In Search of Sages

M. E. Brockman (L) and T. S. Hill (R)
United Nations photo via Creative Commons

I am teaching Late Life and Spirituality this semester. We are reading Holly Nelson-Becker's 2018 textbook Spirituality, Religion, and Aging: Illuminations for Therapeutic Practice. (Sage Publications, Inc.). In addition to taking quizzes, my students are writing short reports on living sages, aged 60 plus. 

Initially, I let them select the sages. However, they were mainly choosing actors who are cast as sages in major motion pictures. All of my students are in the traditional college age group (18 to 25). I have a feeling that they restrict themselves to interacting with young adults, so it was nearly impossible for them to identify living sages. 

Here are some of the people I suggested that they study as living sages who are 60 plus years old: 

Wendell Berry, conservationist
Fr. Greg Boyle, activist, intervening with gang members
Jimmy Carter, activist with Habitat for Humanity and Council of Elders

Pema Chodron, devotional writer
Daniel Dennett, cognitive scientist
Pope Francis, religious leader

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., literary critic and public intellectual
Nikki Giovanni, poet and activist
Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, religious leader
Roshi Joan Halifax, socially engaged Buddhist
Ephraim Isaac, scholar and peace activist

Sue Monk Kidd, writer
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner, environmentalist and feminist
Rigoberta Menchu', labor activist

Cynthia Ozick, writer
Parker Palmer, author, educator, activist
Dolly Parton, philanthropist for literacy and more

Richard Pimentel, disability rights activist
Bill Plotkin, psychologist
Sr. Helen Prejean, activist for death row inmates

Fr. Richard Rohn, devotional writer 
Sr. Joyce Rupp, devotional writer
Kathleen Dowling Singh, devotional writer, hospice advocate

Anne Streaty Wimberly, scholar, devotional author, advocate for Black youth
Oprah Winfrey, philanthropist for African girls' education and more
Muhammad Yunus, economist and humanitarian

To help my students find a theoretical framework for defining the term sage, I have asked them to read selections from the following psychologists, sociologists, and devotional writers:

• Erik Erikson's late stages of Generativity (vs. Stagnation) and Ego Integrity (vs. Despair)
  
  
• Robert C. Peck's tasks for late life
  
  
• Bill Plotkin's life stage theory, specifically the stages The Master in the Grove of Elders and The Sage in the Mountain Cave
  
  
• Lars Tornstam's theory of gerotranscendence

It's very interesting (and a bit disheartening) to see how detached my students are from people who are older adults. The way our society is structured, people are placed in same-age cohorts for school and extra-curricular activities. And our society values skills more prevalent in youth: high energy, innovation, and materialism. 

Even though my students are reading about sages, I can tell that they are not inspired by them. I am hoping that in the future they will consider the benefits of intergenerational connections. 

Related: 

Books on Aging and Spiritual Growth

When Does Midlife Start and End?