From Wisconsin-
Some things really do get better with age.
Despite the stereotype that reduces older adults to crotchety collections of their ailments, aging in fact brings a greater self-awareness and increased capacity for empathy and compassion - key elements in the development of spirituality, says Benjamin Campbell, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
That propensity and openness are the foundations for an upcoming daylong conference where Campbell and a host of others will explore the relationship between aging and spirituality.
Friday's program, sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, is aimed at seniors and their caregivers, and topics will range from spiritual practices to co-housing and death and dying.
"At this time in our lives, in our 60s and older, people want to talk about the big questions - Is there life after death? What should the purpose of life be in our later years?" said Mary Waller, who sits on the diocese's Elder Ministries Committee and is helping organize the event.
At the same time, she said, they're much more interested in spirituality than denominational divisions and dogma, and that will be reflected in the workshops and presenters, who represent a variety of faith traditions.
The featured speaker, for example, will be the controversial theologian and Episcopal writer Matthew Fox, best known as a proponent of creation spirituality. Fox became an Episcopal priest after being expelled from the Dominican Catholic order in the 1990s.
More here-
http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/118887134.html
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