What is an Elder?

 

Commentary by Almine:

Elders were graciously honored in indigenous culture – a concept that is lost among modern man today.  Our industrialized societies witness many people living without much discipline or spiritual depth, allowing age to fritter away one’s power, insight, and wisdom.  Old age does not necessarily develop increased insight.  The hidden truth behind honoring of the elder remains buried in antiquity and many indigenous peoples do not even remember these ancient hidden laws of nature.

 

On the path of any spiritual seeker, especially the elder, lie four main challenges:

a. overcoming fear – growth entails moving out of one’s comfort zone into the unfamiliar.  It can be fear-inducing to leave the comfort of the old behind

 

b. becoming addicted to challenge – which results only when one has reached the stage of understanding that within challenge lies great power.

 

c. challenge of power – succumbing to the temptation of using power over others for self-aggrandizement, personal benefit, or showmanship.

 

d.  challenge of old age – the final test of one who has walked the path of discipline and a spiritual life, is not to rest on one’s laurels; to keep reaching for excellence.

 

When one nears the golden years of life, having hopefully achieved a great deal, the challenge or inclination is to rest without consideration of further advancement.  In succumbing to this challenge, power sifts through our fingers like sand, and we become unworthy even of the name elder. 

 

However, when an elder overcomes this challenge successfully, the gates to the hidden realms open wide and he or she becomes a living bridge of light between the world of the spirits and that of man.  Such a one has truly earned the term used so respectfully and honorably as “elder”.

 

The greatest potential lies before man during the few years at the beginning of his life and during the latter years of his life.  At birth the child assumes that he can do anything until limitations are given to him by social learning.  Likewise, near the end of life, when one has overcome the challenge of old age, he or she can, indeed, surpass mortal boundaries while yet living among the masses.