CHANGING THE WORLD - THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF CONTEMPORARY ELDERS
Today in the United States, more than 76 million are creating a shift in the age composition of our country. Studies show people aged 65 and older will make up more than 20 percent of the population by 2029.
On the well-established Adoption Curve, at 20%, you have crossed the
chasm. You've hit the tipping point. The tipping point is the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change occurs.
Once you cross the chasm, possibility turns into genuine opportunity. It's now in some form of existence. The beachhead has been taken and base camp established once you have footing in the Main Majority.
It now has mass and some inertia of its own. It has moved from the formless into form. It has moved from vision and intention into purposeful actions with tangible properties. The "it" in this case is contemporary elder.
Today, if you Google eldering, it now has various permutation in business and nonprofit expressions demonstrating the chasm has been crossed. Seminars, courses, podcasts, videos, and those enterprises that produce these products and services have their ITIN numbers, checking accounts, Websites, investors, salaries, strategic plans. The stakes are in the ground.
The opportunity now available, develop an elder consciousness in the switch- throwers of that 20 percent by 2029. Their influence on how the future turns out – for themselves and for others – would be significant.
Generating highly influential Contemporary Elders by 2029, whose voices are heard and highly regarded, would make a profound and lasting difference on how the future turns out.
WHAT’S IT MEAN TO BE AN ELDER
John Sorensen of the Conscious Elder Network says, "To be an elder for me is to take advantage of all the things I've learned in life – the experiences I've had, the stumbles I've made and figuring out to recover from those things. We are given a life of fate; our job is to figure out our destiny."
To recover from the "stumbles," requires self-awareness. A way of examining and understanding yourself from the viewpoint of being the responsible agent in life.
As a responsible agent, you forgo blame, guilt, shame, and fault – of yourself and others. Blame, shame, guilt, and fault are the antithesis of responsibility. Looking at yourself from a responsible platform, you uncover and reveal those areas of your life that have impeded your aliveness, self-expression, freedom, and power – and you may have been unaware of, or simply unheeded.
Self-awareness is the cornerstone of being a Contemporary Elder in our models and methods of developing Elders. The other three foundation stones are physical, intellectual, and spiritual.
SELF-AWARENESS
Being self-aware is a truthful knowing of your ability to accurately recognize your emotions, thoughts, and values, along with the ability to understand how they
impact your behavior.
Self-awareness is the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do, or don't align, with your core values. Those who are self-aware can see the gap. They can uncover their motives, and interpret their actions, feelings, and thoughts truthfully.
Renowned psychologist and author Daniel Coleman describes self- awareness in his book, “Emotional Intelligence” as “knowing one’s internal states, preference, resources and intuitions.”
As an Eder, self-awareness encompasses your ability to truthfully assess your own strengths and limitations, with a well-grounded sense of confidence, possibility, and a learning mindset.
In our methodology, being self-aware requires an Elder be both ruthlessly honest about their strengths and weaknesses, and to notice how they operate when they are standing in either one.
You can’t change it if you don’t see it in yourself as yourself. Recognition is the first gatekeeper to conscious change. Can’t chose another path unless you see the path you’re on.
THE WHY BEHIND OUR WHY
Ageism is a form of social prejudice that people from every social background have to deal. I’ve recently had a few direct encounters myself. And as the aging
population continues to increase, ageism unattended will almost certainly increase.
Even though the United States has an accelerating aging population (22% by 2035) there is expanding bias against aging and a general fear of getting
old. Changes in the political, social, and economic landscape have altered perceptions about aging and ultimately decreased the status and position of Elders in our society.
With the growing sense of individualism and the ever-increasing concern for staying young, older people face an escalating level of disregard, disrespect, and marginalization.
Common perceptions toward the elderly are that they are of low status and incompetent and this theme runs across all media platforms. The elderly are depicted as weak, unattractive, and senile. Other cultural stereotypes often seen in the media portray the elderly as frail, feeble, financially distressed, and not contributing to society.
As American society moves further in the direction of secularism, materialism, and individualism, expect to see these negative attitudes and perceptions toward the elderly, and aging, grow.
Our company is counting on this. As in Judo, we know how to “use the force of your opponent” to win.
THE FUTURE AND ELDERS
The world as it exists now is becoming increasingly uninhabitable, not only in the external environment, but in the internal ecosystems of people’s hearts and minds. Elders, with their higher wisdom, when heard, would reverse this death spiral.
The leverage is increasing when you consider the average net worth for a 60-year- old in America is about $200,000 in 2021. However, for the above-average 60- year-old who is very focused on his or her finances has an average net worth closer to $2,000,000. Generating Contemporary Eldering in this cohort, focusing their power and speaking, would mightily impact the culture. Look at what Einstein, Margaret Mead or Buckminster Fuller did with just one voice.
Contemporary Elders have a clear and present opportunity to alter the direction the world is headed. That is the vision. That is the mission. That is what Elders are called to do and have always been called to do. Bring eternal values and higher wisdom that counter egoism, power-grabbing, self-centeredness. Imagine what could get done.
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