Time with books

         Two books that have given me some insight to myself in the last month are THE ART OF AGING  by Sherwin B. Nuland and SHADOWS ON THE PATH by Abdi Assadi.  The first is probably at your library and the second is a special order but worth it, with my second reading I will mark it with my highlighter.

          I listen to Nuland book, the first one, as a tape in the car taking John to the Y mornings but then turned around and got the hard copy to read. I am sure I have more to understand and think about.  In a way the whole book can be summarized

                   For age is opportunity no less
                   Than youth itself, though in another dress,
                   And as the evening twilight fades away
                   The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day


(final lines of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "Moritiuri Salutammus")

          Those lines are the core of aging.  The sky is filled with stars unseen until later in life.  Perhaps no one explains this better than Nuland.  He talks of three key things, the connections and caring we experience for others, the physical awareness of our own bodies and creativity. All are very demanding, require work and bring immense rewards and satisfaction.  The whole book is fulled with interviews, stories of the personal nature and the author has very strong opinion how to age with grace and wisdom.  All of us are heading in this direction, I would have it required reading in college so the seeds of ideas has time to wait for the sun and rain and the night sky.

          The second book, SHADOWS ON THE PATH uses a word that is new to me shadows, in the sense of something on our pathway that is a dark spot or an area that we don't see.  It is a short book, it has no magic quick answers, it throws out more questions, suggests many healthy- looking persons are suffering and seaching for the center.

           Assadi explains throughout the book about his personal journey but also points out the 'ism' , the marketing of spirituality, the labels, the addictions of our day.  His most beautiful moment in the book is explaining Grace---not the Christian belief, the one from God, but another one which is surrendering to life.  Surrendering to circumstances that one is totally helpless.  Both of these Graces I have experienced.

             I find the book refreshing new.
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          Ultimately, his message is we have to find our core, our SELF.   It is hard work and it takes years.  It is best for the world at large, our country, our family and our self.  Without this truth of knowing our true core it is the mayhem of today's society.