SEASON 1 EPISODE 17
March 31st at 10 AM PT/ 7 PM CET
Spiritual Lessons and Opportunities that Ripen with Age
WITH TERRY PATTEN
Terry Patten is a renown spiritual teacher who has embraced the integral worldview fully. His approach enables us to include all aspects of BEING, all stages and all states of consciousness, and it is a genuine exploration of being human in this Universe.
He graciously agreed to be our guest for the closing episode of season 1 of our series Conscious Ageing to share his exxperience thoughts and attitude about ageing from a spiritual point of view.
STREAMED LIVE HERE on March 31st 2017
HEIDI’S INTRODUCTION
In the 60’s young people discovered a spirituality that was different from what their their parents had taught them. It was exciting and exotic adventure. Before that. we had “religion” and you believed in the dogmas or you didn’t. No real alternatives had existed. But it happened quite often that even strict atheists began to believe in God towards the end of their lives.
Today we can be spiritual without needing to “believe”. For many of us, spirituality, has become an internal journey of self discovery and contact with other realms of being. Certainly, some young people begin a spiritual journey with various motives, but normally youth is not much concerned with wanting to know the deep existential truths.
Getting older changes the picture. We begin to become aware that life won’t go on forever and questions arise about death and afterlife. So the turn towards religion or spiritual teachings becomes a natural way of being in the world – the attempt to prepare for what will be coming next.
TERRY WRITES
The experience of growing older makes naive spiritual idealism less and less tenable. As our bodies change and we see more and more of those we have known and loved passing away, the bittersweet nature of mortal existence becomes undeniable. Some people close off in resistance and become depressed or resentful, whereas others recognize the evergreen nature of the present moment, and deeply savor the holiness of brokenness.
I may come to “ache in places where I used to play” as Leonard Cohen so poignantly put it, and darkness may no longer be a stranger. But youthful illusions of immortality are blinding, and in the presence of darkness we can come to know the light far more intimately. Most importantly, we soften, and in softening, we become capable of the tenderness that is the essence of both human and divine love.
The elders have the sacred function to hold the suffering and the brokenness of the world. If we do this authentically, pain and loss do not necessarily diminish, but they can be seen as sacred, and authentic lightheartedness more and more often breaks through.
ABOUT TERRY PATTEN
Terry is a leading voice in the emerging fields of integral evolutionary leadership and spirituality.
Terry is a member of Deepak Chopra’s Evolutionary Leadersgroup, a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, and serves on the board of the Wellsprings Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and John F. Kennedy University.
He worked with Ken Wilber as part of a core team at Integral Institute to develop Integral Life Practice, which distills ancient and modern practices into an intelligent contemporary transformational lifestyle. Earlier, for 15 years, he undertook a life of intensive spiritual discipline in the monastic setting of Vision Mound Seminary. Upon leaving he founded the catalog company Tools For Exploration, which defined the field of consciousness technologies. Terry is also a social entrepreneur involved in supporting restorative redwood forestry. As an entrepreneur and consultant he has worked for twenty years to help leaders bring higher consciousness into practical actions that transform complex human systems. He is also a teacher, coach and consultant who travels widely, challenging and connecting leading-edge individuals and organizations worldwide.
Watch here the conversation after the show with Terry, Heidi and Mark, Mark E. Henrik and Majorie
When we talk about ‘wholeness”, would this not also include that which needs to be opposed? Is the opposite of what we say we want to see in the world, a part of what is required to create the polarity necessary, at this level of awareness in our linear world, to integrate into wholeness?
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Hi Majorie and thank you for the question. It is too late now for to ask it to Terry. In my opinion, the positive cannot exist without the negative – and I have a hard time to finally acknowledge this fact. But it does by no means mean that pursuing the negative or the positive doesn’t make a difference. It does. But believing that we will be able to eliminate the negative is not only unreal but also reinforces it because it goes underground. The story Terry told in the show makes also very clear that we do NEVER know what, at the end, is positive or negative, even if in any moment it seems one or the other.
I want to thank you for this webcast!
I have learned so much !
For years and years I have studied Authenticity this is like Terry talks as the hero’s journey as a never ending journey.We have to come to reality of our age and learn and grow older wiser with age.Yet I am unsure why I was led to this website and video and I think my friend was trying to teach me a bigger lesson would you know what that is?
Very greatful
Lori
Thank you Lori, for this wonderful comment. I am glad that you found us and the teachings of Terry in our last broadcast. You write:”We have to come to reality of our age and learn and grow older wiser with age.” and, yes, that is what we believe, too. It has become our mission to inspire people to create a different future for themselves and for the whole world. I hope to meet you again in our future shows!
Heidi