Spiritual Forum: Aging and Awareness

Abstract. We are living in a time when wise elders are of critical importance. While the aging process involves losses and challenges, these can become a pathway to profound spiritual realization. Buddhist teachings offer us practical and liberating guidelines that enable us to free ourselves from the negative attitudes of modern western culture and to reframe the changes inherent in growing older as a curriculum leading to true spiritual maturity. This forum will encourage genuine discovery and exploration. It will be an opportunity to know ourselves in new ways that invite us to live fully, love well, and die joyfully.

Presenter Biography.  David Chernikoff, MDiv, LCSW, is a meditation teacher, spiritual counselor, and life coach who taught psychology and meditation at Naropa University for many years. He has extensive experience working with the elderly. In the early 1980s, he worked at Ram Dass’s Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in Santa Fe, NM and then became the director of Messilla Valley Hospice in Las Cruces, NM. He was the education director for the Spiritual Eldering Institute, teaching conscious aging programs throughout the U.S., in Canada, and in Ireland. Trained as a Community Dharma Leader at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, David is currently one of the guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Community of Colorado and has a private practice in Boulder. He teaches retreats and workshops throughout the U.S. For more information about David’s work, see http://www.davidchernikoff.com.

Third Thursday Spiritual Forums present mind-broadening and spirit-enriching topics every month. For further information, contact Dr. Jay Burch (phone 720-917-9303, or email: jayburch333@gmail.com).