Chiron Communications

Keys for Adept Aging: a rejuvenated treasure

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I’m pleased to announce that as of February 2023 Soul*Sparks Press has published Keys for Adept Aging. This compact volume—a true Soul*Spark—is an ideal gift for elders, as well as for all who are growing older.

Throughout history most successful and long-lived civilizations have held a place of respect for elders, and have benefited from their life wisdom. Sages are elders who have gracefully accepted the passage of time, integrated their life experience with understanding, and made the fruit of their long experience available to others.

But how does one do this? How does one grow wiser as one grows older?

By drawing from the wisdom of the ages, Keys for Adept Aging opens up a range of thoughtful pathways for cultivating soul maturity. Readers will be enriched.

“As tens of thousands of baby boomers enter their 60’s each day, this little gem is a timely addition to books on aging…it makes a great gift for the elders in your life. Highly recommended.” – Amazon reader

“This book is a real soul-searching piece of writing…this would make a fantastic gift to any older family members.” – Lesley Jones for Readers’ Favorite

This book was originally published under the title “Teach Us to Number Our Days,” That title suggested a specific religious orientation. As readers shall discover, in this small treasure the keys for adept aging are drawn from many of the world’s wisdom traditions. This little book—a true Soul*Spark—strives to faithfully acknowledge and embrace that reality.

If you do purchase a copy for yourself or as a gift, please consider rating and reviewing it on amazon.  Stars and reviews make a big difference.

What is the Purpose of a Long Life?

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Throughout history most successful and long-lived civilizations have held a place of respect for elders, and benefited from their life wisdom. By and large this tradition is missing today, to the detriment not only of elders but also of society.

Each moment, each day, each one of us grows older. Thanks to medical advances and wide emphasis on personal fitness, most people will live long enough to be considered old. The average life span has, in fact, been steadily increasing since the dawn of the Twentieth Century, and this trend will likely continue in the Twenty-first Century.

This reality raises some critical questions: What is the purpose of a long life? What can and should older people do with their extended years? What roles do older people have in modern societies?

As far back as five millennia ago the Greeks knew a basic life lesson that remains relevant today. Socrates put it succinctly: “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

With that foundational understanding in mind, and after a career of interviewing learned and insightful elders, I assembled an eBook of quotations, from all times and all cultures: With Keys for Adept Aging, me intention was to inspire readers to reflect on how we might most wisely journey through advanced maturity.

I learned a lot putting this book  together. I am pleased and honored to share it.

Age is very mysterious because the essence of the human being – the soul – actually never ages. It’s only the outer covering of the individual that changes.” ~ Beatrice Wood

Keys for Adept Aging: Tried, True, Trustworthy

“This book is a real soul-searching piece of writing…this would make a fantastic gift to any older family members.”  — Lesley Jones for Readers’ Favorite

Throughout history most successful and long-lived civilizations have held a place of respect for elders and have benefited from their life wisdom.

Sages are elders who have gracefully accepted the passage of time, integrated their life experience with understanding, and made the fruit of their long experience available to others.

But how does one do this? How does one grow wiser as one grows older?

By drawing from the wisdom of the ages, Keys for Adept Aging opens up a range of thoughtful pathways for cultivating soul maturity. Readers will be enriched.

“As tens of thousands of baby boomers enter their 60’s each day, this little gem is a timely addition to books on aging…it makes a great gift for the elders in your life. Highly recommended.”  — Amazon reader

Chiron-Key_1

“In later life one sometimes has the feeling of going into a large church and seeing a shaft of light coming down. That shaft of light, perhaps, comes in the period of life between 65 and 70. A lot of people have walked through that shaft of light…But remember, it is the shaft that makes the person, it isn’t the person that makes the shaft.”  – John H. Finley, Jr.
Publisher of the 2nd ed.: Soul*Sparks Books (2014)

 

Profiles in Wisdom: Native Elders Speak About the Earth

 

Profiles in Wisdom: Native Elders Speak about the Earth

Profiles in Wisdom: Native Elders Speak about the Earth

Taking inspiration from John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning Profiles in Courage, Steven McFadden presents the stories and thinking of 17 Native American spiritual elders in this widely acclaimed book.

As our existing culture shifts, what to the ancient ones who have been trained in the sacred Traditions of Turtle Island (North America) have to say to us? With this question and others, journalist McFadden begins his quest to speak with contemporary Native American elders. The elders offer penetrating and poetic insight on a host of crucial matters.

This bestselling book has recently been updated, to tell the stories and share the observations of the elders 10 years after the original date of publication.

Here’s a brief excerpt from Profiles in Wisdom:

In 1983, after three days and nights of praying and fasting on a mountaintop, I snapped a twig with my fingers and had a revelation. I saw that my simple action had changed the world, and that it would never be the same again. I could never put that twig back together the way it had been. This was a small change, but an important change nonetheless.

As the sound of the snap reverberated within my mind, I understood how everything I said and did changed the world. What came with the snapping twig was not an abstract idea or a philosophical insight, but a living experience of how all my actions influence creation. Since then, the lesson of this experience has guided my life in a world where, until recently, it seemed as if most people were oblivious to the way their lives inflict deep wounds upon the Earth, the air, and the water…

Praise for Profiles in Wisdom:

“Profiles in Wisdom does a fine job not only of presenting the dignity, complexity, and wit of important Indian philosophers and religious leaders, but also of issuing cautions agains easy uplift and wisdom injections…There are some stirring and unexpected powers unleashed in this book.” – New York Times Book Review

“This wise and provocative collection is highly recommended.”  – Library Journal

“Our leaders should sit and listen to the counsel Steven McFadden has gathered in this book.”  – John Elvin, The Washington Times

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