Peter Derkx - Ageing and Transcendence: A Humanist Investigation

1. Ageing and Transcendence:
A Humanist Investigation
Dr Peter Derkx, Professor of Humanism
University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, NL
FIOP-MHA 5th
International Conference on
Ageing and Spirituality
Edinburgh, Wednesday 10th
July, 2013

2. The importance of
transcendence
- A core concept in studies of religion,
spirituality and meaning in life (Piedmont 1999;
Labouvie-Vief 2000; Schwartz (ed.) 2004; Marcoen 2005;
Caputo & Scanlon (eds.) 2007)
- Especially important for ageing well (Erikson
1982; Tornstam 1989, 1999; Johnson 2005; MacKinlay 2005;
Atchley 2009; Krause 2012)

3. But …
• The concept is not clear. What is ‘transcendence’?
• Do humanists (especially agnostic or atheistic
humanists) have a need for transcendence?
• Does the need for and frequency or intensity of
transcendent experience increase with age?

4. What is ‘transcendence’?
• ‘For all its authority and prestige, the word
“transcendent” is a relative term: It
depends on what is being transcended,
and there is a long list of candidates – the
subject, the self, the sensible world,
beings, even Being itself’ (Caputo and Scanlon
2007: 2)

5. Definition of ‘transcendence’
In an experience of transcendence, a person:
•goes beyond his/her private interest (refers to a
need for moral justification)
•feels connected with or part of something larger
than him-/herself which is valued positively (refers
to a need for connectedness, letting go)
•and/or (?) experiences something beyond the
known, usual, ordinary (refers to a need for
excitement, the opposite of boredom)

6. Transcendence part of meaning
The needs for moral justification,
connectedness and excitement
are important components of the universal
human need for meaning in life
(Frankl 1946/1959/2006; Baumeister 1991; Morgan &
Farsides 2009; Smaling & Alma 2010; Derkx 2013)

7. Humanist transcendence?
• My definition of transcendence does not
conflict with a humanist meaning frame
(whether atheistic, agnostic or theistic)
• This experience of transcendence is a
universally human possibility, it is a
“common” (Dewey 1934) or “ordinary”
(Young-Eisendrath 2000) transcendence

8. What is humanism?
(Derkx 2013)
• Every meaning frame (religious or not) is a human
product, created in a specific context
• All human beings should be treated as equals (with
human dignity)
• Each human being should live consciously, try to
grow as a person, develop his or her capacities and
talents
• The ultimate aim of a good society is meaningful
lives of unique, vulnerable and irreplaceable
persons, not some abstract ideal

9. Ageing and Transcendence
Lars Tornstam’s theory of
“gerotranscendence”, 1989-1999
Photo: Jörgen Hagelqvist

10. Gerotranscendence
Tornstam, “Transcendence in Later Life”, 1999:
‘Gerotranscendence is the final stage in a natural process
moving toward maturation and wisdom.’
‘The movement toward gerotranscendence ia a continuous
one, but the process can be obstructed or accelerated.’
‘It is most probable that elements in our culture, for
example, hinder this process.’
‘It is a process, which, at its very best, ends with a new
cosmic perspective.’
Tornstam presents his theory as a variant of Cumming &
Henry’s disengagement theory of ageing (1961)

11. Dimensions of gerotranscendence
Gerotranscendence empirically takes place
in three dimensions (Tornstam 1994 and 1997b):
1.Self dimension:
-decrease in self-centeredness
-decline in material interest

12. Dimensions of gerotranscendence
continued
2. Relationship dimension:
-declining interest in superfluous social
contacts (cf. SEST, Carstensen 2006)
-increasing amount of time devoted to
solitary meditation

13. Dimensions of
gerotranscendence continued
3. Cosmic dimension:
-increased feeling of unity with the universe
-changed perception of time, space, life and
death
-growing affinity with past and future
generations

14. In empirical research the cosmic dimension
of gerotranscendence ‘has proven to be by
and large the most consistent one’,
replicable, and the only one with a
‘satisfactory reliability’ (Braam et al 2006)

15. Empirical results from LASA
(Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam)
• Four interview cycles with three year
intervals
• From 556 to 1,845 respondents between
56 and 88 years old
• 1995-96, 1998-99, 2001-03, 2005-06
• Braam et al, forthcoming, “Ten year
course of cosmic transcendence in older
adults in The Netherlands”

16. Cosmic subscale of gerotranscendence
6 items: Do you recognize this? Y/N
• Today I feel that the border between life
and death is less striking, compared to
when I was 45 years of age (why 45?)
• Today I feel to a higher degree, how
unimportant an individual life is (hum.?), in
comparison to the continuing life as such
• Today I feel a greater mutual (hum.?)
connection with the universe, compared to
when I was 45 years of age

17. Cosmic subscale continued
• Today I more often experience a close
presence of persons, even when they are
physically elsewhere
• Today I feel that the distance between
past and present disappears (=?; Joan Erikson
1997: “Time is circumscribed to now”; eternity?; future?)
• Today I feel a greater state of belonging
with both earlier and coming generations

18. Main results
• The operationalisation of the concept of
‘gerotranscendence’ keeps raising
questions
• About one third of the elderly in this
sample from the Dutch population never
had high levels of CosTr
• There is hardly any change in mean levels
of CosTr scores between 1995 and 2006
(counter to Tornstam’s theory)

19. Main results continued
• Attaining stable high CosTr levels
occurred more among the more aged
respondents
• Stable high CosTr levels were strongly
associated with importance of
prayer/meditation, also among the
respondents with no religious affiliation

20. Main results continued
Persistent high CosTr levels were also
associated with:
•Roman Catholic background (not
Protestant!)
•Low level of mastery (control, competence),
especially in the last years before death
•Humour coping, especially in the last years
before death

21. Concluding speculations
Gerotranscendence is not a “natural”
development linked to aging but probably a
cohort characteristic
=> interesting psychological, cultural,
societal and historical questions

22. Concluding speculations contd.
Not as a naturalistic but as a normative,
spiritual position in the debate about ageing
optimally the possibility of transcendence
remains an important corrective to a one-
sided emphasis on or interpretation of active
ageing (Laceulle 2013)

23. Concluding speculations contd.
Ageing well is keeping a balance between:
activity, engagement, agency, autonomy,
natality, improvement
&
disengagement, detachment, communion,
heteronomy, mortality, acceptance
Not different from living well <=> our culture

24. Concluding speculations contd.
The need for transcendence (moral
justification, connectedness) is only part of
the universal human need for meaning,
which also comprises needs for purpose,
self-worth, competence and
comprehensibility (Derkx 2011, 2013)
=> cf. balance between communion and
agency (Bakan 1966)

25. Concluding speculations contd.
The balance needed or preferred might be
different in the last years before death
What about changes between individuals?
Older people might be more different from
each other than youth

26. Thanks to:
•Arjan W. Braam, VU University Medical
Centre, Amsterdam; University of
Humanistic Studies, Utrecht; Altrecht Mental
Health Care, Utrecht, NL
•Hanne Laceulle, University of Humanistic
Studies, Utrecht, NL