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What Carl Jung called “the second half of life” has the potential to be a remarkable curriculum for insight and awakening. When wisely understood, the changes inherent in the aging process become stepping-stones to the actualization of our best human qualities: wisdom, lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.
Author David Chernikoff has spent decades pursuing spiritual study and practice with remarkable teachers, including Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Father Thomas Keating, and Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. In Life, Part Two, he distills lessons from across contemplative traditions to invite readers to embrace seven essential elements of conscious living: embracing the mystery, choosing a vision, cultivating intuitive wisdom, committing to inner work, suffering effectively, serving from the heart, and celebrating the journey. These elements culminate in wise elderhood—a state celebrated by indigenous cultures around the world, yet largely unacknowledged in contemporary Western society. For those of us who aspire to live fully and to love well as we age, Life, Part Two is a lucid guidebook that empowers us to personally thrive and to contribute with ever greater clarity and purpose.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
December 21, 2021 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780834843950
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780834843950
- File size: 3585 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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October 25, 2021
Meditation counselor Chernikoff's Buddhist-leaning debut guide to graceful, conscious aging sees the challenges inherent to the second half of life—whether chronological or due to a major life shift, such as a cancer diagnosis—as a "remarkable curriculum for awakening." He articulates core principles for synthesizing "wisdom and love from long life experience," among them embracing mystery, choosing a vision, awakening intuition, committing to inner work, suffering effectively, serving from the heart, and celebrating the journey. Chernikoff recommends a cultivated balance of introspection and service that contributes to collective well-being. Examples are drawn from his hospice work and experience teaching psychology and meditation, and the conversational tone avoids the judgmental "to do" vibe common in self-help works, though the author quietly urges readers to work toward making a transformative reassessment of their relationship to the world. There's limited specifics addressing the inevitable bodily changes of aging, or the loss of loved ones and the Western cultural attitude toward aging; Chernikoff focuses more on the ineffable. Readers feeling unmoored after a certain age can take in much from this contemplative take on finding connection and purpose.
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