Is ageing necessary?
Robert Hart
'All my faculties are as good as ever, and in the highest perfection: my understanding clearer and brighter than ever, my judgement sound, my memory tenacious, my spirits good, and my voice, the first thing that is apt to fail others, grown so strong and sonorous that I cannot help chanting out loud my prayers morning and night'. So wrote Luigi Cornaro, a Venetian scholar and agriculturalist, in 1562 at the age of 95, in a treatise called 'The Joys of Old Age'.
This treatise, together with two others on health and longevity that he wrote at the ages of 83 and 86, are, in all respects but one - that of diet - in tune with the most up-to-date thinking, and are an inspiring testimony to the possibility of leading a full and happy life to an advanced age. (His writings are published in paperback by Thorsons under the title 'How to Live 100 Years'.)
The first rule of longevity is 'never retire', but live creatively, constantly striving to expand your mental horizons. At the age of 95 Cornaro was promoting marshland reclamation and harbour improvement schemes for the Venetian republic. He was also writing treatises on agriculture and architecture.
Music
The second rule of longevity is harmonious living, and music is an outstanding aid to that. The human being is intended by nature to be a singer. The head has three pairs of sinuses, the only known function of which is to act as resonators corresponding to the three 'registers' of the singing voice. If they are not used for that purpose, they tend to get clogged with mucus, causing headaches and catarrhal troubles. Everyone should take singing lessons, as singing is one of the most health-promoting of all activities.
'Singing is one of the most health-promoting of all activities'
The ancient Italian bel canto system of voice production has affinities with yoga and is of religious origin. Like yoga, it involves breath control and meditation. Through a narrowly trumpet-shaped mouth the lungs should be filled with air, while the diaphragm, the powerful muscle between the ribs and the solar plexus, should be drawn in to the limit of capacity. A column of air should then be forced gently but firmly from the base of the lungs through the throat and up into the head, finally being allowed to escape softly through the nostrils. This process not only helps to develop the voice but also leads to a heightened state of consciousness, promoting calm, clear, constructive thinking and an intensification of sensitivity.
Creative thinking
Continuous, constructive thinking is the third rule of longevity. To achieve this, another ancient technique, which has been rediscovered by modern psychology, is essential. It is the art of transmuting negative conditions, emotions and impulses into positive achievements. Cornaro gives an example of this. At an advanced age he actually welcomed the loss of a considerable part of his income by crooked dealing, as it gave him the opportunity of finding a means of more than repairing the loss by the application of his agricultural skills. In a letter to a friend he wrote, 'I have been to the test and have proved to all that I can turn misfortune to advantage and derive additional benefit from reverses.'
'Continuous, constructive thinking is the third rule of longevity. The bold acceptance of problems as challenges to be overcome leads to inner strength'
It is widely recognised today that the prime aim of life should be self-development towards the goal of mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wholeness. This is a full-time occupation, which leaves no time for depression, self-pity, irritation and other negative states which play havoc with one's constitution. We are constantly advised by health counsellors to avoid tension. This does not mean closing our eyes to problems, running away from them or trying to suppress them. The effect of these is to force problems to sink into the subconscious, where they fester and sooner or later cause mental and physical disturbances and disease. If we are to avoid tension, the first essential is to face up to our problems fearlessly and clear-sightedly, dispersing the mist of vague fears and anxieties which often makes them seem bigger than they really are. The bold acceptance of problems as challenges to be overcome leads to inner strength.
Paradoxically, the tensing and flexing of our mental and physical muscles which the overcoming of problems involves, leads to a relaxation of mental tension. We all have greater potentialities than we realise. The determination to find some solution to even the most obdurate and deep-seated of problems has the effect of releasing hidden talents and capacities. Our struggles should not be against the problems but for some constructive, integrative goal, in the light of which the problems will be transcended and lose their urgency, before being solved.
The human system, far more intricate and elaborate than any computer, spaceship or other machine devised by man, has infinite potentialities for development. It is said that most of us employ only five per cent of our brain cells. Doctors know a lot about disease but very little about health. There can be no doubt that if some of the expertise concentrated on disease germs, drugs and vaccines were switched to the study of the human as a whole - body, mind, soul and spirit - means could be found of enormously expanding talents and longevity.
Nutrition
The science of nutrition is still in its infancy, at any rate as far as the medical profession is concerned. Few doctors or lay people recognise the full implications of the fact that our bodies, including the most sensitive organs, such as the brain, heart and nerves, are made of the food we eat. Engineers go to extreme lengths to select the right alloys for some delicate machine. How much more efficient would the human machine be if equal care were taken in selecting the best raw materials for its construction and repair? The latest nutritional research indicates that the ideal diet for positive health and longevity is one comprising a high proportion of raw, organically grown fruit, vegetables, nuts and herbs. Such a diet avoids the build-up of acid, fatty substances which clog the system and are the main cause of degenerative diseases, such as arthritis. Older people should progressively reduce their intake of proteins and calories, which overload the system, hindering the free flow of the restorative factors which constitute the body's healing and health-promoting armoury. Age research with animals has shown that low-calorie diets can extend 'normal' life-spans by an astonishing three hundred per cent.
'The ideal diet for positive health and longevity is one comprising a high proportion of raw, organically grown fruit, vegetables, nuts and herbs'
The value of experience
It must be admitted that the process of building up disease resistance and positive health demands continuous vigilance, effort and self-discipline, and many people are tempted to ask, 'Is it worth it'? Cornaro had the answer in his dissertation on 'The Joys of Old Age'. Present-day Western civilisation, with its cult of youth, seems largely to have forgotten one basic fact which was clear to Cornaro, the Renaissance man: the value of experience. While young people can sometimes acquire intellectual and manual skills with amazing speed, the most important lessons of an evolving life, those connected with the emotional and spiritual nature and human relations, generally take decades to imbibe. There is no substitute for experience. However wide one's theoretical knowledge, unless it is backed up by a wide and deep fund of practical experience, it is virtually useless.
One of the supreme needs of the present age is mature wisdom and the inner strength derived from it. War, violence, crime, drug-taking and other forms of perversity so prevalent today are all symptoms of emotional immaturity, instability and insecurity. No satisfaction on earth can compare with that gained from a continuous struggle to face up to and overcome life's problems on the basis of a reliable value system.
Robert Hart, Highwood Hill, Rushbury, near Church Stretton, Shropshire SY6 7DE (tel 06943 342).
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