There are as many paths through aging as there are aging people, but as I look back on my writings, books, blogs, the endless journey entries, I see that this website could really be called "The Mystic's Path of Aging." It is a journey to the center, the source, the divine origin of our deepest self.
I was reading an article about healthy retirement styles recently. It described the many paths followed by retired folks, including continuing their occupational interests in retirement, pursuing entirely new adventures in the world, tackling academic, philosophic or religious interests, spending their time with volunteer activities and grandchildren, or simply enjoying the go-with-the-flow opportunities of their newly acquired freedom, and there is certainly no right or wrong way to experience this time, just your own way. While I, too, balance these paths to fit my temperament, my truest journey of aging has been entering the deep portal of love inside, a portal that seems to open directly into the energies and consciousness of the divine. This dimension of divine union has been described by mystics from all traditions but is clearly the "Road Less Traveled" in our time and culture. Nonetheless, it is my way and I feel most centered when I am centered here.
While I would not insist the mystic's path be everyone's goal, I encourage most people to tap into this dimension of being from time to time as a source of joy, love, insight and inspiration. We can become so entangled in the outer world of problems, goals and dramas that we miss the deep inner stillness that is divine consciousness; that shows us the way of love. In this living divine consciousness, there are no goals or problems, no politics or struggle, no separate self or identity, only the unconditional loving embrace of all being. I love this dimension. It is who I am most deeply.
We live in a self-perpetuating, thought-driven labyrinth of identity, time and story, a mythology that creates ambition and struggle, sadness and grief, separation and war, past and future, and all manner of consumption and pollution. Experiencing the silent divine consciousness of presence, within and without, dissolves the vast serpentine geometry of this labyrinth, and then I am home wherever I am. For me, aging has become the journey back to this consciousness, to an inner light that outshines the mind's categories and restores the radiant perfection of my life.
I was reading an article about healthy retirement styles recently. It described the many paths followed by retired folks, including continuing their occupational interests in retirement, pursuing entirely new adventures in the world, tackling academic, philosophic or religious interests, spending their time with volunteer activities and grandchildren, or simply enjoying the go-with-the-flow opportunities of their newly acquired freedom, and there is certainly no right or wrong way to experience this time, just your own way. While I, too, balance these paths to fit my temperament, my truest journey of aging has been entering the deep portal of love inside, a portal that seems to open directly into the energies and consciousness of the divine. This dimension of divine union has been described by mystics from all traditions but is clearly the "Road Less Traveled" in our time and culture. Nonetheless, it is my way and I feel most centered when I am centered here.
While I would not insist the mystic's path be everyone's goal, I encourage most people to tap into this dimension of being from time to time as a source of joy, love, insight and inspiration. We can become so entangled in the outer world of problems, goals and dramas that we miss the deep inner stillness that is divine consciousness; that shows us the way of love. In this living divine consciousness, there are no goals or problems, no politics or struggle, no separate self or identity, only the unconditional loving embrace of all being. I love this dimension. It is who I am most deeply.
We live in a self-perpetuating, thought-driven labyrinth of identity, time and story, a mythology that creates ambition and struggle, sadness and grief, separation and war, past and future, and all manner of consumption and pollution. Experiencing the silent divine consciousness of presence, within and without, dissolves the vast serpentine geometry of this labyrinth, and then I am home wherever I am. For me, aging has become the journey back to this consciousness, to an inner light that outshines the mind's categories and restores the radiant perfection of my life.