Three: Lifetimes, meaning and listening to older people
This chapter offers a threefold division in gerontological approaches to meaning and insight in older people’s lives. ‘Meaning’ may, first, stress connectedness between individuals and some wider set of circumstances: having values or practices going beyond oneself. This may include ‘spiritual’ meaning, in the sense of transcendence, a feeling of connectedness with some wider aspect of existence; this is not limited to religious spirituality, and also embraces commitment to ethical meaning. Secondly, meaning may explicitly highlight the life-course, taking special account of the role of time. This includes ideas about personal development and ‘tasks of life’ – challenges in relation to community, work or relationships. It includes pride or lack of it that people may take in their own life-courses; generational meaning; and ‘generativity’. The third group focuses on meaning in the sense of insight. First, older people’s very existence can be a source of insight for others; secondly, life-course meaning may refer to familiarity with the human condition. Thirdly, there is meaning or insight in the sense of wisdom, explored in more detail in the subsequent chapter.
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