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Workshop Objective
Carl Jung calls the senior years the Senex Period, a time when we turn
inward for an examination of our lives. With this introspection comes
a sense of freedom, of relief from the boundaries and constraints of our
youth. We discover that we are free of the ego’s need to make harsh
judgments. Explore the meaning of the freedom we find on this, one of
the final stops in our human journey, with Rabbi Harry Sky, Founder of
Maine Senior College.
Workshop Synopsis
• This workshop is a sensible attempt to understand the
last stage of life.
• Undertakers, hospitals and the illusionary world are all thriving
as people strive to understand this stage of life.
• There is a mystery about this part of life in that you can’t
anticipate what will happen.
• God is the state of becoming.
• When you want to get to God you have to get inside yourself.
• We’re all in a state of becoming.
• Physicians don’t understand us. They view us as statistics.
• We’re constantly changing.
• The major lesson in this period of life is “becoming.”
• That’s why we can speak of forgiveness.
• If you’re over 55 you are in the Stage of Senex.
• It’s time to get rid of the shells of previous times.
• Senex is stage of reviewing the past, looking at our changes &
how we are different now.
• We ask over and over – Who am I? Where am I going?
• For some this is a burden, for others an adventure.
• The more willing we are to forgive the greater the joy.
• This is the stage of life when we can achieve joy.
• In the first stage of life a newborn child (around 3 months) knows
almost immediately how he/she is received by the world.
• By three years a child is figuring out how to face life.
• In doing so the child is shaped into something other than him/her
self.
• In the second half of life (Senex) the child gets back to the
self, the Who he/she is, not to be defined by our job, where we live,
what we do.
• In this stage one questions our state of living, downsizing, realizing
most of the things we have in life, our costumes, are mandated by the
exterior world.
• We encounter many sounds and voices during this stage.
• We analyze them as if we were studying a symphony.
• Now we are ready to hear the worthwhile and valuable sounds.
• We study past events, especially those that still disturb us.
• We begin to make honest admissions about them – perhaps
we shouldn’t have done it (not scolding) We study the
settings. Why did it happen? Am I still that way? What lesson did I learn?
• We realize we are part of the human condition.
• A child with a good sense of self is able to do wonderful things.
• If not, that child is imprisoned and unable to become.
• For us it’s time to return to whom we are/were as children
before parents, teachers and society shaped us.
• Now God can open our eyes and let us see who we really are.
• In a sense, we were programmed before we were born as an unborn
child can sense the exterior climate (peaceful or turmoil).
• This is a time of listening to your heart, your intuition, of
being there for people.
• We are linked to God and all of mankind.
• What kind of link are we destined to make?
• We should always be looking for linkage.
• We are most happy when we are doing for others.
• We need to see the essence of others.
• Be with yourself. Be where you are now. The inside is more important.
• Gender is really a mistake of Western culture.
• Finding ourselves is beyond gender.
• It’s on the level of the soul and the ultimate answer we
seek is based on this.
• Life is like a chess board.
• Senex is the review of the board. Perhaps we are only a rook and
that’s okay.
• The Creator set the board in order.
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September 7, 2008
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