The Alchemy of Age.
Say the word alchemy, and it will likely conjure up thoughts of mysticism, quests for gold, and Fatima, the alchemist character in Paulo Coelho’s book, The Alchemist. While historians consider the Age of Alchemy to be somewhere between the centuries 1300-1700, no definitive timeline has been given for its newly discovered offshoot—the Alchemy of Age. Ask this historian, and I’m guessing it reigns today!
After all, who are better alchemists than today’s modern elder, mixologists of people, and chemists of juxtapositions? I don’t know about you, but my ability to synthesize seemingly opposite qualities feels like it’s at its peak, and I’m not sure from when or where it emerged. Curiosity and wisdom. Yin and yang. Gravitas and levity. Extrovert and introvert. Secular and spiritual. Doing and being. Logic and lyricism. Left brain and right brain. Mentor and intern. Life and death. My intuition of how to transmute these juxtaposed ingredients almost feels like magic. It certainly feels divinely inspired.
Maybe the role of the modern elder is to be society’s alchemist, especially when people have become fixated on singular ingredients and too dogmatically divisive for their own good? It’s time for less “either/or” and more “both/and” thinking.
