Life, Part Two: Seven Keys to Awakening with Purpose and Joy as You Age

"For those of us who feel deeply committed to spiritual realization and to being instruments of benefit in the world, what Carl Jung called "the second half of life" represents a remarkable curriculum for awakening. The challenges inherent in the aging process can become a direct pathway to the actualization of our best human qualities-qualities like wisdom, lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Using the author's life experiences to illustrate key themes, Life, Part Two is an invitation to embrace seven essential elements of conscious living that enable us to contribute with ever greater power and purpose, as we age, in a world crying out for new visions of how to live. These are: embracing the mystery, choosing a vision, cultivating intuitive wisdom, committing to inner work, suffering effectively, serving from the heart, and celebrating the journey"--
A guide to seven essential elements that will illuminate your path to spiritual realization and wise elderhood.What Carl Jung called “the second half of life” has the potential to be a remarkable curriculum for insight and awakening. When wisely understood, the changes inherent in the aging process become stepping-stones to the actualization of our best human qualities: wisdom, lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Author David Chernikoff has spent decades pursuing spiritual study and practice with remarkable teachers, including Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Father Thomas Keating, and Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. In Life, Part Two, he distills lessons from across contemplative traditions to invite readers to embrace seven essential elements of conscious living: embracing the mystery, choosing a vision, cultivating intuitive wisdom, committing to inner work, suffering effectively, serving from the heart, and celebrating the journey. These elements culminate in wise elderhood--a state celebrated by indigenous cultures around the world, yet largely unacknowledged in contemporary Western society. For those of us who aspire to live fully and to love well as we age, Life, Part Two is a lucid guidebook that empowers us to personally thrive and to contribute with ever greater clarity and purpose.