Rabbi Rachel Cowan and Dr. Linda Thal have written a new book, “Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience and Spirit” (available here), that challenges readers to question preconceived notions of aging and ask what it truly means to live a life of connection and purpose.
As Cowan writes, “Ours is the first generation in human history to move into elderhood with 20 years or more of vitality and good health ahead. Once our lives are no longer primarily driven by nurturing family and building careers, we have the chance to make wise choices about how we spend our time, energy and money. What does retirement mean now when many of us may still be working – by choice or by necessity? What does retirement mean now that there are so many opportunities for learning, for caring, for serving? We can redefine aging.”
Wise Aging tackles the encore stage of life from a deeply personal perspective, with a generous lens that invites readers – especially those 50+ — to consider their own experience of aging, and how that experience affects their identities, their relationships and the greater community.
Cowan acknowledges “the basic terror of aging – that we will become invisible, irrelevant and vulnerable, . . . doomed to slide down the slippery slope into feebleness, senility and death,” but counsels a constructive response in generativity – the core-deep impulse of experienced adults to share their wisdom and experience with younger generations – that will also resonate strongly with encore thinkers. As she explains, “Generativity means “break[ing] down barriers between ourselves and others, becoming increasingly embedded in an interdependent, connected web . . . [generativity] is completely age appropriate and fulfills and important social need.”
Grounded in Jewish spirituality and a rich array of historic and religious texts, the book invites creative introspection, by individual readers or congenial groups, and encourages practical, personal solutions to defining, understanding and responding to some of life’s greatest questions.
Rabbi Cowan has been widely recognized in the media as a leading progressive Jewish voice; Dr. Linda Thal has focused for the past 20 years on adult spiritual development. Read more about Cowan and Thal’s “Wise Aging” work here; purchase their book here.
Published: July 26, 2016