and all of them are worthy candidates. Of course there's the Dalai Lama and Bishop Desmond Tutu, both of whom are great examples of sages at play.

And poets Maya Angelou and Stanley Kunitz. Comedian Betty White, along with Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Pablo Casals, Pablo Picasso, Bernie Sanders, Tao-Porchon Lynch, teaching yoga in her 90s,  Robert Redford, Leonard Cohen, Jane Goodall, among others. Because I am interested in art, many of the elders I chose are artists of one sort or another.  Who would you want to add to the Elder Hall of Fame if there was one and you were on the panel?

Perhaps you might find it useful, as I have, to take a long look at the old people you admire. What is it that you find most fascinating or touching about them? What kind of oldness do you want to embody? What qualities do you want to continue to cultivate in yourself as you age?

Twyla Tharp

This morning, I listened to a great talk by Ashton Applewhite, a pro-aging activist based in NYC whose work I admire and support. In her talk, Ashton discusses prevalent stereotypes about aging and how they impact older adults and society at large. Because let's face it, not all older people are as clear in their life mission and work as are those I am mentioning here. Many elders find it difficult to push through the age prejudice in our society to contribute their valuable skills and knowledge.

Age discrimination and prejudice are bad for our health and the health of our world. It's as simple as that. You can watch Ashton Applewhite's incisive, information-packed talk on ageism here. I highly recommend it....you can also take a look at her website This Chair Rocks.

Incidentally, I post a lot of great articles and observations about aging on the Sage's Play Facebook page.

Well, that's a collection of links for you to explore...and here is one more,  just for good measure. Have you taken a look at our revamped Sage's Play website? There are some delightful changes and additions you might like to see.

Right now, I am revising Your Audacious Aging Kit and  developing a new e-course titled Into the Mystery: The Healing Power of Memoir and Life Review. I feel rejuvenated and filled with fresh inspiration from my sojourn in Mexico. Stay tuned...and enjoy the magic of the approaching full moon!

The Elder Hall of Fame: Vandana Shiva

We have a Baseball Hall of Fame and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but as yet we do not have an Elder Hall of Fame to celebrate elders who are remarkable, outstanding examples of what human beings can be in their later years. I hope we don't have to wait too many more years before an Elder Hall of Fame is created.  I wonder what city it will be located in. 

 I like to imagine attending the yearly award ceremonies designed to honor elders in different fields. Can you feel how wonderful this would be, too? Having an Elder Hall of Fame that acknowledges the significant contributions of elders in the arts, science, the environment, philosophy, athletics, business, etc...It tickles me to imagine it coming into fruition.







I have quite a list of elders I want to nominate for the Elder Hall of Fame. They are people I deeply admire for their passionate commitment to their life work. Dr. Vandana Shiva is one of them. At 60, she is still a young elder.

Do you know of her and her work? Let me tell you something about it, and in the course of that, you will understand why I admire her so. Perhaps it's best to start by recognizing the breadth and depth of her vision.  Well-known as an environmental activist and author of numerous books, Shiva is inspiring, a brilliant thinker and a tireless advocate for the wellbeing of the Earth and its creatures.

To me, it seems that ecological/-environmental issues are the main issues of our time. We utterly depend upon the Earth's integrity, diversity and health in order to continue living here as a species. Most of us are quite aware of how the  globalization of corporate power has affected the Earth and its creatures. This is the arena in which Vandana Shiva chooses to work --exposing how global corporations are plundering the Earth, and developing solutions for that depredation.

Vandana Shiva was born in Dehra Dun, India at the foothills of the Himalayas. Her father was a conservator of forests and her mother was a farmer.  Both parents were staunch supporters of Gandhi and Shiva herself espouses Gandhi's philosophy, saying "I have tried to be the change I want to see." This statement is simple enough, but when a human embodies it as Vandana Shiva has done, it is deeply moving. That is to say, I am deeply moved by her vision, her dedication and the profoundly integrative understanding she brings to the biggest issues of our era.

Before becoming an activist, Dr. Shiva was one of India's leading physicists. Troubled by what she calls the dark side of science, she decided to become a theoretical physicist rather than a nuclear physicist as she had originally planned.  If it were not for her enormous curiosity about social issues, she might have settled into a rather quiet life in academia. That was not to be.

The listing of her books, research and organizations she has created is long. She has received many honors and much recognition, and rightly so. She is described as an eco-feminist because she speaks to the inclusion of women. She has fought for change in the way we view agriculture and food. She created Navdanya, an organization that has developed native seed banks on 57 areas of India, as a response to corporate attempts to control what is grown and how seeds are passed along. Do you know how important an issue seeds are? Without biodiversity and free native seed exchange, we are imprisoned in corporate control of seeding, subject to dangerous GMOs and prevented from growing food in a natural, local way.

The Utne Reader) describes Shiva as "a one-woman movement for peace, sustainability and social justice."  I have to agree with that description. She is a person who has plunged into major social// environmental issues and applied her intellect and passion to creating solutions. I have only touched on some of her interests, involvements and accomplishments.

If you are inspired to learn more about her and her life work, you can Google her books or read some of her Resurgence Magazine articles.

If you wanted, you could even get more involved than that in her work to support global biodiversity, 
small, decentralized and local agriculture other sustainability efforts. As is stated in a website devoted to her green work, "Ecological recovery cannot be based on centralized and globalised control over resources. It has to be based on the decentralized logic of Gandhi’s “ever-widening, never ascending’ circles."

Vandana Shiva: an elder worthy of praise and support. I nominate her for the Elder Hall of Fame. 

George Leonard and Mary Daly

Two remarkable people passed away recently. George Leonard at 86, Mary Daly at 81. Both were cultural provocateurs and social change artists. Both could qualify for The Elder Hall of Fame.

Mary Daly, widely known as a radical feminist theologian or philosopher, wrote books heralded as groundbreaking in feminist and spiritual thought. One work, Webster's First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language, presented a lexicon of non-sexist language and reclaimed scorned words like crone and hag as emblems of pride.

George Leonard was one of the pioneers of the human potential moment at Esalen Institute in California. His book Education and Ecstasy was considered one of the first manifestos of that movement.

Here is what the New York Times said about the lives of each of these elders.

George Leonard

Mary Daly

The Elder Hall of Fame

We have a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Baseball Hall of Fame, and seems to me we could use an Elder Hall of Fame. Now this is not a complete list in any way, in terms of my own nominations. But here are a few elders I put forth for your consideration.

Three of them are known as spiritual leaders.
Mahatma Gandhi
Mother Theresa
The Dalai Lama

There are the 2 Alberts, Albert Einstein and Albert Schweitzer, faves of mine since childhood.

And here are some others. I admire the political activist Granny D., who at 89 walked across the country to draw attention to campaign reform. Of course I should mention Jack La Lanne, embodying and teaching physical fitness far into the later years, and B.B. King, a great blues singer who continues to perform in his 80s. And I want to include Clarissa Pinkola Estes, mythologist, storyteller, and author of Women Who Run with the Wolves.

Robert Butler M.D. who created the word ageist and is credited with creating the field of aging has my vote as does the recently deceased Gene Cohen, M.D., Ph.D. author of The Mature Mind and The Creative Age. And Rabbi Zalman Schachter, who coined the phrase spiritual eldering and wrote the wonderful book From Aging to Saging.

Here's a few others whose lives and work I contemplate:
Anne Halprin, innovative dancer and choreographer
James Hillman author of Force of Character and the Lasting Life
Maya Angelou, poet, civil rights activist, best selling author
Artist Louise Bourgeois, pushing 100 and still producing amazing art
Barbara Marx Hubbard, at 80 working for positive futures for humanity
Irene Pappas, the marvelous Greek actress and singer

Oh, how about Ram Dass and Wavy Gravy? They are great examples of humor, service and heartful living.

And I must include some of my townspeople here. Like John and Dot Fisher-Smith, both in their early 80s, riding their bikes all over town. And the painters Charu Colorado, Harriet Rex Smith and Betty La Duke. The dancer/choreographer Robin Bryant. The poet Lawson Inada. Just a few of the vivid elders I am fortunate to live among.

That's just for starters, a mere amuse-bouche so to speak. There are so many more. I wonder who you would choose to nominate for the Elder Hall of Fame? What elders inspire you?

The photos are of Albert Einstein, Barbara Marx Hubbard and Maya Angelou