Elder, the role

Elder is a role played in the family and community that is most common in third world, non-industrialized cultures. "Elderhood" is the condition or quality of being an elder. Elder is a manner of being in the latter portion of life that results from an older man or woman answering the informal call from the family or community to accept the mantle of elderhood. Once having accepted this calling, elders are known by their interest in mentoring, sharing their long life experiences, modeling a sense of oneness with Earth and often, acting as the spiritual agent of one's community.

Examples

An example of elder expression is the good grandmother who at once enwraps her children with life assuring warmth and, at the same time, lets them go and grow to become independent and free adults. Another example is the journeyman who mentors the apprentice with goals of sponsorship and advocacy as well as the demonstration of skills. Elders believe the role of adults is to facilitate creativity in the young, not teach the patterns of the past. This often leads to mentoring, which is time consuming. Elders, therefore have less time to indulge themselves. Elders, in their wisdom, sense that they are caretakers and that their vitality depends on a personal shift from egocentricity to community.

The older person who resists the call is often submitting to the weight of bias toward the old found most commonly in the youth oriented industrialized part of the world. Elder is a generative model for moving from "adulthood" to a deeper expression of being in late life. Older people today are fully capable of rediscovering their generative potential and maintaining their social responsibilities as wisdomkeepers, earthkeepers, mentors and celebrants, sources of blessing.

References

Bolen, Jean Shinoda (2003). Crones Don’t Whine. Conari Press. Boston.

Gutmann, David. Reclaimed Powers. Northwestern U. Press. Evanston, Ill.1994

Dass, Ram. Still Here.Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying .Riverhead Books.New York. 2001.

Jones, Terry. Elder: A spiritual alternative to being elderly. Elderhood Institute. 2006.

Jones, Terry. The Elder Within: Source of Mature Masculinity. Elderhood Institute. 2001.

Leder, Drew. Spiritual Passages. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam. New York. 1997.

Levinson, Daniel J. The Seasons of a Man’s Life. Ballantine Books. NY. 1978.

Raines, Robert. A Time to Live. Seven Steps in Creative Aging. A Plume Book. New York.1997.

Schachter-Shalomi, Zalman. Ageing to Sageing. Warner Books. N.Y. 1995.