Growing
old, let’s talk about it. There is a false concept that stops people from
living a long, full life. Old age is as much a state of mind as of body. Today
young people are taught that when you become old and gray, you are in the way.
Not a nice thought! It is the older people, the wiser folk, the experienced
elders, who have lived longer and therefore, can see further, to whom youth
should be listening. But in our present times, young people have become the
spokesmen, and they are allowed to learn by their own mistakes. What a sad way
to learn!There is no excuse
for ignorance. Yet, looking around, we find it to be everywhere,
We
are not getting old. True, the physical body does change. It has done so from
birth, but it has a future. It really does. We live in it like we walk in our
shoes. We should think, we live in our body as loosely as we wear our shoes.”
It is not wise to accept the forebodings that we are headed toward a doomsday
end of the world, or end of the physical body, rather we need to know, that we
the consciousness in us will never die but live forever.
Aging
is an interesting process. Even though we are told that most the cells in the
body change and renew themselves every seven to ten years, aging can still be
really scary, especially for those who identify themselves as their body. But
not for those who know that they are not the body, but only live in it,
realizing that it is our Earth suit in which to function on this planet.
When
we correctly look at aged people, we look at minds that have been developed
year after year after year. We look at souls that have matured because of their
journey on Earth. We look upon their situation as wonderful and enlightening,
their wisdom as useful and worthy to make it part of our lives.
The
mind never gets old, though the brain may. The mind never deteriorates.
Consciousness was never born and never dies. The mental body, which works
through the subtle body and the earth suit, does not age, does not get weak, as
modern people think of aging, and as weakness. It becomes stronger and
stronger, more mature and more expansive, as do the emotions if they are
understood and controlled from stage to stage. Age is not an obstacle; it is a
legacy. The most senior among us should have faith in the future, not be led to
think that turning sixty, eighty or more is some morbid milestone. It’s not.
Secrets
to Longevity
There
is no requirement to die at any established time, even if our doctor tells us
that we have only two years to live. Apparently in Africa if a powerful
medicine man tells a person he is going to die, the fear and belief are so
strong that within hours he succumbs. Mind over matter? It’s not much different
when everyone around us is chanting the senility mantra–when your wife, husband,
kids, friends and boss keep saying, “You’re not getting any younger, you know.”
There
are higher laws to invoke as age advances to sustain the pranas, to strengthen
the force of life within. Those who know wisdom’s ways have overcome the “I’m
getting old” syndrome, a mantra no one should ever repeat, even once. They know
how the mind works, and by applying the laws, they have lived long, useful,
happy and healthy lives. The redundancy system of one part of the body failing
and another part taking over, especially within the brain, should be understood
by the aging person, to know that all is not lost. If memory loss is
experienced, things can often be memorized again and shifted over to another
part of the brain.
The
truth is that the mind is constantly maturing; so are the emotions, and so is
the intelligence and accumulated knowledge. Most importantly, the wisdom of how
to use the knowledge and to judge whether it is worthwhile at all is maturing
from decade to decade and life to life for those who accept re-incarnation.
The
psychological secret is to have a goal, actually many goals, in service to
humanity, in people helping people, people serving people. Good goals and a will to live to prolong life are
vital. It is even more life giving when the goal includes helping people to
fulfill their spiritual goals. When encouraging people to cultivate their inner
life, when meditation is practiced without fail, then their deeper side is
cultivated, and that in itself prolongs life. Life is eternal on the inner
planes, in the refined bodies of the soul.
In
the physical body life is hard. We have to go though the birth, talked to in
baby talk, and learning to walk, read and write all over again. It takes years
and years to obtain the wisdom life. Some people never obtain it. So, we have
to take care of our physical body. No need to know too much about it, for it
knows what it needs. We need to listen to its messages and respond quickly.
When needed, doctors can help us through the many changes the body will naturally
go through, and face each situation positively.
This
body is impermanent, true, but it is the only one we have, so we make the best
use of it. We have to live with purpose and pass on the knowledge born of
experience to the coming generation.
The
older we get, the more disciplined we have to become, the more spiritual work we
need to engage in, while slowly dropping off the extraneous activities of the
world.
If
our children leave home and cultivate other interests, we can find new eager
children to teach, new ways to serve. We should be useful to others. Keep
planting the seeds of virtue and right ways of living. Maybe they will be
annuals instead of perennials, but we must keep planting for the future. Others
might be saying, “old and gray and in the way,” but we say, “old and gray and
here to stay.” It is all in the attitude we have.
Renewing
Life’s Plans
When
the body reaches mature age, a change of pace occurs. One feels like sitting
rather than walking, sleeping more than one did before, and it is more
difficult to make long-term plans, ten, twenty, thirty years ahead. At advanced
age, the question “What am I going to do with my life?” has long been answered
but still should be asked, because at that age, there is still a long life
ahead. It should be planned out as carefully as the life span that has already
been lived, based on the experiences gained from it. Some people plan out their
lives at eighteen or twenty, and others don’t.
Nevertheless,
when the change of life comes, both for men and women, it is only wise to
regroup one’s thoughts, analyze one’s desires, motivations and educational
skills, physical, mental and emotional abilities. It is still time to plan and
forge ahead with as much enthusiasm and dynamism as can be mustered up.
A
lot of people die at fifty or shortly afterwards because they feel that
everything is breaking down. That is because they misinterpret what is
happening. They think the death experience is coming, whereas only a change of
life, of life experience, has occurred. If they look at it as a new passage in
life, they could be on smooth sailing until eighty and more.
As
one nears eighty years of age, this is again time to revamp one’s life,
motivations, desires, and to plan for the next round of purposeful living. It
is interesting to note that the muscular structure of the physical body does
not start to deteriorate until after age seventy, and then only slightly,
unless one neglects to exercise.
Mystics
say that eighty years of age is a difficult time to get through
psychologically, physically and emotionally unless we have prepared ourselves
for this stage of life well in advance. A new plan for motivation for the
future should be made well in advance, at least at age seventy, so that when
eighty rolls around it is well impressed in the subconscious mind that, this
might be time to start slowing down and preparing for life after the life of
the physical body.
It
is also at this juncture that one should give one’s wisdom to the younger
generation, see into the lives of promising people and encourage them to
greater heights.
This
is also the time also for intense spiritual practices. The physical forces are
fading, the muscular structure diminishing. Yet great spiritual progress can be
made. If retirement is thought of, it should be seen as a period of
slowing-down, yet still being active in the mental, emotional, and spiritual
practices.
It
is well known that even certain advanced souls on the planet may do well when
they are young but at their still unperfected stage of evolution have the
propensity of deterioration in spirit, mind, and emotions as the body sinks,
through age, into the substances from which it is created.
This
is not the way followed by spiritual, devotional, happy, religious men and
women who have experienced the frailties of the physical body, but added
greater intensity, power and joy to the now dominant energies of the intellect
and the soul and are on their way to enlightenment.
When
living a spiritual life, good things will just automatically come along. Real security
lies within.
We
are living in a fast-moving age. Many people are either on tranquilizers,
alcohol, anti-depressants, nicotine, stimulants or high-powered vitamins of one
kind or another to stabilize their emotions enough to get by, just to get by,
to get through all the various situations that present themselves that they
can’t cope with due to the shaky foundation of their life.
But
as has been mentioned, what is need is to go within ourselves, to get quiet
enough, so that the answers to life’s challenges emerge from within, answers
that will give us peace and security. Here there is no narcotic, no stimulant,
no tranquilizer, and no high-powered vitamin that is going to take us within.
The only way is, to sit down and become quiet and get in touch with the divine
spirit within. Eventually a great new awakening will come over us. At first we
may not know where it comes from or where it’s going, but it will be there, and
we won’t have to try to be positive or think positively or make affirmations
about this and that. We will know that we are an eternal, ever existing spirit,
full of peace and joy.
