Something came to me yesterday as I ambled down the dark hallway (3 levels below the surface of the earth). Have you ever entered your memories, gone back through the hard drive of your mind to examine what was successfully archived? This was what I was doing. Some people refer to it as “reminiscing.”

Epiphanies happen in bolts, like lightening. I had one in regard to psychology and aging:

Looking out from the psyche is a static enterprise at the core level, though the higher “molecular” levels are thoroughly dynamic. The feeling of being never changes, though actual status of being is in continual flux. If that seems confusing, consider the physical make-up of your body. Your body never disappears–its status is static, but its actual material is always changing. The atoms that make up your body are continually changing. At this moment, physically, your body is composed of entirely different atoms than it was two years ago. Of course, this fact provides a perfect conduit into the philosophy of the resurrection (but that topic will be saved for a different day)…

Because the core of our being is static we refer to it as Identity. Identities have meaning, which requires that they are static to some degree (if something were in continual flux it would lose its identity and fall into chaos).* This is why it is possible to receive all sorts of comments about how you’ve changed (maturity, stature, etc.), but when you examine yourself you find that you can still intimately relate to how you were before the “changes.” This is why memories can be so pleasurable (or so painful)–you can enter directly into the memory because your core identity never changed.

Coming to a realization on these issues brings many potential applications. What I am concerned with is the idea that much of the anxiety that comes with age is caused by comparison to others. Age is a phenomenon that relies on community. Even fear of physical degeneration may sometimes find root in being less mobile than others–age anxiety is comparative jealousy: it is a sign of dissatisfaction with one’s core identity and is unnecessary and destabilizing. Age and existential dread walk hand in hand, if you stay on the surface. So go deeper.

Try being ok with yourself (or with others) today…

*Identity defined: The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality.