A Call to Wisdom Part II

The “Wise Elder” In History

In the first installment of “A Call to Wisdom” I’d asserted the following conclusions regarding the way we currently view our senior population:

1. True respect for our older population is generally absent and any real contributions from our senior population are generally discounted.
2. Our current population of seniors from 1960 and before readily accept this attitude of disrespect as they are quietly “let out to pasture”.
3. For reasons yet to be discussed, I believe we deserve this negative standing.
4. Our current world desperately needs the contributions of a wise and highly respected “Elder Sage Constituency”.

In this segment I’d firstly like to look at some history to identify a source of hidden treasure in our current senior population and then I’d like to compare what we currently have with how, in history, one particular society successfully drew upon their significant reserve of wisdom and experience.

I was born in Oct. of 1953 and readily identify with being a “baby boomer”. I’d therefore address this group as being my generation and why I believe we have a special potential to fill these shoes and this station I promote. Our parents were affectionately and (in my opinion, accurately) labeled as "The Greatest Generation". We were brought up to respect hard work, honesty, God and Country. They fully exercised their right to worship as they saw fit and, in industry, took full advantage of our free markets to ultimately grow the most abundant economy the world had ever seen. They did it by partaking in the simple and effective implementation of supply vs. demand. By simply focusing on providing what others needed, they were able to utilize their myriad of skills, gifts and talents to not only divide a "Pie of Limited Size", but to expand that pie so that everyone could partake. When faced with a world threatened by fascism, they ultimately devoted their all and with courage, discipline and ultimate denial of self (to the death), to defeat the enemy and make the world again safe. Safe for us, the “baby boomer” generation.

Another important element to consider that influenced both our “baby boomer” population and our parents as well (that “Greatest Generation”) is their parents or our grandparents. Do not think for a minute that the hardship faced by those adults alive in the 1930’s during the great depression hadn’t had a profound impact on making this “Greatest Generation” who they were as well. Those of us who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s were certainly witness to the effect these times had on both our parents and grandparents. We’ve all heard of and seen examples of thrift displayed as a result of that period. In my grandmother's home for example, nothing was thrown away; Leftovers had numerous levels of incarnation until they were entirely consumed. Old clothes were handed down and re-purposed as handkerchiefs, patches and even used in patchwork quilts. We all have recollections as such and these are the fruits of hardship. Waste was the enemy and the struggle to squeeze every bit of usefulness out of whatever resources they had was real. Their struggle was in fact, the stimuli that made them who they were (and ultimately us through three generations), and in reality, resulted in the very marrow of wisdom that transcended any facts regarding the great depression. They had to be witnessed to impact us and that wisdom, born of our experience of that testimony, from both generations, is about to be lost to the world.

Please do not think I’m advocating a view of the “good old days” as idyllic. I’m not suggesting that in any way, shape or form, and yet, our parents & grandparents character and resolve to make the world a better place for you and I can hardly be questioned. They were refined by the fire and though far from perfect, they were a far better people because of their trials. As a result, they accomplished their goal and created a world of unmatched prosperity and health. Our lifespan increased greater than any other in history, and this generation has, without question, been blessed with a material success previously unseen.

And true to the aforementioned quote from part I, we, having been “Brought up easy, let it slip away again”. We then compound the effects of our comparatively easy lives by succumbing to the siren of “early retirement” and an extended life of leisure and enjoyment. With hardly a care, we’d accept the inevitable decline and make the most of our retirement years. After all, we’ve earned it, hadn’t we? And with this acceptance of a life that is “Out to Pasture”, we’ve simply turned over the problems of our children's generation to a world so different to us that we’d hardly known where to start. And by accepting this second conclusion of mine, that we’d accepted this “senile” and “bumbling” stereotype of aging without the slightest contest, we’ve begun the transition to a status of derision among our world as being anything but wise.
Instead of belabouring the reasons why I believe this to be accurate, I’d like to visit some kindred history that I feel may be useful in demonstrating an entirely different manner in which old age is viewed. While it is my belief that historical comparisons will never quite provide accurate parallels to our own technology influenced world (whose rate of seismic level change is something never before seen), I believe the Ancient Roman Empire may provide some direction for us to work with and compare.

One particular resource I’ve found which covered the topic perfectly for the purpose of this article was a transcript from a presentation by Dr. Karen Cokayne entitled “Old Age in Ancient Rome”.  I’ve found numerous points that I’d like to use specifically from it.

“Old age was seen as a period when accumulated experience could bring increased wisdom and good judgement. Cicero wrote: ‘for there is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom, and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that’ (Tusculanae disputationes 1.39.94; cf De Senectute 6.17). ”

“Rome had, traditionally, faith in their aged and believed that society should make practical use of the experience and wisdom of the old. They were seen as teachers and counsellors. This goes back as far as early Rome: Livy (1.9) described how Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome, in his organization of society, had created a body of hundred older senators, senes, capable of ensuring continuity of policy. The old, therefore, still had a public role to play. Cicero wrote, for example:

‘The old…should have their physical labours reduced; their mental activities should be actually increased. They should endeavour too, by means of their counsel and practical wisdom to be of as much service as possible to their friends and to the young, and above all to the state’ (De Officiis 1.33.123; De Senectute 5.15ff).””

Let me state here however that I don’t think our society is inherently ageist! I personally know of examples where the elderly are appreciated and valued. This is precisely where I find fault with our current crop of “Baby Boomer” elders. You see, the value and respect of experience did not automatically infer to an individual the moment he or she became a certain age. The respect and value had to be earned and demonstrated.

Cokayne continued:

“But, and this was frequently emphasized, wisdom did not come automatically to the old; ‘Wisdom comes haphazard to no man’, said Seneca (Epistles 76.6). Not all old men were therefore wise men. Wisdom had to be worked at - by hard work, study and especially by virtuous living.”

“The old had to be an example to the young, as it was thought the young learned by example. This was ingrained in Roman society. A proverb found in Publilius Syrus, 1st century BC (Sententiae 590W) proclaims: ‘When seniors blunder, juniors learn but ill’. It was made abundantly clear: flamboyance and extravagant behaviour should only belong to youth.

It immediately becomes obvious to me that the once highly esteemed mantra of our early parenting years “Your children learn more by your example than your words” remains a principle that we’ll never outlive. The world is watching, and rightly so. It is my honest belief that the world is hungry for wisdom, and ready to be lead. Humanity is looking for a way to put our civilization on track and will respond only to that which is real and those whose actions and lifestyles embody and exemplify such wisdom. Let’s only hope, we’ve not strayed so far that its’ recognition is beyond the grasp of the many.

In reading further, we find that they earned their respect by being examples of moderation and taking care of themselves.

“Of course only the fit and able were still capable of being of use to society. Many of the old therefore made considerable efforts to keep physically and mentally fit. Cicero even thought that it was an old man’s duty (my italics) to fight old age by taking care of himself through following a regimen of health - so he could be useful to the state (de Senectute 11.35-36). It was believed that living a moderate lifestyle with regular physical and mental exercises would preserve health and delay the symptoms of ageing. “

Even the elderly’s attitudes towards leisure in retirement was diametrically opposed to our modern inclination to live in a state of continual ease and comfort.

“But even in retirement idleness and mental inactivity were frowned upon. Otium, often translated - for lack of a better word as ‘leisure time’ - was a highly charged word in the moralistic texts and was often associated with a degenerate lifestyle. Retirement was seen as the right time for study and other learned activities. The possibility of a mental decline in ageing was not considered in these contexts. Seneca, when in his late sixties, wrote that he never spent a day in idleness; he even appropriated part of the night for study (Epistles 8.1). Ideally, one should set aside a certain part of every day for improving one’s mind by reading, writing and serious conversations.”

Her expert opinion is then summed up with the following statement (emphasis mine):

“How the old are treated is a cultural phenomenon, but my research has shown that attitude towards old age was also influenced by the old themselves, and was dependent on their personal health and constitution and especially their attitude to life.”

And so we see that our attitudes toward what we do with our lives in our later years can (and should) be the defining attributes that mold our place in our modern society.  We currently have a “Baby Boomer” generation that was not only raised by the “Greatest Generation”, but were witness the resulting sensibilities which were born of the Great Depression. It is my contention that our very makeup begets a most fertile stock from which a magnificent harvest of wisdom could develop. I think of a quote by the greek philosopher Plato who said:

There are three classes of men:

Lovers of Wisdom,

Lovers of Honor, and           

Lovers of Gain

In considering this quote I find it interesting to perhaps attribute each of these classes to a “Scale of Nobility”, if you will. “Lovers of Gain” would indeed take the lowest rung on this scale with the “Lovers of Honor” considerably higher. Those “Lovers of Wisdom” however, I see as paramount as I believe wisdom would encompass both honor and gain in the process. to consider myself one to correct Plato himself, I believe there to be a lower class than those who love gain (In, reality, probably a subset of the “gain” motivated group), and that is those who are “Lovers of Pleasure”.

It is here, amidst this call to pleasure, being masterfully sold in the market driven electronic agora in which we continually dwell, that the quest for wisdom, “worked at - by hard work, study and especially by virtuous living” has been deflected and our entire future sold, for nothing more than a pot of beans as it were (or Burgers, of course).

In the next installment of this “Call to Wisdom”, I’ll address how we have succumbed to the siren of pleasure and currently value it even more than gain, honor, or wisdom combined. I’ll specifically point out where we’ve gone wrong and I hope to set forth why, I believe, our current elder generation (the baby boomers), have both the largest challenges in regards to becoming the resource of wisdom we need and simultaneously, the only one with the capacity, so far, to meet the most pressing challenges our humanity has yet to encounter..

Make sure to subscribe to this blog to keep up with my posts and if you’ve found this in anyway helpful I’d appreciate a share.

Best Regards Until Then,

Daryll

A Call to Wisdom Part I

A Call to Wisdom!

Modern World, currently in chaos, seeks "Elder", "Sage", "Sophos", "Guru"...

I've been thinking a lot recently about how our society views our aged populations and I've come to some rather startling conclusions. It is no secret that there is little serious respect for our elder generations in our modern western society. While we’re still brought up with the admonition to “Respect our Elders”, I don’t consider this to be, in fact, a genuine respect. The “respect” that we’ve been taught to demonstrate is nothing more than an insistence towards kindness and a tolerance for views and ideas that merely belong to a history past and are no longer relevant. The elderly, in our current world are simply considered as more of a problem and burden than an asset to be drawn upon. While this isn’t exactly true of all of our current day modern cultures, I’m afraid that our western view of the aged is quite dismal indeed. With that foregone conclusion stated, my second conclusion is that, besides having this negative image thrust on us by a “youth enamored” society, we have completely, readily and without contest or reservation, accepted this dubious distinction hook, line and sinker. My third and most troubling conclusion is that, from a historical perspective, we’ve earned this negative estimation.

I will delve into and justify each of these conclusions individually but, before I tackle them I’d first like to address my fourth and most important concern; That our current world is in a dire need for a resource of wisdom and leadership that can only be derived from a respected, proven, trusted and efficacious “Sage”, “Sophos” or “Elder” segment of society as has traditionally served in history's most highly developed civilizations.

In my quest to understand our attitudes towards wisdom amidst our senior population, I've regularly run into references of what the founder of the school of analytical psychology, Carl Gustav Jung termed as the archetype of the "Wise Old Man" or "Wise Elder". We are all very familiar with this archetype from his appearances in film and literature as a number of different characters; Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Morpheus from "The Matrix" or Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter. Even from a more human perspective we have Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid”, Mickey from the Rocky series or even Alfred Pennyworth the mentor and father figure of Batman. In every instance, they all depict a valuable and treasured resource. They all represent a resource that is vital to the overall success of the protagonist.

Merlin: The epitome of the "Wise Elder" archetype

While the evidence indeed indicates that the idea of symbolic archetype is still under high regard, it is sadly obvious, in our daily dealing with the elderly, that the archetype itself has been relegated to fiction and (especially lately), pure fantasy. From a first glance, it may appear that I'm being unreasonable in supposing there is a higher expectation of knowledge and wisdom from those who simply have the advantage of a longer overall lifespan. After all, we live in the information age where all we would need to know for any situation can be gleaned from our cell phones by a simple, properly worded google search. While to many, the distinction between knowledge and wisdom is critically evident, I do fear that many have as well, totally lost the importance of this vital distinction.

It is true indeed that my above examples are merely fictional archetypes but it is also my contention that these archetypes may indeed exist as a result of a long history based on reality. Almost every culture has their tradition of the "Wise Sage". One example is that of Jiang Ziya ( 11th century bc), who was a Chinese noble that helped in the overthrow the Shang in ancient China at the reported age of 72. Also of Chinese history are the "Seven Sages of The Bamboo Grove". Greece had their historical examples in what were referred to as the "Seven Sages of Greece" while similar resources have been recorded in India, Persia, Vietnam as well as examples in Judaism with Rabbi's of Talmudic background.

I believe it is safe to say that in modern western civilization, our attitudes toward the elderly are punctuated by an ageism that stereotypes the elderly as being generally deficient in both body and mind. The elderly are often portrayed as "behind the times" and "set in their ways" so completely that they are entirely without the capacity to change or adapt. An entire generation that is so completely removed from our modern life that they are simply unable to meaningfully contribute to the modern world today. The 21st century indeed is perceived by many seniors as being permeated with "newfangled" ways  that are without merit and cling to the obsolete as a way that worked so much better "back in the day".  While much has been written to entirely debunk the idea that "The good old days" were, in reality, better than today, our memories naturally hone in to a time of simplicity, comfort and familiarity.

To look around and see what’s happening in our daily newspapers, we need to wonder how far we can stray and maintain our status as an enlightened, advanced and evolved humanity. We need to to learn from our history and not just the facts (although today even the facts are in dispute and in jeopardy), we need to know the effects… The wisdom that transcends these facts. While we are indeed quite aware that if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it, the wisdom of history is also quite succinctly expressed in this quote from D.H. Lawrence:

“Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves.”

I believe the above quote to be especially poignant as it relates to our current state of affairs and our lack of practical wisdom in our approach to life and especially towards our approach to aging. I believe it to be applicable to not only liberty as stated, but as a lesson to be applied universally in regards to progress, growth and especially a wisdom that is won only through struggle and effort.

We need our wise men and women as never before! Only they have the answers to our world's most pressing problems and they are nowhere to be found. Were the changes too fast and pervasive? Have we lost our societal role identities as the PR “Image Makers” of our modern mass media spin our realities?  

The “Why” and “How” of our current world’s void of generational wisdom is far beyond the scope of this piece. Chances are we'll never know or agree to any degree of certainty. Suffice it to say, we can all agree, our “Elder Wise Men” (and women), are missing in action, and at the worst possible time.

The goal of this post is therefore to simply address our reality and to confront the problem at hand (and hopefully propose some solutions). I like what author Mr. Michael Meade has written in his blog post “Where Have All the Wise Men Gone” and I think it summarizes our problem quite nicely (emphasis mine):

“In traditional cultures, the elders were considered to be a valuable resource without whose guidance the whole society could lose its way.

Yet in modern life, instead of people growing “older and wiser,” people can simply grow older and older. People can live longer and longer without becoming any wiser for it. When there is no genuine growth in growing older, aging can become all about loss. The longer people live the more of life they seem to lose. Instead of developing wise and seasoned “elders” who can help others find meaningful ways to live, modern societies are in danger of producing “olders” who blindly seek ways to hold onto life at any cost.”

In order to address this gaping and unmet demand for the “Elder Sage” I’m afraid I need to target my audience... In order to address this lack of mature wisdom in this present time, I need to be talking to those who are generally referred to as the "Baby Boomer Generation"... So, if you identify yourself as a baby boomer and you were born sometime between 1946 and 1964, I’d like to challenge you with this series and perhaps begin to enlist even the smallest segment of its’ readers to accept this “calling”, as it were. While I do see a clear and certain path in which we can recapture the respect of our world and thereby regain that position of essential influence, it will hardly be easy. I also find it interesting that after talking of archetypes, protagonists, characters both of fantasy & fiction, that this path I propose, to in reality, involve hardship, adventure, self sacrifice and a journey of discovery to equal any that we’ve previously entertained in fact or fiction.

In the next installment, I’ll be exploring in detail the contributions of the “Elder Sage” in one particular, but especially relevant segment in history. Before we’re done, I’ll map this path and will be able to portray, for this generation, exactly where we are, where we’ve faltered and most importantly, how to get back on track.

Like many other examples in life, I believe our weaknesses can, with the proper attention, become our greatest strengths. I am also confident that our current age, with unlimited access to information and an average lifespan unmatched to date, easily warrants a hope and opportunity for a wisdom previously unrivaled. I also find it quite enlightening that, while filling this void in our society, which so desperately needs to be filled, we will in fact, “find ourselves” and simultaneously fill that void that I see in so many seniors, that too… so desperately needs to be filled.

Until then…

Daryll