Old Age

[Deb]

I often think about what Seth said about aging, and it comes up quite often in the Facebook Seth groups. I have a friend who is in her 50s, has been talking about us being "little old ladies" and senior citizens for a number of years now. A few months ago I asked her what age classified a senior citizen, and she said 50 (I guess she believed AARP ). She lost her eyesight 10 years ago (autoimmune disease), is now hard of hearing too, is very forgetful, has trouble remembering common words, has a really hard time comprehending simple concepts, is quick to blame a lot of things on being old. It seems to me, if I'm to believe Seth, the aging symptoms are coming from her beliefs. She's always lived a clean life, grew up in a small town in Ohio, has never smoked, tried drugs, does not drink alcohol or caffeine. Her husband had a heart attack maybe 10 years ago and they've been on a "heart healthy" diet ever since.

Today I noticed this article below and my first thought was, "that figures." Second thought was, if old age is considered a disease, just think of all the pharmaceuticals Big Pharma can come up with to treat this disease.

There was a time, maybe in only certain cultures, where elders were respected and revered for their wisdom. What happened?

Thoughts anyone?

"Prominent academics are pushing for the World Health Organization (WHO) to include old age on its list of diseases. They say it will improve old people's lives – but in reality, it will give everyone the excuse to write them off.

"In their wisdom, 30 experts – from prestigious universities like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cambridge Imperial and UCL – have decided that ageing is no longer a normal feature of life. They want the World Health Organization to classify ageing as a disease. This diseasing of old age represents another blow to the moral status of the elderly."

"...In some instances the elderly are not simply condemned as the cause of young people's problems, but as unworthy of the kind of esteem given to other groups in society. In a world where acts of prejudice directed at groups are universally condemned it's still OK to demonise the elderly. In recent times, uninhibited derision is being heaped on older generations by the British media for supporting Brexit. A journalist writing in GQ was not joking when he proposed a 'total ban on anyone of retirement age voting in the Brexit referendum.'"

-https://www.rt.com/op-ed/481011-old-age-who-disease/

Seth:

"In your society age has almost been considered a dishonorable state. Beliefs about the dishonor of age often cause people to make the decision—sometimes quite consciously—to bring their own lives to an end before the so-called threshold is reached. Whenever, however, the species needs the accumulated experience of its own older members, that situation is almost instantly reversed and people live longer."
—DEaVF1 Chapter 5: Session 902, February 20, 1980

"Your beliefs about age, like everything else, will form your experience, and your mass beliefs will affect your civilization. With the current concepts held by your society, men and women fear old age from the time of youth. If young adulthood is considered the epitome of life, blessedness, and success, then old age is viewed as the opposite — a time of failure and decay."
—NoPR Chapter 13: Session 651, March 26, 1973

"(To Rachel after break:) Now, your husband had a horror of old age. Now, give us a moment—he much preferred leaving his body when he did. He was particularly frightened at the idea of living to an old age. He feared mental disability in old age. He wanted to be free of the body before that time was reached. Now in the two lives immediately previous he stayed with the body at one time until he was 87 and at another to the age of 92 and at a time when such age was quite unusual. He determined that in this life he would leave at the height of his powers and so he did. This was not pre-determined. It was a decision that he made."
—TECS2 ESP Class Session, September 22, 1970

[T.M.]

Hi All,

Hi Deb,

I think there's a lot going on, in this subject. There's definitely government forces that would likely love to purge out the old, for financial reasons.
Humanity is making so many advancements too that it's likely just getting more painful to be old and decrepit now, than compared to say, life in 1900.

There's probably a good many also not adapting well, in this age of rapid change.
I remember as a teen we got 3 channels via aerial on a good night. Now, I have instantaneous world wide communications at my fingertips. I can't now imagine living without that connection.
Still, some of modern things, I can't seem to get with. Even for me it seems just crazy at times. I don't think anything is going to slow down anytime soon.

Kirk Douglas recently passed at 103!  I've seen interview clips of him while elderly. He seemed pretty sharp, and happy to me.

[Sena]

"(To Rachel after break:) Now, your husband had a horror of old age. Now, give us a moment—he much preferred leaving his body when he did. He was particularly frightened at the idea of living to an old age. He feared mental disability in old age. He wanted to be free of the body before that time was reached. Now in the two lives immediately previous he stayed with the body at one time until he was 87 and at another to the age of 92 and at a time when such age was quite unusual. He determined that in this life he would leave at the height of his powers and so he did. This was not pre-determined. It was a decision that he made."
—TECS2 ESP Class Session, September 22, 1970

Deb, thanks for your interesting post. I am now 70. I am happy with life at present, but I do think about what would be the optimum time to leave.