Meade on Aging and Death
~ At the end, the living spirit of one’s life is supposed to shine through the tatters of the body’s mortal cloak. The gold of the self is supposed to become more visible despite and because the body begins to fall apart. The inner knowledge is supposed to shine through and become more available as the elder becomes a kind of “living library.” Traditionally, elders were valuable resources and depositories of knowledge that could provoke wisdom in others.
~ The passing of time makes everyone older, but not necessarily wiser. Many actually become more infantile and childish in old age. An extended old age can easily lead to a return of infantile attitudes and exaggerations of ego-drive. A person either wises up to who they are their core or else slips into narrow patterns of ego-centricity.
~ It’s not just that people try to appear younger than their years and seem willing to trade the possibilities of wisdom for the appearance of youth. It’s not only that people exploit the present in ways that damage the future for others, but also that those we expect to remember what life is all about increasingly forget who they are and have been.
~ Mentors and elders are those who have awakened to their own inner gifts and life callings. In learning to live with genuine purpose they develop a second sight and become able to perceive the gifted nature and natural inclinations of other people.
~ What is the point of living longer if it doesn’t mean becoming wiser and being more able to serve something beyond one’s little self? Youth may often be wasted on the young,” but old age seems to be increasingly wasted on the elders. When those who are “old enough to know better” forget what it is all about, then older is not wiser and aging is being wasted on the aged.
The last stages of life either move toward a cloud of forgetting or toward a dusky light in which a person comes to see the reflection of meaning and purpose in their own life. If a person does not come to know themselves in some depth, they come to the end full of fears and angers, they arrive at the final moment unresolved, having forgotten who they were to begin with.
~ The point of aging is to slow downward, to descend further into the life intended by the soul. The point in aging is to fully incarnate the dream that brought each soul to life to begin with. In consciously slowing down something ancient and meaningful may finally catch up to one’s life. In turning consciously within, a person may more readily find what they were longing for all along.
~ Many die without dignity because death has lost its dignified place in life’s mortal drama. Death is only admitted when the bodily functions fail and there is finally no alternative left but to give up on life. Having lost its connection to fate and its secret ties to destiny, death has become nothing more than a failure of life. Unfortunately, when death is diminished, life loses some of its natural dignity.
~ We have to grow not just older but deeper.
Post note: Read about a Micheal Meade workshop I attended HERE. Visit his website HERE.
July 1st, 2011 8:50 pm
OY VEY!!! I find this whole thing very very de pressing..! I don’t undrrstand what the hell this man is talking about?? I just turned 80, as you know, and if I actually thought any of this was accurate–I would Effing kill myself!!! (LOL)
This has no real meaning fir me, my dear Colleen….Honestly. Sorry about this, but I think it is all B.S.
July 1st, 2011 9:37 pm
That’s because this doesn’t apply to you, Naomi, because, from what I can tell you have an inner life, you have and are leading a life where you continue to learn and share in your own soulful way. Not everyone does. When I re-read, it does sound rather one-sided and I’m sorry about that, but I think all he is saying is don’t live an empty life and end up not knowing yourself.
July 2nd, 2011 9:49 am
PS These quotes that I pulled from Michael’s book Fate and Destiny are also a reminder to myself not to live an unexamined life, not to distract myself from what feels bad with shortcuts and happy quick fixes. I believe the way to good feelings is to go through the bad feelings and that’s how I learn and grow whole.
I just added line four, hope that balances it out some.
July 2nd, 2011 10:39 am
So well said!
July 2nd, 2011 5:33 pm
well I think this is pertinent. that’s right. pertinent. it sure sings a tune I wish to recognize. a whole lot. an unexamined life. that’s rich. thanks for today’s gift Colleen.
July 2nd, 2011 5:40 pm
Colleen, is this taken from a particular book of his? I’d like to read it. or explore more at the very least. thanks.
July 2nd, 2011 10:37 pm
They come from the book Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul.
July 3rd, 2011 7:58 am
I’m watching someone who has steadfastly led an unexamined life as she declines. Now that her physicality is lessened, there seems to be nothing there, no wisdom, no thoughts, nothing to contribute. It’s sad.
July 4th, 2011 3:12 pm
I see this very interesting and well said!! xo
I would love to read the book.