THE CONTEMPORARY ELDER RETREAT
THE CONTEXT
The word "contemporary" accurately distinguishes this context of being an elder.
Definition: con·tem·po·rar·y /kənˈtempəˌrerē/T
Adjective
• Living or occurring at the same time.
• Belonging to or occurring in the present.
Noun
• A person or thing living or existing at the same time as another.
In this context of contemporary:
A contemporary elder holds the present moment in a complex
expanse. Their moments have much broader boundaries reaching well into the past, deeper into the present, and further into the future.
A contemporary elder's moments exist not as a limited immediate "now;" they encompass history from experience, curiosity, and humility. Having
those properties, elders possess a greater ability to understand where and how people and events will curve.
Although a contemporary elder's moments hold the past, the present and the future, elders can be fully present without judgment or
assessment. Their moments are no longer filtered by ego. Contemporary elders are not there to get something but rather to give something.
A contemporary elder speaks their truth without reserve but also without harm or righteousness. There is no threat with an elder, allowing them to be fully heard.
A contemporary elder has an expanded sense of freedom. They have accumulated knowledge and experience, but now also wisdom. There is nothing to prove. Approval, recognition, adoration no longer have sway.
A contemporary elder has a genuine compassion for the existential suffering of others because it has happened to them. Suffering has guided them in becoming an elder. The elder knows how it feels. This allows the elder to relate from a platform of shared experience and direct emotional connectedness.
This retreat will enable participants to embody elder in such a way that transforms elder from the objective, distant third person into the very intimate, personal first-person.
THE STORY OF ELDER
Elder was established in a religious context. Elders shepherd God's
flock. Shepherding involves such responsibilities as providing godly
counsel and biblical instruction, helping resolve conflicts peacefully,
protecting the flock from wolves, caring for struggling sheep, and providing
oversight of the spiritual well-being of the community.
Aboriginal tribes and Asian civilizations held their elders in an equivalent
light, maybe even more broadly. Elders in these cultures were also the
historians and transmitters of the values of the tribe or community.
Elders in these ancient societies served as vital intergenerational links to
the past and as foreseers of the future. Elders were the primary channel to
the spirit, the soul, the understanding of what it meant to be human.
Elders in all traditions brought forth a higher wisdom. A wisdom beyond
knowledge, generated from life-long learning, converted to knowledge
through often painful experiences and honest self-reflection.
Elders could foresee the harmful outcomes of thoughtless action. They
provided safe harbor for their group and sanctuary for their charges.
Elders in these traditions brought patience, compassion, understanding,
and a gracious temperament. They assumed accountability for how the
tribe or community understood itself and for the future they were creating.
In our current business and social ethos, there is no seat at the table for
elders. Our cultural context promotes and then sustains a mechanistic,
rational, data-driven, linear, self-centeredness, with success at any cost.
But contexts can be changed.
THE CONTEMPORARY ELDER
At this particular moment in time, nearly everything holds more significant
uncertainty. There are collective and individual feelings of higher risk and
greater danger. There are greater feelings of instability, insecurity, and
volatility. It is at this very time of peril that the elder's voice can be heard.
The level of uncertainty caused by climate change, Covid, geopolitics
tension, national political absurdity, supply chain breakdowns, inflation,
institutional instability, non-nuclear families, crisis fatigue — all of this has
most families, organizations and individuals bewildered and disoriented.
Including the higher wisdom that elders provide to family, company, senior
executive suites, board of directors, and decision-makers would make a
profound and calming difference at this time of uncertainty.
A contemporary elder in the perpetuity of the moment, an unbiased
presence, brings sincere compassion, enables higher wisdom to manifest,
and has everyone around the table more able to deal with what's actually at
hand.
THE CONTEMPORARY ELDER RETREAT
The purpose of the Contemporary Elder Retreat is to cause a conscious shift from elder as a subjective, distant 3rd party to a personal, objective, intimate 1st person way of being.
The intended results for participants:
To intentionally make a conscious shift from older to elder.
To reveal one's unspoken, as well as unexamined and unconscious
beliefs about aging, death and dying - and the path to the future that
these lead.
To engender a new capacity and expression that provides relevance,
purpose, and higher wisdom.
To create new opportunities as a conscious and contributing elder –
business, family, and the world around you.
WHO SHOULD CONSIDER THIS RETREAT
Participants who are already successful professionals in later midlife (60's – 70s) or older whose current professional lives are coming to a close or have lately closed.
Participants who have concerns about what's next – life, relevance, health, value, finances.
Participants who are looking for a more beneficial and enlightening relationship with aging than what's currently available in the cultures in which they are anchored.
Participants now realize that sharing their wisdom, gained through decades
of accumulating knowledge and direct and often humbling experiences, is next on their path.
Participants who recognize the calling to serve others from their particular essence — from the depths of their being — rather than pursue recognized achievement.
Participants who know that ego rewards have lost their luster.
Participants who have an intuitive sense that becoming an elder in their own right is appropriate and very much needed in these times is worthy of their time.
Do you recognize yourself in these qualities and characteristics? Is this what you are looking for?
The retreat is limited to 21 people.
The retreat will be occurring from October 9th to the 16th, 2022.
The retreat will include classroom time, movement, meditation, easy hikes to places of grandeur, and telling the truth to yourself about yourself.
A 20 to 30-minute Zoom conversation with Dr. Cooper is required for admission to the retreat. Go to www.requestingwisdom.com. Click CONTACT on the menu bar as your first step.
We'll then contact you to schedule at your best time and look together to determine if this retreat is what's next for you? Thank you in advance for your
