A NEW KIND OF HUMAN BEING?
Starting with the May edition of Fierce with Age: The Digest of Boomer Wisdom, Inspiration and Spirituality, subscribers are being guided here to CarolOrsborn.com to reflect on what we’ve read. What touched you, provoked you or inspired you most?
Personally, I can’t stop thinking about the entry by writer/mystic John C. Robinson titled “A New Kind of Aging.” Robinson writes: “Mystical consciousness—that kind of heightened, thought-free consciousness the mystics associate with the experience of the divine Presence—somehow ripens in the aging process offering to change elders into sages, and perhaps even birthing a new kind of human being. Obviously, it doesn’t happen to the majority of older people who have paid little or no attention to their own spiritual experience, but to those who have, and who genuinely seek a transformative experience of divinity, amazing changes happen.” (From Robinson’ pre-published novel Walden Three: The Mystical Transformation of Humanity.)
What a bold, exciting contention! A few years ago, I was more interested in trying to change as little as possible as I aged—buying into the notion of prolonging middle age as long as I could. Now, I am not only welcoming but resonating with his notion that the spiritual dimension of aging is not just the booby prize when the efforts to avoid getting older crack. Rather, per Robinson, growing older can occasion the birthing of a new state of consciousness available only to those who genuinely seek a transformative experience of divinity.
I have had glimpses of what Robinson and others are talking about, even in the midst of the mundane and unwanted aspects of everyday living: moments where everything suddenly seems to make perfect sense and, in the words of the mystic, heaven reaches down to kiss the earth. I’m not so sure I would go so far as to call this “birthing a new kind of human being”, but I do wonder if enough of us start having these kinds of experiences as we age what kind of impact that could have for humanity?
What do you think? Are you having these kinds of experiences? Do you think our generation has the potential to “birth a new kind of human being?” What are the implications for society?
If you haven’t already, please subscribe to not only Fierce with Age, but to CarolOrsborn.com, my personal blog that you are reading now. In addition to periodic reflections and personal entries, I provide subscribers to this site with a monthly sneak preview a week or so before each upcoming Digest. I hope this will be an opportunity for those of us who would like to engage more deeply with the subject matter shared in the Digest to jump-start the conversation with one another. I invite you to take advantage of the comment function below to share your thoughts with our growing community!
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