Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-08

series in which Howard Whitman hos
exomined the real incoming Of sue
cess In our generation.
~-~-~-~---~-->-~------
younger people; their devotion
lis their lives.
Young people, especially in
these days Of perilous marriage,
would do well to study the love
of the aged. They might find
in it a devotion which makes
the romantic love Of youth OF
the preoccupied love of middle
age seem like flowers which have
not yet opened their petals to
the sun.
Return to Parents
Each of us is going to change
with age. AS we pass 40 we are
going to become more conscious
of our parents and what they
stood for. In psychology we
speak of the return of the par
ents," a phenomenon which oc-
ours after the adolescent period
of parent rejection.
But the true return does not
occur when one merely stops re-
belling. 1t occurs when one has
soaked up enough life directly
and personally to begin to I'M
derstand his parents as people.
Often he finds himself becom-
ing more like them: he may
even be amazed to find himself
believing the very things and
doing the very things which he
SO opposed when he was young.
This is the aging process, as i'm
portant to humans as to good
wine.
We much too casually sweep
aside the knowledge of age. too
readily set it down as old-fash-
Toned or timeworn or even re-
dictionary. Yet it is strange how
much of this is simply timeless.
1t is the accumulated wisdom
OF man. garnered at great pain
over the millennia and painfully
absorbed by each new genera
ton.
I think of this process of
catching up with timeless Wis
dom as overtaking the newt
able. For there it is out there
waiting for us and slowly, year
by year, We gain ground until
one day we overtake it. What is
this inevitable "it"?
Result Of Living
1t is the relentless impact of
experience which, to one extent
or another. makes wise men of
us all. For wisdom is not some
thing which can be told to us OF
taught to US; it is an end result
of living.
Buddha said to his followers
DO not believe anything be-
cause the written testimony Of
some ancient wise man is shown
to you. Do not believe anything
either on the authority of teach
ers or priests. Whatever ac-
cords with your own experience
and after thorough investiga-
ton agrees with your reason
and is conductive to your own
welfare and to that of all other
living things. that accent As
truth and live Accordingly
Growing old should be the
most exciting process in living
For age is our only ticket al
admission to the greatest am.
phitheater of life. Everythinp
else is but the standing in line
and the waiting.
Probably the greatest as.
surance of success in old age i,
an appreciation of old age. Thi,
today is difficult. for ours is I
culture which seems to regard
old humans quite as it regard,
old automobiles--good once but
now ready to be junked. Yet
any OF us knows that in the
things which count most in tht
world age is an asset.
We Go Back
We go back to ancient Greece
Tor our democracy, to ancient
Rome for our law, to Elizabethar
England for the greatest of oul
literature, to the Italian Renais.
sance for our art, to the age O,
Pericles for our philosophy. anc
10 the Bible for our religion.
II we appreciate age and be.
lieye IN 1t. each Of us can grow
old successfully. For success doe,
not depend on anyone else or or
anyone else's judgment; it is !
process unto ourselves and within
ourselves. The process is natura
and will take place naturally
unless we thwart 1t. We neec
simply to follow the advice o.
ancient Buddha: plunge into lif,
and flow freely with it.
In these chapters, an attempt
has been made to redefine sue.
eess-not for some other era
but for our own time. II there 1,
a paramount conclusion to b,
drawn, It Is this: success is M
exclusive club. It Is open to eact
individual who has the courag.
TO choose his own goal and &
after 1t.
Testing Human Spirit
It is from this forward motor
that human growth springs. anc
out Of it Is the human essencs
knownlas character. Perhaps thu
ultimate purpose OF life itself Il
the testing Of the human spirit
70 develop out Of 1t somethinr
better. more nearly perfect.
The ultimate success Of the in.
diyidual. then. is not to be founc
in the material results Of hi.
labor. for whole civilizations al.
ready have been buried In tn,
sands and the dust. and TN.
ldoubtedly more civilizations viii
crumble on top Of them in {
lnever-ending heap. but aftel
them what Is added to tn
human spirit?