Conscious Aging with John Robinson, Ph.D.

Welcome to the New Aging
Are you frightened of aging? Do you worry over every new physical symptom, memory lapse, or mistake? Do you keep busy to avoid thinking about being "old" or brag about how happy you are in retirement when you secretly feel pretty low? Do you believe that aging is really about waiting to lose everything that matters? For most of human history, we viewed aging like this - as inevitably grim, depressing, and hopeless. It's no wonder no one wants to talk about it. But no longer. A radically new kind of aging is on the horizon, one that can change us, the culture and the world. And millions of us are getting ready for this new adventure.

The first wave of 76 million "Baby Boomers," representing 28% of the American population, began turning 65 in 2011. Every day ten thousand more join this amazing tsunami and will live longer than any previous generation in history – at least 15 years more than their parents! – creating an entirely new stage of life. As a psychologist, interfaith minister, author and aging Boomer, I've been exploring the possibilities of this revolutionary "Third Age" for several years and what I have learned is breathtaking. I now believe that twenty-first century aging represents a new and largely uncharted stage of psychological and spiritual development.

And I am not alone in this optimism. Rabbi Schacter-Shalomi tells us that "Elderhood represents the crowning achievement of life" and Jean Houston adds, "The years beyond 60, the years of our second maturity, may be evolution's greatest gift to humanity." Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst, claimed that old age would not exist unless it had an evolutionary purpose. So this is what we want to understand - how can aging be the crowning achievement of life, the greatest gift to humanity, and a purposeful stage of human evolution?

Part of the answer to this question comes from the conscious aging movement which has made enormous contributions to understanding the psychological and spiritual tasks - and gifts! - of aging. One relatively undeveloped area, however, has been the mystical experience of aging, an area that has become central to my own life and work.

What might the mystical experience of aging involve? Aging represents a natural transformation of self and consciousness. The events and process of aging - changing bodies, fading identities, and losses of all shapes and sizes - steadily dissolve all the social constructs that previously defined us. One day, looking at our latest photograph, we no longer recognize our self. Whether we like it or not, we end up surrendering virtually everything we were. While we can hang onto past identities and achievements, these memories grow stale for they no longer represent who we really are. But this procession of losses, as the mystics tell us, constitutes the quintessential prerequisite for enlightenment. What's left when the ego's filters of identity, time and story dissolve is consciousness itself, which the mystics also tell us is the consciousness of the divine. We are victims of mistaken identity. We replaced the divine Self, our truest self, with the self-idea and came to believe that consciousness was simply an epiphenomenon of the brain.

But a new kind of aging has begun. Our remarkable new longevity and growing interest in conscious aging have created a new developmental stage in the human life cycle. We're living decades longer! With this gift of time, we have the opportunity to tune into the previously overlooked mystical dimensions of age. As Mystical Consciousness erases the dualistic filters of thought, we discover that consciousness is not just in us, we are in it and it is the omnipresent consciousness of God. We live in a sea of consciousness! Then, if we are willing to descend into the unfathomable depths of inner space, we open yet another deeper experience of the divine Self, an infinite consciousness that begins to rise as a tidal force of love suffusing and transforming the structures of ego and personality. Like the metaphor of "one river, many wells," we each have a channel directly into the aquifer of Spirit, and it changes us. We begin to experience the radical new possibilities of the Divine Human. Religions have long prophesized the coming or return of a divine savior - I believe that savior is us.

As I dwell in this sea of divine consciousness, I change. No longer wanting or needing a persona, I discover that I am consciousness itself. Ecstasy then erupts as I merge consciousness with physical being, and the divine Presence floods my psyche. I dissolve in that Presence and discover that its love is infinite, extends everywhere, and touches everyone, so that when I love, I touch the whole universe. In this process, a new kind of life emerges, a divine life, and the world changes before my eyes. These mystical realizations transcend religion and spirituality, transform self and consciousness, and bring new gifts to a world sorely in need of love. They can transform our aging if we are informed, perceptive and willing.

We've got aging all wrong and the culture's grim beliefs are "scaring us to death." Even our inevitable physical decline may represent a dissolution into an incredible new consciousness. But to experience this new consciousness, we need to learn what this New Aging really is. Please join me. Explore the books available on this site. Test out their arguments. Each book holds a piece of the puzzle for you - put them together and build your next life. Discover a life stage you never thought possible, never even conceived. And then let's change the world, not from the old model of heroic combat, but from the new consciousness that is the new aging.

And, as you can see, this website now includes information and events focusing on the Climate Crisis. With the publication of Mystical Activism: Transforming a World in Crisis, conscious elders and all awakening Earth citizens are called to address the dire threat of climate change and discover the power of mystical consciousness in supporting our local and global activism.

Read Past Newsletters

Subtle Activism

January 15, 2017

David Nicol's Subtle Activism Process
A Prayer for America
John Robinson
10/10/16

According to David Nicol, Subtle Activism is a bridge between consciousness and social activism. It joins the power of spiritual practices (e.g., prayer, meditation, visualization, etc.) with a coherent group consciousness to create a subtle form of action. The goal is to engage consciousness at a very deep level to bring positive change to places that need healing. Its methodology involves creating a group energy field, becoming deeply centered in that field, and then using the field to reach traumatized people or places in the world. Nicol cites extensive scientific evidence for the efficacy in this practice. (e.g., the Maharishi Effect). Going deeply into this consciousness can also be a profound experience for practitioners, nourishing and growing the people practicing it.

The exercise moves through five stages: preparation, growing the field, focusing on qualities we wish to awaken in the field, sending them forth, and then closing the field. As a reminder, be sure cell phones are off and that you won't be otherwise interrupted as we proceed. We'll do the exercise slowly so we can all go deep and achieve the synergy needed for this subtle activism process to work.

Preparation
• Let us begin with a moment of silence to collect our energies, so close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Settle into the experience of your body and let yourself be just exactly as you are.
• Bring awareness into your heart center. Breath in and out of it. Hold your awareness in the heart and be with whatever you find there.
• Feel a sense of gratitude for being in this experience with like-minded people. Feel us coming together.
• Bring awareness to your legs, feet, and to the Earth. Feel the support of the Earth and its vast presence. Send your awareness deeper and deeper into the very core of the Earth. Feel the security and groundedness of this experience with your whole body. Feel its solidness.
• Open to the light from the Sun, moon and the stars. Feel and see it cleansing and purifying you as if it were bathing you in sacred energies. Feel it surrounding you like a healthy loving membrane of light.
• Be present to your deepest or highest Self. Connect with it. Open to its energy, consciousness and intelligence.

Growing the Field
• Picture your community, and any new quests who might be joining you, sitting in a circle. Look around you. Imagine these people who you know and love and value, old and new friends alike, coming together in sacred community. Many are on this call; many others are with us in spirit.
• Become aware of our group energy field. All of us together as one. Sense this field forming from our common group consciousness, a field of silent Presence that we are now entering. Feel the divine universe all around us, drawing us deeper into this sacred space.
• Welcome into this field all our relations from the Earth realm - minerals, animals, oceans, nature, all living things. See and feel their life-giving energy and wisdom flowing into our center.
• Now welcome the subtle realm of spirit. We call forth our ancestors, allies, spirit guides, beings of light, wisdom figures, and angels. We open to the great mystery, the source of all reality that permeates existence, and feel it entering and strengthening our center.

Focus on Qualities We Wish to Awaken in the Field
• Bring your awareness for a moment back into your heart center and breath in and out of your heart. Feel and become the qualities of heart: love, unconditional acceptance, compassion, courage.
• Return your heart awareness back into the center of our field. Notice what that feels like. Feel your connection with everyone else. Feel all of us mixing and merging and melting our heart Presence here in the center. Sense an actual Presence forming in the center of our field - a group heart is starting to form. Perhaps you see a shape or feel it begin to throb or beat.
• Feel how this group heart Presence amplifies your own presence with its qualities of love and courage. Feel your heart resonating with the group heart. Be aware that everybody is experiencing this unity of consciousness.
• Sense our group heart resonating with the very core of the Earth and its energy center. Sense them joining together into one spiritual rhythm. Experience us all pulsing together as one.

Sending Forth Our Center
• Now bring our country, and all our people, into the center of our field. Sense the terrible struggle our nation is having between love and hate, kindness and fear, compassion and cruelty. See or sense this struggle in any way that comes to you. What do you notice? What do you hear? What images or realizations come to mind?
• Fill this scene before you with the light and love from our common heart. Meld our loving Presence with those we seek to touch. Let the healing light and energy from our center awaken their love, touch their hearts, sooth their pain, and bring forth their higher selves, their wisdom, and their love for each other and the world. Be sure to include those in power whose hearts long to be opened as well. Hold our nation in this great and timeless love.
• Picture things beginning to evolve. Sense our heart energy flowing into and through everyone. As clearly as you can, see, feel and sense how this flow of peace and love is affecting our whole nation. Feel your heart opening further than you ever thought possible. May our love join with the divine to heal our mutual pain and anguish. Stay in this deep heart space for a little while longer as we continue pouring forth our love.

Closing the Field
• We're coming to the end of our meditation so take a moment to realize that, and to express your deep gratitude to the Earth, the Sun, Moon and stars, to all the Earth's beings, to the ancestors, allies, spirit guides, beings of light, wisdom figures, and angels who came to guide our work, to the divine Presence, to each other, and to all those we have touched with our love. Express your gratitude in whatever way you like.
• Bring awareness back to your own location on the planet and to your sovereignty as an individual but continue feeling some of this unifying heart resonance.
• Then, when you're ready, open your eyes and let us sit together for a few more moments in silent stillness to absorb what we have experienced, what we have felt and done.
• Good. When you're ready, begin to collect yourself and return to normal consciousness. And as we come into the here and now, let us strive to keep our hearts open as we return to everyday life. May we continue on as people of heart, vision, courage and goodwill.
• Thank you all for joining me in this meditation.

Conscious Aging with John Robinson, Ph.D.

Now Available: "I Am God:" The Poetry of Mystical Consciousness

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