Fading

Graceful and natural aging in Western industrial culture has been corrupted by commerce and the pharma-medical industry. Hedonism has ruled the day. From Joan Rivers to Nip-Tuck, neurosis about aging has evolved into mindless and vacuous self-mutilation in the wealthier classes. This is occurring in a society which begrudges basic medical care for everyone. In fact, the same tax-evading seniors who are spending fortunes on growth hormone and plastic surgery resent supporting government programs to end porverty and provide a basic social net for all people in the society. This is narcissism of the worst kind, plain and simple.

I have come to see my own experience of aging as a gentle and appreciable fading of many of the urges and impulses which made my former life so complicated and frought with struggle. By accepting age and letting go of these habitually perceived necessities, my life has become simpler, calmer and less stressful.

The key to this method of aging is embracing the changes, physical and emotional (also physical in the sense of hormonal), which are inevitable, despite any measures taken to fend them off. For me, this does not entail letting myself go to pot, by any means. In fact, I exercise more regularly than ever, but more gently. I set goals and projects for myself daily, but I do so realistically with my most basic needs at the top of the list.

The Middle Path entails balancing these seemingly contradictory concepts and actions. The Western mind thinks in dichotomy. It is best to reject this mode of thinking , if you wish to age well. One must learn to think inclusively with an acceptance that many things, some contradictory, can be happening at the same time to achieve balance and wisdom.

Letting go, fading gracefully, is the key to dignified aging in my opinion. This is a keystone of my practice.

Aging

Aging is a process which is maligned in the neurotic media of developed countries. This has to do with products which are sold by making aging the enemy. Cosmetics, hair dyes, plastic surgery, pharmaceuticals.

This distancing of the mind and awareness from natural aging creates and propagates mental illness, an unhealthy dissonance between reality and self perception. The illusion of youth fosters a sense of agelessness and immortality. These are neurotic defenses against the fear of death.

To approach death in this state of denial is simply stupid. As a hospice nurse, I can attest to the additional agony and suffering this leads to as death inevitably approaches.

Practice is about natural life. It is about being yourself as you learn about yourself. You cannot practice by hiding yourself.

Deceit

The greatest deception is self deception. It is the root of all deceit. In a materialistic, youth-obsessed, death-phobic culture, self deception is epidemic. Television offers plastic surgery as entertainment and promotion, for example. On these shows, people in their 30's are proudly having cosmetic surgery to satisfy their narcissistic self deception. This is the height of the deceit culture. Plastic surgery does not modify genes or personality. It only redecorates them.

Is there any question as to the source of corruption and lies in our political and social structures? Self deception has become a religion in itself in modern capitalist societies among the wealthy who control society. Creating a self myth to earn celebrity is a venerated form of deception.

The natural balance to this culture of narcissistic deceit is the inevitable unrest and violence which will boil up from the increasing hordes of poor and disillusioned. This is simply the cycle of human history, since human beings have yet to master honesty and the acceptance of their true place in the Universe.