Wisdom, Death, and the Transcendental: Beauty, Nature, the Arts, and Love by Walter Moss. In our latter years—and who knows how many more any of us have on this good earth—thoughts of death and the meaning of life come more naturally to us. We instinctively believe, or at least want to believe, that there’s more to life than our humdrum existence. But what is that more?

Issues for a Philosophy of Death and Dying by Don Sanborn

The Legacy Project at Cornell University is devoted to sharing the wisdom of America's elders with people of all ages. Since 2004 Professor Karl Pillemer and his research team have been collecting practical advice for living from elders age 65 and older. These "lessons for living" have been organized by topic, making it easy for site visitors to find advice on a host of common life issues.

Writing Spiritual Memoirs (a video). Life review to discover the deeper meaning of our lives is increasingly seen as an important late-in-life activity. A highlight of the 2011 AEPL (Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning) conference was this memoir-writing workshop led by Nan Phifer, and made totally successful by its four dynamic participants. (FYI, for Nan the word spiritual means simply that "we go deeply into our feelings and important matters.") Length: 01:14:42

A Look at the Stages of Life This review of a book by Debashis Chowdhury deals with the author's expanded take on Ashrama, the Indian philosophy that addresses the stages of human life. It is a view that applies to lives in the West as well as India. Especially pertinent to wisdom development are the second-half-of-life stages from 50 onward.

The Developmental Task for Elders. In this profound and stirring essay, wisdom researcher and adult educator Richard Hawley Trowbridge makes the case that the final stage of human growth is, ideally, "the remaking of identity" through a clear understanding of the relationship between human being and cosmic context. (A PDF file. Also available in DOC format.)

Creative Longevity and Wisdom is a project of The Institute for Social Innovation at Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California that "studies the many dimensions of what it means to age well and the opportunities and challenges associated with an aging population. " Below are links to several wisdom-relevant papers that were presented at the project's International Conference on Positive Aging held in 2008.

Does Wisdom Increase with Age? By George Vaillant, MD

Creativity, Longevity, and Wisdom: Women's Wisdom in Leadership By Rita Lusgarten, PhD

On the Life of Betty Friedan: A Narrative Study of an Aging Woman By Pamela Young

Creative Longevity and Wisdom: State-of-the-Field Map This document identifies the major U.S. and some international organizations and institutions that are engaged in education, research, and practice that relate in some way to aging, with a focus on creativity and/or wisdom.

Positive Aging Newsletter , edited by Ken and Mary Gergen, has been published online by the Taos Institute since 2001. Below are links to some of the newsletter items especially relevant to wisdom.

FITNESS TRAINING FOR THE AGING BRAIN

COMMENTARY - The Skills of Positive Aging

COMMENTARY: From Turmoil to Tranquility

COMMENTARY Zest: More Than its Own Reward

COMMENTARY: The Mature Mind

COMMENTARY: Buddhist Practices For All Seasons

RESEARCH: Age and Wisdom in Conflict Reduction

RESEARCH: Emotions Age Well

RESEARCH: Religion, Spirituality and Well-Being

RESEARCH: Volunteers May Be Twice Blessed

COMMENTARY: Sharing The Wisdom of Positive Aging

RESEARCH: THE POWER OF POSITIVE EMOTIONS

Human Values in Aging Newsletter
This electronic newsletter, edited by Harry (Rick) Moody, is edited by the Office of Academic Affairs at AARP and is distributed by the Committee on Humanities and Arts of the Gerontological Society of America. The Newsletter contains items of interest about humanistic gerontology; it does not publish original writing but is limited to brief and timely announcements. To submit items of interest or request being added to the subscription list contact: hrmoody@yahoo.org