New Passion Circle Council — On Becoming Elders
The future belongs to the learners, not the knowers. Eric Hoffer
The greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of its parents. CG Jung
Elders fall into the category of things that are made, not born. An infant becomes a child simply by aging, but a person cannot become an elder by simply becoming older. Old age alone cannot make the elder, for the qualities most needed involve something more than physical change. Becoming an elder is not a ‘natural occurrence;’ there is something meta-physical involved, something philosophical and spiritual that is required.
Playing the role of elder and seer, William Blake advised:
“Wisdom combines insight with experience,
and vision with maturity.
If maturity expands vision, it will lead to wisdom.
If not, maturity becomes degeneration."
Knowledge makes a person older, but the wise also become younger as well by knowing the song of their soul and the rhythm of their heart and the living dream that brought them to life to begin with.
In a world that continually turns upside down, it becomes increasingly important to be able to imagine the inner elder as the age old source of genuine resiliency. Not simply the source of hope, but more importantly, the resource of deep imagination. In doing that, we can join Yates when he says ”an aged person is a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick, unless soul clap, its hands and sing and louder sing for every tatter in its moral dress.”
We can hope - or better yet imagine - that we someday become that aged person, worn and tattered by life, and yet able to tap into the deep imagination. That is the genuine inheritance of humanity and keep finding the inner song line that secretly connects us to the ongoing of creation.
The section above is sourced from Sourced Michael Meade's podcast 226, The Call of the Elders
In our first half of life it is healthy to embark on a “heroes journey.” In the second half of life, after we’ve experienced and metabolized life’s natural initiations, it is healthy to shift to an “elders journey”.
We have learned we are inherently imbued with a life purpose that is further and deeper than our work career. Second half of life is the time to “remember” and more deeply “live the truth at the center of the image we were born with.” (Bill Plotkin) It is a time to become an elder. Or, at least to become ready to answer a call to be an elder. Illuman helps men to heal their wounds, supports our journey of illumination, why? So we become elders — to others, to our communities, and to the world.
What does this really mean or look like?
How do we do this?
Where can we find allies for this journey?
We’re looking to form a cohort of men to explore what it means to become an elder, and to continue our journey toward that vision, intentionally. We look to mine the insights and experience of wisdom elders who have gone before, as well as those who have studied and written about that process. Along the way we will identify new practices we can adopt, to continue our life-long learning.
Most importantly, we will be a community of men who support men transforming through a loving power greater than ourselves. This is required for us to come of age into elderhood, if that is the gift that awaits us.
To discuss this, or to request to join this Passion Circle council, please contact Clint Heyer at AZMROP12@gmail.com