Aging: More Than the Passage of Time

There is a thought that aging has to do with the passage of time but this thought takes us in a direction that is misleading. This makes us think that we age because we gradually become less effective because we grow and age as time passes. In this view every year that passes brings us closer to shutting down simply because of how long we have been here on the planet. This is how we have been brought up to look at things and this is what we inevitably perceive.

In fact we may take a look at how objects age in the world. If we look at an automobile it may seem that each year as the car sits there it ages. If we look further, however, it appears that the age of the car has to do with how many miles we drove it. Each mile that we put on it seemed to affect its age. If there is salt on the road it seems to age more. The upholstery seems to age because of the use we put on it. If we put the car out in the sun every day it appears the paint loses its gloss. It becomes dull, doesn’t reflect the sun any more and seems to lack life.

If we look at the clothes we wear it seems as if they undergo a similar process. Over time they lose their gloss, they seem to have less life, and they lose their sprightliness. The shoes we wear also seem to lose their sense of appearance. Even if they have never been worn they seem to lack the newness that they had previously.

If we look closely it turns out, however, that the change is one that is associated with the loss of substance. The substance within an object actually seems to wear out. In fact the automobile, even though the car ages with the addition of miles, it is actually the reduction of the substance of the car that ages the automobile. Each time the machinery works in the automobile a little more of the substance of the car wears away. In fact the sun oxidizes the paint and there is some reduction of the substance of the paint. The same thing happens with the salt used on the road that affects the metal of the automobile.

The aging that occurs has to fundamentally do with "using up" of substance. This also happens to be what ages humans. Have you ever wondered why someone at thirty looks fifty or why someone at fifty looks thirty? This is explored in more detail in a recently published book Audacious Aging in which I wrote a chapter. You may find material on the book at www.AudaciousAging.com or by referring to my website www.thehealingattribute.com.