Purpose

Joseph Campbell wrote, “I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”

In honor of the 25th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States, I offer you this beautiful Washington Post article on the value of giving to others. This particular passage tugged at my heart, “We crave wealth, overspend and end up broke. We desire attention but end up alone. We sprint toward what we want and away from what we need.” Highly recommend you read it on this national holiday. How can you draw joy from helping others?

It ain’t what you think. Not talking sex here. I’m referring to your “Occupation” which has a secondary definition as “the action, state, or period of occupying or being occupied by military force.” Is that your relationship with work? Is your business really just “busy-ness” or, worse, a hostile takeover of your soul?

“Understand your unique value and take that forward into the world. Do not inherit labels others place upon you,” I told the 2019 graduating class in my keynote speech. The students immediately reacted and recognized what I meant. It seemed to resonate with them.

“Wholly unprepared, [we] embark upon the second half of life. Or are there perhaps colleges for forty-year-olds which prepare them for their coming life and its demands as the ordinary colleges introduce our young people to a knowledge of the world and of life?

It’s not a board game. It’s not a beauty contest. It’s not a costume party. You are a student of life. Choose your subjects wisely. You will receive a pop-quiz on occasion. Don’t prepare or memorize.

A friend in his mid-40s recently lost his Silicon Valley job. He felt like he was being put out to pasture like a lame horse, which immediately wounded his pride and put him into a confidence crisis. He’s not alone. More and more people are seeing their futures put out to past-ure. The question is: what to do?

As morning follows night, ending often foreshadows a new beginning. The John O’Donohue poem below has proven to be a catalyst for many of our Modern Elder Academy grads. Hope it proves to be inspiring to you as well.

In our fast-changing world, it’s no surprise that even death has taken on a whole new reality. You might say death is being reinvented from the ground up—call it Dying 2.0. The facts speak for themselves. Since the 1900’s we have more than doubled our lifespan, adding almost 35 years to our lives. While exciting and re-energizing, it is stunning to watch as society does little to prepare for this new shift in reality.

The meme of the moment was accelerated by this New York Times article marking the end of friendly generational relations. Beyond the fact that the old cranky dude preaching in the TikTok video doesn’t vaguely resemble a Modern Elder who is as curious as they are wise, let’s accept that it was Boomers who created the original “generation gap” in the 1960s.