Tag Archives: Terry Jones

From Aging to Sage-ing: Navigating the Journey of Becoming a Modern Elder

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Many of us feel like we’re growing whole rather than growing old. What if there was a new, modern archetype of elderhood, one that was worn as a badge of honor, not cloaked in shame?

Chip Conley

On the occasion of my 65th birthday in 2023, I made public a project I had been working for some time, and one that I plan to continue the rest of my life:

Becoming a Modern Elder.

Here was my resolve: As much as it is in my health, resources, and capacity, I resolve to:

My journey to becoming a Modern Elder is all about reciprocity. 

Giving and receiving. Teaching and learning. Speaking and listening. 

Everyone gets older, but not everyone gets elder.

The first just happens (if you’re lucky and healthy). The other you have to earn.

Along this journey, I’ve been researching the topic of elderhood, and I wanted to share an important contribution to that research from Terry Jones in his book, The Elder Within:

One writer approached the idea of what he calls “elderhood” as a “state of consciousness that arises in the context of physiological aging… [where] the psyche issues a call for us to engage in life completion, a process that involves specific tasks, such as coming to terms with our mortality, healing our relationships, enjoying our achievements and leaving a legacy for the future.”

The archetypal elder has been the same force in most cultures over most all of time. An archetype is an ancient model for a role that has survived time. Some writers refer to the archetypal “elder within” when discussing the energy from the psyche that energizes those who express eldership. “Within each person awaits the figure of the elder – a promise and a challenge.” Just as the instincts seem to account for recurrent behavior patterns in man, so the archetypes seem to account for recurrent psychic patterns. 

Psychic patterns are expressions of your psyche. The psyche is all of the human being, which is not physical. The psyche includes the conscious and unconscious elements of the human personality.

When a man taps the energy of the “elder within,” the following are available to him:

  • Balance in our expression of strength, celebration, intellect, and feeling
  • Knowledge of our faults, our shadow
  • An expression of self principally from our center, our soul
  • Patience and a desire to be available to others
  • An awareness of our personal strength
  • A sage-like love for consensus and community
  • A expression of wisdom that leads to being shown extraordinary
  • Deference by the community
  • A hunger to share the world with women and children: the opposite of patriarchy
  • A drive for conservation and a passion for the Earth and its survival
  • Assertive energy that invigorates and energizes but is not dangerous to others
  • A need to nurture and guide younger people and contribute to the next generation
  • Husbandman energy: driven by a passion for the best possible life for men and the beauty of the Earth
  • Stewardship energy of the Earth, of people
  • A desire to take care of ourselves and take pride in our good health
  • Knowledge that we are caretakers whose vitality depends on a personal shift from self to community
  • A personal force that empowers others when they are in your presence
  • A hunger to introduce the meaning of life to the young

Eldership is wisdom in an active state.

Wisdom is enlightenment, insight, and a high degree of learning. The elder is aware of the need to pass on one’s knowledge and to pass on the responsibility of stewardship of man and the Earth to the young.

I would love to hear your comments:

  • What’s your reaction to the list above?
  • What would you change?
  • What would you add?
  • What would you remove?

Thanks for contributing to my ongoing research and discussion of the Modern Elder!