As I ease into retirement, I am reading Fr. Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward.
Per Rohr (and Carl Jung), there are two halves to a lifetime. Most of our concern in the first half of life is about rising, achieving, accomplishing, performing.*
And in the second half there’s is a shift to spiritual development. Most of us tend to think of the second half of life as largely about getting old, dealing with health issues, and letting go of life, but the whole thesis of this book is exactly the opposite. What looks like falling down can largely be experienced as "falling upward." In fact, it is not a loss but somehow actually a gain, as we have all seen with elders who have come to their fullness.*
You can recognize a second half of life person is by a kind of inner outpouring, a kind of inner generativity. They're not guarded. They're not overly self-protected. They're looking for ways to give themselves away, because they're now living out of their abundance, and they find that it's an overflowing wealth.*
That’s aspirational for me. I have much inner work to do! A recent funeral inspired some hope-full thoughts about the seasons of life.
(*) Italicized excerpts from amazon.com, Q&A with the Author
lord of life’s seasons
at a funeral
in my hometown
with friends
from thirty-five years ago
recalling propitious times
the launching pad
for family and career
and a wonderful church family
my self-diagnosis
acute nostalgia
if only I could rewind time
those memories
i’m reminded
were from the first act
the curtain now rises on a second
and the funeral scripture
a time to weep and a time to laugh
a time to mourn and a time to dance
(ecclesiastes 3:4)
surely there will be weeping
and mourning
but there is more laughter
and dancing to come
meanwhile
in the sunlit church courtyard
a cohort of grandchildren
chasing and racing
toward a bright future
to every thing there is a season
and a time to every purpose
under heaven
(ecclesiastes 3:1)
amen
