Reverend Teacher Talks on Aging

By Evelyn Olivia Thomas

This story of aging is told in the voice of Reverend Teacher. "For this world of creative imagination and love to manifest as your own," she says, "you must put aside all notions of depreciation about yourself. Replace these old patterns of thinking with thoughts of vibrancy, liveness, and youthfulness."

Reverend Teacher's journey into aging began during early childhood. While reflecting on ordinary occurrences in her environment, she became a participant observer in whatever scene her eyes fell upon, and studied intently as the butterfly, for instance, that darted from bloom to bloom in her flower garden. Entranced, she whispered to the butterfly's own ears, "From where do you come, to where do you go? From where do I come, to where do I go? Why am I here really?" Reverend Teacher invites you to ask such questions of yourself.

Her teachings highlight the beauty of aging yet maintain the facts. She challenges you to be mindful, insightful, to hold to what is true, and to live your best life now. She invites you to be a participant observer wherever you are, to design your aging experience to your specifications. Reverend Teacher shows you the way.

According to the teachings, there is a place for you, no matter where you are on your individual journey. Self-examination, reflection, meditation, and practicing universal principles lead to a greater awareness of who you are and what you can accomplish. Reaching out and touching others physically, mentally, socially, and in consciousness allows you to thrive and survive. Increased understanding of the world and your place in it enables you to negotiate it more effectively to find your spot, your purpose in life. Thus, with eyes full of wonder, you expect to and do live a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638746195

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Reverend Teacher Talks on Aging

Evelyn Olivia Thomas

ISBN 978-1-63874-618-8 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63874-619-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Evelyn Olivia Thomas

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Reverend Teacher

Poorhouse to Welfare

The Right Thing to Do

Cultivate the Noble Intangibles

Live with Passion and Courage

Practice Timeless Living

Remember Who You Are

Hold Positive Images

Models for Aging

There Is a Place for You

Reach Out and Touch

Inner Space Journey

Shifts in Consciousness

Live Long and Prosper

About the Author

Preface

Early in my career as a social worker at Cook County hospital in Chicago, Illinois, I was assigned the case of an elderly couple who had been rescued from their home because they lived in squalor. The rescued old man and woman died within two weeks of each other. They were placed on separate wards in different buildings, according to gender. I thought, They were alive and together—and well at home.

Thus, I began a protracted study of aging. My academic studies—sociology, social anthropology and social work, and a career as a licensed clinical social worker in health care, working primarily with the elderly, supported my interest. Furthermore, to prepare for the writing of this book I studied the works of popular writers and experts on aging. I interviewed some of them. Notwithstanding, the greatest adventure and excitement for me was the ordinary people who I met. I found no one, no matter what his or her physical condition or age, viewed old age as a negative phase of life. Their thought-provoking words fill the pages of this book. They inform, teach, inspire, and offer universal principles for everyday living. Reverend Teacher is a composite of these wise men and women, and of the author.

Reverend Teacher begins, For the world of creative imagination and love to manifest as your own, She says, You must put aside all notions of depreciation about yourself…. Replace these old patterns of thinking with thoughts of vibrancy, liveliness, and youthfulness.

Her teachings highlight the beauty of aging, yet maintains the facts. She challenges you to be an active-participant in your own aging process. According to Reverend Teacher, old age is but a parenthesis in eternity. From the beginning, you are evolving stepwise through stages of development. Through the process of self-examination, reflection, meditation, and practicing universal life principles, you can design your own aging experience to your specifications. Reverend Teacher offers an inspirational guide to aging gracefully.

Evelyn

1

Reverend Teacher

The Teacher's talks on aging held her listeners spellbound. Let us join her on a journey of discovery. It is through this one's eyes that we will view the passage of time. And what eyes are these? Eyes filled with the wonderment of a child, eyes filled with sparkling light, eyes filled with images of a world continually evolving from creative imagination and love.

Teacher spoke, and the hush of heaven fell over us.

For this world of creative imagination and love to manifest as your own, the Teacher said, you must set aside all notions of depreciation about yourself and others and suspend assumptions that you are destined, as everyone is, to become frail, to succumb to arthritis, dementia, chronic disease, and such. Replace these old patterns of thinking with thoughts of vibrancy, liveliness, and youthfulness.

Teacher's head turned as her eyes panned the audience. Each one felt that she was talking to them personally.

Listen to me, she continued. "You are not a lowly worm in the dust—you are as the caterpillar aging in progression that is metamorphosing into a beautiful butterfly. On many summer days, I used to stand in the flower garden, the wonderful bed of many hues, watching the insects humming, flirting and dancing in the sun, and then deliberately setting themselves down on a bud or a bloom or even a clover.

"The butterfly particularly would meander along with grace and a certain purpose. I watched it intently, and then speaking hardly above a whisper, I would speak to the butterfly's own ears, ‘Alight here, my beautiful butterfly. Let me know your secret. From where do you come? To where do you go? Your wings in graceful pose do float across the summer sky, dancing as though to some inner tune as you dart from bloom to bloom. How iridescent are your colors as they merge in the golden, sparkling sunlight? Could you be an example of my unfolding self?

"‘From larvae bed, to cocoon, to freedom of the air—you move along with such purposefulness. From where do you come? To where do you go? I ponder such questions often, searching deep within my soul. From where do I come? To where do I go? Why am I here really? Why?'

Why does every person, place or thing wear out?

Teacher's mind strayed for a moment; she had flash visions of ancient ruins, relics, and catacombs. Returning anew to her audience, she continued, "Human bodies, clothing, shoes, tennis balls, whatever we look upon, wear out, decay, and seemingly die. There appears to be no escaping the ravages of time. But there must be a way?

"Where do you look for answers to such questions? Study? Meditate? Sit at the feet of a guru? Each one of us has already formed concepts about ourselves, others, and the world. The way we perceive anything is based upon our culture, history, religion, traditions, experiences, and beliefs. We hear intellectual discussions about Eastern thought and Western thought, traditional thought, and new thought. Individuals, groups, and nations perceive the world in different ways based upon thought—that is, the philosophy to which they adhere. Not one of us sees things in quite the same way.

"For example, if I ask you to close your eyes and picture a palm tree, what you see will be different from the person sitting next to, the one behind, or around you. Some will form a mental image of a palm tree they saw while vacating in Hawaii. Others will recall the picture of a palm tree they saw on a postal board at a travel agency. Still others will form their image of the palm tree based on another person's description. The more direct experience you have with the palm tree in different times and different places, the closer you come to its truth. Thus, it is so with aging and the aging process. The richer your consciousness, i.e., your awareness of the aging process, the richer and more fulfilling is your journey.

"It is to your benefit that you have an inquiring mind, that you incorporate traditional and nontraditional thinking, hold positive thoughts, and speak affirmative words as your repertoire for change. Let the repertoire of new thoughts and ideas synchronize into the preferred image of aging you desire to experience. Hold the image. Be mindful of what you are thinking and doing in the present to bring your health, fitness, and youthfulness in line with your image. As you travel through this life journey, you will find what you thought to be pure, unadulterated truth changes; yet, truth is changeless. Facts change but never truth. It is a fact that human beings undergo certain changes according to the number of calendar years, but these are not experienced in the same way. By practicing certain principles—laws of life—you may live long but not grow old in the traditional construct of aging as a lineal process.

"My earliest thoughts on aging took place when I was four or five years old. At that time, I lived in a small southern town with its plank houses, dirt and gravel roads, and with neighbors sitting on their front porches, talking late into the evenings. During these years, farm animals still lived alongside people—pigs, chickens, a couple of cows, and a horse named Dan.

"Dan was high-spirited, proud, and intelligent. Back then, he would trot, with his chestnut mane bouncing in rippling waves, with his beautiful tail humped at the top, hair tossing from side to side. What grace! What a beautiful sight to behold when his owner mounted, sat tall in the saddle, and opened the pasture gate to give Dan full rein. Dan took off galloping.

"This magnificent animal on the move was a source of awe and wonder to me and the other neighborhood children who witnessed the scene, but as we children grew up, Dan grew older. He became slower and less able to perform. Hence, his owner came to see him less and less until he was left altogether locked in the pasture alone, encircled by a barbed wire fence, pacing back and forth, munching grass all day. Yet at times, Dan would take aim and jump over that fence and hit the ground running across the wooden bridge with the sound of loose planks kicking up behind him onto the gravel road, spewing dirt, rocks, and dust as he ran. And as if remembering past glory, he would toss his head defiantly, deep waves rippling through his now chestnut-gray mane. Dan, they said, has been put out to pasture. But do you know? Dan refused to stay put. He kept jumping the fence, escaping. He never gave up, and he did not look back. He kept running. Do you think Dan was alive and well only when he was panting and breathing hard from the chase? Do old people, like old horses, outlive their usefulness?

"After watching Dan, I started paying attention to the gossip on the porch in this little country town—old uncle or auntie had been put out to pasture. Because of my young age at the time, it was difficult for me to wrap my mind around how old uncle or auntie could have been put out to pasture. It was only later that I came to understand, when the folks on the porch talked about someone being put out to pasture, they were using this as a metaphor for neglect and abandonment of the elderly. It seems that when someone could not