Invitation to join a "Shambhala Network on Aging"

An Invitation to Join a Shambhala Network on Aging.

Each year more Shambhalians experience the delights and challenges of what is conventionally termed ‘old age’. Some of us are ourselves celebrating birthdays in our 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s. Many of us have family members or friends who are.

A recent survey revealed that 20% of Shambhalians are already over the age of 60 and fully 50% are between 45 and 60.

Over the past two years, ten of us, convening as the Shambhala Working Group on Aging, have been contemplating the implications of this shift in the demographics of our community. Our thoughts to date are summarized in a “Statement on Aging in Shambhala” that was presented to the 2009 Shambhala Congress. (see below )

The central message of the statement is that being older offers both (1) a rich opportunity for practice and contribution to creating enlightened society and (2) challenges and needs for support arising from illness, disability or financial difficulties.

Considering how to address the opportunities and the challenges, the working group concluded that local initiatives are needed, tailored to the needs and conditions of each centre and community.

We are, therefore, inviting interested people to join a network of Shambhalians interested in working with aging related issues.

People who would like to join the network should be willing to (1) participate in a network phone conference once every other month, and (2) explore the opportunities and needs associated with aging in their own local center and community.

To join the network contact: davidwhitehorn@eastlink.ca

Please join by 15 May 2010.

For further information and background documents see:

http://onaginginshambhala.blogspot.com/ http://www.shambhala.org/community/aging/index.php

For those interested in aging, but unable to participate in the network, please join aging-talk@shambhala.org

Members of the Working Group on Aging: Ann Cason, Aaron Snyder, Marita McLaughlin, Donna Hanczaryk, Jacquie Bell, Victoria Howard, Louis Fitch, Chris Rempel, Susan Stewart, Acharya Emily Bower, David Whitehorn (Chair).

On Aging in Shambhala

The following statement is intended to provide the emerging Shambhala society with an initial set of principles upon which to contemplate and build an enlightened response to the inevitable process of aging. The statement has been developed by the Shambhala Working Group on Aging, a working group of the Sakyong’s Council and a core working group within the Community Care Council.

Statement on Aging in Shambhala:

(1) The inherent nature of mind, basic goodness, being unconditional, does not change with age. No matter how old or infirmed we may become, basic goodness remains fully intact.
(2) Rather than viewing aging as leading to the fixation of long standing habitual patterns, with mind training (meditation practice), as we grow older there is the opportunity for mind to become more open and less fixed.
(3) Physical and mental capacities inevitably change with increasing age.
(4) In Shambhala we can simultaneously recognize both the opportunity to be more openly engaged with the world as we grow older, and the inevitable decline in physical and mental capacities, culminating in death.
(5) In this context, ‘conventional’ retirement is a misguided myth. The idea that as we age we can ‘retire’ from the world and become less engaged is not consistent with Shambhala vision. Quite to the contrary, as our responsibilities and time commitment for family and livelihood decrease we can devote more time and energy to building enlightened society, as well as to our personal practices. This is ‘enlightened’ retirement.
(6) As we age many of us will, at some point, experience physical ailments that will make it difficult, or perhaps impossible, for us to care for ourselves. At those times, other members of Shambhala society need to be positioned to come forward to be sure that what we are unable to do for ourselves is done.

This invitation was also posted on the Shambhala Times website on April 9, 2010. The link to that post is:

http://shambhalatimes.org/2010/04/09/join-us-in-a-network-on-aging/