60

Aging and the Opportunities of Awareness

In anticipation of turning 60 (today), I recently queried some people I respect about their experience with awareness, particularly as they get older.  As you might expect, there was a variety of responses, which probably reinforces the point here.  Which is this — one of the greater opportunities we have as we age is the increasing capacity we have for awareness.  For one thing, it is obviously evident that the longer you live, the more you've likely experienced.  

One might assume, as a result, that experience would translate to more understanding, which in turn would increase overall awareness.  The problem is, however, it doesn't always seem to work that way.  And, from certain points-of-view, it might look more and more like it rarely does.  I guess it depends on who you hang around with.  For example, it's not hard to notice that many older people seem to become more narrow, less able to tolerate difference or change, more in favor of something they thought they once knew than of things that are now less familiar.

But, as we age and certain aspects of our existence wane, other things seem like they accumulate, if nothing more than the simple function of more time and exposure to life.  What seems more conspicuous, though, is what we do with this opportunity (of accumulating experience).  Does it provide something beyond knowledge and understanding?  Does wisdom emerge?  For the healthy, it seems to or, at least, it can.  Mitigating factors aside, we have an opportunity, both individually and collectively, to expand our imagination for all is going on as we age.  Whether or not we take the opportunity is another thing.  And, we could think about why we do (or don't)...become more wise about life and reality.

As I mentioned above, and like many other things, it would appear that a lot about awareness is related to social factors.  Values of groups of people obviously impact not only awareness in general, but also what people in a particular group are sensitive to.  And, people who isolate themselves may not have as much awareness as those who don't.  

I feel much more aware of many things than when I was younger. Besides the obvious, this also seems like a choice. In other words, I chose to become more aware (rather than do the opposite). Of course, not all of this was a direct choice on my part. In many cases, I was forced to choose this. Some of it was self-protection (don't want to go through that again, etc.). And, some of it was due to the attraction I had to certain people, a way about them that seemed consistent with the more beautiful parts of the world.

I'm not claiming to have arrived anywhere on some kind of awareness scale. I'm just aware that so much of the way I relate to things is a function of what I do with my surroundings and my experiences. They inform me. Awareness can enable me to relate to them in increasingly constructive ways. As I head into the age of decline in many ways, I also enter into something else that has an opportunity to only grow — imagination for what is actually happening (despite what the populist version seems to describe), especially the good.

Many people seem to define their existence in terms of loss. I can't really blame them — so much has, in fact, been lost. But, I am drawn to people who somehow have the ability to remain hopeful, in spite of their losses. What often re-surprises me is that these people seem to keep growing, particularly in their hope. I might want to say something like, "...based on what evidence though?". And their answer often seems to be related to something they have essentially netted-out in the end — gratitude. As they become increasingly grateful for even the simplest and smallest of things in their self-understanding, their capacity to bring cheer and hope to the world seems to off-set the otherwise dismal, media-based prospects of our existence.

And, here's the kicker. While awareness is certainly something; what it affords is even better. The discovery in it all appears to be that awareness enables us to...receive. Without it, we seem to end up with our arms closed around ourselves and our stuff trying to hold the world away. With it, we are enabled to let go of such encumbrances...and actually receive even more. No longer stuff; now it's things like happiness, joy, and love — the kind of things that are larger than self, that relate to others, and that contribute to the good of the world. I'm guessing that these are things, in fact, that foster this infectious spirit of hope. Perhaps it is things related to our gratitude that usher us through the door of what it means to be truly human and, therefore, experience the portion of divinity that we were originally designed to represent.

If that's the case, I'm really only beginning to encounter the true freedom of life...at 60.