Wising Up

How can we get to enjoy those things we always thought would give us joy?  Some of us may have love affairs or impulsively buy something new – a car, a house, a new article of clothing.  We work harder, or we think about travel.  Not that any of these things are wrong (well, possibly the love affair) – the more important thing is to know what is driving us.  What is the dissatisfaction?  One question kept popping up in my thinking:  If these are my best years, why do I feel so empty? 

Let’s look at the process of aging.  What happens?  How does it work?  How can our brains and bodies change so much during a lifetime, yet in our minds we still feel young or somehow ageless?  We still think of ourselves as youthful.  We may admit, “I’m getting older,” but the reality, at least for me, is that I feel vibrant and will live to a very old age.  I doubt that I am alone in this thinking.   

Our own aging comes to us as somewhat of a surprise.  We seem to fairly readily accept the physical and mental aging process – in others!  I remember my father, when he was way up in his eighties, telling me what he would do in his old age – that is to say, when he got there.  He did not seem to have a clue that his train had already pulled into that station.

Books are full of information dividing our lives into sections, for example: infancy, childhood, youth, early adult life, mid-life transitions, middle adult years, and elderly.  We tend to accept these sectional divisions of our lives because similar thoughts and emotions arise with all people during distinct stages, even though the ages of these stages may vary from person to person.  We understand that, as humans, we continue to evolve throughout the course of our lives and that each stage brings with it experiences that are important for growth leading to the next stage.  What we do with the experience is more important to our well-being, self-confidence, and maturation than the experience itself. 

An important aspect of our evolution is spirituality – an aspect that in our general culture seems to be somehow overlooked or given halfhearted attention.  Although lip service is paid to the virtue of having spirituality, not much care is lavished on the importance of how and what we think in this regard.  Perhaps this is ONE of the elements missing that keeps us from feeling full.  Not the only one, but one that could be easily overlooked.  So, what is the spiritual element?  What does that mean? 

Physical and mental aging are easier passages for us to accept because they are fairly apparent.  Our spiritual journeys, however, are not so easily viewed, not concrete at all.   Spiritual passages, though, are as real as the social and psychological ones that are well documented.  They simply require more awareness from us to note the transitions.

Viewing the structure of the many great religions and spiritual teachings of the world – Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism etc. – I see that all are rooted in the idea of progressive developmental passages.

WHERE WE START:

We can begin at any time we are ready to investigate ourselves.  The process is simple, but perhaps not easy.  One has to be sincere in looking at each motivation of behavior to witness where that idea came from.  Did I choose this idea or belief, or was it given to me by a parent, a caregiver, society or my peer group?  What causes me to believe or feel the way I do? How do I respond to that which comes into my life? 

Jesus and St. Paul tell us, along with every spiritual teaching I know, to awaken; we are asleep.  “Arise,” the New Testament tells us over and over again, and “awake.”  What are we to arise or awake from?  Perhaps it is from our rote behavior, our operating as if on “auto-pilot.”  Perhaps we need to awaken that which is already present within us, to begin exploring our inner journeys so that we may “know” ourselves.