The authors begin and conclude their reflections with the words of T.S. Eliot:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
- Four Quartets
Our middle years are a time of transition from the young adult’s focus on developing an occupation or profession, improving earning capacity, learning the social graces and cultivating relationships to a time when we live what is unlived, and find a conscious place for what is under-developed, repudiated and cast off.
For many, it is the onset of physical limitations, the experience of death of parents and even friends, or disillusionment of youthful dreams. It is the experience that time is running out while something essential is still missing. As such, it is often a time of suffering. However, we may remain on the surface of life or we may learn that existence is much deeper, less controllable, more mysterious and miraculous than previously understood.
In life we tend to develop repetitious patterns of response, which are often recognized through disturbing dreams, emotional outbursts, moods, and all kinds of limiting behaviours. This offers us an opportunity to “uncramp the conscious mind”, leading us to a greater freedom of choice and access to lost resources that are essential to a more fulfilling life.
This book is well written, challenging, and offers a selection of exercises which will help to discover the challenges of the middle years and offer insights into the goal that invites us to move into the realities of the latter part of our lives that include old age, death, and that which lies beyond death.
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