Celebrate new ways to approach the aging process

"This courageous book celebrates maturity, 

holding out to the end a promise of fullness of life."

Ottawa-based Aging Horizons Bulletin posts a review of Thomas Moore's new book Ageless Soul: The Lifelong Journey toward Meaning and Joy under the question "What is Soulful Aging?" in its January/ February 2018 issue.

"In 15 deeply engaging chapters, he explores five phases of aging:

1. Feeling immortal

2. First taste of aging

3. Settling into maturity

4. Shifting toward old age, and

5. Letting things take their course.

The subject matter includes sexuality in later life, friendship, community, illness, melancholy, retirement and legacy."

The same issue includes the interview, "Writing New Narratives of Aging" with philosopher Hanne Laceulle who received the 2017 European Network in Aging Studies Award for her PhD thesis on aging, self realization and cultural narratives about later life. 

She proposes an approach to aging that focuses on virtue ethics: "Self-realization is a moral concept with ancient roots. It reaches back to the Socratic ideal of 'knowing yourself' and the Aristotelian concept of self-fulfillment. The classical conception of self-realization is found in Aristotelian virtue ethics. Individuals are seen as striving to realize their full potential as human beings, thereby reaching eudaimonia or happiness."