Ordinary Wisdom: Biographical Aging and the Journey of Life

Through the lenses of three time-honored metaphors for thinking about life - life as story, life as journey, and life as adventure - William Randall and Gary Kenyon see wisdom not as an unattainable ideal nor as the sole province of experts or educators, geniuses, therapists, or saints. Rather, the see it as potentially within reach of everyone, not as a commodity but as a quality of life; as a matter of being, not of having. Insofar as everyone of us is on a journey and has (or is) a story, everyone of us has access to a type of wisdom that can be called "ordinary wisdom", and that it behooves us to explore and express. Besides being of great relevance to thoughtful older adults themselves, seeking to age as positively and wisely as they can, this book will be of particular interest to theorists, researchers, and students of the process of aging, working in a variety of disciplines and fields, including gerontology and psychology, psychotherapy and theology, philosophy and education.