A philosophical reflection on aging
9 People, 9 Different Stories

No human being can avoid aging.
We all grow older, and one day we will retire from active life and enter old age.
After leaving behind the time spent focusing on work and achievement amidst intense worry and effort, you face the rest of your life with a realization of the finiteness of life.
This book contains philosophical reflections on old age, including lectures given at a humanities lecture held at the humanities group 'Studia Humanitatis 8th Square' on the topic of 'aging and well-aging.'
The nine authors view old age as a 'blessing that can beautifully complete life.'
Based on Cicero's "On Old Age," art, and Eastern thought, it deeply reflects on old age and suggests ways to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
It could be another stimulus for the elderly who rely solely on geriatric medicine and social security.

Old age is a period of life in which the future shrinks, but it is also a time in life in which all-encompassing reason and humor reign.
Old age, when it can laugh with all-encompassing power, transcends the limitations of the world that everyone must acknowledge.
The limits of the world are the limits of experience and the limits of a shrunken life.
The laughter of old age transcends these limitations, transcending the limitations of youth that succumbed to harsh reality, and is a triumph of free action over actions that were unavoidable.
--- From “Old Age, the Beautiful Completion of Life”

Cicero believes that old age, when one is naturally free from physical desires and free from the pursuit of fame, wealth, and power, is not a time of unhappiness or suffering, but rather a starting point toward happiness.
In old age, he has escaped the turbulent sea of ​​desire and has now reached the shore where he can rest according to the inevitability of nature.
If at this time one lives a life of quiet and peaceful contemplation, a life of seeking wisdom, then, according to Cicero, such a person will attain the greatest happiness.
--- From “The Blessing of Old Age - Focusing on Cicero’s ‘On Old Age’”

Well-aging is about finding your own value, and the time spent finding your best value is the time needed in old age.
It is a time to simultaneously meditate on life and death, and a process of moving towards the best life.
Through the three questions above about well-aging, finding one's own values ​​is both a task for older age and a matter for self-reflection.
‘Aging well’ means recognizing one’s calling and fulfilling one’s role in order to complete one’s life as a whole.
--- From “Well-aging, a time to find my own value”

The crossroads of time that a person goes through from birth to death is ‘old age.’
These two are universal realities that confront everyone, yet must we live in fear and regard them as such unfortunate events? It seems that countless people, regardless of time or place, have sought comforting answers to these concerns.
There are people like Socrates who say that 'even when a person dies, his soul is immortal', and there are many religions that regard the event of death as 'salvation by God'.

--- From “Lao-Tzu, the Wisdom of Life in the Face of Death”