“It is good for we elders to be up to something,
especially if it is with others.”
David “Lucky” Goff
People are getting old all around the planet. Recent researchers have noticed. One looked at places and cultures (called Blue Zones) where there is a much higher percentage of the elder population than occurs here in America. In a number of places, there are 3 to 6 times as many centenarians (people over 100 years old) as in this country.
Cross-cultural studies have revealed that there are certain commonalities in these societies (diet, movement, spirituality, cultural respect), that may account for their longer, richer lives. Below, I address two social dimensions of longevity, which the people of Okinawa have given words to. There is a richness of wisdom, born of longevity and community, infused into these words. And so, I introduce you to the Japanese words, Ikegai and Moai.
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Ikegai (pronounced: icky-guy)
This word has traditionally referred, in Japan, to “having a life of meaning.” In Okinawa it took on a more particular meaning. There it refers to the importance of having “a life of purpose.” It appears that longer, higher quality lives, center around an experience of living purposely — hold on, because this is the social part — not just for yourself, but for others.
A good, long life, one filled with joy, and a desire to get out of bed in the morning, is one spent purposely acting to enhance life for everyone. Having a way to do it, that is direct, experiential, and not abstract is optimal. This is Ikegai.
The interactive nature of life holds a special kind of medicine that benefits all involved. The synergy of this invisible substance feeds and enhances life, giving energy to people, and increasing their health and longevity. This mutually beneficial way of interacting is known and practiced in some places. We can learn from the way of life that prevails in these places. Ikegai reflects a special human awareness, that can be translated into anyone’s life. It is part of the human repertoire, that aging activates, and that each of us can adopt, for our own and each other’s benefit.
Moai (pronounced: like the Missourri river, the big Mo-eye)
What distinguishes many of the places where longer life prevails is a kind of social embeddedness. In Okinawa, the pople realize this, in fact, cultivate it, by forming small groups (8 to 12 people), Moai, that just hang-out together. These are not activist or political groups, clubs — or groups that have any particular agenda. They are just designed to enrich social life, and to ward-off feelings of loneliness and disconnection.
Moai represent an unexpressed sensibility that pervades cultures where people live longer, more satisfied lives. Regular interaction satisfies something basic, in we social animals. This is a kind of community important to well-being — because it embodies the spiritual need to be part of something larger. Some sense of social connectedness replicates community — the intermediary between individual humans and the Universe. In short, we need each other to fulfill our lives.
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We live in a rapidly changing world. It seems to be descending into a new level of chaos. In this dangerous time, it is good to look to some of the cultural practices of our kind, to help us navigate, and make the best of, the treacherous waters we now live in. Human have known, and embodied, miracles in the past. These words, show something of the social nature of those miracles. Armed with each other, we are as capable as ever.
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