Robert L. Weber, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School,and Carol Orsborn, founder and editor of the website Fierce With Age: The Digest of Boomer Wisdom, Inspiration, and Spirituality, believe that aging can be a meaningful and rich path to mature spirituality. The two authors come from Catholic Jesuit and Jewish backgrounds respectively but have written this cogent and illuminating paperback for a new generation of seekers, or those whom we call spiritually independent individuals.
They have come up with 25 questions designed to help people deal with the thorny aspects of growing older such as loss, meaning, and mortality. Sharing their stories and those of others, Weber and Orsborn emphasize both the shadow and the light sides of this journey in chapters on spiritual maturity, spiritual awakening, freedom, becoming more fully ourselves, the value of aging to society, and a probe on the adventure of midlife to afterlife.
In an afterword titled "Extraordinary Moments in Ordinary Time, W. Andrew Achenbaum, a professor of history and social work who is the Gerson and Sabina David Professor of Global Aging at the University of Houston, salutes the authors for drawing out so many examples of "making some semblance of meaningfulness out of setbacks." He challenges readers to derive a measure of equanimity from navigating the wild space beyond midlife.
We were quite impressed with the book's foundation of 25 questions, the Twelve Exercises for Seekers. and the extensive list of resources for Recommended Reading.
