Aging: The Fulfillment of Life
by Henri J.M. Nouwen, Walter J. Gaffney
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Book Summary Information
Author: Henri J.M. Nouwen, Walter J. GaffneyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1976-02-13
ISBN: 0385009186
Number of pages: 160
Publisher: Image
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Book Reviews of Aging: The Fulfillment of Life
Book Review: Get in touch with yoru inner old person
Summary: 4 Stars
Henri J.M.Nouwen and Walter J. Gaffney, Aging: The Fulfilment of Life
(New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1976)
Reviewed by Jenni & Darren Cronshaw
Aging is commonly seen as a traumatic experience. But well known Catholic inspirational writer, Henri Nouwen together with Walter Gaffney have produced an inspiring volume that invites us to get in touch with our own aging and consider hopeful implications for how we care for our elders. The book addresses a taboo topic. There is a widespread fatalistic idea that aging is a process of mainly losses and diminishment. The negatives of aging can be accepted fatalistically.
Nouwen and Gaffney challenge the assumption that there is less joy and hope to look forward to in old age. They present aging as an amazing process that can be full of hope. Our last years can indeed be our best: "It is so filled with promises that it can lead us to discover more and more of life's treasures. We believe that aging is not a reason for despair but a basis for hope, not a slow decaying but a gradual maturing, not a fate to be undergone but a chance to be embraced." (pp.19-20) Picturing aging like a wagon wheel, the authors emphasise that every spoke or life stage is important and unique.
The first half of the book looks at the experiences of those who are living the "last spokes" of their life cycle. What does it mean to grow old in a society that celebrates those who are standing at the top of the wheel and making a visible contribution to society? The book asserts that the second half of our lives, with the apparent downward turn of the wheel, must be celebrated too. Although many older people find aging a journey into darkness, there are many who find their later years are a journey towards the light and that "the pains of growing old are worthwhile". (p13)
The authors bring a fresh and liberating view of caring in the second half of the book. In a society that conditions us to hide any signs of aging, they counsel self-awareness of our own aging as a key to caring for others. To be really present with an elderly person we need to be in touch with our own aging self (p117), or as Jenni says my "inner old lady".
The book finishes with a reflection about Jesus' experience of living the last "spoke" of his life. It is unusual to think of Jesus understanding the special experiences of the aged since he died so young. But Jesus, like those who die in old age, came to the end of his life stripped of what he had relied on for strength and meaning.
Noewen and Gaffney comment how Jesus' experience on the cross reflects the experience of many elderly people: "For the Son of Man the wheel stopped when he had lost everything: his power to speak and to heal, his sense of success and influence, his disciples and his friends - even his God. When he was nailed against the tree, robbed of all human dignity; he knew that he had aged enough, and said: "It is fulfilled" ... Every human being has only one life cycle to live, but together our aging can become the fulfilment of the promise of him who by his aging and death brought new life to the world." (pp.156-157) Thus to paraphrase Nouwen and Gaffney further, we all have but one life cycle to live, but as we age we can still bring the hope and mission of him who through the trauma of his aging and death brought fresh life to the world.
This is an insightful book for people of all ages to understand our aging, to care for those who are older, and to learn to live hopefully throughout our life cycle.
Jenni is a BaptCare Community Aged Care chaplain. Darren is BUV's Coordinator of Leadership Training. Together they are pastors at Auburn Baptist Church. A version of this review may appear The Witness (Forthcoming 2010).
Summary of Aging: The Fulfillment of Life
The author shares his moving and inspirational thoughts on what aging can mean to all of us. It is a warm, caring book that shows us how to make the later years a source of hope rather than a time of loneliness.B & W photographs throughout.
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