Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom Review

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Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom ReviewAlbert Nolan was born in 1934 in Cape Town a 4th generation South African who rose to international acclaim with the publication of his first book, Jesus Before Christianity, was recently reissued on its 25th anniversary. Jesus Before Christ, translated into nine languages, was described by theologian Harvey Cox as "the most accurate and balanced short reconstruction of the life of the historical Jesus."
In 2003, the South African government awarded him the Order of Luthuli in recognition of "his lifelong dedication to the struggle for democracy, human rights and justice and for challenging the religious dogma including theological justification of apartheid." The award is named after Chief Albert Luthuli, South Africa's first Nobel Peace Prize winner.
In this long-awaited sequel, Nolan describes the modern signs that underlay our spiritual hunger: the crisis of individualism, ecological breakdowns, the global divide between rich and poor, our unprecedented skepticism and a disconnect with our past and our failing efforts to reconnect through fundamentalism and Neo-conservatism.
Besides spiritual hunger we face the crisis of individualism that is ending up in a cultist worship of the ego and the erosion of community. People have fewer friends than they did 20 years ago and this rising disconnect can be seen in the growing prevalence of anger and anxiety. The hunger for spirituality is a hunger for freedom from materials, self-indulgence, postmodernism, oppression, and individualism. It is a freedom from self-sufficiency, independence, and separation that have brought us to the edge of chaos.
When Nolan discusses the contributions of a new science beginning with Einstein a new and more hopeful world paradigm emerges: science as an ally with faith in the discovery of new mysteries of the universe: "Light, for example, is neither a wave nor a particle: it is something beyond our mind and imagination . . . it is a mystery." (P. 36). The world is filled with puzzles yet unsolved and possibly never solved like how the writing out of a tiny strand of DNA instructions would fill a thousand books each 600 pages long or Niels Bohr's quantum leap where particles in orbit may jump from one orbit to another without passing through the space between them--another mystery.
His reflections on mysticism's essentially incommunicable insights into God and reality are particularly good. Christian mystical writing form two paths: Apophatic (Via Negativa) and Kataphatic (Via Positiva). Nolan presents Apophatic mysticism without over complicating it with too much information. Christianity was, after all, a mystical sect that grew out of Judaism as Gnosticism grew out of Christianity. In the Apophatic tradition we can know only what God is not. God is not an object that can be compared to other objects, nor is God a mystery, one mystery among others, but the mystery. This is the language of paradox that, like a Zen kaon, puts into words what cannot be described but must be experienced as Moses experienced a hidden God in the burning bush.
Nolan proceeds to describe the elements of Jesus' spirituality: a way of healing that combines prophecy and mysticism with profound love. And love itself is a mystery since, if one is allowed one descriptor of God, it is Love, a term that belies a galaxy of words but is understood instantly in its experience:
"The way my mother loved was a mighty force. And she loved me so much sometimes it scared me. I knew by the way her eyes were almost backlit with affection when she saw me coming up the stairs and the way her voice was raised an octave when she heard my voice on the other end of a call to her. There was nothing she would not have done for me all my life."
-- Dorothea Benton Frank, The Land of Mango Sunsets.
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A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life Review

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A Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life ReviewCombining the spiritual traditions of Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism, Brother Wayne Teasdale is a "monk in the world, a sannyasi who lives in the midst of society, at the very heart of things" (p. xx). Addressing readers who aspire to be "engaged in the world," but free from its "greed, indifference, insensitivity, noise, confusion, pettiness, unease, tension, and irreverence" (p. xxii), he explores the questions: "Is it possible for the masses of humanity, who do not live in monastic seclusion, to activate the monk within? Are we capable of realizing the mystical life here in the world, in the midst of so much frantic activity?" (p. xxvii). In his 237-page book, Brother Wayne shows that, although our culture "is burdened by a steady stream of chatter that reflects a noisy mind and a cluttered heart," it is possible "to live a secular life of integrity and quality, depth and creativity" (pp. 20-21).
Teasdale's book is complemented by an insightful Foreward in which Ken Wilber writes, "this is a beautiful, wonderful, wise book that gently touches and compassionately evokes the deep spirituality in all of us. But more than that, it further invites us--challenges us--to carry that awakened spirituality into the world, thus integrating inner life with outer life, drenching both in a radiance from the realized heart that allows grace the room to do its divine work" (p. xiii). Those readers who connect with Wilber's integral philosophy will enjoy this book.
Teasdale recognizes that there is a mystic in each of us (a monk dwells in each of our depths, just below our everyday awareness," p. 215), and looks to other monks in the world including Thomas Merton, the Dalai Lama, Bede Griffiths, Thomas Keating, and Thich Nhat Hanh to exemplify just what a life of truly integral spirituality might mean to us. "For me," he writes in summary of his book, "the mystical path means awakening this monk within and nurturing its development in encountering the world. This path is reinforced by spiritual practice, with its breakthroughs and graces; supported by like-minded friends, with their love and challenges; empowered by thoughtful navigations through the limitations of time, work, and money. It means living with compassion and love in the concreteness of daily encounters, especially with the most vulnerable. It means taking risks for the sake of justice, which requires us to speak the truth boldly, clearly, and firmly to power in all its forms, especially the political, economic, and religious" (p. 215). This book will appeal to Christian and Buddhist readers alike, and anyone who aspires to live a life of values in the modern world.
G. MerrittA Monk in the World: Cultivating a Spiritual Life Overview

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The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education) Review

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The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education) ReviewWhen I saw that Parker Palmer was a collaborator on this book I pre-ordered it immediately. His writing and work have been like a lifeboat for me in both my personal journey and my work as an educator over the course of many years.
I am beginning my ninth year in "higher" education after almost 30 years working with young children and families and my questions have remained consistent. Whether working with the youngest children or graduate students I have been amazed at how the systems that we work within discourage us from considering strategies for the education of the "whole" human. In early childhood education there is an emphasis on language and literacy, fine and gross motor, social and emotional development. In those settings I would ask myself how to acknowledge and reach those more intangible and unmeasurable places in the child: the heart and soul. My work with adult students and colleagues at the University has been the same.
This book tackles the difficult questions and paradoxes of how to create a learning environment in which students are encouraged to cultivate both critical thinking and compassion; mind and heart. The authors do an excellent job of exploring the potential benefits of integrative education and the transformative conversations that may lead us to new ways of teaching and learning together.
If you are interested, like I am, in how to help students learn to "think the world together" rather than "think it apart" in educational settings, then this book is for you.
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The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality Review

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The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality ReviewI read Carl McColman's The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality (2010, Hampton Roads Publishing) while on a long flight from Singapore to South Africa, and reflected on the book while I was on safari in Kruger National Park. Amidst the raw chill of a morning on the African savannah plain while watching a glorious sunrise, adoration for the divine fills my heart, and I had a glimpse of what the mystics of all ages have been trying to explain to us. It resonates with what McColman writes about Christian mysticism,
"Christian mysticism is all about experience - the experience of union with God, or of God. But it is also about a spiritual reality that undermines experience itself, deconstructing all your masks and self-defen[c]es (sic) and leaving you spiritually naked and vulnerable before the silence of the Great Mystery. It is the spirituality of bringing heaven to earth, and of going through hell while here on earth in order to get to heaven" (p.9).McColman structures his book into two parts. The first part explains what mysticism especially Christian mysticism is and the second is how to be a mystic through a contemplative life. The book is written in such an easy to understand way that a reader may easily miss how much knowledge and experience is needed to make such a complex subject appear simple. I discern that McColman has depth knowledge of many of the Christian mystics, notably Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Bernard of Clairvaux, author of the Cloud of Unknowing and Hildegard of Bingen.
McColman's writing reflects the output of a gentle and kind soul who wants to share what he knows but is fearful of the repercussions. He walks gingerly through the minefield of what we commonly called mysticism. He is wise to limit himself specifically to Christian mysticism. Even then, he is aware of many well meaning Christians to whom the word mysticism is synonymous with New Age, not realising many Old and New Testament heroes of the faith may be considered mystics. I appreciate the way he grounds Christian mysticism in the Trinity, the revelation of God in his word (Bible), the Mystery of the Divine and in community. It is not often that mystics are understood in the context of their communities.
The second part deals with the heart of mysticism which involves kenosis (self-emptying) and perichoresis (analogy of the divine dance of the Trinity) which McColman calls the contemplative life. He introduces certain spiritual disciplines such as lectio divina (spiritual reading) and prayer-beyond-words which prime us to the contemplative life.
The heart of the book is what he calls the "mystical paradoxes." The mark of spiritual maturity is to be able to hold in tension two seemingly opposing spiritual truths and yet be at peace about it. This is Christian mysticism. Unlikely systematic theology which gives the illusion that everything can be neatly explained in propositions, mysticism reveals that God is still a Mystery to our finite mind. McColman notes that "[a] God that you cannot comprehend is a God you cannot manipulate. This, I believe, is a God of true grace, a God worthy of worship" (p.77).Obviously those "mystical paradoxes" needs to be unpacked to do them justice and understandably McColman will not be able to do that even in his "big" book of 309 pages. The only fault I can find (aside from the pagination) is that this "big" book is not big enough! It would have been evenbetter if McColman expands more than what he has already done on these "mystical paradoxes."
This is a good introductory book to Christian mysticism. Reading from the perspective of the Reformed/Presbyterian tradition, I do not have any issues with what McColman has written here. Christian mysticism is an essential part of the Christian spiritual life and I agree with McColman here that everyone is a mystic (see also Paul's writing in Ephesians 3). It will leave us with a truncated spiritual life if we neglect or reject this facet of our Christian spirituality.
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Contemplative Prayer Review

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Contemplative Prayer ReviewThis is not a how-to book. It is a study of the history and meaning and reason for contemplative prayer, deeply thought of, deeply experienced. My little old copy is dogeared and heavily underlined, having been read so many times. And it is not my first copy - I've given others to friends.
As with much of Merton's writing, it is a tool for examining our own prayer, our own lives. He shows us many ways we may be evading the very goal of our prayer, how we may be shielding ourselves from God's light shining upon us.
Merton did not write this book in order to become popular. It is not all sweetness and gentle breezes of the Spirit. It is more like a cold wind that seeks to blow away our defenses and leave us face to face with what our souls really want - God. Whether we enjoy the process is not the point, but a book like this lets us know that we are not alone on the path, that, tough as it is, others have gone before. It gives comfort in the old English meaning of the word: strengthening. Read this if you need a good dose of spiritual tonic.
review by Janet Knori, author of Awakening in GodContemplative Prayer Overview

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The Way We Were: A Story of Conversion and Renewal Review

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The Way We Were: A Story of Conversion and Renewal ReviewI was in religious life (the convent) for 15 years and lived through the time covered in Sr. Joan's book. Although I was in a different order her analysis spoke for our experience as well. I held this book close to my heart because it was like a personal revelation. This is an excellent book for Catholics to read if they truly wish to understand their immediate past.The Way We Were: A Story of Conversion and Renewal Overview

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Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings Review

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Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings ReviewFrankly, The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living has surpassed any other of its kind in my experience. For me, the selections are exactly the right length and the Scriptural accompanient is very a propos. The selcetions are chosen with so much awreness and care. The book is a gem of ogranization: the meticulous indexes, the appendix, etc. not to speak of the arrangement of the selections themselves.Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings Overview

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Francisco De Osuna: Third Spiritual Alphabet (Classics of Western Spirituality) Review

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Francisco De Osuna: Third Spiritual Alphabet (Classics of Western Spirituality) ReviewAn early 16th Century Spanish mystic, Fr. Francisco de Osunacontributed six spiritual alphabet's for humankind's spiritualgrowth. The Third Spiritual Alphabet being not only a treatise on love and how to enjoy a recollected life in the midst of the chaos of this world; but as well, the very book that that strong cookie, St. Teresa of Avila, chose to use as her "bible" throughout her intensely productive and deeply committed life. One look at the cover of this paperback with Liam Roberts' excellent painting of this very beautiful priest gives one a clear sense of his own personal struggles and the satisfaction he must have felt in overcoming them. ENDFrancisco De Osuna: Third Spiritual Alphabet (Classics of Western Spirituality) Overview

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Interior Castle: The Classic Text With a Spiritual Commentary (Classics With Commentary) Review

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Interior Castle: The Classic Text With a Spiritual Commentary (Classics With Commentary) ReviewI have, more than once, picked up Interior Castle, but each time my innate preference for logical progression and precise explanations got in the way. With Dennis Billy as a guide, I am now able to appreciate Teresa's spiritual counsel even though I still find some of the metaphors confusing.
Though the commentary is short when compared to Teresa's texts, it is invaluable. In the introduction Billy gives an overview of Teresa's background, call to write, and spiritual doctrine presented through a description of seven mansions within a spiritual castle. He also offers 10 pointers for interpreting Interior Castle, including details of its development, Teresa's view of religious life "in the hierarchical order of sanctity," her combative posture toward the world, and her primary image of God as beloved spouse.
He previews her nine sections--one for the introduction, each of the seven mansions, and the epilogue--and before each chapter within the sections he offers a short summary that prepares us for Teresa's words. Finally, Billy has added four reflection questions at the end of each chapter to help us further examine Teresa's teachings and our own spiritual lives.
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A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life Review

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A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life ReviewParker Palmer has gifted us all with his revealing reflections and insights about living an undivided life. He writes about the conflict that we experience when our professional life and our inner beliefs are not aligned.
"A Hidden Wholeness" addressed many questions for me including:
What happens when the person that I have become, shaped by my work experiences, faces decisions that have to be made... decisions that I know will feel 'bad' or 'wrong' because they threaten my integrity?
What happens when I find myself part of an organization or profession that has evolved and changed in ways that are troubling?
What happens when I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place and can't see clearly where to go?
What happens when advice from others and self-help books are of little or no value?
Palmer shows how we can support one another in today's busy and often impersonal world by creating a unique and very special kind of community. The ideas presented in this book are well grounded and applicable to all.
This is an important book for all individuals who are concerned about or troubled by the divisions that exist in the lives we lead. Spending a few quiet hours with Parker Palmer's new book, "A Hidden Wholeness", may just change your mind about what is possible... and this book is one that you will want to pass on and share!
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Things Hidden: Scripture As Spirituality Review

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Things Hidden: Scripture As Spirituality ReviewToward the end of his marvelous Things Hidden, Richard Rohr tells an equally marvelous story. Parents bring home a newly-born baby. Their 4-year-old daughter insists on speaking to her new sibling--alone, she insists. The amused parents leave, but stand at the doorway for easy eavesdropping. Their daughter gets close to the infant and urgently whispers: "Quick! Tell me where we came from and why we're here. I'm beginning to forget!"
This little parable is a nice encapsulation of what Rohr has to say about the spirit of scripture. For Rohr, following Rene Girard (whose influence, along with Nouwen's, is all over this book), the bible is a "text in travail," a fluid, living document that is often times messy and meandering, taking one step forward and two steps back. That's why it's important, insists Rohr, to be clear about the bible's trajectory and momentum, so that we won't get lost down a sidetrack and take the inessential as vital (the fundamentalist failing). The trajectory is the working out of the human recognition of God as a loving, nurturing parent who exhibits mercy, grace, faithfulness, forgiveness, and steadfast love; of recognition of ourselves as originally blessed, made in the image of a loving God and hence intrinsically lovable ourselves; and recognition that the bible encourages awakening, remembering, rather than accomplishing. (It's fascinating to reflect on the fact that the Greek word for truth used in the New Testament--aletheia--can be translated as "unforgetting.")
Readers familiar with Rohr's work won't necessarily find a great deal to surprise them in this lovely and wise book. But readers new to Rohr, as well as those (like myself) who have read and profited from him for years, will appreciate the insight and grace with which he puts scripture in a context that moves away from uninspired literalism on the one hand or academic textual crunching on the other. If spiritual knowing (cognition) is really, as Rohr argues, a re-cognition, an unforgetting of the soul, this book is as good a memory-jogger as one is likely to find.Things Hidden: Scripture As Spirituality Overview

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The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom Review

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The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom ReviewChristine Valters Paintner has "a deep love of Benedictine tradition as well as the gifts of Celtic and desert monasticism." She is a Benedictine oblate with training in the expressive arts. She says, "Creativity and contemplative spirituality nurture and support each other in their commitments to the slow way, to a close attention to the inner life and to the sacred being revealed in each moment." Her book offers support for a graceful journey through creativity and contemplation.
The author considers herself to be a monk who lives beyond the monastery walls and gently supports others to find their "inner monk" nourished through silence and "a commitment to see everything as sacred." She also offers many approaches to engage one's "inner artist" through the visual arts, poetry, movement and new ways of seeing the world. I so appreciate all Valters Paintner has to share in this book and realize, she too, is attending to her inner life in the midst of the busyness and speed of the world around us.
I have been drawn to aspects of the monastic life myself including the hours of a monastery day from Vigils, also known as matins, the first hour of the day, to Compline, night. The author describes the hours of the day in Week Four: "Sacred Rhythms for Creative Renewal." She offers "seasons of the breath" as a meditation to follow the breath through the directions, the seasons and the hours of the day. This is one of the many practices that doesn't have to be saved to the particular week of the twelve-week course. The breathing practice anchors one in an experience of the actual hour of the day whatever day it may be.
As part of that chapter, the visual art exploration task is to create a contemporary book of hours by using paint, images and handwriting. In this chapter and others, excerpts from the writing of the participants of Christine Valters Paintner's program help to form the "creative community" that is the theme of Week Eight.
The author offers a set of practices, meditations, and art exploration as invitations and doorways to explore the creative qualities of particular values and virtues. For the purposes of this review, I read some pages each morning and was nourished by Valters Paintner's soothing words and encouragement to integrate my spiritual path and creativity into my daily life.
Three practices are suggested as part of one's daily or weekly contemplative and creative journey: walking, lectio divina, and reflection. The four primary movements of lectio divina are: read, reflect, respond and rest. In each of the chapters, the lectio divina is applied to a Bible passage, a poem, or one of the Rules of St. Benedict.
Contemplative walking is a way to honor the season of the earth "and of my soul" the author says. Other reflection is done through journaling and each chapter has specific questions for this practice.
The author's words are enhanced by her careful selections of poetry and quotes from Christian, Sufi, Buddhist and other spiritual traditions.
By Week 13, readers are ready to create their artistic "rule of life" as an articulation of their ongoing commitment to their practice. There are many practices I will go back to: the poetry writing, the "to-be" list and the creation of wisdom cards. This is the book I will take with me as I travel so I will be reminded of the practices and choose a question or two for reflection each day.
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about womenThe Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom Overview

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Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery Review

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Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery ReviewThe main purpose of this book is to type yourself in order that you should know how to become a fully integrated individual. Understanding of the self is one step to self-discovery, but the next step, as the book illustrates, is to move toward one's 'point of integration', to attain one's full potential. To that end 'Character Types' has been heaven-sent for me. It becomes painfully clear that left to ourselves, we attempt to improve in the way which is exactly the opposite of what we really need. As a Four, I was constantly introspecting and obsessing, certain that if I did so long enough I would understand everything. Not until I read this book did I understand that the only way to improve would be to fight my natural tendencies, to become more open to experiencing and to take things easier. This insight, though it sounds small, leaves me indebted to Don Riso for writing a book which was as effective as any 12-step program, and which will be applicable for the rest of my life in setting goals to strive towards.
On the other hand, this book should come with some disclaimers. The first is that this book should not be used in rigidly 'typing' other individuals besides yourself. The fact is, no one can ever presume to know what goes on inside another human being, and that natural barrier should be respected. Even if someone exhibits all the signs of a certain type, they should still be respected as the complex people they are, instead of being consigned to a filing cabinet. For people to start saying, "Oh, he's such a typical Five, always reading" is ridiculous, even degrading. For a basic understanding of the many facets of human nature, reading about the other types is fascinating--but that's as far as these descriptions should be taken to apply to real-life individuals and relationships.
Also, people should take the type descriptions with a grain of salt. The book is sometimes too specific--these types should be used to describe general tendencies, not specific details within the personality. Just because I am a certain type, that does not mean I cannot be radically different from others who share my type. The world is a wonderfully complex place, and people are the most complex things in it. Sharing some similarities *does not* make us the same.
The parental orientations, while interesting to read and perhaps even relevant sometimes, are the equivalent to psychobabble on some level and should also be taken with a grain of salt. The typing of celebrities is completely irrelevant, for reasons already expressed above.
Taken all in all, 'Character Types' is a valuable tool toward attaining self-discovery and understanding the means to attain one's full potential. The levels of development are charted at length, and the points of integration and disintegration highlight the manner in which people deteriorate, or more positively, the way they achieve health and integration. It also provides insight into people other than yourself, making it possible to appreciate the differences in each human being. For a book on the Enneagram, look no further than this.Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery Overview

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Sacred Visitations: Gifts of Grace That Transform the Heart and Awaken the Soul Review

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Sacred Visitations: Gifts of Grace That Transform the Heart and Awaken the Soul ReviewGrowing up I always wanted to know that there was more than just what I could see, hear, and touch in this life. Not just know it intellectually, but experience it for myself. That's why I like this book. It's is full of real, everyday experiences of grace in one person's life. Through this author's eyes I could see that grace, while mysterious is always showing up and that I can find it in even the most seemingly mundane moments.
When I found out there was also an Audio Course available I got that too. Hearing Ceci Miller's voice brought the material and the author to life for me.
For anyone who wants to explore their own transformation, inspiration and inner wisdom this book will prove a spectacular support.Sacred Visitations: Gifts of Grace That Transform the Heart and Awaken the Soul Overview

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The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully Review

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The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully ReviewWhen "The Gift of Years" by Joan Chittister made its way to my mailbox for me to review, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Was I really the right person to be reviewing this? After all, I am in my thirties, transitioning from youth to middle age. I'm not quite ready for senior citizen status yet. As it turned out, "The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully" is a wonderful lesson in how to live, regardless of our chronological age.
Chittister, a Benedictine sister, is 70 years old. She suggests that she may actually be too young to write this book because life still has lessons left to offer. She "reserves the right to revise this edition when she is ninety." Chittister views how we life at any age to be a choice. We are each given the gift of today. It is up to us what we do with it. She counters the idea that old age need be a time of isolation and loneliness and uselessness. Rather, it can be a time of great connectedness and joy and purpose. It is a time for looking back, not with the pain of regret for opportunities lost, but with understanding of how the life that has been lived has meaning for who we are right now and what our future holds.
Chittister maintains that senior citizens have so much to offer to the world at large. Their wisdom and their stories and their experience are a great gift. They also have the time to get involved. Without the pressures of a 9-to-5 job or raising a family, they can volunteer more, make more of a difference. They have the chance to do all the things that they always wanted to do that there was never time for before. "Age does not forgive us our responsibility to give the world back to God a bit better than it was because we were here."
Of course, there are special challenges that come with the transition to later adulthood and Chittister does acknowledge that fact. It can be difficult to be older in a world that so values youth. It can be hard to reclaim a sense of self with everything that defined that self is now gone. It can be a struggle to cope with physical ailments and disabilities. As Chittister states, however, "there is no such thing as not coping. . . The only issue is whether we will choose to cope well or poorly." We do have a choice. We can adjust our way of thinking and our way of being or we can give up.
Mostly, though, being older brings freedom. "We are free now to choose the way we live in the world, the way we relate to the world around us, the attitudes we take to life, the meaning we get out of it, the gifts we put into it. And all of them can change." "The Gift of Years" is a gift in itself. It provides the opportunity to reflect on what it means to grow older and provides hope for a time of life that holds great promise.The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully Overview

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