I give public lectures in Caxton Hall, London, England, every few years
and following one of these lectures, a surgeon said to me, “I am 84 years
of age, I operate every morning, visit patients in the afternoons, and I
write for medical and other scientific journals in the evening.”
His attitude was that he was as useful as he believed himself to be, and
that he was as young as his thoughts. He said to me, “It’s true what you
said, ‘Man is as strong as he thinks he is, and as valuable as he thinks he
is.’”
This surgeon has not surrendered to advancing years. He knows that he is
immortal. His final comment to me was, “If I should pass on tomorrow, I
would be operating on people in the next dimension, not with a surgeon’s
scalpel, but with mental and spiritual surgery.”
Don’t ever quite a job and say, “I am retired; I am old; I am finished.”
That would be stagnation, death, and you would be finished. Some men
are old at 30, while others are young at 80. The mind is the master
weaver, the architect, the designer and the sculptor. George Bernard
Shaw as active at 90, and the artistic quality of his mind had not relaxed
from active duty.
I meet men and women who tell me that some employers almost slam
the door in their faces when they say they are over 40. this attitude on
the part of the employers is to be considered cold, callous, evil and completely void of compassion and understanding. The total emphasis seems
to be on youth, i.e., you must be under 35 years of age to receive consideration. The reasoning behind this is certainly very shallow. If the employer would stop and think, he would realize that the man or woman was not
selling his age or gray hair, rather, he was willing to give of his talents, his
experience and his wisdom gathered through years of experience in the
market place of life.
Your age should be a distinct asset to any organization, because of your
practice and application through the years of the principles of the Golden
Rule and the law of love and good will. Your gray hair, if you have any
should stand for greater wisdom, skill and understanding. Your emotional
and spiritual maturity should be a tremendous blessing to any organization.
A man should not be asked to resign when he is 65 years of age. That is
the time of life when he could be most useful in handling personnel problems, making plans for the future, making decisions and guiding others in
the realm of creative ideas based on his experience and insight into the
nature of the business.
A motion picture writer in Hollywood told me that he had to write scripts,
which would cater to the twelve year old mind. This is a tragic state of affairs if the great masses of people are expected to become emotionally
and spiritually mature. It means that the emphasis is placed on youth in
spite of the fact that youth stands for inexperience, lack of discernment
and hasty judgment.
I am now thinking of a man 65 years of age who is trying frantically to
keep young. He swims with young men every Sunday, goes on long hikes,
plays tennis and boasts of his prowess and physical powers, saying,
“Look, I can keep up with the best of them. He should remember the great truth: As a man thinketh in his heart, so is
he. Prov. 23:7.
Diets, exercises, and games of all kinds will not keep this man young. It is
necessary for him to observe that the grows old or remains young in accordance with his processes of thinking. Your subconscious mind is conditioned by your thoughts. If your thoughts are constantly on the beautiful,
the noble and the good, you will remain young regardless of the chronological years.
Job said, The things which I greatly feared is come upon me. There are
many people who fear old age and are uncertain about the future, because they anticipate mental and physical deterioration as the years advance. What they think and feel comes to pass.
You grow old when you lose interest in life, when you cease to dream, to
hunger after new truths and to search for new worlds to conquer. When
your mind is open to new ideas, new interests and when you raise the
curtain and let in the sunshine and inspiration of new truths of life and the
universe, you will be young and vital.
If you are 65 or 95 years of age, realize you have much to give. You can
help stabilize, advise and direct the younger generation. You can give the
benefit of your knowledge, your experience and your wisdom. You can always look ahead for at all times you are gazing into infinite life. You will
find that you can never cease to unveil the glories and wonders of life. Try
to learn something new every moment of the day, and you will find your
mind will always be young .
Some years ago while lecturing in Bombay, India, I was introduced to a
man who said he was 110 years old. He had the most beautiful face I
have ever seen. He seemed transfigured by the radiance of an inner light.
There was a rare beauty in his eyes indicating he had grown old in years
with gladness and with no indicating that his mind had dimmed its lights.
Be sure that your mind never retires. It must be a parachute which is no
good unless it opens up. Be open and receptive to new ideas. I have seen
men of 65 and 70 retire. They seemed to rot away, and in a few months
passed on. They obviously felt that life was at an end.
Retirement can be a new venture, a new challenge, a new path, the beginning of the fulfillment of a long dream. It is inexpressibly depressing to hear a man say, “What shall I do now that I am retired?” He is saying in
effect, “I am mentally and physically dead. My mind is bankrupt of ideas.”
All this is a false picture. The real truth is that you can accomplish more
at 90 than you did at 60, because each day you are growing in wisdom
and understanding of life and the universe through your new studies and
interest.
An executive, who lives near me, was forced to retire a few months ago
because he had reached the age of 65. He said to me, “I look upon my
retirement as promotion from kindergarten to the first grade.” He philosophized in this manner: He said that when he left high school, he went up
the ladder by going to college. He realized this was a step forward in his
education and understanding of life in general. Likewise, he added, now
he could do the things he had always wanted to do, and therefore, his retirement was still another step forward on the ladder of life and wisdom.
He came to the wise conclusion that he was no longer going to concentrate on making a living. Now he was going to give all his attention to living life. He is an amateur photographer, and he took additional courses on
the subject. He took a trip around the world and took movies of famous
places. He now lectures before various groups, lodges and clubs and is in
popular demand.
There are countless ways of taking an interest in something worthwhile
outside yourself. Become enthusiastic over new creative ideas, make spiritual progress and continue to learn and to grow. In this manner you remain young in heart, because you are hungering and thirsting after new
truths, and your body will reflect your thinking at all times.
The newspapers are taking cognizance of the fact that the voting population of the elderly in California elections is increasing by leaps and
bounds. This means that their voices will be heard in the legislature of the
state and also in the halls of Congress. I believe there will be enacted a
federal law prohibiting employers from discrimination against men and
women because of age.
A man of 65 years may be younger mentally, physically and psychologically than many men at 30. it is stupid and ridiculous to tell a man he
cannot be hired because he is over 40. It is like saying to him that he is
ready for the scrap heap or the junk pile.
What is a man of 40 or over to do? Must he bury his talents and hide his
light under a bushel? Men, who are deprived and prevented from working
because of age, must be sustained by government treasuries at county , state and federal levels. The many organizations who refuse to hire them
and benefit from their wisdom and experience will be taxed to support
them. This is a form of financial suicide.
Man is here to enjoy the fruit of his labor, and he is here to be a producer
and not a prisoner of society which compels him to idleness.
Man’s body slows down gradually as he advances through the years, but
his conscious mind can be made much more active, alert, alive and quickened by the inspiration from his subconscious mind. His mind, in reality,
never grows old. Job said, Oh that I were as in months past, as in the
days when God preserved me; When his candle shined upon my head,
and when by his light I walked through darkness; As I was in the days of
my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle. Job 29:2-4.