Between the end of World War II in 1945 (returning scores of men to America) and the advent of the birth control pill in 1964 came the largest population boost in history, the famed Baby Boom. Sociologists call this the “pig in the python,” and this generation has had a disproportionate share of the headlines.
Almost all of those Boomers have turned 50 — including yours truly. With that has come a focus on the spiritual life of the aging. While the topic itself if not new (see the book of Ecclesiastes, and Erik Erikson's work on generativity vs. despair), the level of attention to it in our culture is trending upward.
John Chandler
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One intriguing book on the subject is Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward: Spirituality for the Second Half of Life. This Catholic writer scores some interesting points in talking about what Christian maturity looks like as we move into the second half of life. What does spiritual growth look like when chronology is unmistakably advancing?
Rohr suggests that the second half of life is a “bright sadness and sober happiness.” He notes the increased capacity of the wise to live with mystery, doubt and unknowing. When we were young, we settled for “answers and organization.” When we move to the second half of life, we aim for wisdom. This wisdom is more participatory than assertive, more contented than standout, more interested in payback than accumulating. Your life and your occupation merge.
In the best scenario, Rohr says, people who grow in the second half of life become “the grandparents of the world.” What a challenge; what a calling! As Saint Francis put it, “the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.”
At the pinnacle of spiritual growth, the elderly become elders. The world doesn’t need any more cranky, opinionated, self-absorbed elderly people. The world desperately needs wise elders. That’s what I want to be when I grow up.
Trending is written by John Chandler, leader of the Spence Network, www.spencenetwork.org./equip.htm.
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