extraordinary inside all of us. Some call it a spirit, others call it a soul. I will refer to it as our spirit. One of the keys to effectively manage age-related decline is to rely on a social network of support, which in turn lifts the spirit. A healthy spirit is a critical ingredient to successful aging. As you experience physical and mental decline with aging, focus on strengthening your spirit; the spirit is not affected by the marks of aging.
Your spirit is your best friend. It is part of your social support group—it is the power of me. As humans age, the physical body declines while the spiritual body continues to grow. I believe aging is about your spirit taking center stage—and I’m not alone in this belief. Spiritual awareness is on the rise in America. Meditation groups and yoga classes are becoming increasingly popular across the nation, with some companies offering meditation to their employees. More and more people use phrases like “universal life energy” and “unity consciousness,” which reflect the beliefs that there is a consciousness connecting all life. The revolution of the spirit is here.
Follow your spirit and the marks of aging become inconveniences rather than burdens. They are inconveniences because they do not threaten your life itself; they only threaten your way of life and possibly the quality of your life.
Embrace your spirit and you will perceive aging through a stronger lens with greater clarity. You will be more confident and secure, and you will no longer be embarrassed or ashamed about the marks of aging you may bear, whether they are from battling cancer or heart disease, a decline in physical appearance, a disabled body function, or a mental impairment. The goal is to have a healthier and longer life span filled with meaning.
To my knowledge, there is no scientific evidence as of yet supporting the notion of a spirit or soul. Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of humans on this planet believe they possess a spirit or soul. I’m one of them. Most traditional Judeo-Christian religions believe in an afterlife where the spirit/soul transcends to Heaven, while many Eastern religions (e.g., Buddhism) believe the spirit/soul reincarnates to relive in future physical bodies. The common thread among these beliefs is that most humans believe they are more than just their physical body—they believe they possess a spirit/soul, and the physical body serves as a vessel for the spirit to exist in the physical realm.
According to the 2014 General Social Survey, led by psychologist Jean Twenge of San Diego State University, fewer Americans say they believe in God or pray regularly—yet more people believe in an afterlife, nonetheless. The study surveyed 58,000 people and found that 80 percent of Americans said they believe in an afterlife, up from 73 percent in 1972.13
If this is so, shouldn’t we focus more of our energies as we age on growing and strengthening our spirits rather than focusing on the decline and decay of our physical bodies? It is your spirit that defines you, not your physical appearance.
But try telling that to any teenager getting ready for a Saturday-night date. Or for that matter, try telling it to any woman who is putting on a nice outfit, applying makeup, and fixing her hair to run to the grocery store to pick up some lettuce and milk. The importance of physical appearance is firmly entrenched in American society. Most people are more focused on how they appear to be—both physically and socially—than how they really are. Many of us care more about how other people perceive us than how we genuinely feel about ourselves.
Not surprisingly, superficial appearances matter less as we grow older. Older people covered in wrinkles and age spots become more focused on their health and the authenticity of relationships than with physical attributes and social status.
Interest in spirituality and aging has risen during this past decade due in part to growing evidence that spiritual and religious practices generate positive physical and mental health outcomes. We are enjoying longer life spans today, and this reality highlights the importance of spirituality in older people to better cope with the potentially lengthy process of aging. Fortunately, studies have shown that people become more spiritual with age.
Spirituality makes it easier to maintain a positive attitude when experiencing physical and mental decline, which is why it is the first of the six building blocks in the Power of Positive Aging program. It takes discipline to do the right thing when everything seems to be against you. How can you be emotionally strong when you are emotionally drained?
Exploring Your Spirit
It is generally acknowledged that humans are composed of body, mind, and spirit (or soul). However, there is little consensus among cognitive scientists, philosophers, and religious scholars about the spirit’s functions and its relationship with the mind. Let’s explore some of the more prominent explanations, so we can better understand how spirit is linked to positive aging.
Scientific Explanations
The mind is a set of cognitive faculties that enables consciousness, perception, thinking, judgment, feeling, and memory. Over the decades, there have been numerous attempts to develop an understanding of the nature of the mind and its relation to the brain and nervous system.
In the psychiatric field, the computational theory claims that the mind is separate from physical existence. This theory asserts that the nervous system is an information processing system that works by translating changes in the body and the environment into a language of neural impulses that represent the animal–environment relationship. The computational theory allows people to conceptually separate the mind from the brain and body. We can conceive of the mind as the flow of information through the nervous system and this flow of information can be conceptually separated from the biophysical matter that makes up the nervous system. To better illustrate this concept, scientists use the analogy of a book. The book’s physical characteristics can be considered as roughly akin to the brain. However, the information content (i.e., the story the book tells or the information it conveys) is akin to the mind. The mind, then, is the information instantiated in and processed by the nervous system. Therefore, we can conceptually separate the mind from the brain, which may help us conceptually separate the spirit from our body.
Religious/Supernatural Traditions and Explanations
According to Buddhism, the mind has two fundamental qualities: clarity and knowing. Clarity refers to the fact that the mind has no physical characteristics, while knowing refers to the mind functioning to cognize or perceive objects. The mind is aware of the contents of experience, so in order to exist, the mind must be cognizing an object. There is also an intimate connection between the mind and perception. A person’s state of mind plays a crucial role in his or her experiences of happiness and suffering; this is crucial in the context of aging.
Buddhists believe in the intimate relationships between mind and body and in the existence of physiological centers within the body. Physical yoga exercises and meditation techniques aimed at training the mind can have positive effects on health and thus enhance the aging process. Further, there are some meditation techniques that make it possible to separate your mind from your physical body.
Many people believe the spirit/soul is part of the “upper mind,” which suggests that part of the mind is not attached to the physical body. Many Buddhists and New Age enthusiasts assert that the purpose of meditation is to clear the mind, so you can tap into your spirit/soul.
Traditional religion makes a distinction between a spirit and soul. The spirit is the element in humanity that gives us the ability to have an intimate relationship with God. Spirit refers to the immaterial part of humanity that “connects” with God (John 4:24). The soul is the essence of humanity’s being; it is who we are.
Spirituality comes in many shapes and sizes. People involved in New Age spirituality proclaim that they are spiritual but not religious. They are aware of a connection or relationship with something
