A One-Minute Elder
ELDERS IN THE CYCLE
ELDERS IN THE CYCLE
Elders understand we live in cycles. Always have. Always will. But Elders have different relations to the situations, conditions, and circumstances of a cycle.
A cycle can be defined as the natural arc through which something comes into being, gathers momentum, reaches form, and returns into its formless origin, but shaping what follows without ever truly disappearing.
Some cycles can be short-lived. Relationships. Financial situations. Vacations.
Some take years. Career. Children. Back issues. Divorces. Grief.
Some take centuries. Greece. Rome. Aztecs.
Some take Kalpas (4.32 billion years). The Grand Canyon. Zion.
But a cycle is a cycle; it comes into existence, stays a while, goes out of existence, takes another form. That’s it.
What’s driving cycles, as Buddha reminds us, everything is always changing, which makes everything impermanent. Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Lao Tzu, “If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.”
Anything in form and time has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s the fundamental operating algorithm of the universe.
Elders have experienced many cycles in their lifetimes. The Cuban Missile Crisis. The crash of 2008. Covid. Financial Breakdowns. Illness. Cycles often begin with an immediate sense of danger or threat, and some leave long-lasting changes, e.g., 9/11 - TSA. ICE. New government institutions - Homeland Security.
How do Elders handle these cycles?
Elders focus on self-awareness. They become self-aware of their automatic, previously unconscious reactions as the cycle begins to unfold. Recognition is the first stage of enlightenment. “Oh, here is that reaction again.”
Once recognized, they can let it be, allowing them to consciously determine how they will respond and who they will be as the cycle progresses. They can identify their unchecked reactions and now choose alternatives to the ones that always knock them off their Elder path.
RELATING AND RESPONDING TO THE CURRENTS OF CYCLES
Elders understand that history doesn’t move in straight lines. It moves in cycles—some short, some long, some so long they outlive the people who started them.
· Short cycles battle over outcomes.
· Medium cycles struggle over systems.
· The long cycle is where a society decides what it is and what it stands for. Elders spend time here.
All three cycles now seem to be accelerating. But acceleration and chaos always occur at the end of a cycle, when it enters its final phase. Greater turmoil is a clear sign that the cycle is breaking down.
This cycle will pass; in fact, it is now slowly entering its ending phase. I put my faith in Einstein, Buddha, and of course, Frank Sinatra.
