​Core Values and Invitation

 

Do you sometimes wonder if you are just passing the time until your time is

past? Discovering like-minded companions could prove the perfect way to

expand and increase your health, well-being, social and spiritual life in the

twilight years.

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This community gathering of citizens welcomes anyone over 60 who wishes to

age well and enhance relationship in the afternoon and evening of life.

There is much research today about the ageing process.

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The psychoanalyst Carl Yung was prophetic when he made the bold statement

on the evolutionary rationale to living longer: “a human being will certainly not

grow to be seventy or eighty [now ninety and hundred] if this longevity had no

meaning for the species. The afternoon of life must have a significance of its

own.”

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In other words, old age must have a crucial consequence for the human race

beyond the obvious physical ravages that time can bring to one’s door. The soul,

the inner spiritual life, remains chronologically untouched and open to full

health despite the passage of years.

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However, this healthy soul state needs tending to and nourishment through

introspection, relationship, ritual and a deepening of spiritual practice.

Furthermore, Yung, and so many experts on Gerontology – the scientific study

of old age and its problems – agree that the primary value of seniority on a

personal level has to do largely with an integration of the Spiritual in one’s life.

Coupled with this attention to the inner life of the Spirit, Jung held that it is

through a creative life that one takes that unique step into the Spiritual world.

The imagination is that secret key code – unique to each one of us – that

unlocks the treasure trove to ageing with panache.

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Being a member of a social group with people of similar age and like-minded

interests is a sure way of living a life of wisdom and living it to the full. As the

fourteenth century German mystic and philosopher Meister Eckhart puts it;

“wisdom is finding the next thing you have to do, doing it with all your heart

and finding delight in doing it.”

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Singing, song sharing and other creative endeavours are ageing spiritual Pilates.

Indeed, at any age, research will tell us these activities are simply good for us.

Why would an elder adopt and support such a venture?

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The answers are many. There is an ultimate purpose in gathering together which

is to share in the experience – to paraphrase Eckhart – of stepping out of

personal isolation which so often the arrival of growing older can bring. There

is the new happiness of meeting others and creating a shared sound together.

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Secondly, it offers elders the opportunity to interact and indeed to maintain a

youthful curious spirit throughout the third life path.

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Although our core thread will be through singing, it is intended that there will

be a large focus on personal interaction around the ageing process and every

person will have a voluntary voice during our gatherings. This initiative is not

to merely produce a choir . That can be very impersonal and anonymous, Our

focus will be to give every person a platform for optional individual sharing at

some point in time.

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This is a time of fun too since humour has been scientifically proven to

enhance the ageing process.

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We begin from the premise of no auditions, no prior musical reading ability, and

no solos required. Just bring an open heart and voice to treat yourself to

wholesome merriment which will banish boredom forever.

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Many recent studies on ageing and creativity have proven conclusively that

participation in simple creative singing ventures provides older adults with

tremendous physical, metal, spiritual and emotional benefits. Such adults make

fewer trips to the doctor, are on smaller amounts of medication and in short, live

a fuller life longer.

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The Director

Nóirín Ní Riain, the director, is in her seventies and has led many online groups

on ageing with panache and good humour through creativity. With this

expertise, she will share her own life-long experience of the benefits of singing

for oneself and with others.

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Our goals for the future include:

• Setting up an authentic, excellent environment for artistic creativity for elders.

• Incorporating diverse voices and communities in our gatherings

• Break down the barriers to accessible artistic education

• To serve as a model for other creative arts ventures for the older community

• To provide an anti-dote to loneliness, depression, isolation and anxiety, all of which can become endemic in older, post retirement phases of life.

• To make available a safe, secure setting for genuine communication which is light hearted and meaningful.

• Finally, our intention is to create a new community of wise friends of advanced years whose shared joy is in meeting and singing on a regular basis.

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Criteria for membership

• Any person over the age of 60.

• An open heart, receptive to new ideas, and enthusiastic to new vocal skills and practices

• Living in and around Limerick

• Willingness to meet every two weeks for two hours on a Wednesday morning between 11.00 and 13.00 which will include some singing, a cuppa and various stimulating conversations

• The song scape will range from very basic fun chants and songs carefully chosen by Nóirín which in turn will develop organically as Grey Hares Ensemble takes on a life of its own on its evolution through its members

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Grey Hares sets out with the intention to enrich and support the lives of its members, and seeks to widen perspectives, and strengthen community bonds.

 

PRAGMATICS

Timing: A fortnightly gathering on a Wednesday morning between 11.00 and 13.00 which will include some communal singing, a cuppa and a sharing of elders.

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Venue: Redemptorist Music Centre, Island Road, Englishtown, Limerick. (This centre is situated behind the Roman Catholic Church of St. Marys and beside the walls of Limerick.)

Area Code: V94 POA9

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Repertoire: Wide-ranging. – All of which will be chosen by Nóirín to embrace the concerns of the ageing process, meaning in life, humour and transcendence of the Ego.