Ageing

[poliphilo]

I don't think one should fight the ageing process- at least not the way some people do, with creams and surgery and all that.

There's no dignity in the look the aged-but-surgically-interfered-with have-  that tight and shiny look.

Michael Douglas for instance. 

Maybe one of these days they'll perfect the techniques and people of seventy really will look like people of twenty, but as things stand those spruced-up oldsters just look weird.

Like they're wearing prosthetics or something. Not quite real, not quite human.

Wrinkles can be beautiful. 

Actually, I think there's a moral dimension to it. People who've lived a horrible life end up as ugly old people and people who've lived good lives end up as beautiful old people. 

What they told us when we were kids about not frowning because the wind might blow on us and we'd get fixed that way comes true in the end. 

Of course one should fight against mental torpor. That's the real ugliness. The carping, grouchy, closed-up attitude some old people get stuck with gives old age a bad name.

I watch myself ageing. Inside and out. My body changing, my attitudes changing. 

I accept it as part of the deal.

I find it interesting.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I so agree about the surgical attempt at reversing the effects of time. My own face aches when I see how taut surgery pulls the skin. I´m always thinking those faces will break open at the slightest change in expression.

Beautiful post. Mental torpor is indeed the real enemy.

Thanks for this!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I love the icon.

I was much less happy at 20 than I am now.

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

Michael Douglas's father Kirk is a fine-looking man at a very happy, natural ninety or so. But then I've always thought Kirk was a much handsomer man than his son. *g*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I agree with you there.

And he's a better actor.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Well said all around. I admit it - I fear the aging process (the physical aspects of it). So reminders like this are a good thing.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that a seventy-year old or a twenty-year old would be all that keen on seventy-year olds that look twenty.

I'm in no hurry to age, but I know it will happen. The thought of the body giving way doesn't bother me as much as the thought of the mind doing so.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There are doctors out there who talk about indefinitely extending the human life-span- to the point where 70 would indeed be the new 20. I used to think this would be a great development. Now I'm not so sure.

[oakmouse]

I used to have a lodge sister who at 80-ish had the most beautiful face. She had very clear skin, lovely blue eyes, and a sweet smile that lit up the room. She looked like a rose that had lived well and was aging gracefully, its petals a little withered but still soft and fragrant. She had kept intact her sense of humor, her openness to life, and her intellect through a difficult life that had included a number of life-threatening illnesses and lousy, poorly-paid jobs. What a fine example she was of how to grow old with dignity!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It can be done. I've known a lot of remarkable old people.

My mother- for instance- is 85 and has never been more active. She puts me to shame with her physical energy and lust for life.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

It is probably part of the neophilia of the age. Youth is glorified, a child goes missing is tragedy. An elderly person who does is ignored.

My mum still doesn't look too bad at 63 so I take that as a good omen.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My mother at 85 has twice the energy I have. She's quite astonishing

[shullie.livejournal.com]

*mutter mutter moan*...lol I am despreatly trying to get my head round it all...I have to admit I am struggling with this bloody aging thing. I wouldn't mind if I was just slipping into it, but it's the bloody hot flushes etc... the pysical health problems that are getting to me.

see I even moan old now ...lol

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I have arthritis. I never had much energy, now I have hardly any at all. And I wake up most mornings aching all over. Yeah, aging is a bugger.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

You and people like you make it beautiful. You make aging a phase of life to live and experience, not run from. That's how it should be.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity- do you take much exercise dad? Ever considered going down the gym with Joe? You might hurt for a while, but also might in the end end up with more energy to go around and an all-round better more resilient body. You're not past the age where you can still effectively build muscle, I'd wager.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah, Mike- I have a history with gyms that goes right back to childhood (don't these things always?) I've always hated them- and hated organised exercise. I don't know why exactly, but it's probably a karmic thing. Maybe in some earlier life I fell off a climbing rope and knocked out my brains or something...

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

I suppose I fairly knew that. You're not an especially active muscle type guy. But- like other things from childhood- isn't it time to do away with the stigma you have attached to that? It could be like discovering this whole other side to life, and your body, and an awareness of how things work, and added vitality, and so on.

And you wouldn't even have to go to the gym to do it. One barbell and a few weights and you can hit just about every muscle in the body in the comfort of your own home.

I was never a gym guy either. For sure- I found the place intimidating. I wasn't 'in' with any crowd that did it, so I had no place being there. But- that was then, this is now.

It certainly wouldn't hurt to try (well, much, anyway). And the gains could be massive, not only in health and fitness and energy levels, but also in self-esteem and sense of accomplishment and well-being. For sure you may have all that already- but then imagine throwing in yet another layer of goodness- wouldn't that just rock?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You're right of course.

We do own barbells and exercise machines. I went through a phase where I was pedalling every evening while watching the Channel 4 news. I ought to get back to that.