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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  asic 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).