Tag Archives: culture

Grandparents and Elders Wisdom Sharing Project

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For most of human culture, people with experience and wisdom were given respect. People who were able to live to be “older” were valued for the many things they had been witness to and the decisions which they had a part in making for the betterment of their community. They did not always get it right. Their wisdom or experience was not always followed but they were heard and respected. In recent history in North American culture, the wisdom of the elders is not respected in the same way! In youth striving cultures, age has lost respect especially when media and technology strives to worship the “new and shiny” rather than experiencial thinking. In many ways, this is as it should be. Past generations have proven to be conservative and slow to adopt newer technologies. The crisis created in this scenario relates to the youngest of our world being insulated from the spiritual wisdom and the emotional experience of older community members.

In the modern world in North America, older people are herded into “retirement facility” or “retirement communities” where they do not live the day to day struggles with babies, young children, struggling adolescents, or young working adults. How can they be role models of patience or compassion born of experience? How can their epiphanies of living through familiar life struggles be shared in less dramatic and more “real” ways to serve the emotional growth of the youngest community members?

I am not speaking about religion or philosophies or fear born responses to life. I am speaking about Universal truths and wisdom which comes of age and experience. I am speaking of empathy born out of living through similar life challenges. For me, becoming a parent at age 35 opened new doors of empathy for families. I relearned how to shed tears in my new emotional responses and empathy. Now, as a new grandpa, I ask how I can serve my grandson’s hard working parents? What is my role so I can provide insight from my life experience? Especially, I ask myself, what role modeling of spiritual (not religious beliefs) wisdom can I offer to serve the spiritual needs of my grandson? He is still a baby but what can I create for him NOW and for later in his life that will share the lessons I have known and learned from?

Maybe this is not my responsibility. Perhaps this is best left to his busy parents or to school or to his own path through life. I doubt that I can trust the media, technology, or his peers to provide a role model of consciousness development that I can, as an elder, agree would be best for his long term benefit and for the larger world. How can I share with him that he is a miracle and perfect in his life when our culture will want to bully him into conformity and accepting the competitive separateness which our culture seems to worship? How can I convey as a role model or through words and actions that he is a unique piece of the Divine Spirit? How can I share with him that the painful challenges and difficult people he will face are a part of important lessons he is meant to have for his awareness process? And, how can I help him to remember the Divine source from which he comes and where he will return? Perhaps by role modeling, I can show him how to find the joy in grief and other difficult challenges and how to turn these into experiences which will lead to service to our world…

Our culture needs to be reminded of the value of Elders and Grandparents. Elders and Grandparents need to step up, get off their couches and then share their wisdom born from living their lives. Not to be annoying, opinionated, meddling “menschs” but supportive, positive guides. Busy parents need to pay attention to the value of connecting their children with their ancestors and their treasured elders, if these people exist. Respect needs to be re-learned by all sides of this equation.

My current plan is to write spiritual blogs, do interviews with other elders, perhaps write some of my insights, AND to hold my grandson to share my love and to remind him of his perfection and Divinity. If time allows, I will be a role model of acceptance and unconditional love. Maybe my shared stories of the “awakenings” I have experienced will find him when he is able to hear and to benefit from these. I will gather a list of the books, trainings, and experiences which have lead me in positive ways as a possible road map of what is possible. In some way, I hope to encourage his own exploration of consciousness. My gut tells me he will have to find his own way to fight off the bullying of our society to push him to conform to its lowest common denominator.

Please consider and share your reactions. How can the Wisdom keepers share their learnings born of life experience? Most importantly, how can we better serve the Spiritual learning for our youngest members without indoctrinating them into fear based separation and paternally driven philosophies? Celebrate Wisdom and the Divine Spirit!

Thanks for your time and consideration. Your insights and experiences are unique and a blessing, so please share these…

If you are READY and looking for a supportive community where you can share your story, your wisdom, and grow spiritually in a non-religious environment, consider Masters of the Journey.
You are a Blessing! You are a Master! Your wisdom from your life experience can have great value to other pilgrims on the path toward awakening and enlightenment.

The Masters of the Journey has events which are updated on our Facebook page which is found at: www.facebook.com/mastersofthejourney Please comment on this blog and share, if appropriate. More of our blogs are based on spiritual consciousness and can be found at www.dstress.com/blog

I Am!

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What is the cause of the problems of the world? I Am!
Who is responsible for positive changes in the world? I Am!

Tom Shadyac’s 2010 documentary, “I Am,” is worth your time even with the disturbing answers to the questions above. Take Tom seriously… Tom has been a film maker who had great success with popular comedy films like: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, and Bruce Almighty. His success gave him an enviable lifestyle with awards, money, prestige, and enormous Hollywood homes. But, Tom did not feel happy. The “trappings of success” did not bring Tom joy. As he tells his story, a serious cycling accident peeled him away from his life and lifestyle. With time to reflect, Tom began to ask the question what makes people happy and his film tells some of this story.

The points he made which I resonated the most with started by his mentioning how lonely we tend to be as a society. The competitive forces which have guided our lifestyles have dramatically added to the sense of separation. Our cultural values ask us to find happiness and deeper satisfaction in acquiring possessions and then having to guard and protect these objects from being lost or taken from us. In the United States, we have become more accepting of the “Me First” mentality and behaviors which are portrayed by the reality TV stars and seems opposite what past cultures deemed as acceptable.

Indigenous cultures have celebrated community supporting all its members, deeper connections, cooperation, and respect for all life. Though we all share similar genes in our DNA with most lifeforms on the Earth, we tend to see ourselves as separate leading to a disconnect with our role on this Earth and at odds with our life giving environment. We tend to hoard and take more than we should or we do not have a responsible long term approach to the resources which are available. In cultures from the past, people who hoarded or gathered too many possessions were thought to be mentally ill, a view shared by many of the experts which Tom interviewed for his movie.

Today, we live in a polarized society where people do not listen to opposing attitudes or beliefs. We are separated by political beliefs and false idols.

Tom eventually found that his happiness was not in the 17,000 square foot home he owned or the lifestyle of the jet setters. He sold his house and moved into a manufactured house. He lives more simply now. Rides his bicycle to work. Most importantly, he finds true happiness in being of service and assisting other people. He shares that we all need to take responsibility for our actions and for the future of our planet by doing what ever we can to reduce unnecessary consumption and live with in the means which our Earth can provide. Connecting and cooperation is his way of “being in this world.” We are all in this world together. We are all responsible for what happens.

Look for the things that bring YOU the most joy. Chances are you will find these experiences in offering service, in what ever ways YOU can… Even a simple act of sharing a hug. You are a blessing and you have a BIG role in assisting the forward movement of ALL consciousness!

By the way, Tom’s 2010 documentary is worth the time. The many people he interviewed offered much to my knowledge base and his (spiritual) views were very compatible with the lessons learned and shared through the Masters of the Journey community.

If you are READY and looking for a supportive community where you can share your story, your wisdom, and grow spiritually in a non-religious environment, consider Masters of the Journey.
You are a Blessing! You are a Master! Your wisdom from your life experience can have great value to other pilgrims on the path toward awakening and enlightenment.

The Masters of the Journey has events which are updated on our Facebook page which is found at: www.facebook.com/mastersofthejourney Please comment on this blog and share, if appropriate. More of our blogs are based on spiritual consciousness and can be found at www.dstress.com/blog

Wisdom of the Elders

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Who are our Elders and why is our culture at war with them? Why are many of our elders separated from the people who need them the most, our youth? In an impatient society which changes so quickly, why do we not make time for our most experienced and wisest members?

In many cultures, people who have lived longer and survived the many challenges which life throws at us, are venerated and respected. Sure they do not always act with grace, maturity, or even patience but these members of our society can have much to offer. Their stories can teach lessons which less experienced people might benefit from learning. Their perspective, honed over the time in life experiences, carries insight that is lacking from youthful lives.

It is not just elders who are separated by the behaviors of our culture. All of us seem to have “circled the wagons” so we can better control our media fed anxiety regarding different age groups, or races, or genders, or political beliefs. It seems to be an accepted practice that we only hang out with immediate family, or people at work, or people whose religion or politics seem identical to our own. This strikes me as an inbred way of controlling populations by keeping us apart and in fear filled isolation. (Opinion and judgement, so sorry…)

Who qualifies as our elders? Do they have to be old, even ancient? Are all older people wise or even filled with useful experiences? From a spiritual perspective, aren’t we all “old souls” with the potential for great wisdom even when we seem to be young in this moment, in this incarnation? If this is true, then we must respect all people we stumble into and offer the gift of witnessing their story, allowing it to unfold. Maybe it is not the words or thoughts but the feelings and emotions which can become great tools for our learning.

Be careful who YOU listen to, you may be listening to a MASTER!

Wisdom comes from deeper insight and a “Knowing.” Everyone of us has this, we just need to tap into this and be willing listen to share… Wisdom is Ageless and Old is irrelevant. Chase wisdom and let it find you and no matter how old you are, remember to live young at heart.

If you are READY and looking for a supportive community where you can share your story, your wisdom, and grow spiritually in a non-religious environment, consider Masters of the Journey.
You are a Blessing! You are a Master! Your wisdom from your life experience can have great value to other pilgrims on the path toward awakening and enlightenment.

The Masters of the Journey has events which are updated on our Facebook page which is found at: www.facebook.com/mastersofthejourney Please comment on this blog and share, if appropriate. More of our blogs are based on spiritual consciousness and can be found at www.dstress.com/blog