A lucid guide to seven essential elements that will help you discover your path to spiritual realization and wise elderhood.

For those of us who feel deeply committed to spiritual realization and to being instruments of benefit in the world, what Carl Jung called "the second half of life" represents a remarkable curriculum for awakening. When wisely understood, the bodily changes inherent in the aging process become stepping-stones on the road to liberation and the actualization of our best human qualities like wisdom, loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

Author David Chernikoff has spent decades pursuing spiritual study and practice with remarkable teachers, including Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Father Thomas Keating, and Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. In Life, Part Two, he distills lessons from across contemplative traditions to invite listeners to embrace seven essential elements of conscious living. These are: embracing the mystery, choosing a vision, cultivating intuitive wisdom, committing to inner work, suffering effectively, serving from the heart, and celebrating the journey. These elements culminate in wise elderhood-a state celebrated by traditional and indigenous cultures around the world, yet sadly unacknowledged in contemporary Western society. For those of us who aspire to live fully and to love well as we age, Life, Part Two offers a guidebook for the exploration of our emotional and spiritual lives, enabling us not only to thrive but to contribute with ever greater clarity and purpose.