The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom

There is nothing new in Angeles Arrien's book about the second half of life. Indeed, there isn't meant to be. Our lives at midpoint are about putting aside newness and embracing the ancient, the everlasting, the always true. We live in an age that worships youth. Alongside this naive, if not indeed tragic pursuit to resist aging in all its aspects, we find ourselves as a society becoming ever more superficial, ever more devoted to what is external only, short on endurance, shallow in meaning. Small wonder so many of us approach midlife in a state of "crisis." Yet there is no crisis. Arrien reminds us, by assembling in this collection of eight chapters named for eight gates, that this is not a time in our lives to resist or fear, but that it is, in fact, a time of wonder and beauty -- of the deeper and more meaningful kind. To pass through each of these "gates" is to be opened and enriched by the enlightenment of the second half of our lives. In each chapter, Arrien has brought together age-old quotes and wisdom from many different cultures, tested by time and place. Each chapter describes the gate through which we must pass, the task we must undertake to do so, the challenge, the gift we receive if we meet the challenge, reflections that help us to understand more fully this threshold, a list of practices to make this gateway a discipline. The gates: silver (facing the new and the unknown); white picket (discovering one's true face); clay (intimacy, sensuality, sexuality); black and white (relationships and the crucible of love); rustic (creativity and service); bone (authenticity, character, and wisdom); natural (happiness, satisfaction, and peace); gold (letting go). Each chapter guides us, gently yet firmly, toward facing what is around us as well as what is in us. The overall effect is soothing, I find, to the degree that it has helped me, approaching my own midpoint in life, see the aging process for the beauty and freedom it brings. It is a time to free oneself of the cumbersome masks one has worn in a more naive youth, to embrace wisdom and meaning rather than that which passes quickly and leaving no lasting mark. It is a time to gather all that we have learned in the first half of our lives and bring it all to fruition, entering a time of unbounded creativity, love based on truth rather than illusion, and finding a peace that will make crossing that final gold gate a time of celebration for a life well lived. If we have lost respect for aging in our society, it is time we take it back. Arrien reminds us, by bringing back the wisdom of the ages, that age in ourselves is something to be welcomed rather than resisted. To resist it is to rob ourselves of what may well be the best time of our lives.

What a surprise this beautiful book was for me. Because I have and will continue to listen to Dr. Arrien's taped set on The Second Half of Life many times, I had not thought to buy the book. It came as a gift, whatta gift! The surprise is how the content compliments the tapes. No mere regurgitation of previous material, it is chock full of imagery and archetypal information that meets my mind in what it knows and gently points in the direction of making me and my life bigger----indeed, wiser. Like Dr. Arrien's The Four Fold Way this is a book to be read slowly and savored again and again. From my experience with her materials, I know this new jewel, The Second Half of Life, is a deep well from which to drink and will keep my elder years a time a growth and expansion. I recommend it without reservation---it has gone to the top of my list of books I will be gifting my friends with!

Ms. Arrien's book is Ground Breaking. It is one of those rare times where someone has the ability to wrap words around ideas that are unholdable because of the shear lack of reference points to this untraveled ground. She starts out stating what she is going to say, embodied in Andrinne Rich poem "Time" and then uses the Metaphor of Eight Gates to trace the journey through the Second Half of Life. Ms. Arrien is a master storyteller, who is an embodiment of which she speaks. This is a book where "you will go through this door or you will not go through."

The passage from mid-life into true, authentic, elderhood which embodies deep character and the integration of all aspects of the journey of life has never been described with such clarity. Drawing on universal archetypes, perennial wisdom, poetry, symbols and metaphor, Angeles Arrien has provided a vehicle, road map and tools for the journey in a concise language everyone can understand. This book is a joy to read, and an invaluable life-affirming tool as we age, a companion for our individual journey into elderhood.

Angeles Arrien has created a wonderful book of wisdom and beauty. Grounded in cross-cultural knowledge,inspiring stories,and practical suggestions, this book is the perfect gift for anyone who has crossed over the threshold of the second half of life.