Modern Elders

      There is an seen the African proverb: “When an elder dies, it’s like a library burns down.”

      Here’s a passage by Dr. Bill Thomas that amplifies this point of view:
 

“After a person has productively lived his or her life as an adult in the community, he or she is honored by a second initiation (with different ceremonies) into the Elder circle. This usually happens around the age of sixty-five. These Elders, now masters of the school of life, have the responsibility of facilitating the transition from childhood to adulthood of new generations. They are responsible for and oversee the process of initiation. The idea of Elders as ‘library’ also reveals the fact that only the Elders have full access to the tribe’s knowledge base. The Elders safeguard the highest secrets of the tribe and protect its medicine and inner technologies. They incarnate the wisdom of the society, which they happily share often in the form of storytelling. In the community, the older you are the more respect you receive. One of the reasons for this practice is the fact that age brings you closer to the ancestors who are themselves ‘canonized’ and seen as intermediaries between the divine beings and us.”

https://drbillthomas.org/