WHO

The Contemporary Elder Institute

The Elder Council

There is no hierarchy in the council. It is a circle of elders, each holding equal weight. The council uses higher wisdom, not leadership, to do its business.

 

The council provides context, wisdom, insight, guidance, and life experience to form the future of the Institute and its Sangha.

 

The council generates the framework and content of our online Sangha gatherings and retreats.

 

The council feeds higher wisdom, compassion, empathy, and conscious reasoning into the institute's culture and the nature of our relationships.

 

The council members are emissaries outside the institute who communicate the value of being an elder as opposed to growing old.

 

The council members are the "gestalt," the concept and phenomenon that has the institute’s Sangha perceived as a whole, distinct from the sum of its parts. A unified expression of what it means to be a contemporary elder.


Dr. Marc Cooper - – Founder and Chairman of the Elder Council


The Contemporary Elder Institute was envisioned when Marc found himself being made obsolete, disregarded, and despondent in his late age. Given his background of experience, knowledge, and relationships with true elders, it became clear to Marc that becoming an elder would transform the concerns, psychology, emotional responses, and the future of late aging.


The Institute is now over two years old, serving members to become elders and creating a community of higher consciousness, deeper self-understanding, and greater intuitive and spiritual capacities to live the last third of life with purpose, passion, and equanimity.


"Remember… the entrance to the sanctuary is inside you."- Rumi
Meet Marc

Dr. Judy Penski - Meditation, Yoga & Breathwork expert for The Contemporary Elder Institute. 


From Judy: "I have practiced yoga asanas, or poses, for 20 years. But it was in the entry to the conscious awareness of my elderhood that I fully grasped the power of yoga practice. On the mat I cultivate vitality. On the mat, I work with balance, stability, agility, and flexibility. On the mat, I develop respiratory strength and an understanding that breath awakens other kinds of deeper awareness. On the mat, I cultivate my spine's physical strength so that I can meditate. In meditation, I learn about my busy mind. In meditation, I learn more and more about timelessness, equanimity, stillness, and relaxed witnessing. I use mindfulness tools in meditation to keep me in the present moment with clear awareness. As I leave the mat, I take all of this with me into daily activity. This is who I am for myself.  This is who I am for this Sangha. I share this path with the Sanga.  We have become fellow travelers in this exploration of being a contemporary elder.  I am the voice to speak with the Sangha of body, breath, and mindful awareness." 
Meet Judy

Dr. David Dinner - Wisdom Keeper for the Contemporary Elder Institute. 


From David: "The beginning and the end––the most important elements in any story. In my case, life began with elegance, after some writhing, wiggling and crying, with a perfect swan dive to the object of my desire, the breast. From then until now, it’s been an uphill and downhill affair, at times a losing fistfight against a giant with brass knuckles and at others a swaddling in an eiderdown comforter by a loving protector. 


The ending, of course, is a mystery. That period in our lives has captured our Sangha’s attention because with diminished physical capabilities and death around the corner, the last years of life can present challenges so fundamentally unique that they can shake even the most solid foundations built in earlier times. We members of the Sangha seek to hold becoming an elder in its richest sense, to enhance our innate wisdom and enliven the world with those qualities. This work gives us the unique opportunity, with the support of others, to take a deep, yet constantly light-hearted look at who we are being, where we’ve been and where we are going, while at the same time remaining constantly present. That is no easy task.


Yet that is my role as Wisdom Keeper and eldest elder. 


A wide sense of awareness and a deep sense of presence in a context of good humor when it is required to lighten up the work when the tone becomes too serious. And it is often too serious." 
Meet David

Dr. Derrill Finch - Pastoral Speaker for the Contemporary Elder Institute. 


From Derrill: "What I bring to the Sangha is an open heart, a creative mind, and a particular spiritual presence, gained from following a path of spiritual inquiry that began in my adolescence, and includes my practice of Passage Meditation for the last 15 years. I believe that a unique spark of divinity resides within each of us and connects us to All of Life. I believe that my own unique bit of divinity is "who I really am", and that my purpose in life is to manifest that, with love and respect for life, and a will to share with and learn from, all."


Pastoral:  relating to the care of souls or spirit.   Spirit:  relating to the human spirit.


I am an elder.  I have practiced Passage Meditation for many years, learning passages and prayers selected from various religions and spiritual traditions and using them in meditation. The passages embody timeless wisdom, and they have helped me understand and embrace the path and spirit of an elder.   In that spirit, I share the passages with our Sangha, by speaking them." 
Meet Derrill

Dr. Mark Silberg-  Humanist for the Contemporary Elder Institute. 


From Mark: "I am a curious and courageous spiritual adventurer, passionate about continuous learning and self-understanding. I take risks for my own growth and development by engaging in disciplines, practices and methods that raise my consciousness to become more self-aware and more self-developed.


I am here to inspire others to go beyond their self- imposed beliefs and limitations.


I bring authenticity and vulnerability to enthuse others to imagine a bigger and more fulfilling future.


 I create the space for people to open their hearts, take risks, have fun, and connect with their true selves.


I have the capacity to reveal my often hidden or smothered unconscious areas of myself that open the gateway to my greater humanity, freedom, and joy.  And an element of this capacity is to be able to share openly that which has been revealed, allowing others to do the same. "

Ed Sancious – Poet, Contemplative Photography, Zen


From Ed: I’m honored to be a part of this Sangha with a focus on sharing awareness, insights, grace and joy through poetry, imaging, and Zen. I hope to impart the reality that with art and creativity there can be the discovery of miracles in the ordinary and that the ordinary is always, in some way, miraculous.


For me, imaging/writing/Zen are all acts of paying attention; rewarding us with the discovery that life becomes fully alive when we inhabit what we encounter. As an elder I want to share writings, perspectives and images that are meditative spaces, portals to learning and examples of the experience that when there's stillness and presence, there too is the beauty of the invisible in all things visible. I live the guiding principle that having art in your life is healthy. And as an elder, as a Sangha member, I’m here to learn and share together about connection and relationships. Relationships that tell elders “What takes form within you will be felt outside of yourself” and “Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful”.


Ongoing explorations in words and images can be seen at: instagram.com/edsancious  Images and merchandise are available for purchase at: www.fineartamerica.com/profiles/ed-sancious

Shy - Nature Guardian for the Contemporary Elder Institute. 


I have had the privilege of leading international wilderness expeditions since 1997.  The journey has taken me to many wild and exotic places.  Through good fortune and curiosity I began to see moments of spontaneous transformation in myself and others. This realization has become central to my work and personal evolution: to witness the magic and mystery that seems to emerge when we are wandering or lost.  I am honored to be invited as a collaborator and hope to provide the opportunity for the wanderer to become “lost” and to witness what is “found” on our way home.


The forest taught me everything I KNOW.  This is not knowledge, to be witten and propagated through words.  This is a Knowing in my body.  That my body IS nature.  I as my body is nature.  Through compassion and sensation, love and sound.  With rhythm and resonance.  This is the place of Knowing.  


In the CEI my roll is a nature facilitator.  It is my intention to invite with curiosity and necessity to reconnect, in the deepest way to what we are.  This vehicle we inhabit is earth.  We must be found in the wilderness in order to remember why we came here.  

Chuck Breuch 


Although many people can generate wealth, they often lack the ability to integrate that experience with the creation of a conscious plan for their lives. My 30+ year career has afforded me the honor of helping countless successful individuals and couples to create a vision for the future and to stay on their path through deep conversations, coaching and mentoring across all areas of planning.  


Now my lifelong commitment to learning and listening and my experience in my profession have positioned me to assist others who are meeting life’s transitions and challenges, especially as they age. My personal vision of conditioning and self-care is an integral part of developing a healthy context based on physical, mental, and emotional wellness that I use in my mission of assisting others.


 Commonly, challenges are met with either resentment or avoidance. On the Elder Council, my hope is to be available as a mentor, friend and partner to anyone who is seeking meaning and purpose to transform those perceived obstacles to opportunity.

Talk to Marc!

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