What is your vision of growing older? Our culture seems to view growing older as a time of decline, diminishment, and ultimately death. Would you be willing to trade that in for a life of learning, adventure, fulfillment, and joy?

In graduate school at Drew University in the 1950s, my major professor, Dr. Paul Maves, had just published a book Older People and the Church. I resolved that in my retirement I would focus on the possibilities of vital aging. Eleven years ago, when I retired, I had lunch with our bishop's husband, the Rev. Charles Christopher, an avid scholar and reader, and asked what I should be reading as I entered my retirement years. He pulled out a copy of the just-published book: From Age-ing to Sage-ing™: A Profound New Vision of Growing Older by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. I purchased it on the way home. In the back of the book, I learned there was a training program for people who wanted to lead the seminars, and I knew this was my post-retirement calling.

A few weeks later, while browsing in the local library, the cover page of Fortune magazine jumped out at me. The lead article was "How I Flunked Retirement" by Lee Iacocca. In it he wrote: "You can plan everything in life, and then the roof caves in on you because you haven't done enough thinking about who you are and what you are and what you should do with the rest of your life." Iacocca raises an important issue for retirement planning. Rabbi Zalman calls this "doing your philosophical homework."

From Age-ing to Sage-ing, also known as Spiritual Eldering, includes:

• Life review and life repair (forgiving ourselves and others)
• Coming to terms with our mortality
• Nourishing ourselves, physically, mentally, and spiritually
• Creating a vision for our elder years
• Leaving a legacy to the future

This work is best done in a group, where we can share with others, a process that builds spiritual intimacy and builds on the wisdom of the group. Churches, senior centers, assisted living centers, and community education programs are ideal settings for these groups.

The Rev. William Cox is a retired United Methodist minister and certified From Age-ing To Sage-ing Seminar Leader. He resides in Minnesota and has led these seminars from New York to California. He also is a Life Coach, coaching people around retirement issues. For more information about Spiritual Eldering, he may be contacted by phone at 651-633-8727 or by e-mail at william@william-cox.com.

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