Ageless Soul by Thomas Moore

Author:Thomas Moore [Moore, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

I would like to see these values included in every retirement community’s mission statement and given to the children of parents who are getting old. Earlier in life you may have had a different set of values, such as making money, working hard, raising children, developing a house, going to school, or striving for independence. The older person is in a different place and is becoming more of a contemplative than a maker and doer. Of course, some people continue to work hard into old age, but even they would benefit from a gradual introduction of the soul values.

The time to begin preparing for retirement is the day you begin your career. This is an example of what I mean by aging at every stage in your life. You age in your twenties by being a multifaceted person who is not identified by your job, no matter now important or rewarding it may be. You continually expand your participation in life and decide not to hide out in safe, chosen areas such as a career or a home.

Suppose you’ve made this error and surrendered to your career early in life. Now you have some work to do, as you retire, to examine yourself and find those elements that want attention and development. Yes, you have them, even if they have been hidden behind the façade of your career. Or, you can just open your eyes to the world in front of you and discover areas that waken your desire.

A dear friend of mine, Hugh Van Dusen, an editor at Harper-Collins for sixty years, retired recently. Hugh is a soft-spoken, kind, and sophisticated man. He began his career with an interest in theology, philosophy, and cultural studies, first with Torchbooks and then with Harper Perennial. I met Hugh in the 1980s, and in 1990 he was my editor for Care of the Soul. We worked together on a number of books over the span of ten years and grew close.

Over the years Hugh has made oil paintings; some of them hung in his office in Manhattan. I’m always attracted to paintings by amateur artists who are trying to discover the building blocks of a meaningful life. Hugh’s paintings appealed to me. There was originality in them, and his use of color was fresh. One day he showed me more paintings at his apartment in New York, and again I was struck by both their simplicity and their sophistication. By that time, too, Hugh was doing some quilting, and again I enjoyed seeing how his imagination worked, especially in a homespun craft that you rarely see men practicing.

Now, almost twenty years later, Hugh has retired from his Manhattan work life and is eager to have more time to paint and quilt and enjoy time with his wife. He has aged very well because he has lived into life by keeping his mind alive, making some difficult decisions, and expanding his life work. For him retirement means making what were formerly avocations into

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