Growing Old: The Ultimate Freedom

Questioning the validity of many western cultural stereotypes regarding the process of growing old, social ecologist and psychiatrist Maxwell Jones encourages the freedom to contemplate, to listen, to read, and to learn that is afforded those in the later years of life. In "Growing Old: The Ultimate Freedom", he demonstrates how these years can provide an ideal opportunity for new growth processes, built on a lifetime of experiences and a growing awareness of new levels of reality. Further, he urges change in our whole societal structure so that all people may develop the capacity to think for themselves and the freedom to question much of the orthodoxy imposed by our current educational system.

Seeing education as having conditioned us to conform to standards imposed by a materialistic society, where creative potential is often mistaken seen as deviancy and misunderstood and punished, he recommends an escape from this hierarchy of values headed by power, money and material success, through the adoption of supportive groups, from childhood to old age, where our distorted view of reality can be examined without fear of reprisal, in a liberal environment, with an experienced facilitator to help people help themselves. Believing that such groups would transform a person's self-image and purpose of life, he sees latent creativity emerging in old age, leading to a new energy and interest in intuitition, spirituality and service to humankind.