Self-Transcendence & The Elder

“There is only

one perfect road and

that road is ahead of you, always ahead of you.”

– Sri Chinmoy

The work of elders becomes considerably less about conventional work and much more about inner work. A particular manner of inner work that leads to a more generous consciousness. Generosity for oneself. Generosity for others. Generosity for life. Munificence in aging.

The need to be right melts. The unchecked responses of justification, explanation, and rationalization dissolve. The underlying anxiety caused by the uncertainties of aging, end of life, dying, and loss of relevance, ease their grip.

As older adults our biology certainly isn’t going to evolve more than it already has. Where

the continued evolution can continue to occur is in our consciousness.

Expanding consciousness produces insightful self-understanding. Only when you understand yourself, can you transcend yourself. Regrettably, the way to bedrock self- understanding and then transcendence, cannot be solely accomplished by rational sources. To gain critical self-understanding leading to transcendence requires non-rational input. The thinking mind won’t get you there.

For those who have succeeded in life by their rational, logical, and materialistic Western mind, opening to non-rational input is difficult. Faith is required. Faith is irrational. Faith is not based on reason. Faith is non-dualistic. Faith is uncommon sense.

Difficult to have faith given our cultural context and intellectual conditioning, where faith invariably clashes with disbelief, distrust, skepticism, cynicism, and suspicion. But that last and most difficult mile from self-understanding to transcendence can only be achieved by opening to non-reason-based input.

When you are able to achieve greater self-understanding, you are able to observe and overcome unhelpful adolescent and midlife patterns. Putting these patterns to bed, you naturally find yourself much less self-focused, much less psychologically and emotionally pulled, more selective in your life choices, and naturally spending time in solitude and introspection.

When you can consciously and courageously reveal yourself to yourself, you now have the capacity to not be run my it. There is suddenly a greater sense of freedom, ease, and grace. You have transcended who you have always been being. You’ve stopped trying to be someone else or whom ever others wanted you to be. Your home.

THE OPPORTUNITY

It is certainly not surprising that the body, mind, and the spirit continue to evolve and change until the day we die. But our Western culture only focuses on the decay of the body and the mind, but not on expanding consciousness - a process that can continue over a lifetime.

To transcend the self is not to leave the former self behind. There is no X-self. You can’t divorce yourself from yourself. It’s family. It’s about including not repelling. It’s about accepting not rationalizing or explaining away.

It’s about letting the past settle in the past. It’s about making peace with who you were, and letting it be. And, as crucial, it’s about you being able to reside in the moment, not the past or the future.

Using the learning gained through self-understanding and being in the moment, you will enable you to transcend the confines of who you have been, to who you can now consciously can be in the future.

Watch this Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erCL8RUyAFw

THE CONTEMPORARY ELDER RETREAT

Purpose of the Contemporary Elder Retreat

• To bring about a conscious, experiential, and spiritual shift from older to elder.

Intended Results of the Retreat

• To reveal the unspoken, unexamined, and unconscious beliefs about aging, death, and dying - and the future these beliefs foretell.

To access your natural way of being, your inherent state of being. Understanding what this really means and what it feels like when embodied and expressed.

To engender a new capacity and expression as an Elder that provides relevance, purpose, and higher wisdom for life and work.

To uncover unforeseen opportunities as a conscious and contributing Elder to business, family, and the world around you.

The Retreat is Designed for Professionals

In late midlife, 60s–70s, whose current careers are ending or have completed.

Whose ego rewards have lost their attraction.

Who are concerned about what's next – in life, relevancy, health, value, purpose, relationships, finances, and the future.

Who would welcome a more beneficial and enlightened relationship with aging and its assumed consequences.

Who feel it is possible to share their wisdom gained through decades of accumulated knowledge and direct and often humbling experiences but unsure of the form of this expression.

To find out more click HERE.

Ukraine - Does being an Elder make a difference? https://theelders.org/news/elders-call-criminal-tribunal-investigate-alleged-crime- aggression-ukraine