Article July 25, 2005 Issue

NO WINDING DOWN

By Lou O'Dell

I WAS IN MY EARLY 30S WHEN I READ A BOOK ON AGING TITLED Every Man a King, by Orison S. Marden. One of the chapters, titled "Don't Let the Years Count," was my first exposure to the idea that aging relates to thought. In this chapter Mr. Marden states, "I say to the years ... 'I shall conquer you.' There speaks a spirit that will never grow old." He quotes a writer as saying, " 'Better than the art of growing old gracefully is the secret of not growing old at all' " (New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1906, p. 201). But at that time in life I really gave no thought to aging.

About 13 years later, I was introduced to Christian Science by my best friend, who inspired me to read Science and Health. A story in that book about an Englishwoman who at age 74 still looked under 20, because of her having lost all awareness of the passage of time, got my attention. But, again, I was not giving much thought to aging.

As the years slipped by, I began to become more interested in the subject, and I began to wonder if the aging process could be reversed or at least retarded. I began to research aging, and discovered some interesting ideas. For instance, Dr. Deepak Chopra quoted the Indian sage Shankara as saying," 'People grow old and die because they see other people grow old and die'" (Unconditional Life, New York, Bantam Books, 1991, p. 69). That triggered in me the idea that one should be able to ignore others growing old, getting sick, and dying — which would, of course, require greater strength and discipline than I humanly possessed.