Thomas Berry

November 9, 1914-June 1, 2009


The Rev. Thomas Berry, a Catholic monk who spent his life championing a mutually enhancing relationship between humans and Earth, died in his native Greensboro, NC, on June 1. He was 94.

Berry considered himself a cosmologist and "geologian," an Earth scholar, rather than a theologian. His seminal works include The Dream of the Earth, The Great Work, and The Universe Story (co-authored with physicist Brian Swimme).

To paraphrase the conclusion of the Gospel of St. John: If every one of the many things that Thomas Berry did were written down, the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. When our lives are touched by a great spirit, their work continues on in the many things we do. My colleague Ted Purcell wrote endearingly of this in his tribute to Thomas Berry published in Itineraries in Spring 2008.

Fr. Berry's remains were laid to rest at the Green Mountain Monastery in Greensboro, VT, which, like Genesis Farm in New Jersey, is among the many places where The Great Work he lent his voice to continues.

— Bolton Anthony
 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

In this issue…

Guest editors Jim and Linda Henry have collaborated to produce  this wonderful issue of Itineraries exploring the theme of passionate purpose. Linda is a consultant with over 25 years of healthcare education, communication, and marketing experience; Jim has spent the same number of years in organizational enhancement, management training, and career development. They live in the Seattle area, lead workshops nationally, and have jointly authored four books, most recently Transformational Eldercare from the Inside Out. In the article they contributed to the issue, they underscore psychologist James Hillman’s premise that all humans have an exceptional component to their lives, contending that “seasoned” humans age 60+ are especially blessed with passionate talents that are revealed whenever we explore their stories in depth.

Helen Harkness maintains that “Freedom is knowing our options.” A pioneer in the career management field, she takes a practical approach to passionate purpose. Describing what she labels as the “Yo Yo Model” (You’re On Your Own!), she contends that we are all responsible for learning to successfully balance our own career. And she cautions us: Discovering the purpose you can pursue with passion will require significant personal change.

Meg Newhouse, a nationally known pioneer in Third-Age LifeCrafting, explores how purpose and legacy — flip sides of the same coin — nourish and reinforce each other. Our most authentic and powerful legacies, she argues, come from living “on purpose,” that is, giving our unique gifts guided by our core essence.

In “Excavations in Three Parts,” Second Journey founder Bolton Anthony probes his own life experience in search of that “vein of purpose” which gives coherence to the seemingly diffused endeavors and commitments of our life.

Though Trish Herbert admits it's not cool to to be sexist or racist, she reminds us that fear-based ageism is alive and well in our culture. We need to wake up to the negative stereotypes and, on the positive side, to the vast potential of the later years. Excerpts from Herbert's new book Journeywell reveal how to joyfully and passionately make a difference in later years.

Retired pastoral minister Linda George shares the remarkable story of Indian Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore who, in his own unique way, exemplifies those who help others realize a sense of purpose, even in the midst of dire poverty. We don’t need to be self-actualized to find God’s presence and therefore meaning in life.

And finally, Rosemary Williams and Maureen Dobson described their recent workshop, Responding to the Invitations of Midlife, where their theory has been fleshed out into a unique and transformative experience for midlife folks.

In his essay, “Summer's Fullness,” Second Journey's sage-in-residence and regular contributor John Sullivan guides us in thinking about fulfillment on the sometimes rising, sometimes declining continuum that marks every phase of life.

Our other regular contributor, book editor Barbara Kammerlohr, makes her way through a thicket of recent books — including With Purpose: Going From Success to Significance in Work and Life by Dychtwald and Kadlec—exploring purpose.

Poet Jack Clarke reflects on the season with an original contribution, "Silence — Summer." Scattered throughout the issue, at the ends of articles, are another half dozen poems, all of them — like the Mary Oliver below (one of our favorites) asking that most "purposeful" of questions:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

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Brief Notices...


Expanded Board Takes over Direction of Second Journey

At its June 23rd meeting, Second Journey welcomed five new members to an expanded Board of Directors which now numbers nine. Alex Mawhinney, who has been a close ally of the organization since August 2005, took on the task of leading the organization as president, and Dene Peterson, continuing her long association with Second Journey in a variety of roles, returned to the Board.

 Mike Ortosky is a landscape architect and environmental consultant with over 30 years of experience and a deep commitment to developing sustainable, mindful communities. Virginia Lee, who is founder and principal of a consulting firm that specializes in teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education, brings a wealth of diverse experience to the board including financial management and a stint in the  Peace Corps. Bill Farris, a member of both the American Institute of Certified Planners and the American Planning Association, has served as city manager and consulted with a wide range of municipalities and other government entities throughout North Carolina during his 35-year-long career.

Incumbents Bolton Anthony, Lisa Anthony, Mac Legerton and John Sullivan round out the board.

Except for Dene Peterson who hails from nearby Virginia, all board members reside in North Carolina — a fact which will allow for a working board which meets with greater regularity. But if the membership of the Board reflects our base of operation in Chapel Hill, the membership of our Advisory Council — dispersed as it is across the country — reflects the national reach of our publications and programs. Expanding the membership of our board has also allowed us to create a critical mass of diverse competence in key areas central to our two-fold mission of supporting an emerging vision of later life which honors service, community, and late-life spirituality and identifying and helping incubate new models of community for later life.

To see short bios of the board members and the Advisory Council, click here.
 

Index to Poems

The Streaker by Bolton Anthony
Silence — Summer by John Clarke
The Envelope by Maxine Kumin
A certain day.. by Denise Levertov
Summer Solstice, New York City
by Sharon Olds
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
Love After Love by Derek Walcott
What to Remember When Waking
by David Whyte
 
 
 

Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Extraordinary in the ordinary does not just refer to the 88-year-old person who climbs Mt. Rainier or the 105-year-old pediatrician who finally retires when her eyesight begins to fail...

Guest editors Linda and Jim Henry are authors of four books, including Transformational Eldercare from the Inside Out.

 

Passionate Pursuit of Purpose

Though painful, frequently fearful, and characterized by a “miserable middle,” discovering the purpose you can pursue with passion requires activating a major step of growth, creativity, coherence, and order...

Helen Harkness is the founder and executive director of Career Design Associates.
 

Legacies of the Heart

Among the things that make the "second journey" something to anticipate rather than dread are the developmental "tasks" or "urges" that come with the territory. Most salient among these catalysts to continued growth are finding purpose and leaving a legacy...

Meg Newhouse is a nationally known pioneer in Third-Age LifeCrafting and a seasoned and gifted group facilitator, teacher, coach, and program designer.

 

Excavations in Three Parts

The great reward from mining our life experience comes when we strike that vein of purpose and find that the seemingly diffused endeavors and commitments of our life cohere and a hidden pattern is revealed...

Bolton Anthony is the founder of Second Journey and the editor of Itineraries.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

— Mary Oliver
Go to Index of other poems in this issue

Wake up, Show up, Lighten Up
The Three Ups to Aging Well

We are so acculturated to swallow what our society has put into our minds about aging that we have no idea what percentage of how we behave is based on how we think we are supposed to behave...

Trish Herbert is an author, licensed psychologist, and gerontologist who lives and writes in Minneapolis..

The Indian Bard and the Beloved
Tagore—Poet, Mystic, and Reformer

When he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, almost no one beyond the shores of India had ever heard of him. Within a few years, his reputation worldwide equaled that of his dear friend Mohandas Gandhi...

Linda George, who retired after serving in full-time pastoral ministry for nearly 30 years, is completing a PhD dissertation on Tagore.

Silence — Summer by John Clarke

Winter would seem to have a lock on silence —
the snow quieting the fields across the countryside,
muffling even big city sounds and rounding off rough edges.

But silence is big enough to hold all seasons,
and has a special place for summer —
ocean, waterfall, and subway tunnel, yes,
and not only on top of whatever barns remain
on prairies or in mountain valleys —
but deep in the city, up on the tar beach rooftops
of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx —
maybe even Staten Island.

Where a kid goes to hear the stars,
their voices need no words, as if
he or she were Rexroth in the Sierras.

Where far below, the patriot parade or riot or wired
world of nonstop ambient sound for one or all is piped
in everywhere. Yet these can’t touch ... what?
... deep soul calling without a word
to each one and all together always.

Palpable presence just behind your ear, beside
your shoulder. You can’t make out a face — you
just know someone is with you, where you must be.

Summer’s Fullness

When we were children, summer lasted forever. The days stretched out. The light lengthened. The world was playful, carefree, dream-like, endless... Everything companioned us in a time out of time, where the heart ruled...

Philosopher John G. Sullivan, a regular contributor to Itineraries, is the author of Living Large.  

For Happiness in Old Age...
Discover and Live Your Purpose

Second Journey Book Page editor Barbara Kammerlohr reviews four of a batch of recent books on moving beyond "success" to "significance."

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