“The Afternoon knows what the Morning never expected.”
-Robert Frost
With our extended longevity and the wisdom of depth psychology, we now have the precious opportunity to extend our psychological and spiritual development. We can open the portals of shadow-awareness, pure awareness, and mortality awareness. We can release past trauma, regret, and unfinished business to step into the archetype of the noble Elder. We can face illness, retirement, and loss as rites of passage. And we can shift our identities from our roles in work and family to who we really are. This is aging as spiritual practice. As we learn to attune to our inner worlds and face unconscious internal resistance, we can break through denial, deepen our self-acceptance, enter a new stage of awareness, and find spiritual purpose in late life. Age is our curriculum.