What is it to be an Elder ? (By JJ Middleway)

Who really knows ? (Other than the ‘Cosmic Birther of all Radiance and Vibration’ .)

Elderhood involves letting all preconceptions fall away

It involves acceptance not just of growing older and gradual physical decline 

But also acceptance of all of one’s own shortcomings

Along with all of one’s own magnificences. 

Of humbly touching the earth yet daring to fly 

Of embracing silence and death as one’s most intimate allies 

Yet having the courage to stand up and speak out when soul calls. 

Of gradually returning to source – of radical acceptance , total surrender and of fully inhabiting the breath 

Of recognising in each stained glass piece of ‘others ‘,  the reflected colours of my own being – that the picture depends on each part of the pattern being present, accepted and valued: 

• That we all count 
• We each have part of the key to the whole. That we are each an integral part of that whole  
• I am you and you are me and that art thee and we are all together ( to paraphrase John Lennon’s  ‘I am the Walrus ‘ ) 
• Of having given up the self and instead serving the Self 
• Of serving that which is beyond measure 

Of serving that which is beyond words 

Of serving that which sings and dances in the moonlight of the soul.

What is it to be an elder ?

Other than to be prepared to give totally of one’s being 

Of being present to the present:

 To offer a present through presence. 

To witness without words. 

What is it to be an elder? 

To still not know 

To still be young at heart 

To still be learning

To still make mistakes 

To surrender to humility 

Without judgement 

Without caring what others think 

Yet caring totally and abandonedly. 

Mudita *

* Mudita is a Sanskrit word – we don’t have an equivalent word in English.  It means sympathetic joy – literally “ your joy is my joy “.  It is how I seek to live my life and I love the way it works. I’d go so far as to say that it is the key to a contented and fulfilled life.