The English poet and playwright William Shakespeare was acutely aware of our passage through time.  This theme interpenetrates virtually all of his work. In Sonnet 60 he writes:  “Like as the waves make toward the pebbled shore/So do our minutes hasten to their end.”  In Sonnet 64 he writes:  “When I have seen by Time’s...Read More

The ancient Greek lawgiver Solon divided the human life cycle into ten stages of seven years each: 0-7     –  A boy at first is the man; unripe; then he casts his teeth; milk-teeth befitting the child he sheds his 7th year; 7-14   –  Then to his seven years God adding another seven, signs of...Read More

In The Analects, Confucius provides us with one of the earliest maps of human development. The Master said, at 15 I set my heart upon learning At 30, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground. At 40, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At 50, I knew what were the biddings of heaven....Read More

From the movie City Slickers: “Value this time in your life kids.  Cuz this is the time in your life when you still have your choices.  And it goes by so fast.  When you’re a teenager, you think you can do anything, and you do.  Your twenties are a blur.  Thirties, you raise your family,...Read More

The Tibetan Book of the Dead or Bardo Thodol provides a map of the stages of life, which in this case, occurs not in a straight line but in a circle: The Chi-Kha Bardo – this state occurs at the moment of death, when the dying person has the potential to perceive The Clear Light...Read More