Aging is a collective frontier. As humanity is living longer and longer, aging can feel rudderless without an anchor and often beset with fears of the future and of losing our capacities and our youth. Aging is a physical, emotional, moral, cognitive, and spiritual frontier. As we age the main activities of our lives in which we’ve identified begin to fall away such as losing a spouse, or a job, or we become ill. Zweig suggests that we are faced with such spiritual questions like ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What practices can lead us to become a spiritual elder?’ She poses the question, “What are the practices we need to shift in our internal identity to move from role to soul?” The good news is that with this extended longevity comes a chance to become a true wisdom elder. To accomplish this leap from adulthood to elderhood we’re challenged to uncover and explore our unconscious denials and resistances around repairing the past and reclaiming our creativity. This deep dialogue reveals ways to discover and share our talents and wisdom and to become a force for change in ourselves and in the lives of others. Zweig calls attention to important questions that can be revealed from an inner life-review such as: “What is it that only that I can do? What is it only I can give and if I don’t will I die with regret?” Here we explore obstacles encountered in the transition to wise elder.
