OLD AGE – A REFLECTIVE RANT, PART VII. . .

This morning I will conclude my reflections regarding ‘Old Age’ as we briefly explore the third ‘spiritual illness’ of Old Age.

Loneliness – The Fear of Time.  As we age we seem to become more fear-full.  One of our growing fears is the ‘fear of time.’  As we age there are fewer and fewer ‘things’ we are able to control and as we age we become more and more aware of what we cannot control – hence our growing fear of ‘time.’  As we grow older we realize that we don’t know what to do with ‘time’ – How many simply ‘kill time’ as a result?  We also realize that we are ‘running out of time’ and this adds to our anxiety.

Rather than ‘live into time’ we begin to run away from it.  We run away by living in the past or by anticipating the future.  We miss the moment.  We blind ourselves to the present moment, we live with memories – memories cherished and memories of what we missed.  We find ourselves becoming more and more anxious about the future (what little time we have left).

In one sense ‘Time’ is perpetual if we live the moment.  Every moment is new, every moment is a gift.  To be ‘in the moment’ is a blessing waiting to be bestowed.  To live the moment is to live in the holy, the sacred now.  When we dismiss the moment as a gift, a blessing, then we move into becoming bored and boredom is the pathway to depression and despair.

Too often Old Age becomes vicious as ‘it’ deprives the person of the present – the gifts of the present.  Old Folks too often think of themselves as belonging to the past (and our culture has many ways of reminding the elderly that they do, indeed, belong to the past).

It seems to me that one way we can restore the dignity of old age is rooted in our ability to equate old age and wisdom (the ancients modeled this for us and a few other cultures continue to model this for us).  Consider that ‘wisdom’ is the gift that the elders can provide us – I am speaking of the wisdom that only emerges after years of searching and seeking.  The young are smart, not necessarily wise.

On the other hand, the person who lives with a sense of the Presence/Presents realizes that growing older still means that we are charged with ‘sanctifying the time we have.’

All it takes to ‘sanctify time’ is ‘God,’ a ‘Soul,’ and a ‘Moment.’  The blessing is that these three are always here for theists.  Just to be is a blessing.  Just to live is holy.  Just to be and to live the moment is our charge and our challenge – and it is one antidote to loneliness, fear and ‘Old Age.’